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The
Columbus Dispatch
Race
on for ’15 Ohio House speaker
By Jim Siegel
July 26, 2013
Rep.
Ron Amstutz, left, and Rep.
Cliff Rosenberger are currently the leading contenders to become the
next Ohio
House speaker in the Republican-dominated chamber.
Rep.
Cliff Rosenberger was still
four months shy of being born when Rep. Ron Amstutz joined the state
legislature in 1981.
Thirty-two
years later, the upstart
and the veteran are squaring off to become the next speaker of the
House.
Rosenberger,
32, and Amstutz, 62,
have emerged — at least at the moment — as the top candidates to
replace
Speaker William G. Batchelder, R-Medina, when he must depart the House
because
of term limits at the end of 2014.
A
formal leadership vote is more
than 15 months away, and things could change. GOP Reps. Jim Butler of
Oakwood,
Louis Terhar of Cincinnati and Kristina Roegner of Hudson, for example,
are
among those mentioned as showing interest in the top job.
“I’m
trying to get this thing settled
down, if possible, very soon so we can get back to the policy work that
is so
critical,” Amstutz said. “If we spend too much time with intramural
discussions, that can diffuse our focus.”
Amstutz
is considered one of the
strongest House GOP legislators when it comes to policy — he’s
regularly
described as a wonk. He has been chairman of the powerful House Finance
Committee since 2011. Trailing only Batchelder in legislative
experience, the
Wooster resident has avoided term limits by switching from the House to
the
Senate and back to the House…
Read
the rest of the article in the
Columbus Dispatch
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