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Ohio Democrats Call for Another Investigation of Seitz

photo of Bill Seitz
OGT
Rep. Bill Seitz is accused of making offensive comments at a going-away party.

Two Democratic women state representatives have asked Attorney General and Republican candidate for governor Mike DeWine to reopen an investigation into comments made by the Majority Floor Leader at a going-away party in January.

They’re concerned not only about the alleged conduct of Rep. Bill Seitz, but with a previous investigation that cleared him of wrongdoing.

After an anonymous complaint about offensive comments by Seitz, the House hired Taft, a law firm it says has provided excellent counsel in nine previous investigations. Though Seitz worked for Taft for 36 years and Taft had donated to his campaign, Taft determined there was no conflict of interest and cleared Seitz of sexual harassment.

Reps. Teresa Fedor and Nickie Antonio wrote to the AG, who Fedor says can order a new investigation, “with a law firm that doesn’t have a conflict of interest, a law firm that’s going to apply the rules and laws of sexual harassment in the state of Ohio.”

Seitz said in a statement that reads in part that he thinks calls for further investigation are politically-motivated and he wants an investigation into a conspiracy.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.