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Tea Party Activist Disputes Election Of Incoming Ohio House Speaker

cincinnatiteaparty.org

Tea Party activists are disputing the secret vote that made Cliff Rosenberger the next Speaker of the Ohio House. Ohio Public Radio's Karen Kasler reports.

Rep. Cliff Rosenberger gained the support of most of the Republican caucus this summer. But Rep. Jim Butler of the Dayton area had the backing of several hard-right and Tea Party conservative lawmakers. Butler’s supporters haven’t commented on the choice of Rosenberger as the new Speaker. But Portage County Tea Party head Tom Zawistowski says he suspects the vote was engineered in a way that violates the principle of checks and balances.  
“Let’s be frank about it – Gov. Kasich picked Rosenberger. Gov. Kasich is picking the leader of the House. It’s flat out wrong. It’s our House. They should be an independent body.”  
 
Zawistowski disputes the vote as just a straw poll, because he says the actual vote on the incoming Speaker has to happen when the new General Assembly starts in January.

Jim has been with WCBE since 1996. Before that he worked as a reporter at another Columbus radio station, and for three newspapers in Southwest Florida.
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