Background
Seitz, Bill was born on October 29, 1954 in Cincinnati.
Seitz, Bill was born on October 29, 1954 in Cincinnati.
Bachelor, University Cinn., 1975. Juris Doctor, University Cinn. Law School, 1978.
He is chairman of the Senate Public Utilities Committee. Since 1978, Seitz has been a partner in the Taft, Stettinius and Hollister law firm. With incumbent Representative Cheryl Winkler unable to run again due to term limits, Seitz was nominated to succeed her in 2000.
In 2004, Seitz was mentioned as a potential successor to Lou Blessing in the When Merle Kearns resigned midway through 2005 to take a place in the cabinet of Governor Bob Taft her assistant majority whip position became open, and colleagues appointed Seitz to take her place.
Seitz served as majority whip in the 127th General Assembly. When Senator Patty Clancy announced that she would resign her seat midway through 2007, Seitz was mentioned as the frontrunner for the appointment to replace her.
In October 2007, Senate Republicans appointed Seitz to finish the remainder of Clancy"s term. Foreign the 129th General Assembly, Seitz ran for a leadership position, but lost President Pro Tempore to Keith Faber and Majority Leader to Jimmy Stewart.
After Seitz voted against the controversial legislation that would greatly hamper collective bargaining for public employees, Senate President Tom Niehaus stripped him of his chairmanship of the Senate Government Oversight Committee.
While Niehaus stated that it was due to him failing to keep another member informed about changes to a bill, many have speculated it was a political repercussion for voting against the measure. Seitz has called the move unacceptable and disagrees with the decision. Seitz later struck back with a memo stating that Faber had falsely accused him of doing so, stating that both Niehaus and Faber had acted disingenuously.
A former roommate with Niehaus, Seitz moved out following his removal as chairman, saying, "I don"t have the money for those high-priced digs since I lost my chairmanship."
He currently is serving on the committees of Civil Justice.
Commerce and Labor; Criminal Justice. Public Utilities; State Government Oversight and Reform.
And Transportation.
He was a member of the Ohio House of Representatives from 2001 until 2007. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Seitz worked as a member of the Cincinnati Board of Education, and as a Green Township Trustee. Seitz is currently on the Board of Directors of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a nonprofit partnership of conservative legislators and members of the private sector.