ohio house speaker

In this week's Snollygoster, Ohio's political podcast from WOSU Public Media, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown discuss how the Ohio House finally quieted the storm over the next speaker. The calm should last, oh, about six months.

Meanwhile, qualifying patients hoping for some green relief likely won't be getting medical marijuana by the state's September deadline.

The Ohio House attempted to elect a new speaker on Wednesday afternoon, following weeks of inertia, in-fighting and canceled meetings.

Even then, it took 11 rounds of voting and a rule change in order for Finance Chair and state Rep. Ryan Smith to finally win with a plurality of votes.

The inert Ohio House is ready to vote on a new speaker. But even if they do, none of the bills held up by the delay will receive a vote.

After seven weeks without voting sessions, the full Ohio House will vote on Wednesday on a new Speaker.

And because no candidate secured 50 votes among the 65-member Republican caucus, votes from Democrats could be important. But most Democrats say they won’t help out any Republican candidate.

Pauly Belletti is an outgoing, energetic first grader in Parma.

“School is awesome,” he says.

Why does the eight-year-old think school is so great?

“It's because you do cool stuff in art and do cool stuff in gym and do cool stuff in music.”

The infighting behind closed doors at the Ohio House has left the speaker’s post vacant for weeks and has cancelled weeks of voting sessions. A veteran leader of the House, who once held the job, discussed his thoughts on what’s happening or isn’t happening.

In this week's Snollygoster, Ohio's political podcast from WOSU Public Media, hosts Mike Thompson and Steve Brown talk about what's fueling the chaos in the Ohio House. While legislative business has slowed to a standstill, amid Republican in-fighting, Ohio's governor candidates are busy vying for union support.

The fight over the next Speaker of the Ohio House continues to take strange turns.

There still aren’t any voting sessions scheduled in the Ohio House this week. But the leader of majority Republicans has put forward a new way to end the impasse.

There is no official action scheduled in the Ohio House on Tuesday. Over the holiday weekend there was talk, but little change in the saga over who will be the Speaker till the end of the year.

Now, acting Speaker Kirk Schuring says he’s willing to stay on, while the representative with the most votes says "no deal."

Accusations are flying at the State Capitol as the Ohio House continues in disorder without a speaker. The lawmaker considered to be the frontrunner says his rivals, such as the payday lending industry, are pulling the strings to delay a vote. But a top lending association is mounting its own, major accusation.

Ohio House sessions for this week have, once again, been cancelled due to controversy over who will be the next speaker. The fight that’s been brewing between majority Republicans in the House is now affecting the business of the legislature, and is leading to some sharp party infighting.