Rep. Larry Householder was elected to Ohio’s Speaker of the House this week, after a contentious fight for the top Statehouse spot between him and current Speaker Ryan Smith.
Householder, a Republican who held that seat from 2001-2004, ran for House Speaker on a platform of bipartisanship as well as a pro-union message. Most unions supported his bid for the speakership and House Democrats in particular helped take him over the finish line.
After winning the vote, Householder said he would run the business of lawmaking differently and promised to: change House rules to allow Democrats to offer amendments that would get an up or down vote; hire a professional to run Human Resources; broadcast live all committees; and create bi-partisan standing subcommittees for education, energy and criminal justice.
In addition, Householder has said he’ll oppose Right to Work and bills like Senate Bill 5 that would weaken unions.
After the vote, Cleveland.com reported on Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga’s support for Householder: “Ohio AFL-CIO President Tim Burga told cleveland.com in an interview that he was ‘pleased’ with Householder’s election. Burga said Householder has long shown that he opposes key issues to his union, including so-called ‘right to work’ legislation to prohibit private-sector labor union membership as a condition of employment and anti-collective bargaining bills such as Senate Bill 5, which was repealed by voters in 2011 amid a firestorm of criticism.”