The new Ohio House Speaker is announcing appointments to big leadership roles. Republican Rep. Ryan Smith is the newly-selected chairman of what’s considered to be one of the top House committees.
Smith, of southeast Ohio, will serve his second full term in the House as chair of the finance and appropriations committee.
He says he sees himself as a fair and pragmatic leader. Smith and House Speaker Cliff Rosenberger represent a wave of newer elected officials assuming bigger roles in the General Assembly.
Smith says he recognizes the value of experienced lawmakers, but there’s also a lot that the new leaders can bring to the table.
“No reflection on anybody who’s been here awhile but in a lot of cases through life if somebody’s done something for quite a while it’s hard for them to look at it a different way and just because we’ve always done it one way doesn’t make it the right way or the best way so I think that’s going to be key moving forward is everybody’s open-minded,” he said.
The finance committee oversees the budget, which Gov. John Kasich will release in February.