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Senator says GOP must move quickly to replace Schuler

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By Denise G. Callahan, Staff Writer 1:23 PM Wednesday, June 24, 2009

A day after his funeral, no one wanted to really talk about who will succeed state Sen. Robert Schuler, but one state senator said they need to replace him quickly.

Schuler was laid to rest on Tuesday, June 23, following a long bout with cancer. Sen. Bill Seitz, a Cincinnati Republican, said the Republican caucus planned to meet today to discuss the procedure for finding Schuler’s successor.

Generally, he said a smaller panel of the 20 remaining Republican senators would likely screen candidates and make a recommendation to Senate President Bill Harris. Harris would then offer the candidate up for a vote of the rest of the Senate Republicans, Seitz said.

He said the process would likely take at least a month in order for the committee to do its due diligence, but even that time span is too long, he said.

“My guess is we will want to move quickly,” Seitz said. “Frankly, I wish we could have moved even more quickly because of the financial meltdown in this state. The quicker we get all hands on deck the better it will be because we need that spot replaced.”

Seitz said he knows of three people who will likely apply, state Rep. Shannon Jones of Springboro and former state representatives — both were term limited — Michelle Schneider and Tom Brinkman.

“That makes it two from Hamilton County and one from Warren County,” said Lori Viars of the Warren County Republican Party. “That should make it interesting. I don’t know if geography counts or not.”

When reached today, Jones did not want to discuss the possibility so soon after Schuler’s death. Brinkman and Schneider could not be reached for comment.

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