Applicants for vacant Ohio House seat announced

COLUMBUS - A panel will meet in early January to select one of 10 applicants seeking to fill Ohio's vacant  87th House District seat. The new member is expected to be sworn in on Jan. 17.

Speaker of the Ohio House Clifford A. Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, Friday announced the applicants who met the deadline to be screened to fill the seat left vacant by the resignation of Wesley Goodman, who resigned last month in the wake of inappropriate sexual behavior.

The applicants are Patricia Davies, Kurt Fankhauser, Kathryn Grasz, Sean Martin, Riordan McClain, Edward C. Pfeifer, Steve Reinhard, Doug Weisenauer, Michael Wheeler and Tom Whiston.
 
The 87th District includes all of Crawford, Morrow and Wyandot counties and parts of Marion and Seneca counties.

Speaker Pro Tempore Kirk Schuring, R-Canton, was selected to chair the screening panel. Other members are state representatives Bill Reineke, R-Tiffin; Dorothy Pelanda, R-Marysville; Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson; and Nathan Manning, R-North Ridgeville.
 
Goodman, R-Cardington, resigned last month after Rosenberger was told Goodman had consensual sex with a man in his taxpayer-provided office earlier this year. More allegations of sexual misconduct and assault surfaced shortly after Goodman resigned.