Butler County Republican Party Chairman David E. Kern said no one has officially expressed an interest in Cates’ seat, but, “I do expect several people will step forward.”
While Cates’ replacement would be appointed by the Ohio Senate, Kern said the Butler County party is allowed to, and intends to, make a recommendation.
“Any person who might be interested in applying for that seat should make their wishes known to the party,” said Kern, who also is a Liberty Twp. trustee. “We will go through a screening process and we (the GOP Executive Committee) plan to hold a meeting to vote on a recommendation on May 18.
“If a recommendation is made, we’ll submit that to the president of the Ohio Senate,” he said.
Cates, 55, will serve, effective May 23, as the regents’ senior vice chancellor for Innovation and Enterprise Development, according to Petro’s released statement.
“The governor (John Kasich) and I have known Sen. Cates for many years and know that he brings strong leadership in education and innovation, along with a reputation for aggressively moving forward important initiatives on behalf of all Ohioans,” Petro stated.
The Ohio Board of Regents is a nine-member advisory board to the chancellor with two ex-officio representatives from the state legislature. Responsibilities include developing an independent annual report on the Condition of Higher Education in the Ohio.
Cates graduated from one of the nation’s first charter universities, Virginia Tech, and his experience on education issues includes serving as a member and past chairman of the Senate education committee. Cates also has served for the past year as an adjunct faculty member at Miami University.
Cates is currently in his second Senate term, representing Ohio’s 4th Senate District, which includes all of Butler County. Because of Ohio’s term limits, he is not permitted to seek re-election when his term expires in December 2012.
Prior to joining the Senate, he served four terms in the Ohio House of Representatives and for two terms was speaker pro tempore — the second-highest leadership post.