COLUMBUS — Former state Sen. Cliff Hite (R., Findlay) on Wednesday admitted to “inappropriate behavior” with a female state employee and accepted blame, but he stressed there had been no “inappropriate physical contact.”
The senator surprised many with his sudden resignation Monday night. Senate President Larry Obhof (R., Medina) said he “strongly suggested” that Mr. Hite resign after the president became aware of an allegation against him.
Statements from Cliff and Diane Hite. pic.twitter.com/2WlpA2uh1q
— Cliff Hite (@Cliff_Hite) October 18, 2017
Mr. Hite did not return multiple calls from The Blade.
But in a statement, released via social media accompanied by one from his wife, he said the combination of his “mistake in judgment” and his “failing health” convinced him to step down now with more than a year left in his current term.
He said the state employee in question, whom neither he nor Mr. Obhof identified, did not work for the Senate. Sources have identified the employee as being with the separate Legislative Service Commission, which helps lawmakers in both chambers draft proposed legislation.
“After we met, I sometimes asked her for hugs and talked with her in a way that was not appropriate for a married man, father, and grandfather like myself,” Mr. Hite said. “Beyond those hugs, there was no inappropriate physical contact.
“I recognize that this was inappropriate behavior,” he said. “She deserves more respect than that and so does my wife. I apologize completely. This is no one's fault but my own. I'm proud of my long career as a teacher, coach, and legislator but I'm not proud how I acted with this person.”
Mr. Obhof said he became aware of allegations against Mr. Hite on Oct. 13, after which discussions about Mr. Hite’s options began. He declined to get into specifics about the allegations.
“I think he did the right thing by accepting responsibility by apologizing for his actions,” Mr. Obhof said.
Mr. Hite has been in the General Assembly since 2007, first in the House before being appointed to a vacancy in the Senate in early 2011. The large 1st Senate District represents most of the rural northwestern corner of the state. He chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee.
He said he has suffered serious illnesses recently and faces two surgeries next month.
“I just don’t have the strength to continue to travel back and forth from Northwest Ohio in Columbus each week and make my way around such a large Senate district,” he said.
The tall and imposing former University of Kentucky football player and Findlay High School coach has an equally big personality, frequently smiling and offering his hand. He rarely gave a floor speech that didn’t contain a joke or anecdote, often about football.
“I love my husband and he’s a good man, but he made a mistake here,” his wife, Diane Hite, wrote in her statement. “He told me all about it, apologized to me, and I forgive him. We don’t have a perfect marriage and, like so many couples, we’ve had some hard times in our relationship.”
She said the two are in counseling and expressed hope both the marriage and her husband’s health will improve.
Nancy Stephani, chairman of the Hancock County Democratic Party, has known Mr. Hite for years. The two each have children about the same age.
She said she always liked Mr. Hite and respected his ability to legislate for the greater good.
“It saddens me, and I hope he's OK,” Ms. Stephani said.
As for the election, Ms. Stephani is assertively encouraging a few potential candidates.
“We were looking at it before, but now I think this opens the door even wider because there's a hole to fill,” she said.
Meanwhile, the 1st District — stretching from Logan County to the southeast, west to the Indiana border, and north to the Michigan border — will be unrepresented in the Senate. Even without his vote, Senate Republicans still hold a majority of 22-9 in the chamber.
The Senate will soon begin the search for his replacement, most likely through a screening committee.
Mr. Obhof said he hopes to fill the seat within a month. The district is so strongly Republican that Democrats offered no opposition to Mr. Hite when he won re-election in 2014.
Mr. Hite’s swift resignation came amid heightened awareness and publicity about sexual harassment in the workplace, from the hills of Hollywood to the halls of government.
Ohio senators are not required to participate in sexual harassment training, something the private sector has increasingly engaged in. That’s about to change.
“At the beginning of each legislative cycle our caucus has a retreat where we do a number of things including covering legislative ethics laws and campaign finance laws,” Mr. Obhof said. “I think moving forward…we will include this as part of that…In the short term, we plan to have something like that for members and staff of both parties in the near future.”
Participation would be mandatory.
In the experience of Fred Gittes, board member and legislative counsel for the Ohio Employment Lawyers Association, the lack of mandatory training makes the Senate an outlier.
“Most of the larger institutions — and government is one of the bigger ones — has some form of [equal opportunity] training, which includes aspects of discrimination and harassment beyond sexual harassment. That is always included in some type of training,” he said.
He said the lack of such training could also be taken into consideration by courts when it comes to the outcome of harassment litigation.
Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com or 614-221-0496.
Contact Ryan Dunn at rdunn@theblade.com, 419-724-6095, or on Twitter @RDunnBlade.
First Published October 18, 2017, 12:44 p.m.
