The chairman of the interim legislative Revenue and Transportation Committee (RAT) has traditionally switched from party to party and chamber to chamber.  The last chairman was a Senate Democrat, so this interim's chairman should be a House Republican.  House Taxation Committee Chairman Bob Lake (R-Hamilton) was in line to take over as chairman, but at RAT's June 21 meeting, Democrats blocked his election to the chair.

It's no surprise that Democrats would transition their partisan gamesmanship from the session to the interim, but the whole scheme smacks of pettiness.  Legislative Democrats launched an unprecedented assault on taxpayer rights during the last session, much of it coordinated by the state Department of Revenue, and all indications point to this antagonistic attitude continuing into the election cycle.  But for them to use a usually diplomatic interim committee as a platform to make a political stand is an indication that all the talk of bipartisanship is just empty rhetoric.