| Former Ohio House Speaker Vernal G. Riffe Jr. died of cancer July 31, 1997. He served in the House for 36 years, including 20 as speaker, and he exercised unparallelled political power. Riffe was an old school politician who demanded, and usually received, complete loyalty from his collegues. He controlled all legislation and expected fellow Democrats to vote his way when asked to do so. After he left office, however, he was caught up in an ethics investigation involving speaking fees. He was indicted on a charge of filing a false disclosure statement regarding honoraria payments. He later pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges. |  |
 Vern Riffe pounds the favel to close his final session as an Ohio legislator on Dec. 29, 1994. ASSOCIATED PRESS | Background on Vern RiffeBorn: June 26, 1925.Died: July 31, 1997 Party: Democratic. Home: New Boston. Family: Widow, Thelma; children, Cathy, Verna, Mary Beth and VernRiffe III. Private profession: Owned an insurance agency in New Boston;maintained a consulting business in Columbus. Legislative career:First elected: 1958; served 36 years.Became speaker: 1975, after engineering a coup to oust a former ally,A.G. Lancione. Legacy: Served as speaker a record 20 years, becoming one of the state's mostpowerful politicians, having virtual signoff on major legislation. Workingwith state Rep. C.J. McLin, he pushed to create the minority set-aside programand increased funding for Central State University. Also pushed through thecreation of Shawnee State University in Portsmouth. Retired: December 1994 Ethics charges:He pleaded guilty July 2, 1996, to misdemeanor charges of failing to reporton state financial forms the interest income from an inheritance. The chargearose from an investigation that he also did not report speaking fees of$4,500. Despite the plea, he maintained he did nothing wrong. |