DAYTON DAILY NEWS                   Copyright (c) 1996, Dayton Newspapers Inc.DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996                 TAG: 9606010069EDITION: CITY           SECTION: METRO TODAY PAGE: 3B SOURCE: By John Chalfant        ASSOCIATED PRESS                  ETHICS CHARGES: JUDGE WON'T DROP RIFFE CASE    * The ex-House speaker is charged with two counts of filing false statements.   COLUMBUS - A Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge on Friday refused to dismiss an indictment on misdemeanor ethics charges against former House Speaker Vern Riffe.   But the scheduled June 11 trial was postponed until July 1 as a result of what defense lawyers said was prosecutors' last-minute attempt to expand the case.   Riffe, a Democrat from Wheelersburg, attended Friday's pre-trial hearing. He declined to comment about the case on advice of his lawyers but chatted amiably with reporters about other matters and seemed in good spirits.   Riffe is charged with two counts of filing false statements, a first-degreemisdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. He is accused of failing to disclose $4,500 in honoraria from billionaire retailer Les Wexner's company, The Limited.   Riffe's lawyers had asked Judge David Fais to dismiss the indictments because the law required a legislative ethics committee to make an independentfinding before a legislator could be prosecuted.   Fais ruled the prosecutor had independent authority to investigate alleged ethics violations of legislators or other public officials.   He said the law did not specifically require a prosecutor to wait until after a committee referral.   ``If this were the case, numerous ethics violations by legislators could goundisclosed to either the prosecuting authority or the general public,'' Fais said.   He said giving the legislature sole regulation of its members' ethical violations would not serve the best interests of the public.   ``The court also finds that it would be unconstitutional for the General Assembly to pass and enforce criminal laws against its own members without a check by another branch of government,'' Fais said.   Other pre-trial motions that remain pending include a defense attempt to restrict charges in the indictment and to develop a questionnaire for use in screening potential jurors for a trial expected to last at least two weeks.   Terry Sherman, one of Riffe's lawyers, objected to an 11th hour prosecutionmotion that Sherman said accused Riffe of multiple false statements instead ofthe two in the indictment.   More arguments over that issue were expected next week. In the meantime, Fais delayed the trial and expressed his frustration at being forced to do so.   ``I'm a little bothered by this whole thing. The state has put me in a realsituation here. What you've done is throw some more wrenches into this thing,'' Fais told prosecutors.   Senate President Stanley Aronoff, R-Cincinnati, was charged in the same case with Riffe, but Aronoff pleaded guilty in February to less serious charges. Aronoff was fined $500 and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.LENGTH: Medium:   69 LINESSUBJ: CHARGES      ETHICS      POSTPONEMENT NA: VERN RIFFE GEOG: FRANKLIN COUNTY AT: FILING FALSE STATEMENTS    HONORARIA  ENHANCER: REF8