John Becker
Member of the Ohio House of Representatives
from the 65th district
In office
January 7, 2013 – December 31, 2020
Preceded byJoe Uecker
Succeeded byJean Schmidt
Personal details
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceClermont County, Ohio
EducationNorthern Kentucky University (BS)
Xavier University (MBA)

John Becker is an American politician who served as a member of the Ohio House of Representatives for the 65th district.[1]

Early life and education

Becker was raised in Fort Thomas, Kentucky. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in management from Northern Kentucky University and a Master of Business Administration with an emphasis on taxation from Xavier University.[2]

Career

Becker has also served as a Republican State Central Committee and Clermont County Republican Central Committee member[3] and is a tax accountant and utility consultant.[4]

Becker was elected to his first term in November 2012,[4] defeating Democrat Steve Myers with 68.7% of the vote.[5]

Ohio Legislature

Becker claims to be the most conservative politician in the Ohio legislature.[6] He introduced bills in 2013 to allow state employees to carry guns on the job in most state buildings and to prohibit law enforcement agencies from destroying firearms confiscated by the police.[7]

In 2003, before his election to the legislature, Becker wrote a letter to the editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer pointing out that as Massachusetts had recently allowed same-sex marriage, the federal government was required to amend the Constitution to prohibit such unions, or failing that expel Massachusetts from the Union.[8] The previous year, in another such letter, he proposed allowing Alaska to leave the Union so that it would be free to produce more oil.[9]

HB 182

In April 2019, John Becker sponsored Ohio HB 182, drafted with assistance of Barry Sheets (a lobbyist for the Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio),[10] which prevents insurance from covering birth control and pregnancy termination (unless maternal life is at risk). However, he drew widespread condemnation for including a clause stipulating that insurance should cover implantation of an ectopic pregnancy into the uterus. This is not an existing procedure, and it is believed by the medical community to be impossible.[11]

COVID-19 and impeachment

In August 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Becker drew up impeachment papers against Governor Mike DeWine of Ohio; Nino Vitale and Paul Zeltwanger co-sponsored and were later joined by Candice Keller.[12] The move was criticized by legal scholars and commentators.[13][12][14][15] Ohio Republican Party Chair Jane Timken "issued a scathing condemnation of the trio of conservatives",[16] calling the move “a baseless, feeble attempt at creating attention for themselves.”[12] Ohio House Speaker, Republican Bob Cupp, called it an "imprudent attempt" to cause "a state constitutional crisis".[17] Legal scholar Jonathan Entin said the proposal "means that we’ve distorted our understanding both of what impeachment is supposed to do and how people – especially, elected officials – are supposed to disagree with each other. Do we really want to say that the government can’t act in an emergency because the officials are afraid that if they do anything, they’ll be removed from office? Of course, if they don’t do anything, maybe the response is going to be ‘Well you should be impeached for not acting.'"[14] CNN's Chris Cillizza analyzed it as one of several examples of how Donald Trump had politicized public health matters to the point Republican lawmakers felt they needed to make extreme and pointless moves in order to satisfy the base.[15] After the representatives formally filed the articles at the end of November, DeWine recommended they visit a hospital and talk to nurses.[18] On December 1, Becker went on Tucker Carlson Tonight where he stated, "20 of the 88 counties in Ohio filed private citizen affidavit, which is seeking criminal charges against the Governor."[19]

Personal life

He is married with two children.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "John Becker - House District 65". Ohio House of Representatives. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "Representative John Becker (R) - Biography | The Ohio House of Representatives". ohiohouse.gov. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
  3. ↑ "John Becker Sworn In As State Representative Of The 65th House District". Ohio House of Representatives. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  4. 1 2 "Officials take oaths of office Friday, Dec. 28". Clermont Sun. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Ohio House of Representatives: November 6, 2012". Ohio Secretary of State. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Brent Larkin (6 July 2013). "A red county, Clermont County, Ohio, and its far-right state rep: Brent Larkin". cleveland.com. Retrieved 4 April 2014.
  7. ↑ "Lawmaker promises more gun bills, latest would change what is considered automatic weapons" (PDF). Statehouse Update. Ohio Township Association. 2013-06-14. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  8. ↑ "Text of Massachusetts letter". John Becker for Ohio. Archived from the original on April 15, 2019. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  9. ↑ text of letter at http://www.beckergop.com/Other/Letters/Alaska.htm
  10. ↑ "Lawmaker Says He Didn't Research Ectopic Pregnancy Procedure Before Adding To Bill". Washington Post. 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  11. ↑ Epstein, Kayla. "A sponsor of an Ohio abortion bill thinks you can reimplant ectopic pregnancies. You can't". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2019-05-10. Retrieved 2019-12-14.
  12. 1 2 3 Pelzer, Jeremy; clevel; .com (2020-08-24). "Articles of impeachment drawn up against Gov. Mike DeWine over coronavirus orders". cleveland. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  13. ↑ "Articles of impeachment drawn up against Gov. Mike DeWine over coronavirus orders". Cleveland. Cleveland. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  14. 1 2 Pelzer, Jeremy; clevel; .com (2020-08-24). "The move to impeach Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine: A necessary step, or a blow to democracy?". cleveland. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  15. 1 2 Cillizza, Chris (26 August 2020). "Some Ohio Republicans are trying to impeach the state's GOP governor over coronavirus". CNN. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  16. ↑ Gstalter, Morgan (2020-08-25). "Ohio Republicans draft articles of impeachment against GOP governor over coronavirus orders". TheHill. Retrieved 2020-08-26.
  17. ↑ Balmert, Jessie. "Ohio House Speaker Bob Cupp opposes GOP-led effort to impeach Gov. Mike DeWine". The Enquirer. Retrieved 2020-08-25.
  18. ↑ "Editorial: Governor needs ability to act quickly". The Lima News. 2020-12-05. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  19. ↑ "What Are The Responses to The 12 New Impeachment Articles?". Impeachment Resolution Against Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. Unofficial Wiki's of History. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
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