Joseph R. Pitts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joe Pitts
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 16th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1997
Preceded by	Bob Walker
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 158th district
In office January 2, 1973 – November 30, 1996
Preceded by	Benjamin J. Reynolds
Succeeded by	Chris Ross
Born	October 10, 1939 (1939-10-10) (age 70) Lexington, Kentucky
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Virginia Pratt "Ginny" Pitts (1968-present)
Residence	Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
Alma mater	Asbury College, West Chester University
Occupation	Teacher
Religion	Evangelical Christian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	Vietnam War
Awards	Air Medal

Joseph R. "Joe" Pitts (born October 10, 1939) is a Republican Congressman for the state of Pennsylvania, currently representing Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district (map) in the U.S. House since 1997. The district is based in Lancaster and includes much of Amish country. It also includes most of Reading and the far southwestern suburbs of Philadelphia in Chester County.

Pitts was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and he graduated from Asbury College. Pitts served five and a half years in the United States Air Force, with three tours in Vietnam. Initially commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, he was promoted to Captain by the time he left the service. He graduated second in his class from Navigator School, after which he was trained as an Electronic Warfare officer. As an EW officer, he served on B-52 Stratofortresss out of Westover Air Force Base, Massachusetts, with payloads of nuclear bombs. In all, he completed 116 combat missions in the Vietnam War and earned an Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters.

After leaving the Air Force in 1969, he moved to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania; a suburb of Philadelphia and the hometown of his wife, Ginny. They built a house there, where they still live today. Pitts was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1972, representing part of Chester County.

After 10-term Republican congressman Bob Walker opted not to run for reelection in 1996, Pitts won a crowded four-way primary. This was tantamount to election in this heavily Republican district. He has been reelected six times with no substantive opposition, and faced no major-party opposition in 2002.

Pitts visited Afghanistan after the fall of the Taliban and Pakistan in 2002. He visited Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, and Israel in 2008 as part of a Congressional Delegation.^[1]

Pitts is an advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act^[2] and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.^[3]

Pitts has a very conservative voting record, somewhat surprising since President Obama only lost this district by 3%, 51-48%. He received 100% ratings from the American Conservative Union in 2005 and the Christian Coalition in 2004. ^[4] In 2002 Pitts was angered after a federal judge ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments from the Chester County courthouse, releasing a press statement that said, "I think that religion and the Ten Commandments in particular should have a role in our public life" and supported The Ten Commandments Defense Act (H.R. 2045). ^[5] Since his first term Pitts has been chairman of the Values Action Team, a subgroup of the Republican Study Committee that coordinates legislation with the Christian right.^[6]

Over the years Pitts has received 100% ratings from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 0% ratings from Public Citizens Congress Watch. In 2008 the ACLU gave him an 18% rating, the Human Rights Campaign gave him a score of 0%, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights gave him a score of 4%. In 2007-08 the John Birch Society gave him a score of 67%, and the American Conservative Union gave him a 100% rating, as did the Christian Coalition. Others: American Association of University Women, 2007-8, 16%; Republicans for Environmental Protection, 7% in 2007; and the Children's Health Fund, 2007-8, 0%; National Rifle Association, 2008, A; Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 2003, 0%; National Breast Cancer Coalition, 2007-8, 0%; Children's Health Fund 2007-8, 0%. Ratings from labor groups are consistently at or near 0%; the Alliance for Worker Freedom, 2008, 100%. ^[7]

The Fellowship, also known as The Family, a controversial secretive Christian organization, through Senator Brownback and Representative Pitts redirected millions in US aid to Uganda from sex education programs to abstinence programs, causing an evangelical revival in Uganda, which included condom burnings, and doubling the incidence of AIDS.^[8]

The Fellowship has brought controversial international figures to Washington to meet with US officials. Among them are former Salvadoran Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, who in 2002 was found liable by a civil jury in Florida for the torture of thousands of civilians in the 1980s. He was invited to the 1984 prayer breakfast, along with Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, then head of the Honduran armed forces who was linked to a death squad and the CIA. ^{[9] [10]}

The Stupak–Pitts Amendment is an amendment to America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 written by Pitts and Democrat Bart Stupak of Michigan, and inserted abortion into the national health overhaul debate. This amendment continues his longtime opposition to abortion.

[edit] 2006 Election

Pitts originally promised to serve only 10 years (five terms) in the House, but announced he would run again in 2006 amid considerable controversy. [1] Joseph Pitts' challengers in the November 7, 2006 election were Democrat Lois Herr and independent candidate John Murphy. Pitts won reelection with 57% of the vote to Herr's 39% and Murphy's 4%.

[edit] 2008 Election

In November 2008, Pitts ran for reelection. His opponents were Navy veteran and construction contractor Bruce Slater (Democratic Party) and candidate Dan Frank (Constitution Party). Pitts won the election with 56% of the votes. The top contributors to his campaign were health care and communications entities. ^[11]

[edit] Congressional committee assignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
  • Subcommittee on Health
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection
• Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe

House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans - Full Committee Membership
House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans - Subcommittees

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Joe Pitts official House site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Pitts cosponsor of H.R. 4411: Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act