Joseph R. Pitts

Joseph R. Pitts (2013)

Joseph R. "Joe" Pitts (* 10. October 1939 in Lexington , Kentucky ) is an American politician of the Republican . From 1997 to 2017 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives . He did not run again in the 2016 election and therefore left Congress on January 3, 2017.

Family, education and work

Joe Pitts is the son of Pearl Jackson Pitts and the priest Joseph Pitts, who during the Second World War as a military chaplain had worked with the family after the war as a missionary to the Philippines withdrew. After returning to the United States, Joe Pitts attended Asbury College in Wilmore (Kentucky) until 1961 , from which he graduated with a bachelor's degree in philosophy and religion. 1962/63 he taught at a primary school in Versailles (Kentucky) . He then served between 1963 and 1969 in the US Air Force , where he flew 116 sorties, rose to captain and received an Air Medal with oak leaves . He was also used in the Vietnam War. He then studied at West Chester University of Pennsylvania until 1972 , where he obtained a Master of Education (M.Ed.). He then stayed in the state of Pennsylvania, was a teacher at a high school in Malvern from 1969 to 1972 and ran a small gardening business in Unionville from 1974 to 1990 .

He is married to the teacher Virgina M. Pitt (née Pratt) and has three children; his private residence is Kennett Square .

Political career

Pitts began his political career in 1973 when he was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the Republican Party . He was a member of this chamber until 1997. He advocated the preservation of agricultural land, fiscal and tax policy rigor and socio-political conservative positions. In 1990 he played a key role in a law that made abortion difficult.

In the 1996 congressional election , Pitts was elected to the United States House of Representatives in Washington, DC , in the 16th Congressional District of Pennsylvania , where he succeeded Robert Smith Walker on January 3, 1997 . After nine re-elections, he can exercise his mandate in Congress until January 3, 2017. Until then, he will be a member of the Energy and Trade Committee and two sub-committees. As chairman of the local subcommittee on health policy, he ensured, among other things, a change in the financing of the state aid Medicare and, together with the Democrat Bart Stupak, ensured that the provisions of the Hyde Amendment - no state financial aid for abortions except in a few exceptional cases - also for Obama's health reform was committed. He founded a congressional working group on electronic warfare and was a member of a special committee that dealt with human rights violations in Egypt, North Korea and by the Islamic State . He was also a member of the Commission for Security and Cooperation in Europe . In September 2015, Pitts became a member of a committee of inquiry that was supposed to investigate possible wrongdoing by the organization Planned Parenthood after abortion in the removal of tissue from the fetuses. He is considered the most conservative member of the US House of Representatives from his state.

In November 2015, Pitts announced that it would not run again in the upcoming House of Representatives election on November 8, 2016. In the structurally Republican-oriented 16th Congressional constituency in southeastern Pennsylvania (which Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won by six percentage points in 2012) there was a hard-fought primary within the party. For the Democrats, Pitts' retreat presented an opportunity to capture the seat in 2016. Christina M. Hartman , a freelance consultant for non-profit organizations, announced her candidacy in August 2015 before Pitts' announcement . On November 8, 2016, Republican Lloyd Smucker prevailed over Democrat Christina M. Hartmann in the congressional district.

Web links

Commons : Joseph R. Pitts  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Web presence at the congress with curriculum vitae. PDF (English).
• Joseph R. Pitts in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Joe Pitts in the nndb (English)

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b} Full Biography. ( Memento of the original from November 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Pitts.House.gov , accessed November 10, 2015.  
2. ↑ Tom Howell: Joe Pitts to Retire; Pennsylvania Republican Has Served in House Since 1997. In: The Washington Times , November 6, 2015.
3. ^ Valerie Richardson: Six Democrats Picked to Investigate Planned Parenthood Took $ 81,000 From Its PAC. In: The Washington Times , November 6, 2015.
4. ↑ Pennsylvania Senator Says He'll Seek Joe Pitts' 16th District Seat in Congress. ( Memento of the original from November 12, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: WFMZ.com , November 9, 2015 (English).  
5. ^ Simone Pathé, Emily Cahn: Pennsylvania's Joe Pitts Will Not Seek Re-Election. In: Roll Call , November 6, 2015 (English).
6. ↑ Sam Janesch: Democratic Congressional Candidate Christina Hartman Announces Endorsements. In: Lancaster Online , November 5, 2015.