Beth Lear
Republican | Ohio
Candidate Profile*
Verified Conservative
*Additional information appears below for educational purposes; however, only data received prior to the candidate deadline was considered during Panel Evaluation.
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Beth Lear
Party
Republican
Election Year
2022
Election
Republican Legislative Primary
Race
State Representative, Dist. 61
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
The Ohio State University, Columbus, BA - International Relations, 1991
WORK & MILITARY
Ohio Air National Guard, Staff Sergeant, 6
AFFILIATIONS
NRA, member, contributor, volunteer, End the Ohio Estate Tax Campaign
Central Ohio coordinator, charter school board member, previous member of 2 boards and past President of a 3rd, new member of central Ohio's first Hillsdale charter Heart of Ohio Classical Academy
Delaware County Port Authority Board, was appointed by County Commissioners, helped repeal prevailing wage for Port Authorities, Delaware County Republican Central Committee
appointed and elected member, Relationships Under Construction Board, was a Board member
Delaware County Public Library Board, appointed by Commissioners after exposing Drag 101 class, American Legion Post 457
member, Delaware Bible Church, member
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
Delaware County Republican Central Committee, 11
Delaware County Republican Executive Committee, 4
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
State Representative, 2010, 2016
Race
Previous Races
ENDORSEMENTS*
*These endorsements were received after the deadline and were not considered in the Panel Evaluations and are for additional educational purposes only.
CONSERVATIVE (7)
*Associated Builders & Contractors of Ohio
Citizens for Community Values Action
Cleveland Right to Life
Ohio Republican PAC
Ohio Right to Life PAC
OTHER (1)
Knox County Republican Party
REPORTED BY CANDIDATE (10)
Knox County Republican Party
Associated Builders and Contractors of Ohio (ABC of Ohio)
Central Ohio Associated Builders and Contractors
Ohio Right to Life PAC
National Association for Gun Rights
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (7)
Alice Nicks (2020)
Andrew Brenner (2021)
Jim Jordan (2019)
Melanie Leneghan (2018)
Ohio Republican PAC (2021)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (19)
Alice Nicks (2022)
Bill Dean (2022)
Diana Fessler (2022)
James Burgess (2015)
Jamie Callender (2016)
OTHER INFORMATION
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Under what circumstances should abortion be allowed?
None. The only possible exception would be in the extreme and unlikely circumstance where the doctor cannot save both the mother and the baby, then the parents of the unborn child would be the ones to make the final decision.
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive funds from federal, state, or local governments (including Title X grants).
Strongly Agree
I support 'aid in dying' laws which legalize assisted suicide and euthanasia.
Strongly Disagree
ECONOMY
What changes, if any, should be made to the tax code?
Ohio should eliminate the gas tax increase, eliminate the income tax, review which taxes are broad and low so we can fund necessary government without causing excess harm to certain businesses/industries like the Commercial Activity Tax (CAT) does, substantially cut back the number of governmental entities with the authority to tax, prohibit any governmental entity that is not elected from having the authority to tax, limit and in some cases eliminate the amount municipalities can tax workers who do not reside there or who work only for a limited time within their jurisdiction and cut property taxes.
What government spending would you reduce in order to balance the budget?
Government handouts like medicaid and welfare need an audit and an overhaul to limit recipients to the truly needy. All agencies need an audit to see how they are spending, what can be cut and which agencies can be eliminated.
Taxpayer-funded public education should be guaranteed through college.
Strongly Disagree
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Individuals and businesses should be required to provide services even if it would violate their moral and/or religious beliefs.
Strongly Disagree
Under what circumstances can government close churches?
None
HEALTHCARE
What most closely matches your view on healthcare: A) Healthcare for all should be guaranteed and funded by the government with no private healthcare option. (includes "universal healthcare," "medicare for all," etc.) B) Healthcare insurance funded by the government should be available for all who want it, along with private healthcare options. C) Medicaid and Medicare should remain available, but no other taxpayer-funded programs are necessary. D)Tax-payer funded health care should be abolished in all forms, and Medicaid and Medicare should be de-funded.
C) but like welfare these programs need to be audited and provided for only the truly needy.
Under what circumstances (if any) should a government, school, or employer be allowed to require vaccinations?
None
NATIONAL SECURITY
What should the United States do to help eradicate the threat of Islamic terrorism?
Defend our borders from illegal entry. Military intervention overseas should always be a last resort, only when absolutely necessary and NEVER for nation building.
I support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement to pressure Israel to withdraw from occupied territories, remove the separation barrier in the West Bank, allow full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and promote the rights of Palestinian refugees.
Strongly Disagree
IMMIGRATION
The U.S. should do more to physically secure the southern border.
Strongly Agree
Who should be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. and under what circumstances?
Individuals who apply for citizenship, wait their turn, have jobs (no welfare or taxpayer funds for them to live here) and fulfill all the responsibilities of legal immigrants.
EDUCATION
I support school choice, including voucher programs, tax credits, charter schools, private schools, and home schools.
Strongly Agree
I support school choice and have been an education policy analyst for over 15 years. As an analyst, I worked for the only conservative think tank in Ohio, the Buckeye Institute, on education issues. I helped write bills to eliminate criterion referenced testing and authored the amendment that got rid of the PARCC assessment. I have worked with school choice advocates to provide options for inner city children, and promise to fight divisive curriculum and support parents' and students' rights.
VALUES
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality which is necessary for our system of limited government.
Strongly Agree
As John Adams said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government any other."
I support adding gender identity as a specially protected class in non-discrimination laws.
Strongly Disagree
Marriage is a God-ordained, sacred and legal union of one man and one woman. No government has the authority to alter this definition
Strongly Agree
I agree with Critical Race Theory (CRT) which asserts that the institutions in the United States are fundamentally racist.
Strongly Disagree
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
I am a born again Christian, meaning I recognized my sinful state (at age 15) and understood that Jesus paid the price for those sins - past, present and future. I chose to follow Jesus (age 15 and renewed that vow in my 20s), although imperfectly, and want to be a light to others pointing them to the Author and Perfecter of faith and the only way to a relationship with God. I am praying for a Great Awakening in this nation and worldwide. Jesus, not government, is the ONLY answer to what ails us.
ELECTIONS AND VOTING
People should be able to vote without photo identification.
Strongly Disagree
What laws would you propose to change present voting practices?
Ohio needs a photo only voter ID law. We must prohibit outside organizations/businesses/non-profits like Zuckerberg from influencing our elections, which the Legislature did last year but the bill should be reviewed. We need to begin a forensic audit process of every county over time, beginning with the urban areas. We need to be able to determine citizenship before a person is permitted to vote and prohibit local governments from allowing non-citizens to vote.
EQUALITY
Is racism a threat to domestic security in the United States? Why or why not?
No, but individuals who are agitating for anti-racism, racial segregation and pushing to divide the country based upon race are a threat. America was built upon the idea that all men (and women) are created equal and until recently was striving to become a society where people were judged on the content of their character and not the color of their skin. The latter view best represents our values and provides for the most just society.
Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.
Strongly Disagree
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT
Which comes closest to your view? A) Stricter environmental laws and regulations cost too many jobs and hurt the economy. B) Stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the cost.
A
I support the use of hydraulic fracking to extract oil and natural gas resources.
Strongly Agree
ABOUT YOU
What do you think is the general purpose of government?
The purpose of government is to protect the rights given to us by God and enumerated in the Constitutions of the United States and individual states.
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and religious liberty, which of the following best describes you overall?
Very Conservative
Please provide publicly available information, including interviews and media reports, validating your answer to the previous question (other than your website).
Columbus Dispatch article from February 2022 (it's behind a paywall) - 'Drag 101' controversy resurfaces in Delaware County Library Trustee appointment; articles I wrote for The Ohio Star - https://theohiostar.com/author/blear/; former Board member of Relationships Under Construction which is an abstinence based sex ed program for the public schools that focuses on teaching youth how to have healthy relationships instead of sexualizing them; asked to be the Central Ohio Coordinator for the End the Ohio Estate Tax Campaign; previously endorsed by Ohio Right to Life, Right to Life Action Coalition of Ohio, National Association for Gun Rights, Janet Folger Porter of Faith2Action and COAST; I previously received the highest ratings given to non-incumbent candidates by the NRA and Buckeye Firearms; appointed to the Delaware County Port Authority where I worked with local legislators to get prevailing wage repealed so businesses would choose to use the Port Authorities incentives to expand and build and appointed to the Delaware County Library Board by the current Delaware County Commissioners because I exposed the Drag 101 class and represent the values of my county.
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized in either civil or criminal court for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.
no
What else would you like voters to know about you, including your legislative priorities?
As an education policy analyst, I have worked to ensure parents and students have better educational opportunities. I will also continue to work to protect their rights to know what is being taught and viewed, to opt out of anything objectionable and to take their state-allocated education dollars to the school of their choice - including home education. Girls and boys need to be protected from the movement to abolish sex/gender or expand the number of genders beyond the 2 God created. Children should never share bathrooms or locker rooms and girls need their own sports teams. I will fight the federal government on this issue to protect all our schools from grooming and sexualizing our children and grandchildren. Inflation is out of control and I will diligently seek ways to cut Ohio's spending and size of government to give our citizens more money in their pockets while simultaneously looking for ways to push back on our overreaching, immoral and out-of-control federal government that is destroying our Christian foundations and stealing our freedoms. Our Constitutional rights must be protected by government (sometimes from government) and any overreach by any party or elected or appointed official needs to be exposed, fought and stopped, that includes pay-to-play in my own Republican party.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
Police officers should be personally immune from prosecution for conduct consistent with departmental policy (qualified immunity) while on duty.
Agree
I strongly agree in general, but we must allow for investigations (NOT witch hunts) when individuals are hurt or killed while being pursued, arrested or in custody. I believe nearly 100% of law enforcement officers care about the public they serve and they deserve the benefit of the doubt, but there are always individuals who are "bad actors", so in order to increase public confidence we need transparency.
I support redirecting funds from police departments to mental health and community programs.
Disagree
I would strongly disagree, but am concerned about some departments becoming militarized with equipment that may be more suitable for a war zone than a local police force. Our officers need to be outfitted with everything we can afford to protect them and help them protect society, without crossing the line into militarization. Local governments are in the best position to make these decisions and in general I support a well-funded police force.
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
We should prohibit violent felons who have been found guilty in a court of law from being able to carry concealed, but everyone should be able to defend themselves in their own home.
Victims of gun violence should be able to sue firearms dealers and manufacturers.
Strongly Disagree
