Stephen B. Pence (born December 22, 1953, in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

) is an American attorney who was the 53rd

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

from 2003 to 2007. He took office with fellow

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Ernie Fletcher Ernest Lee Fletcher (born November 12, 1952) is an American physician and politician. In 1998, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives; he resigned in 2003 after being elected the 6 ...

in December 2003.

Education

Pence received BS (1976) and

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

(1978) degrees from

Eastern Kentucky University Eastern Kentucky University (Eastern or EKU) is a public university in Richmond, Kentucky. As a regional comprehensive institution, EKU also maintains branch campuses in Corbin, Hazard, Lancaster, and Manchester and offers over 40 online u ...

, and a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

from the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

in 1981. He received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Eastern Kentucky University in 2004.

Early career

After law school, Pence worked as an assistant attorney general of Kentucky from 1981 to 1982. From 1982 to 1987 he served active duty in the JAG Corps and was stationed in the

Federal Republic of Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated between ...

. Pence was an

Assistant United States Attorney An assistant United States attorney (AUSA) is an official career civil service position in the U.S. Department of Justice composed of lawyers working under the U.S. Attorney of each U.S. federal judicial district. They represent the federal go ...

for the Western District of Kentucky from 1990 to 1995 where he prosecuted a series of high-profile corruption cases, including those in Operation BOPTROT, an FBI investigation that ended in the convictions of over 20 legislators and lobbyists. He received the Kentucky Bar Association's "Outstanding Lawyer Award". He later became partner with the Pedley, Zielke, Gordinier and Pence law firm (1995–2001).

US Attorney

Pence was appointed by President George W. Bush as the

United States Attorney United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal ...

for the Western District of Kentucky and was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to this position on September 24, 2001.

Lieutenant governor

He left the U.S. Attorney's Office in May 2003, to be the Republican Party's nominee for lieutenant governor when Ernie Flecher's original running mate, Hunter Bates, was disqualified from the ticket. They were elected in November 2003. He was the first Republican lieutenant governor to be elected in Kentucky in over five decades. As lieutenant governor, he served at various times as Secretary of the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, Commissioner of

State Police State police, provincial police or regional police are a type of sub-national territorial police force found in nations organized as federations, typically in North America, South Asia, and Oceania. These forces typically have jurisdiction o ...

and Director of Homeland Security. He also was chairman of the Louisville Arena Task Force. On May 31, 2006, just a few weeks after Fletcher had been indicted on charges relating to the practices of hiring, promoting, and firing based on political affiliation, Pence he announced that he would not run for re-election with Fletcher in 2007, had no plans for any other elective office, and would no longer serve as Secretary of the Justice & Public Safety Cabinet. Less than two weeks later, Fletcher accelerated Pence's departure from the Justice Cabinet and named Kentucky National Guard Adjutant General Norman Arflack as Pence's replacement. Fletcher also asked Pence to resign from his role of lieutenant governor, but Pence refused, indicating that he serves as an elected representative of the people. Although Pence maintained that he did not separate himself from Fletcher's re-election effort in order to run for public office himself, there was speculation that he has not ruled out the possibility at some point in the future. In June 2006, Governor Fletcher announced that Robert "Robbie" Rudolph, secretary of the state Finance Cabinet, would be his running mate in his 2007 re-election campaign. As momentum for Kentucky's gubernatorial race began to build, Pence announced in January 2007 that he would not be a candidate for governor, and planned to return to the practice of law once his term of office ended. On February 25, 2007, Pence formally endorsed former

Congresswoman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

Anne Northup Anne Meagher Northup (born January 22, 1948) is an American Republican politician and educator from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. From 1997 to 2007, she represented the Louisville-centered 3rd congressional district of Kentucky in the United ...

over Fletcher in the 2007 governor's race. Fletcher was not elected to a second term, winning the primary election against Northup but ultimately losing the general election to Democrat

Steve Beshear Steven Lynn Beshear (born September 21, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 61st governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was the state's 44th Attorn ...

Current career

In February 2008, Pence retired as a

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

from the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed Forces. Since July 20 ...

, where he served as a military judge in the JAG Corps. He was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight u ...

for his service. In April 2008, Pence was as one of the initial 38 inductees into the

Doss High School Doss High School is a high school located in southwestern Louisville, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2017-2018 school year, there were 1,040 students at the school. Initial naming The school was originally proposed as Wisertown High School, ...

Hall of Fame. Pence now practices law in Louisville, Kentucky. In March 2018, Pence settled a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The commission alleged Pence misled auditors in relation to his interaction with convicted felon Wilbur Anthony Huff and his role as chairman of General Employment Enterprises, Inc. Pence denied any wrongdoing.

Personal

Pence is married to the former Ruth Ann Cox, a practicing attorney in Louisville, Kentucky. Pence has five children: Eileen Pence, Peter Pence, Kay Pence, Joseph Pence and Paige Pence. Peter served as a first lieutenant in the US Army as a military police officer, and Paige is currently a cadet at Auburn University and will be commissioned as a second lieutenant in May 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pence, Steve 1953 births Assistant United States Attorneys Eastern Kentucky University alumni Kentucky lawyers Kentucky Republicans Lieutenant Governors of Kentucky Living people Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky State cabinet secretaries of Kentucky United States Attorneys for the Western District of Kentucky University of Kentucky alumni University of Kentucky College of Law alumni Doss High School alumni