Brian L. Ellis (born 1969) is a former member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

, who represented the 11th House district in Butler County. He served as Chairman of the House Consumer Affairs Committee until 2019.

Personal

Born in 1969 in

Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is north of Pittsburgh and part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,502. Butler is named after Major General ...

, Ellis graduated from Butler Senior High School and graduated from the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

with a degree in communications. Prior to his election, he worked for his family's automobile dealership in Western Pennsylvania.

Political career

Ellis first won a seat in the House in 2004, finishing first in a three-way

Republican Party (United States) The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing political parties in the United States, political party in the United States. One of the Two-party system, two major parties, it emerged as t ...

primary and going on to defeat Democrat Fred Vero with 55.9% of the vote. In 2006, he defeated a challenger in the Republican primary with 78% of the vote and won the general election over Democrat Bill Neel with over 64% of the vote. Ellis was unopposed in the 2008 primary and was opposed in the general election by Democrat Dave Wilson. He was re-elected in the 2010 general election. Ellis has served as the Pennsylvania State Leader for the

American Legislative Exchange Council The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a nonprofit organization of conservatism in the United States, conservative state legislature (United States), state legislators and private sector representatives who draft and share Model act, ...

(ALEC).

Accusations and Resignation

In January 2019, the Dauphin County District Attorney's Office opened a criminal investigation into allegations Ellis had raped a female state employee while she was incapacitated, prompting members of the Pennsylvania state house, including the Republican leadership, to call for his resignation. The victim later issued a complaint to the Pennsylvania House Ethics Committee detailing the alleged assault. Ellis, who was married at the time, denied the accusations, but leading Republicans began to call for a full investigation. He resigned on March 18, 2019, six days after the complaint was issued. In August 2019, Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo declined to charge Ellis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Brian Living people University of Pittsburgh alumni People from Butler County, Pennsylvania Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives 1969 births State and local political sex scandals in the United States 21st-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly