08. Former House Speaker John Boehner To Be Honored At Local Boy Scout Event

The Spirit of Scouting recognizes individuals of outstanding character or those who embody the Scout oath and law in their daily lives. Speaker Boehner was chosen as the 2016 Spirit of Scouting Award recipient in recognition of his outstanding service to this nation and to the local region. The dinner is the premier fundraising event in the Boy Scouts Of America Ft. Hamilton District, increasing Scouting awareness and support in the community. Donations support local programming and outreach services for youth building leadership, character, good citizenship, and personal fitness.

A former small businessman, John Boehner served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives for nearly five years during which he led the drive for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable federal government. Growing up, Boehner played football at Cincinnati’s Moeller High School and attended Xavier University. While working to pay his way through Xavier University, he met Debbie – his wife of 41 years – and started his own small business. He and Debbie still live in the home where they raised their two daughters, Lindsay and Tricia. John got involved in state and local government after seeing firsthand how high taxes and red tape impact entrepreneurs. Then in 1990, the voters sent John to the U.S. House, where he took a strong stand against pork-barrel spending and, as part of the reform-minded “Gang of Seven,” forced the closure of the scandal-ridden House Bank and House Post Office.

Boehner’s reputation as a reformer grew as he worked alongside then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), helping to craft the historic 1994 Contract with America and helping to lead the effort to enact the first balanced federal budget in a generation. Later, as Chairman of the House Committee on Education & the Workforce, he wrote legislation to expand school choice, strengthen America’s pension system, and reform the federal education bureaucracy to demand results for students and parents. Elected as House Majority Leader in 2006 and chosen to become House Republican Leader later that year, Boehner led the opposition to job-crushing proposals such as President Obama’s “cap and trade” initiative and ObamaCare while promoting better solutions to the challenges facing American families. On January 5, 2011, Boehner took the gavel as Speaker of the House following the historic 2010 election in which Congressional Republicans, under Boehner’s leadership, picked up 63 seats in the U.S. House. Armed with the Pledge to America – a new governing agenda reflecting the priorities of the American people – Speaker Boehner focused on removing government barriers to private-sector job creation and economic growth, addressing the drivers of America’s debt, eliminating pork-barrel “earmarks” and reforming Congress, and rebuilding the bonds of trust between the American people and their representatives in Washington.

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All proceeds from the event will benefit the Fort Hamilton District of the Dan Beard Council, Boy Scouts of America, serving thousands of local youth in the region. Doug Bolton of Cushman & Wakefield will be the event emcee. The Spirit of Scouting committee includes Lynda O’Connor (Chair), Kathy Schwable (Co-Chair), Dave Bruno, Erin Clemons, Don Crain, Matt Ferguson, George Lang, Christine Matacic, Ian Murray and Troy Schwable.

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