Robert Bernard Bell III (born April 23, 1967) is an
American politician
The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bi ...
. He has been a
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 ...
member of the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...
since 2002. In 2013, Bell ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for
Attorney General of Virginia
The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election. There are no ...
.
Early life and education
Bell was born in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
on April 23, 1967.
Bell worked as a convention volunteer and part-time intern for game company
Iron Crown Enterprises
Iron Crown Enterprises (ICE) is a publishing company that has produced role playing, board, miniature, and collectible card games since 1980. Many of ICE's better-known products were related to J. R. R. Tolkien's world of Middle-earth, but the ''R ...
(ICE) while attending classes at the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
, and began working for ICE full-time as an editor in 1988.
Bell expanded and unified the ''
Hero System
The ''Hero System'' is a generic role-playing game system that was developed from the superhero RPG '' Champions''. After ''Champions'' fourth edition was released in 1989, a stripped-down version of its ruleset with no superhero or other genre ...
'' from
Hero Games
Hero Games (''DOJ, Inc dba Hero Games'') is the publisher of the Hero System, a generic roleplaying rules set that can be used to simulate many different genres, and was the co-developer of the ''Fuzion'' system.
History
In 1981, George MacDon ...
, licensed by ICE.
The fourth edition of the role-playing game ''
Champions
A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, a ...
'' (1989) was largely the work of Bell; aside from writing the book, he had also coordinated a volunteer effort with dozens of gaming groups to give input and feedback on the ''Hero System''.
Bell left ICE in 1990.
After attending the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...
, Bell served as a state prosecutor in
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
for five years. He later entered politics, occasionally continuing to take criminal defense matters.
Virginia House of Delegates
Election
Bell was elected to the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-number ...
in
November 2001, representing the
58th district in the
Virginia Piedmont
The Piedmont region of Virginia is a part of the greater Piedmont physiographic region which stretches from the falls of the Potomac, Rappahannock, and James Rivers to the Blue Ridge Mountains. The region runs across the middle of the state from ...
, including
Greene County and parts of
Albemarle,
Fluvanna and
Rockingham Counties.
Bell's seat was previously held by
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
.
Abortion
In 2012, Bell voted in favor of a bill requiring all women to undergo a
transvaginal ultrasound
Vaginal ultrasonography is a medical ultrasonography that applies an ultrasound transducer (or "probe") in the vagina to visualize organs within the pelvic cavity. It is also called transvaginal ultrasonography because the ultrasound waves go ''a ...
prior to having an abortion, except in cases of rape and incest, wherein police reports must be presented. While hundreds of people participated in a silent protest outside the Virginia state capitol, Bell, as the bill's patron, postponed a vote on the bill, which passed the next day. On March 1, 2012, Bell voted in favor of an amended version of the bill requiring women to undergo a
transabdominal ultrasound prior to an abortion if written consent for a transvaginal ultrasound is not obtained, and no ultrasound at all if the physician deems it impossible to determine fetal age through the prescribed means.
In 2020, Bell voted against the House Bill 552 on the definition of birth control "for the purposes of the regulation of medicine, as contraceptive methods that are approved by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
and provides that birth control shall not be considered abortion for the purposes of Title 18.2 (Crimes and Offenses Generally)."
Citizenship inquiries
During the 2012 legislative session, Bell was the primary sponsor of a bill requiring police to inquire into the citizenship of anyone arrested, regardless of criminal charges. The bill was widely criticized by civil rights organizations and failed to pass.
Education
In 2012 and 2013, Bell patroned the "Tebow Bill", named for
Tim Tebow, which would allow
homeschooled
Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...
students meeting academic standards the opportunity to participate in public school sports teams and other extracurricular activities.
In 2020, Bell voted against HB-1355 which authorized the development of community schools where parents and children can receive aid from social services.
In 2021, Bell voted against HB-1980 that establishes scholarships and support for descendants of enslaved people to empower them out of the cycle of generational poverty.
Employment
In 2020, Bell voted against HB-984 that allows civil action against an employer that knowingly misclassified an employee often as an independent contractor to avoid properly paying for labor.
In 2020, Bell voted against HB-582 that authorizes local government employees to form unions and bargain collectively.
LGBT community
In 2020, Rob Bell voted against the HB-1663 which "prohibited discrimination; public accommodations, employment, credit, and housing: causes of action; sexual orientation and gender identity"
In 2020, Bell voted against HB-1041 that provided the opportunity for individuals to issue a new certificate to show a change of sex after their transition of their sex and verification from their healthcare provider to prove that the individual underwent the appropriate gender transition procedures.
In 2021, during a special session, Bell voted against HB-2132 which outlined that a person's sexual orientation and identity does not provide a proper defense to any charge of capital murder.
Public safety
As of 2013, Bell serves as the chairman of the Virginia State Crime Commission.
In 2006, Bell proposed legislation to bar violent
sex offender
A sex offender (sexual offender, sex abuser, or sexual abuser) is a person who has committed a sex crime. What constitutes a sex crime differs by culture and legal jurisdiction. The majority of convicted sex offenders have convictions for crim ...
s from school property, following public outrage over a convicted sex offender serving as a
Santa Claus at an elementary school. In 2012, he proposed a bill expanding this ban to cover school buses and school-affiliated events.
In 2008, Bell proposed legislation to require school superintendents to screen job applicants for a history of child abuse convictions in Virginia and other states, as well as criminalize the misrepresentation of an applicant's offender status.
Property rights
Bell sponsored a legislatively referred constitutional amendment seeking to reform
eminent domain
Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...
in Virginia. The effort was initiated in part as a reaction to a
2005 US Supreme Court decision upholding the right of the government to seize property for economic development. The Virginia General Assembly approved the amendment in 2011, and then-Governor Bob McDonnell endorsed it. The proposed amendment was placed on the November 6, 2012, ballot as a statewide referendum, where it was approved.
Attorney General campaigns
On December 6, 2011, Bell announced that he was a candidate for the 2013 Republican nomination for
Attorney General of Virginia
The attorney general of Virginia is an elected constitutional position that holds an executive office in the government of Virginia. Attorneys general are elected for a four-year term in the year following a presidential election. There are no ...
.
State Senator
Mark Obenshain
Mark Dudley Obenshain (born June 11, 1962) is an American Attorney at law, attorney and politician. He is currently serving as a member of the Senate of Virginia from Harrisonburg, Virginia, Harrisonburg. He is a member of the Republican Party of ...
won the
nomination
Nomination is part of the process of selecting a candidate for either election to a public office, or the bestowing of an honor or award. A collection of nominees narrowed from the full list of candidates is a short list.
Political office
In the ...
over Bell by a 55%–45% margin at a
statewide convention in Richmond on May 18, 2013.
On December 3, 2015, Bell announced he would run again for the Republican nomination for Attorney General in the 2017 election, and vowed to oust incumbent
Mark Herring
Mark Rankin Herring (born September 25, 1961) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 47th Attorney General of Virginia from 2014 to 2022. A Democrat, he previously served in the Senate of Virginia since a 2006 special election, ...
, whom he cast as a liberal crusader with no regard for the law.
However, on November 21, 2016, Bell abruptly announced that he was ending his campaign because his children, one of whom has special needs, were facing "new challenges" and stated, "Despite my best efforts, it has become clear to me that I can’t possibly fulfill my responsibilities as a father while making a statewide run."
He announced that he would return donations made to his attorney general campaign, and would run for re-election to his House seat.
Electoral history
References
External links
*
*
*
Profileat
Vote Smart
Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Rob
1967 births
20th-century American lawyers
21st-century American politicians
Candidates in the 2013 United States elections
Living people
People from Albemarle County, Virginia
People from Palo Alto, California
Republican Party members of the Virginia House of Delegates
Role-playing game designers
University of Virginia alumni
University of Virginia School of Law alumni
Virginia lawyers