James Michael Ritze (born October 16, 1948) is an American politician from the state of

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. 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 ...

, Ritze served as a member of the

Oklahoma House of Representatives The Oklahoma House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Its members introduce and vote on bills and resolutions, provide legislative oversight for state agencies, and help to craft the state's ...

, representing the 80th district, which includes parts of

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

and Wagoner counties.

Career

Ritze was first elected to the

in 2008. He sponsored a bill in 2009 to have a monument to the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

installed at the

Oklahoma State Capitol The Oklahoma State Capitol is the house of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the building that houses the Oklahoma Legislature and executive branch offices. It is located along Lincoln Boulevard in Oklahoma City and contains 452,5 ...

. His family supplied $10,000 to fund the monument, which was installed in 2012. On the night of Thursday, October 23, 2014, someone drove a vehicle across the

lawn and into the monument, shattering it. Police impounded the vehicle and started an investigation. A second copy of the monument has been made and erected to replace it. In July 2015, the

Oklahoma Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Oklahoma is a court of appeal for non-criminal cases, one of the two highest judicial bodies in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, and leads the judiciary of Oklahoma, the judicial branch of the government of Oklahoma.

ruled that the re-erected monument must be removed because it violates the

Oklahoma Constitution The Constitution of the State of Oklahoma is the governing document of the U.S. State of Oklahoma. Adopted in 1907, Oklahoma ratified the United States Constitution on November 16, 1907, as the 46th U.S. state. At its ratification, the Oklaho ...

. The case was ''Prescott v. Capitol Preservation Commission''. Ritze has a hardline stance on

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, ...

. In an interview with a local news reporter on May 10, 2017, Ritze (referring to 82,000 non-

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

speaking students in Oklahoma) suggested that the state "identify them and then turn them over to

ICE Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaqu ...

to see if they truly are citizens" and then asked, "and do we really have to educate non-citizens?" In answer to that question, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' pointed out that the 1982

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

decision '' Plyler v. Doe'' prohibits states from denying education based on immigration status. In May 2018, Ritze was accused of embellishing his military record by claiming to have been injured in the line of duty. Ritze was defeated in the primary election in August 2018

Personal life

Ritze is married to Connie Ritze, a registered nurse, with whom he has four children. He is a Sunday school teacher and an ordained

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

at Arrow Heights Baptist Church in Broken Arrow.

References

External links

Member's page
at ''Oklahoma State Legislature''
Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ritze, Mike Living people Republican Party members of the Oklahoma House of Representatives People from Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 1948 births 21st-century American politicians People from Trenton, Missouri