J. Richard Chema
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Richard Chema is an American lawyer who is the Democratic nominee for Ohio's 3rd congressional district. He faces Mike Turner in the November 2006 general election.
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[edit] Early life, education, and early career
The son of an East Liverpool, Ohio, steelworker who was awarded a Purple Heart in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, Chema was raised a Roman Catholic. He graduated from Georgetown University magna cum laude with a degree in American Studies. He went on to study at the Ohio State University Law School, graduating in 1981. He worked at the office of the Ohio Secretary of State, headed by Sherrod Brown, in 1979, and later with the law firm Squires, Sanders, & Dempsey in Columbus, Ohio.
[edit] Military career
Chema joined the U.S. Navy and was commissioned as a Lieutenant JG in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. His first tour of duty was three years in San Diego. There he initially tried cases; he then became the Assistant Staff Judge Advocate representing the Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Station at Coronado.
Chema was next assigned to the Naval Legal Service Office in Naples, Italy, where he became the Chief Prosecutor and the Navy's resident expert on foreign criminal jurisdiction. He was then reassigned to Washington, D.C., where he was responsible for the Navy criminal appeals.
While in Washington, Chema earned a Masters of Criminal Law degree at the U.S. Army JAG School. One of his areas of expertise was sexual harassment in the military; he wrote Arresting "Tailhook": The Prosecution of Sexual Harassment in the Military, in the Military Law Review. His final assignment was as the attorney advising the Naval Intelligence Command in Washington, D.C.
Chema left active duty as a Lt. Commander and is currently a Commander in the U.S. Naval Reserve. His naval commendations include a Meritorious Service Medal, two Navy Commendation Medals, and a Navy Achievement Medal.
[edit] Post-Navy career
In 1994, Chema joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio. The Southern District of Ohio includes Montgomery, Warren, Highland, Clinton and 44 other counties. In 2001, he became chief of its criminal division, supervising prosecutors in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus. His responsibilities have included an anit-terrorism unit, several drug-ring cases, and sexually oriented cases.
[edit] Political career
A lifelong Democrat, Chema resigned from his position at the U.S. Attorney's Office in September 2006 to run in a special election to replace Stephanie Studebaker, who had won the Democratic primary in Ohio's 3rd congressional district, but withdrew in August. Chema won the special election on September 15, 2006, with nearly 75% of the vote.
In the November 2006 general election, Chema lost to Republican incumbent Mike Turner.
