Daryl Metcalfe

Daryl D. Metcalfe (born November 9, 1962) is an American politician currently serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Metcalfe is a member of the Republican Party and has represented the 12th legislative district since 1999. He currently serves as the majority chairman of the House State Government Committee.

Background
Metcalfe is a graduate of Charles W. Baker High School in Baldwinsville, New York, and he attended Kansas State University while serving in the United States Army at Fort Riley in Kansas. He later was stationed in Germany. His experience in the army included duty as an air defense radar and I.F.F. (identification friend or foe) systems repair specialist.

Prior to his election, Metcalfe was employed with Dade Behring (formerly DuPont Diagnostics) for 13 years as a field engineer. He was responsible for managing a biomedical service territory in western Pennsylvania.

Political career
Metcalfe was elected in 1998 to replace retiring representative Pat Carone. He has won re-election nine times.

He is currently the majority chairman of the House State Government Committee.

Candidacy for lieutenant governor
Metcalfe ran as a candidate for lieutenant governor in 2010. He came in third place in the Republican primary, losing to Jim Cawley.

Political positions
Daryl Metcalfe has been recognized by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as the Pennsylvania General Assembly's "No. 1 Conservative." "I was a Tea Partier before it was cool." Metcalfe said in an interview.

LGBT
Metcalfe opposed Philadelphia's program to market the city to gay tourists. He tried to cut state funding to universities that offer domestic partner benefits. He sued a gay New Hope couple for attempting to get a marriage license In September 2009, Metcalfe held up a Pennsylvania State Assembly resolution declaring October "Domestic Violence Awareness Month". Metcalfe claimed that the bill "had language in it that brought men into the situation", citing this as evidence of a homosexual agenda. This met with criticism from Rep. Babette Josephs who said, "The gentleman from Butler has made this problem even worse and more men may be abused, even killed in their homes," on the House floor in 2009.

In 2011, House Bill 1434 was introduced by Daryl Metcalfe along with 36 cosponsors on May 3, 2011. It was referred to the Committee of State Government. The bill would amend the state constitution stating to ban same-sex marriage and any substantial equivalent. On March 13, 2012, a committee vote on the bill was stopped. In 2013, Daryl Metcalfe reintroduced the bill with 27 cosponsors on May 7, 2013, which is the lowest number of cosponsors the bill had been introduced with.

In June 2013, after the Defense of Marriage Act had been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, openly gay state representative Brian Sims tried to make a speech in the Pennsylvania House supporting the decision. Metcalfe, who was one of several representatives who blocked Sims from speaking, said, "I did not believe that as a member of that body that I should allow someone to make comments such as he was preparing to make that ultimately were just open rebellion against what the word of God has said, what God has said, and just open rebellion against God's law."

Immigration
Metcalfe is the founder of State Legislators for Legal Immigration (SLLI), an organization opposed to birthright citizenship. The State Lawmakers for Legal Immigration works closely with the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an anti-illegal alien organization.

On March 1, 2011, Rep. Metcalfe reintroduced HB 738, a bill which would direct police officers "to attempt to verify the immigration status of suspected illegal aliens." It would also create a new third-degree misdemeanor "for illegal aliens who violate federal law by either willfully failing to register as an alien or failing to possess proper proof of such registration when stopped for another primary offense, such as a traffic violation," crack down on employers who hire illegal aliens without first checking to see if they had registration papers and are in the state legally, create a new third-class felony "for intentionally smuggling illegal aliens (into the state) for profit," and would allow police officers "impound any vehicle driven by an illegal alien or used to transport illegal aliens." The proposed law is based on Arizona's Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act (SB 1070), which was passed in April 2010 and largely struck down as unconstitutional.

Environment
In October 2009, Metcalfe criticized Operation FREE, a coalition of veterans and national security organizations that advocates on environmental issues, by saying: “As a veteran, I believe that any veteran lending their name, to promote the leftist propaganda of global warming and climate change, in an effort to control more of the wealth created in our economy, through cap and tax type policies, all in the name of national security, is a traitor to the oath he or she took to defend the Constitution of our great nation!”

Personal
Metcalfe lives in Cranberry Township with his wife, Elke, and daughter, Lisa.

Controversy
In September 2015, Representative Metcalfe invited ProEnglish's Robert Vandervoora—a man with white nationalist ties and former head of Chicagoland Friends of American Renaissance—to testify before Pennsylvania's state government committee. After facing criticism for his decision by the Southern Poverty Law Center who called Vandervoora a "white supremacist", Rep. Metcalfe countered by arguing that white "nationalism" is not white "supremacy." Metcalfe's response drew praise from The Daily Stormer, a white supremacist, neo-nazi website. A GOP staffer reported that members of his own party were upset with his comments. "I believe white supremacists and white nationalists are synonymous and Daryl should repudiate both and their recent actions because I certainly do," Philadelphia Republican Representative John Taylor said after the controversy.

As Chairman of the House State Government Committee, Representative Metcalfe has also drawn criticism for failing to hold a vote on a Republican-backed bill for a gift ban for state legislators. .