Claudia Riner

Riner continued to engage in public life; she has served multiple terms as the legislative chair for the Democratic Party in Kentucky's 41st House of Representatives district, as well as vice chair of the Jefferson County Democratic Party.

Claudia Riner (Badgett, born 1948) is an American politician who served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1978 to 1981, representing the 36th district.

She was the first woman from Madisonville, Kentucky, to hold high public office.

Riner was characterized by colleagues in the legislature as a polarizing figure, due to her conservatism and religious activism, but she was also known as a persistent and adept legislator.

She proposed multiple bills related to her Christian values, including her most well-known "Ten Commandments law", requiring that a copy of the Ten Commandments be posted in a plaque in every Kentucky classroom.

She also proposed bills to teach creation science in public schools, ban the sale and distribution of pornography to minors, and require that misdemeanor offenders compensate their victims.

Claudia Badgett was born in 1948 to Russell Badgett Jr., a U.S. army veteran and mine operator, and Juanita Wadlington Badgett, of Madisonville, Kentucky.

She met Tom Riner in 1970 while at a "Crusade for Christ" at the University of Louisville.

They married a year later; Claudia taught biology in Shelby County for a year before they moved to Louisville.

Claudia married Tom Riner in 1971; he was elected to replace her in the House in 1981, after she announced her retirement.

She was a registered Democrat until 1972, when she re-registered as a Republican; she later said that she switched because she felt the Democratic Party no longer represented her.

In 1974, Riner worked for the Kentucky Women's Committee to Rescind the ERA, the initialism referring to the Equal Rights Amendment.

She was quoted in The Courier-Journal, advocating for the Kentucky legislature to retract their ratification of the ERA; Riner argued that "the special session did not allow enough time for an intensive study... We are asking the legislators to take another chance to look at it".

She also remarked that "man's law should be based upon God's law", and that God intended for differences between men and women.

In 1975, a year and a half before running for a seat in the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 36th district, Riner re-registered as a Democrat.

Riner was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1977 from the 36th district; she won the primary election against incumbent Democrat Michael W. Wooden with 52 percent of the vote, a margin of 73 votes.

Wooden later blamed his loss on a direct-mail piece he claimed Riner sent out late in the campaign that linked the ERA—which Wooden supported—to abortion, which he opposed.

Riner told The Courier-Journal that she planned to campaign in the general election on a platform of rescinding Kentucky's ratification of the ERA.

Riner was already well known in the community; by the time of her primary victory, The Courier-Journal remarked that she had "won local recognition for her leadership in the anti-abortion movement".

She won the general election against Republican opponent William F. Payne with 69 percent of the vote, making her the first woman from Madisonville to hold the office of state representative.

A conservative Christian, Claudia Riner was a polarizing figure during her time in the House.

She was credited by fellow legislators, including the Democratic majority leader, for her political aptitude and persistence in pushing for bills she believes are morally necessary.

Riner is most well known for a law she wrote, requiring that a copy of the Ten Commandments be displayed on a plaque in every Kentucky public school classroom.

The original proposal called for a 31⁄2 by 5 foot (1.1 by 1.5 meters) plaque, but a committee amendment reset the size at 16 by 20 inches (41 by 50.8 cm).

In an attempt to satisfy the Establishment Clause, the bill carried a fine-print inscription, reading "the secular application of the Ten Commandants is clearly seen in its adoption as the fundamental legal code of Western Civilization and the Common Law of the United States".

In addition, the bill opted for private funding of the plaques through evangelical and fundamentalist churches.

Riner and her husband campaigned for the bill vigorously.

Within a week of taking office, she publicly set the measure as one of her highest priorities.

The Riners, attending the Southern Baptist Convention as credentialed messengers, called for the convention to encourage posting of the Ten Commandments in classrooms in a formal motion.

However, the motion was not considered; the convention's Credentials Committee voted to revoke the Riners' credentials, because their Logos Baptist Church was not considered affiliated with the denomination.

The bill passed the legislature nearly unanimously; the opposition numbered four in the House and four in the Senate.

In 1980, Sharon Reynolds with the Lexington Herald wrote that the Riners would run a "sort of soup kitchen/mission and quasi-rehabilitation center" for the poor out of their home, in that Claudia would cook breakfast for them while her husband gave religious counsel.

Riner formerly served as the head of the Louisville chapter of the Women Christian Temperance Union.

In 1980, a legal challenge to the bill resulted in the bill getting struck down by the Supreme Court of the United States.

During her first term, Riner sponsored a measure to ban the distribution and sale of pornography to minors, which failed in a 5–4 committee vote; objecting members cited already-existing provisions in the law, the role of the state government, and police overreach.

She also proposed a bill that would prevent Kentucky from regulating church schools, and her husband organized a rally at the Capitol building in favor of the measure.

According to The Courier-Journal, Tom Riner had a significant hand in Claudia's legislative operations throughout her tenure.

As of 2001, the two have six children; she nursed and homeschooled all six.

One of them was born while she was in office, although not during the House session.

As of 2016, the Riners live in Louisville, where they have operated several religious and charitable organizations.