John Lesch

John Lesch (born January 15, 1973) is a Minnesota politician and former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives.

A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he last represented 66B, which included portions of Saint Paul in Ramsey County, in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.

He is a prosecuting attorney for Saint Paul.

Lesch attended St. Louis University, graduating with degrees in philosophy and psychology, and later a Juris Doctor degree from Hamline University School of Law.

Through high school and college, he spent three years at the seminary with the Redemptorists Order of Catholic Priests and Brothers.

Before running for the Minnesota House of Representatives, Lesch interned for former Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) Representative Andy Dawkins in 1997 and 1998.

He worked on several campaigns and chaired the Senate District 66 DFL Party from 2000 to 2002.

He was also a legislative aide to former St. Paul Council member and then Mayor Chris Coleman.

A study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association in 2000 found that half of the 238 human deaths it identified as dog-related over the preceding 20-year period involved either pit bull-type dogs or Rottweilers.

Opponents to Lesch's proposal argued that bite statistics are a consequence more of the popularity of certain breeds than of any predisposition to aggression.

Opponents also identified owner behavior as the determining factor in canine aggression and pointed to the difficulty of identifying a dog of mixed breed without genetic testing.

Lesch's proposed legislation did not make it out of committee.

When Representative Tom Osthoff announced his retirement in 2002, he decided to run for the House.

Lesch was first elected in 2002 and has been reelected every two years since.

In February 2006, Lesch made a personal trip to Iraq at his own expense with the stated intention to learn as much as possible about the war there in as little time as possible.

His plans to blog the trip soon leaked to the press and the trip became a several-day news story.

"While it is true that most folks would choose more stable settings for their vacation, I believe the Iraq war is the seminal conflict for our age", Lesch wrote in announcing his departure.

"What happens there today will affect many generations of Americans and Iraqis".

Lesch received some praise, in the local press for making the trip, but mostly sharp criticism.

He said he had wanted to see firsthand what conditions were like there, and that the trip was the most rewarding he had ever taken.

Despite the substantial criticism the trip received, Lesch said he had no regrets about it.

In June 2007, Lesch proposed legislation to ban five breeds of dogs identified as especially aggressive by the Center for Disease Control: Rottweilers, pit bulls, Akitas, Chow Chows, and wolf hybrids.

Mixes of these breeds were also banned under the bill.

In August 2007, Lesch participated in a Legislative Exchange sponsored by the State Department to study diplomacy among emerging leaders in the Philippines.

During this trip, he spent time in Manila and Cebu.

In September 2009, Lesch and other state legislators from around the country went to New Zealand.

The trip was sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders (ACYPL) and focused on energy development and health care.

On November 16, 2010, incoming Minority Leader Paul Thissen announced that Lesch would be one of four minority whips during the 2011–12 legislative session.

Lesch has served on several committees including:

This was passed in 2014 and creates a system of licensing and inspection for commercial breeders through the Board of Animal Health.

The bill is intended to reduce the number of kitten and puppy mills in the state and mandate the proper treatment of animals.

On May 21, 2014, Minnesota became the first state to pass the "Beagle Freedom Bill".

It was included in the omnibus supplemental budget bill.

The authors, Lesch and Senator Scott Dibble, link taxpayer-funded laboratories and educational institutions that use dogs and cats for research with nonprofit animal rescues.

The animals can be placed for adoption when they are no longer needed for research.

In 2015, Lesch began pursuing a overhaul of Minnesota's criminal defamation laws in the wake of the Minnesota Court of Appeals' striking down of that statute, thereby depleting protections from online harassment, including so-called "revenge porn", which Lesch claims he had been motivated to address in policy since reading about the 2013 death of Rhetea Parsons.

The bill Lesch's working group produced included nine sections of law and, in addition to correcting the criminal defamation statute that the Minnesota Court of Appeals had struck down, included the civil causes of action for "Nonconsensual Dissemination of Private Sexual Images" and criminal penalties for the same conduct.

The law was immediately challenged and brought to the court of appeals, which struck it down on free speech grounds, but Lesch prevailed upon Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which unanimously ruled the law constitutional.

"The fact that we will see justice in some of [the cases] in the future because of this ruling is such great news", Lesch said.

"To have [the law] come through and be vindicated by the Supreme Court today is one of my greatest legislative accomplishments in the past 18 years, if not the greatest."