GOP state lawmaker refuses temperature check at Ohio Statehouse: ‘No one gets to control me’

A Republican state lawmaker is refusing to comply with the Ohio Statehouse policy requiring temperature checks for individuals upon entrance, claiming it is an “invasion” of her privacy.

State Rep. Candice Keller (R-Middletown) said a security person approached her as she was walking into the Statehouse on Wednesday from the parking garage, telling her he had to take her temperature.

“No, you’re not taking my temperature,” Keller reportedly told the security guard.

Keller claims the security guard followed her to the elevator and “kept holding the thermometer up” in front of her. The Butler County Republican says she then turned around and pointed her finger at him, yelling “you’re not taking my temperature!”

“I’m sure all of this is on video. This is the first time I have been treated like this but I have been expecting it,” Keller wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday.

“The reason I’ve had to put up with so much opposition over the last 4 years as a Representative is that NO ONE GETS TO CONTROL ME. I mean, NO ONE. I have civil rights and I have a right to privacy.”

Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) said in a statement that staff, visitors and lawmakers are asked to have their temperatures taken before going upstairs to their offices – a policy enacted on May 4. The checks, conducted by House Sergeant at arms staff, also include a question about symptoms.

“It is required for staff and visitors to have their temperatures taken and it is offered for members,” Householder said. “I cannot mandate elected representatives have their temperatures taken as much as I cannot keep them from coming to the Statehouse to represent the people who elected them.”

Keller recently lost an Ohio Senate primary election to State Rep. George Lang (R-West Chester Twp.).

She made headlines last year for a Facebook post in which she blamed the Dayton mass shooting on “drag queen advocates,” open borders, gay marriage, and marijuana.

Keller’s term in the Ohio House is up at the end of 2020.