Changes

In his twenties, Heleringer campaigned for fellow Republicans [[Gene Snyder]], a [[U.S. Representative]] for Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and [[Jon Ackerson]], a state senator  and later state representative for Jefferson County who successfully recommended Heleringer for the position as "administrative assistant" to the then eight-member Republican Senate Caucus, long before the Republicans obtained the majority in the state Senate in 2000.<ref name=bio/> In the 1979 state election, Heleringer in a vigorous campaign unseated the Democratic Representative Bob Benson. Heleringer ran as a staunch opponent of [[abortion]], which had been legalized in all states six years earlier by the since overturned [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uK4fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=qSfnlc7jjp&sig=ksoJiwVVm8iu4CNfGbG2AEu74lo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrrpqzjujKAhXLJCYKHWFqBJ84HhDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false

In his twenties, Heleringer campaigned for fellow Republicans [[Gene Snyder]], a [[U.S. Representative]] for Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and [[Jon Ackerson]], a state senator  and later state representative for Jefferson County who successfully recommended Heleringer for the position as "administrative assistant" to the then eight-member Republican Senate Caucus, long before the Republicans obtained the majority in the state Senate in 2000.<ref name=bio/> In the 1979 state election, Heleringer in a vigorous campaign unseated the Democratic Representative Bob Benson. Heleringer ran as a staunch opponent of [[abortion]], which had been legalized in all states six years earlier by the since overturned [[United States Supreme Court]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uK4fBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA31&lpg=PA31&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=qSfnlc7jjp&sig=ksoJiwVVm8iu4CNfGbG2AEu74lo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjrrpqzjujKAhXLJCYKHWFqBJ84HhDoAQgbMAA#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false

|title=The Kentucky Legislature: Two Decades of Change|author=Malcolm E. Jewell and Penny M. Miller|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]]|page=31|date=1988|isbn=0-8131-1668-6|accessdate=February 9, 2016}}</ref> Unlike most opponents of abortion, Heleringer also opposed [[capital punishment]]: "I think it's wrong to take a life regardless of what that person has done." He compared lethal injection]] to "sanitizing" legal executions.<ref>{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YvdKyEJo0osC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=X3Z9_vRk2x&sig=k40IBr0B_ahTXL8Jtom40ugQG6o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8y--J4PjKAhVFKiYKHXiKC1c4HhDoAQg3MAU#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false|title=Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998|author=Kathleen A. O'Shea|publisher=Praeger: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.|location=Westport, [[Connecticut]]|date=1999|page=179|accessdate=February 18, 2016|isbn=0-275-95952-X}}</ref>

|title=The Kentucky Legislature: Two Decades of Change|author=Malcolm E. Jewell and Penny M. Miller|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]]|page=31|date=1988|isbn=0-8131-1668-6|accessdate=February 9, 2016}}</ref> Unlike most opponents of abortion, Heleringer also opposed [[capital punishment]]: "I think it's wrong to take a life regardless of what that person has done." He compared lethal injection to "sanitizing" legal executions.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvdKyEJo0osC&pg=PA179&lpg=PA179&dq=bob+heleringer&source=bl&ots=X3Z9_vRk2x&sig=k40IBr0B_ahTXL8Jtom40ugQG6o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi8y--J4PjKAhVFKiYKHXiKC1c4HhDoAQg3MAU#v=onepage&q=bob%20heleringer&f=false|title=Women and the Death Penalty in the United States, 1900-1998|author=Kathleen A. O'Shea|publisher=Praeger: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.|location=Westport, [[Connecticut]]|date=1999|page=179|accessdate=February 18, 2016|isbn=0-275-95952-X}}</ref>

As a legislator, Heleringer was the vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, from which berth he became known for criticism of excessive state spending on contracts. He has worked for organizations which represent disabled persons as well as the horse industry. In 1985, Representative Heleringer was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for [[mayor]] of Louisville; he lost to the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Jerry Abramson, who was subsequently the first Louisville Metro Mayor. In 2007, Heleringer was the unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/politics/labels/state%20senate.html|title=Heleringer to run for [State] Senate|date=June 13, 2007|publisher=''The Louisville Courier-Journal''|accessdate=March 14, 2012}}</ref> on an intra-party ticket headed by [[Steve Nunn]] of Barren County, the son of former [[Governor]] Louie B. Nunn. Steve Nunn, who had entered the legislature at the same time as Heleringer, lost the gubernatorial nomination to U.S. Representative [[Ernie Fletcher]], a physician who then became the first Republican to win the Kentucky governorship since Louie B. Nunn in 1967. Steve Nunn is now serving a life sentence for the [[murder]] of a former fiancée.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32801051/ns/local_news-lexington_ky=|title=Former Governor's Son in Custody After Fatal Shooting|date=September 11, 2009|publisher=WLEX-TV via [[MSNBC]].com|accessdate=March 18, 2023}}</ref>

As a legislator, Heleringer was the vice-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, from which berth he became known for criticism of excessive state spending on contracts. He has worked for organizations which represent disabled persons as well as the horse industry. In 1985, Representative Heleringer was the unsuccessful Republican nominee for [[mayor]] of Louisville; he lost to the [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] Jerry Abramson, who was subsequently the first Louisville Metro Mayor. In 2007, Heleringer was the unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/blogs/politics/labels/state%20senate.html|title=Heleringer to run for [State] Senate|date=June 13, 2007|publisher=''The Louisville Courier-Journal''|accessdate=March 14, 2012}}</ref> on an intra-party ticket headed by [[Steve Nunn]] of Barren County, the son of former [[Governor]] Louie B. Nunn. Steve Nunn, who had entered the legislature at the same time as Heleringer, lost the gubernatorial nomination to U.S. Representative [[Ernie Fletcher]], a physician who then became the first Republican to win the Kentucky governorship since Louie B. Nunn in 1967. Steve Nunn is now serving a life sentence for the [[murder]] of a former fiancée.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32801051/ns/local_news-lexington_ky=|title=Former Governor's Son in Custody After Fatal Shooting|date=September 11, 2009|publisher=WLEX-TV via [[MSNBC]].com|accessdate=March 18, 2023}}</ref>