Michael O'Neal (born January 16, 1951) is an American lawyer and Republican politician from Hutchinson, Kansas.
O'Neal's father had been farming with his father and a brother but decided to give up farming and the family moved to Colby, Kansas, for a short time before moving to Scott City, where Ralph made a living in bread sales and owned and operated a home delivery dairy business.
O'Neal went to college on a National Science Foundation scholarship, attending the University of Kansas from 1969 to 1973, where he earned a B.A.
There he was involved in writing Supreme Court briefs on the Legislature's behalf in such landmark cases as Brown v. Wichita State University and Leek v. Theis.
O'Neal was first elected to the Kansas House of Representatives in 1984, beating incumbent Democrat Steven Ediger.
That Committee redrew House, Senate, State Board of Education and Congressional boundaries following the revised federal census of 2000.
In 2012, O'Neal forwarded an e-mail about President Obama that quoted Psalm 109:8 which reads, "... Let his days be few; and let another take his office."
[7] It's uncertain though whether general public ire or ridicule by members of his own party that have led to the Speaker's decision to retire.
The firm's senior partner was former House member and Majority Leader John Hayes, whose former district O'Neal now represents.
O'Neal has an active state and federal trial practice involving, primarily, the defense of doctors and other health care providers.
O'Neal used scripture in a widely circulated email to suggest President Barack Obama's "days be few in number" from Psalm 109:8.
"He is using sacred scripture to flippantly suggest people should be praying for the death of the president,"[citation needed] said Michael Sherrard, a spokesman for Faithful America, an online interfaith community based in Washington that organized the petition.