{{short description|American politician}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = John Beno | image = Rev. John Beno, a state senator from Colorado, U.S. and a Catholic priest.jpg | alt = | caption = Beno during his time in the Colorado State Senate | state_senate = Colorado | district = 3rd | term_start = January 12, 1983 | term_end = January 14, 1987 | predecessor = Regis Groff | successor = Larry E. Trujillo Sr. | state_senate1 = Colorado | district1 = 26th | term_start1 = January 9, 1979 | term_end1 = January 12, 1983 | predecessor1 = Ray Kogovsek | successor1 = Martha Ezzard | birth_name = John Richardson Beno | birth_date = {{Birth date|1931|11|13}} | birth_place = Council Bluffs, Iowa, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2000|12|5|1931|11|13|mf=yes}} | death_place = Pueblo, Colorado | citizenship = | party = Democratic | spouse = | children = | education = Iowa State University, Loras College, Creighton University, Loyola University Chicago, Iliff School of Theology, the University of Denver, and St. Thomas Seminary | alma_mater = | profession = Catholic priest, politician | website = | footnotes = <ref name=memorial>{{cite web |url=https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news555/2001_01_00_CO_State_Senate_Beno.pdf |title=Senate memorial 01-001: Memorializing former senator John Beno |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2001 |website= |publisher= |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195335/https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news555/2001_01_00_CO_State_Senate_Beno.pdf |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |access-date=May 23, 2024 |quote=}}</ref><ref name="Beno 26">{{cite web |url=https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/eng/candidates/view/7073/ |title=Colorado Secretary of State candidate profile page for John Beno (Senate District 26) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Colorado Secretary of State |publisher= |access-date=May 23, 2024 |quote=}}</ref><ref name="Beno 3">{{cite web |url=https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/eng/candidates/view/13979/ |title=Colorado Secretary of State candidate profile page for John Richardson Beno (Senate District 3) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Colorado Secretary of State |publisher= |access-date=May 23, 2024 |quote=}}</ref> }}
'''John Beno''' (November{{nbsp}}13, 1931{{snd}}December{{nbsp}}5, 2000) was a Catholic priest and Democratic Party politician from Colorado, U.S. He served two terms in the Colorado Senate, totaling eight years, from January 1979 to January 1987. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1959 and served as a priest in several southern Colorado communities, chiefly in Pueblo.<ref name=memorial />
==Elections== Beno was first elected to the Colorado Senate in 1978. He was re-elected in 1982. He faced little opposition in the primary or general elections.<ref name="Beno 26" /><ref name="Beno 3" />
==Legislative leadership positions== Among the committees Beno served on in the Colorado Senate were the Appropriations Committee and the Joint Budget Committee.<ref name=LHD>{{cite web |url= http://www.leg.state.co.us/lcs/leghist.nsf/DocView.xsp?documentId=4B0D857A01E7CCCF872578E2005D2EF3&action=openDocument |title=John Richardson Beno |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=n.d. |website=Legislator History Database — Colorado legislators past and present |publisher=Colorado General Assembly |access-date=May 23, 2024 |quote=}}</ref>
==Sexual abuse allegations== A 2019 report by the Colorado Attorney General published after Beno's death implicated him in the sexual abuse of two children, one in 1961 and one in 1968 or 1969.<ref>{{cite report |author=Colorado Attorney General |author-link= |date=October 22, 2019 |title=Roman Catholic Clergy Sexual Abuse of Children in Colorado from 1950 to 2019 |url=https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2019/10/Special-Masters-Report_10.22.19_FINAL.pdf |publisher=State of Colorado |pages=208–209 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502165227/https://coag.gov/app/uploads/2019/10/Special-Masters-Report_10.22.19_FINAL.pdf |archive-date=May 2, 2021 |access-date=May 23, 2021 |quote=When Victim #1 was in first grade at St. Francis Xavier Parochial School in Pueblo, Beno asked her to come to the rectory with him. He forced her to perform oral sex on him and then raped her. He ensured her silence by telling her that a child of God does not reveal this kind of incident and that to do so would be a mortal sin (p. 208)}}</ref>
==Death== Beno died on December 5, 2000, in Pueblo.<ref>{{cite news |last=Espinosa |first=Juan |date=December 5, 2000 |title=Father John Beno dies at 69 |url=https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2000/12/06/father-john-beno-dies-at/9061749007/ |url-status= |work=The Pueblo Chieftain |location= |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240523162407/https://www.chieftain.com/story/news/2000/12/06/father-john-beno-dies-at/9061749007/ |archive-date=May 23, 2024 |access-date= May 23, 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.leg.state.co.us/lcs/leghist.nsf/DocView.xsp?documentId=4B0D857A01E7CCCF872578E2005D2EF3&action=openDocument Legislative Branch page about Beno] *[https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/eng/candidates/view/13979/ Candidate profile from the Colorado Secretary of State (Senate district 3)] *[https://historicalelectiondata.coloradosos.gov/eng/candidates/view/7073/ Candidate profile from the Colorado Secretary of State (Senate district 26)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beno, John}} Category:Democratic Party Colorado state senators Category:20th-century American Roman Catholic priests Category:Politicians from Pueblo, Colorado Category:1931 births Category:2000 deaths Category:20th-century members of the Colorado General Assembly