Steve Benson (cartoonist)

Stephen Reed Benson (born January 2, 1954 in Sacramento, California) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning liberal U.S. editorial cartoonist for The Arizona Republic. Benson is the grandson of former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former LDS Church president Ezra Taft Benson.

Biography
Benson was raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and is the grandson of Ezra Taft Benson, President of the Church from 1985-1994. As a young man, he served an LDS mission to Japan.

Late in 1993, Benson publicly left the LDS Church after claiming that its leadership was covering up his grandfather's senility and allowing members to believe he was still in charge of the church's day-to-day affairs. Today, Benson identifies as an atheist.

Cartooning
Benson's more controversial cartoons include one that depicts a firefighter carrying a child from the Oklahoma City bombing similar to a well-known photo of a firefighter's unsuccessful rescue of 1-year old Baylee Almon. The child in the cartoon says, "Please, no more killing..." to which the firefighter, labeled "Death Penalty Fanatics," replies, "Oh, stop your whining!" The cartoon, published June 11, 1997, angered some firefighters nationwide. Almon's mother called for Benson to apologize for using the image. Benson, however, stood firm even as his paper issued an apology for printing the cartoon.