Earl Pomeroy

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Earl Pomeroy
Earl Pomeroy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Dakota's at-large district
Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 3, 1993
Preceded by Byron Dorgan
Born September 2, 1952 (1952-09-02) (age 56)
Valley City, North Dakota
Political party Democratic-NPL
Spouse Divorced
Children Kathryn and Scott
Residence Mandan, North Dakota
Alma mater Valley City State University, University of North Dakota, Durham University
Occupation attorney
Religion Presbyterian

Earl Pomeroy (born September 2, 1952) is an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of North Dakota. A member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, Pomeroy has been the sole member of the United States House of Representatives from North Dakota since 1993.

Pomeroy, who is divorced, lives in Mandan, North Dakota, with his two children, Kathryn and Scott.

Contents

[edit] Education and career

Pomeroy was born in Valley City in Barnes County in eastern North Dakota. He attended Valley City State University where he was initiated as a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity and later transferred to the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and went on to do graduate research in legal history at Durham University in England. Pomeroy returned to North Dakota to attend the University of North Dakota School of Law, having received his Juris Doctor law degree in 1979.

Pomeroy was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1980, and became North Dakota Insurance Commissioner in 1985, a post that he held until 1992. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1992 elections.

Until recently, Pomeroy did not procure the victory margins scored by North Dakota's two Democratic Senators, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan. Until 2004, he never won more than 57 percent of the vote. However, in 2004 he was reelected with almost 60 percent.

Pomeroy faced Republican Matthew Mechtel in the 2006 general election, easily winning re-election to his eighth term. He received a larger percentage of votes in the 2006 election than in his previous elections.

In 2008, Pomeroy easily retained his seat in the House of Representatives beating Republican Duane Sand[1].

[edit] House career

[edit] Committee assignments

[edit] Political associations

  • Co-Chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Care Coalition

From 2003 through 2005, $14.7 billion in crop subsidies went to the congressional districts of members on the House Committee on Agriculture, an analysis by the non-partisan Environmental Working Group found. That was 42.4% of the total subsidies. Pomeroy is reported to have brought $1.03 billion to his district.[2]

[edit] Political positions

[edit] Iraq War

Although he supported authorizing force in Iraq in 2002, he has increasingly spoken out against the war.[3] Earl Pomeroy supported the House resolution opposing George W. Bush's troop surge plan in February 2007. He said in a floor speech,[4] "We take care of our soldiers over [in Iraq] by making sure their deployments are only for acceptable periods and at acceptable intervals, with enough time at home in between to heal, to rest, and to train. But beyond these things, we take care of our soldiers over there when we as a Congress make certain the mission they have sent to perform has a reasonable chance of success.

"In a war where so many tragic mistakes have been made, this Congress must not sit quietly by while additional plans are cooked up in Washington whose only certainty is to accelerate the loss of American lives, compound the already severe strain on our military capabilities, and accelerate the burn rate of American dollars spent in Iraq. ... Without the commitment between the warring parties in Iraq to stop the killing, and create a political agreement upon which a national government can exist, 20,000 more U.S. soldiers are not likely to bring about a lasting peace."

[edit] Controversy

In 2007, Pomeroy was "ambushed" by a group of political activists and asked about the impeachment of President Bush. He said that he "couldn't stand" the president and later referred to him as a "clown," but also noted that he was leery of supporting impeachment because his constituents didn't agree with such a drastic move. Video leaked onto Youtube and drew criticism. Critics have said that he should not have used the language he did, as many have argued that the point he was trying to make was out of line, that the people he represent did not support the president's impeachment, and he couldn't disagree with them on something of that magnitude. Pomeroy also said he wasn't aware that he was being videotaped and says he regrets calling the president a name.[5][6]

The watchdog group Opensecrets.org has included Pomeroy on a list of politicians who have received political contributions from AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Pomeroy recently voted in favor of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (commonly referred to as "the bailout bill") in aid of these and several Wall Street firms.[7]

Recently, opponent Duane Sand accused Pomeroy of false campaigning by running a TV commercial stating that Sand would invest Social Security funds in the stock market. Sand's campaign manager denied that he had said that, and countered that Pomeroy himself advocated putting half of the Social Security trust fund into the stock market. [8]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hoeven, Pomeroy enjoy widespread support, KXMC CBS13. Retrieved 20 Nov '08.
  2. ^ Dilanian, Ken, " Billions go to House panel members' districts", USA Today. July 26, 2007.
  3. ^ "Pomeroy opposes troop buildup." Mary Claire Jalonick. Associated Press. 2/15/07.
  4. ^ C-SPAN Iraq War Debate
  5. ^ http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/08/02/news/local/137147.txt
  6. ^ http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2007/08/13/news/columnists/jenkinson/137623.txt
  7. ^ http://www.kxmb.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=280684
  8. ^ Sand calls Pomeroy TV spot 'ridiculous' InForum News, retrieved Oct 31 2008

[edit] External links

Legal offices
Preceded by
J.O. Wigen		 Insurance Commissioner of North Dakota
1985–1992		 Succeeded by
Glenn Pomeroy
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Byron Dorgan		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from North Dakota's At-large congressional district
1993 – present		 Incumbent
v • d • e
North Dakota's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Representative(s)
Earl Pomeroy (D)
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Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Pomeroy"
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