Pete Hoekstra

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Pete Hoekstra
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Carl Pursell
Born	October 30, 1953 (1953-10-30) (age 55) Groningen, Netherlands
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Diane M. Johnson
Children	Erin Hoekstra, Allison Hoekstra, Bryan Hoekstra
Residence	Holland, Michigan
Alma mater	Hope College, University of Michigan
Occupation	U.S. Congressman
Religion	Reformed Church

Peter "Pete" Hoekstra (born October 30, 1953) is a Dutch-born American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. A Republican, Hoekstra has represented the Michigan's 2nd congressional district ^[1] since taking office in 1993 following his win in the 1992 election.

Born Cornelius Peter Hoekstra in Groningen in the Netherlands, Hoekstra emigrated to Holland, Michigan, U.S., at the age of three with his family when his first name was dropped ^[2]. (Hoekstra's district has the largest concentration of Dutch Americans in the country.) Hoekstra attended Hope College, receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Business School in 1977.

Prior to running for Congress, Hoekstra worked for office furniture manufacturer Herman Miller, eventually rising to vice president for marketing. In 1992, he ran in the Republican primary for the 2nd District, which had been renumbered from the 9th district after the 1990 Census.

The district had been held for twenty six years by Guy Vander Jagt, longtime chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. Hoekstra rode his bicycle across the district, charging that Vander Jagt had served in Congress for too long. He promised to serve no more than six terms (12 years) in the House, and not to accept any money from political action committees. He scored a monumental upset, winning by almost six percent. This primary win was tantamount to election in the 2nd district, the "most Republican" district in Michigan (Republicans have held the district for all but four years since it was created in 1873).

In 2004, Hoekstra broke his term limits pledge by announcing that he would run for a seventh term, citing his membership on the Select Committee on Intelligence. By this time he had also accepted an amount of money from political action committees; in 2006 alone, Hoekstra had accepted more than $160,000 ^[3].

Despite these revelations, Hoekstra faced no significant opposition in the Republican primary or in the general election (as in his previous five reelection campaigns) and went on to secure his seventh term. Shortly after the primary, he was named chairman of the committee, succeeding Porter Goss, who became Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Hoekstra has a conservative voting record, which is consistent with the tendency of the 2nd to elect some of Michigan's most conservative state and federal legislators. However, he opposes amending the Constitution to prohibit flag desecration.

[edit] Committee assignments

• Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (Ranking Member)
  • As ranking member of the full committee, Rep. Hoekstra may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees
• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

[edit] Caucus memberships

• Founding chairman of the Education Freedom Caucus
• Founding chairman of the Congressional Caucus on the Netherlands

[edit] Criticism of the Islamic Society of North America

Hoekstra angered some American Muslims when he described the Islamic Society of North America as a group of "radical jihadists" ^[4]. It should be noted that the Islamic Society of North America had been investigated as a terrorist funding source and has been openly accused by the reformist-Muslim group Muslim WakeUp! of promoting jihadist ideals.

[edit] Weapons of mass destruction

On June 22, 2006, Hoekstra made headlines by announcing at a press conference in the Capitol that weapons of mass destruction had been located in Iraq in the form of 500 chemical weapons.^[5]

However, the Duelfer Report had previously said of WMD in Iraq: "While a small number of old, abandoned chemical munitions have been discovered, ISG judges that Iraq unilaterally destroyed its undeclared chemical weapons stockpile in 1991" ^[6]. A number of other media outlets disputed the claims made by Hoekstra and Rick Santorum regarding the existence of weapons of mass destruction, reporting that the claims were disputed by both Pentagon officials and the intelligence community.^[7][8]

On November 3, 2006, The New York Times reported that a website created at the request of Hoekstra and Senator Pat Roberts was found to contain detailed information that could be helpful to anyone seeking to produce nuclear weapons. The website was shut down on November 2 following questioning by the New York Times.^[9]

As of September 17, 2007 major news outlets are reporting that the Congressional committee he oversees is creating "erroneous" and "misleading" reports about Iran's nuclear capabilities. "Among the committee's assertions is that Iran is producing weapons-grade uranium at its facility in the town of Natanz. The IAEA called that "incorrect," noting that weapons-grade uranium is enriched to a level of 90 percent or more. Iran has enriched uranium to 3.5 percent under IAEA monitoring." ""Privately, several intelligence officials said the committee report included at least a dozen claims that were either demonstrably wrong or impossible to substantiate."^[10][11]

[edit] 2006 election

Hoekstra had no primary opponent. In November he was opposed by the Democratic candidate Kimon Kotos ^[12], who was also his 2004 opponent. Hoekstra defeated Kotos 183,518 votes to 87,361 votes ^[13].

[edit] 2008 election

Hoekstra ran for re-election in 2008 against Fred Johnson, Associate Professor of History at Hope College. He beat Johnson by 215,471 to 119,959 votes.

[edit] 2009 Twitter Security Breach

The House Intelligence Committee's secret visit to Iraq was made public by Congressman Hoekstra's use of Twitter to communicate with constitutents.^[14]

[edit] 2009 Twitter Incident and Resulting Internet Meme

On June 17, Hoekstra posted a twitter comment likening the brutal oppression of the Iranian people to the plight of House Republicans^[15]:

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

As a result, Hoekstra faced public ridicule as twitter users worldwide began to criticize him for his comparison. This ridicule includes a blog, Pete Hoekstra is a Meme, which mocks Hoekstra's statement by comparing mundane activities to past tragedies, as well as coverage on The Daily Show^[16].

[edit] 2010

In December 2008, Hoekstra declared he would not seek re-election to his Congressional seat in 2010. On March 30th, 2009, he announced that he would run for Governor of Michigan^[17] (current Governor Jennifer Granholm is term-limited.)

[edit] See also

• WMD theories in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Pete Hoekstra official House site
• Pete Hoekstra for Governor official campaign site
• Pete Hoekstra at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission - Peter Hoekstra campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues - Peter Hoekstra issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org - Peter Hoekstra campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart - Representative Peter 'Pete' Hoekstra (MI) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia - Pete Hoekstra profile
• Washington Post - Congress Votes Database: Pete Hoekstra voting record