Ted Poe

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Ted Poe
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2005
Preceded by	Jim Turner
Born	September 10, 1948 (1948-09-10) (age 60) Temple, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Carol Poe
Residence	Humble, Texas
Alma mater	Abilene Christian University, University of Houston
Occupation	attorney, judge
Religion	Church of Christ
Military service
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1970-1976
Unit	Reserves

Lloyd "Ted" Poe (born September 10, 1948) is a Republican politician currently representing Texas's 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. The district includes most of northern Houston, as well as most of the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area.

[edit] Early years

Poe was born in Temple, Texas. He now lives in Humble, a suburb of Houston. Poe graduated in 1970, with a degree in political science from Abilene Christian University, where he served as class president, and, in 1973, received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Houston Law Center, where he had participated in the school's honor society. From 1970 to 1976, he served in the United States Air Force Reserve’s C-130 Unit at Houston’s Ellington Air Force Base.

[edit] As prosecutor and judge

After serving as a chief felony prosecutor in Harris County (Houston) for eight years, Poe was appointed a felony court judge in Harris County in 1981, becoming one of the youngest judges in the State of Texas. Poe was one of the first Republican judges elected in Harris County since Reconstruction. In this position, he gained national prominence for his unusual criminal sentences that included ordering thieves to carry signs in front of stores from which they stole; required men who abused their wives to publicly apologize on the steps of Houston’s City Hall; commanded sex offenders to place warning signs on their home after serving jail time; and directed murderers to securely place a photo of their victims on the wall of their prison cells, creating a daily reminder of their crime. In a story that is part of jailhouse lore in Texas, he reportedly told a defendant at sentencing of his intention to throw some pennies in the air and, however many hit the ground, would be the number of years the defendant was going to serve. After flinging an entire jar of pennies, he informed the man that the sentence would be twenty years. Ted Poe became well known to most offenders in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, even those from beyond Houston.

During his judgeship, "creative sentencing" became a trademark of his court. However, in at least one case, Poe amended the sentence afterwards without notifying the victim's family. ^[1]

[edit] Election to the United States Congress

In November 2004, Poe ran for the U.S. House against Democrat Nick Lampson in the 2nd District, which had been numbered as the 9th District prior to a controversial mid-decade redistricting. The new 2nd was considerably more Republican than the old 9th, in part due to the loss of Galveston and the area around the Johnson Space Center. They were replaced with several heavily Republican areas around Houston. Poe won 55% of the vote to Lampson's 43%. While Lampson trounced Poe in Beaumont and Port Arthur, Poe swamped Lampson in the Harris County portion of the district.

Within a month of taking office, Poe was chosen by President George W. Bush to be one of two members of the House, along with one member of the Senate, sent to observe firsthand the elections in Iraq.

In January 2005, Poe founded and cosponsored the Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus to represent and advocate before the United States Congress and the Administration on behalf of victims. The Congressional Victims’ Rights Caucus facilitates discussions, organizes meetings, and disseminates information on the causes of victimization to help achieve greater understanding and to formulate sensible solutions.

[edit] 2006 election

Poe made border security a centerpiece of his re-election strategy, calling for "more [National] Guardsmen on the border front"[1]. On November 7, Ted Poe handily won a second term against Democrat Gary Binderim, a water utility manager and community activist [2][3], and Libertarian Justo Perez [4][5].

[edit] 2008 re-election

Poe easily defeated Libertarian Craig Wolfe^[2] in his campaign for re-election in 2008.

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Europe
  • Subcommittee on Terrorism Nonproliferation and Trade
  • Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight

In addition to Poe's committee assignments, he is the founder and co-chair of the Congressional Victim's Rights Caucus.^[3][4]

[edit] 2010 Texas Governor's Race

An unofficial grassroots movement (site) has been started to attempt to convince Congressman Poe to run for Governor of Texas in the 2010 election. Supporters believe that Poe's conservative values of reduced government, strong law enforcement and responsible fiscal spending controls would be beneficial to Texas. They believe Poe would be a strong force in reducing the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants across the Southern Texas Border.

[edit] Controversies

As a state judge, in November 2002, Poe ruled that he would permit the PBS documentary show Frontline to videotape jury deliberations of a capital murder case.^[5] There was considerable concern that this would affect the result of the trial, possibly by skewing the composition of the jury, and the decision was appealed by Harris County prosecuters.^[6][7] The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's highest criminal appellate court, ruled against Poe's decision and prohibited the videotaping.^[8]

Poe has also stated that waterboarding is an acceptable form of interrogation. In response to the question "Do you believe waterboarding is torture?" on the Glenn Beck Program, he stated "I don't believe it's torture at all, I certainly don't". Beck agreed with him. ^[9]

On May 7, 2007, while speaking on the floor of the house, Poe used a quote from Civil War Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest when describing the military strategy that Poe felt the United States should have followed in Iraq. Forrest's maxim was to: “Git thar furstest with the mostest.” The controversy lies in the personal history of General Forrest, as after his military duty was over, he became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Some critics have stated that despite quoting Forrest for a discussion on military strategy and not on race relations, it was still highly inappropriate for Poe to quote such a divisive figure.^{[10][11][12][13]}

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Find more about Ted Poe on Wikipedia's sister projects: Definitions from Wiktionary

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Learning resources from Wikiversity

• U.S. Congressman Ted Poe official House site
• Ted Poe at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Ted Poe campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Ted Poe issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Ted Poe campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Ted Poe (TX) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Ted Poe profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Ted Poe voting record
• Ted Poe for U.S. Congress official campaign site
• Interview on "The Joe Cook Program" in Philadelphia June 23, 2006
• Video of Speech praising Nathan Bedford Forrest on the House Floor May 7, 2007
• The Original Shame Sentence? Rattling the bones in Ted Poe's closet - Houston Press