Todd Akin

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Todd Akin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2001
Preceded by Jim Talent
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
from the 86th district
In office
1993–2001
Preceded by John Hancock
Succeeded by Jane Cunningham
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
from the 85th district
In office
1989–1993
Preceded by Franc Flotron
Succeeded by Chris Liese
Personal details
Born William Todd Akin
July 5, 1947 (1947-07-05) (age 64)
New York City, New York
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Lulli Akin
Residence Wildwood, St. Louis County, Missouri
Alma mater Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Covenant Theological Seminary
Occupation Engineer, plant manager
Religion Presbyterian Church in America
Military service
Service/branch United States Army National Guard
Years of service 1972-1980
Unit Missouri

William Todd Akin (born July 5, 1947) is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party.

The district includes the western St. Louis suburbs of Ballwin, Kirkwood, Chesterfield, Wildwood, Town and Country, and Des Peres located along Interstate 270 in West County and the northwestern exurbs of St. Charles and St. Peters in St. Charles County.

Contents

[edit] Early life, education, and business career

Akin was born in New York City, the son of Nancy Perry (née Bigelow) and Rev. Paul Bigelow Akin.[1] He moved to St. Louis and attended John Burroughs School. After graduating, he attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts where he earned a degree in management engineering, and in 1984 he earned a Master of Divinity degree at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. During college he was member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

From 1972 to 1980, Akin served in the Missouri National Guard.[2] After his military career, he took up work at IBM as an engineer and later became a manager at Laclede Steel Company.

[edit] Missouri House of Representatives

[edit] Elections

Akin was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives representing western St. Louis County (West County) in 1988. He won re-election in 1990 (59%),[3] 1992 (100%),[4] 1994 (70%),[5] 1996 (67%),[6] and 1998 (66%).[7]

[edit] Tenure

As a State Representative, Akin earned a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the Republican caucus. He voted for carrying concealed weapons, voted against the parks and soils sales tax, voted against the 1993 tax increase and education spending increase.[8] Akin sponsored legislation to prohibit casino companies from contributing to Missouri state lawmakers.[9] In 1995, he fought Democrat Governor Mel Carnahan on state-funding for abortion, which Akin opposed.[10]

[edit] Committee assignments

He was a member of the Ways and Means House Committee.[11]

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

Akin is listed in the House roll as "R-St. Louis". The likely reason is that many areas in the St. Louis County portion of the district, including one of his district offices, have St. Louis addresses, even though the district does not include any part of the city of St. Louis itself.

[edit] Elections

In 2000, Republican U.S. Representative Jim Talent vacated the seat in his unsuccessful run for Governor of Missouri. Akin won a closely contested Republican primary election to replace Talent, defeating former St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary and State Senator Franc Flotron.[12] He defeated Democratic State Senator Ted House in the general election, winning 55 percent of the vote.[13] In 2010, Akin won re-election with 67.9% of the vote.[14] He had been challenged for the seat by Democratic nominee Arthur Lieber, Libertarian nominee Steve Mosbacher, and write-in candidate Patrick M. Cannon.

[edit] Tenure

Akin was an outspoken opponent of abortion and embryonic stem cell research, a supporter of the right to keep and bear arms, and is generally opposed to increases in taxation and spending. As a U.S. Representative, he has continued to support these views, earning a 96% rating from the American Conservative Union in 2008, and 100% in 2007.[15]

Akin is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he co-sponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act,[16] and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.[17]

Home of record

In May 2011, questions were raised about Akin's official address for voting. According to the Associated Press and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Akin has continued to list his family home in the Town and Country section of St. Louis County as his home of record, despite having lived in the suburb of Wildwood since at least 2009, and perhaps as early as 2007, when he and his wife purchased a home there. As recently as April 2011, Akin signed a polling place logbook attesting to his living in Town and Country. According to the Missouri Secretary of State's office, anyone knowingly giving false information to election workers is guilty of a felony violation of state election laws. [18][19]

Liberalism and God

In late June 2011, Akin was discussing NBC's recent removal of the words "under God" from a video clip of the Pledge of Allegiance. Akin told radio host Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council that:

Well, I think NBC has a long record of being very liberal, and at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God.... This is a systematic effort to try to separate our faith and God, which is a source in our belief in individual liberties, from our country. And when you do that you tear the heart out of our country.[20]

Two days later, Akin said in a radio interview there he would not apologize, since he meant that not all liberals hate God, only that liberals have "a hatred for public references for God." The next day, he said:

People who know me and my family know that we take our faith and beliefs very seriously. As Christians, we would never question the sincerity of anyone's personal relationship with God. My statement during my radio interview was directed at the political movement, Liberalism, not at any specific individual. If my statement gave a different impression, I offer my apologies.[21]

In August 2011, a group of local pastors was still trying to arrange a meeting with Aiken to discuss his statement and apology.[22]

[edit] Committee assignments

[edit] 2012 U.S. Senate election

Main article: United States Senate election in Missouri, 2012

In mid-May 2011, Akin announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2012 to unseat first-term Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.[23] Likely competition in the August 2012 Republican primary includes businessman John Brunner, [24] and former Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman,[25].

[edit] References

  1. ^ "akin". Freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~battle/reps/akin.htm. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  2. ^ "Veterans in the US House of Representatives 109th Congress" (PDF). Navy League. Archived from the original on 2007-06-26. http://web.archive.org/web/20070626235918/http://www.navyleague.org/legislative_affairs/HouseVets.pdf. Retrieved 2007-10-08. 
  3. ^ "MO State House 085 Race - Nov 06, 1990". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=537675. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  4. ^ "MO State House 086 Race - Nov 03, 1992". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=537677. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  5. ^ "MO State House 086 Race - Nov 08, 1994". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=478244. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  6. ^ "MO State House 086 Race - Nov 05, 1996". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=250200. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  7. ^ "MO State House 086 Race - Nov 03, 1998". Our Campaigns. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=444180. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  8. ^ "For The Missouri House -- Iv". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1996-11-01. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB04FF2A1063D61&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. 
  9. ^ "Casinos Decry Proposal To Stop Contributions Similar Efforts Have Withstood Court Challenges". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1998-03-17. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB086CE430588D9&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. 
  10. ^ . http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=9zUjAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a9gEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1361,2108434&dq=todd+akin&hl=en. Retrieved 2012-01-29. 
  11. ^ "Tangled Politics Of Coming Election Apply Ice To Missouri's Tax-Cut Fever". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1996-04-07. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=SL&p_theme=sl&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB04F928C618B8F&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM. 
  12. ^ "U.S. Representative - District 2 - Summary". Office of Secretary of State, Missouri. http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=13&oid=3681&arc=1. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
  13. ^ "U.S. Representative - District 2 - Summary". Office of Secretary of State, Missouri. http://www.sos.mo.gov/enrweb/raceresults.asp?eid=14&oid=3986&arc=1. Retrieved May 9, 2011. 
  14. ^ "Missouri". Election 2010 (New York Times). http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/results/missouri. Retrieved 2010-11-27. 
  15. ^ Barone, Michael; Richard E. Cohen (2009). The Almanac of American Politics 2010. Washington, D.C.: National Journal. p. 875. ISBN 978-0-89234-119-1. 
  16. ^ "Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4411". Thomas.loc.gov. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04411:. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
  17. ^ "Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4777". Thomas.loc.gov. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04777:. Retrieved 2011-05-09. 
  18. ^ "Todd Akin votes in Town and Country". St. Louis Post-Dispatch website. 2011-05-31. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_a4e87e23-6e54-5f0c-a5fe-28367ef2ba75.html. Retrieved 2011-06-02. 
  19. ^ "Missouri Rep. Akin voting, living at different places.". Associated Press via KMOV-TV. 2011-05-31. http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Missouri-Rep-Akin-voting-living-at-different-places-122872884.html. Retrieved 2011-06-03. 
  20. ^ Colby Hochmuth (June 28, 2011). "Lawmaker Apologizes for Liberal 'Hatred of God' Quip". Fox News. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/06/28/lawmaker-apologizes-for-liberal-hatred-god-quip/. Retrieved 2011-08-27. 
  21. ^ Jason Hancock (June 29, 2011). "Akin changes course, apologizes for comment". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_257a8021-15ab-5006-9245-cca7ad534d62.html. Retrieved 2011-08-27. 
  22. ^ Brian Kelly (August 19, 2011). "Clergy Still Trying to Meet With Akin Over 'Hatred of God' Statement". CBS St. Louis. http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/08/19/clergy-still-trying-to-meet-with-akin-over-hatred-of-god-statement/. Retrieved 2011-08-27. 
  23. ^ "Congressman running for Senate introduces himself to the Heartland". 2011-05-20. http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/politics/story.aspx?id=620566. Retrieved 2011-05-28. 
  24. ^ "Todd Akin announces Missouri Senate bid". RollCall.com. 2011-05-17. http://www.rollcall.com/news/todd_akin_announces_missouri_senate_bid-205681-1.html. Retrieved 2011-05-28. 
  25. ^ Catanese, David (December 1, 2010). "Inaugural scoop: Steelman files for Senate". Politico. http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/1210/Inaugural_scoop_Steelman_files_for_Senate.html. Retrieved December 1, 2010. 

[edit] External links

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Jim Talent		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Missouri's 2nd congressional district
2001–present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by
Brian Bilbray
R-California		 United States Representatives by seniority
165th		 Succeeded by
Eric Cantor
R-Virginia
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