Zach Wamp

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Zach Wamp
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Marilyn Lloyd
Born	October 28, 1957 (1957-10-28) (age 52) Fort Benning, Georgia
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Kimberly Wamp
Residence	Chattanooga, Tennessee
Alma mater	HS diploma
Occupation	real estate broker
Religion	Baptist

Zachary Paul "Zach" Wamp (born October 28, 1957 in Fort Benning, Georgia) is a Republican politician representing the 3rd Congressional district of Tennessee (map) since 1995. The district is based in Chattanooga and includes large parts of East Tennessee, including Oak Ridge.

[edit] Early life, education and early career

Wamp was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. He attended the McCallie School, a boy's boarding school in Chattanooga, from the age of 11 until he graduated in 1976.^[1] He studied political science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1977–78 and 1979–80 and attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in between (1978–79).

After attending college, Wamp was a sales representative for Olan Mills, a photography company based in Chattanooga that primarily produces church directories,^[1] and later a commercial and industrial real estate broker.

Wamp began in politics as precinct vice chairman for the 1983 Chattanooga mayoral campaign of Gene Roberts. He was later elected chairman of the Hamilton County, Tennessee Republican Party, then regional director for the state GOP. Wamp organized, directed, recruited, managed or chaired dozens of political campaigns.

[edit] Congressional career

Wamp ran for the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1992 against nine-term Democrat Marilyn Lloyd, narrowly losing by two percentage points of the vote. During the campaign, Wamp disclosed he had become addicted to cocaine in the late 1970s while attending college, but had successfully overcome the addiction in 1984.^[2]

When Lloyd did not run for reelection in 1994, Wamp ran again. During the race, Wamp signed the Contract with America. He proposed a plan to pay Congressmen the same as Lieutenant Colonels, and linked his Democratic opponent to Bill Clinton. Wamp won with 52% of the vote, defeating Democrat Randy Button. He was re-elected in 1996 with 56% of the vote. In his next four re-election campaigns, he got 64% or more of the vote.

Wamp explored seeking a seat in the United States Senate to succeed Bill Frist, who had promised to serve no more than two terms. However, he decided against running for that seat in October 2004.

He serves on the Liberty Caucus (sometimes called the Liberty Committee), a group of liberty-minded congressional representatives from both sides of the aisle.^[3] Congressman Ron Paul hosts a luncheon for the Liberty Caucus every Thursday. Other members include Jimmy Duncan of Tennessee, Virgil Goode of Virginia, Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland, Scott Garrett of New Jersey, Walter B. Jones of North Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona.^[4]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies (Ranking Member)

[edit] Political positions

Wamp is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a post he has used to champion what he called his highest legislative priority^[5] -- funding for his district's decaying lock at the Chickamauga Dam.^[6] In 2006, the eight-year, $349 million project was approved, but Wamp has had to continually work to protect the project from budget cuts and shortfalls.^[7]

He also secured in the 2006 budget a $4 million appropriation for a methamphetamine task force^{[citation needed]}, which was started in 1999 and has since expanded to all regions of Tennessee.^[8]

Wamp has vigorously supported the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the largest government-owned firms in the United States.

Wamp has proposed legislation to allow the posting of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. He also voted for the bill of Wall Street bailout, but later has said he regrets that vote.^[9]

Despite former Sen. Fred Thompson failing on the 2008 Republican presidential primary campaign, Wamp said on May 18, 2009 that mere freshman Sen. Bob Corker is gaining clout around the country as a potential presidential candidate.^[10]

[edit] 2005–2006 campaign for Majority Whip

In the wake of Tom DeLay's indictment in September 2005, Wamp campaigned among his fellow Republican House members to become the majority whip, the number three position in the Republican House leadership.^[11] Representatives Ray LaHood and Gil Gutknecht agreed to co-chair his campaign for the position.^[12] But the incumbent, Roy Blunt, remained the majority whip because Blunt lost his race for Majority Leader (the position was won by John Boehner in February 2006).^[13]

[edit] 2006 campaign

Wamp with U.S. Representative Lincoln Davis

When he was elected to the House in 1994, Wamp pledged to serve just twelve years (six terms) in the House, meaning that he would leave the House in 2007. However, shortly after winning reelection to a sixth term in 2004, Wamp announced he would run again in 2006 after all, citing his status as Tennessee's only member of the powerful Appropriations Committee. The pledge was "a mistake," he told the Associated Press in 2004.^[14]

Wamp faced Brent Benedict, a computer programmer and consultant. During the campaign, Benedict made an issue of Wamp's breaking his term limit pledge saying that he would hold himself to six terms if elected.^[15] Despite this, Wamp was easily reelected.

Following the loss of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the 2006 midterm elections, Wamp reflected on the defeat saying, "For the first six years of the 12 years, we were focused on policy and principles, and politics was secondary. The second six years, politics became primary: raising money, going negative, consolidating power."^[16]

[edit] 2010 Tennessee governor campaign

On January 5, 2009, Wamp announced that he would be running for Governor of Tennessee in the Republican primaries.^[17]

[edit] Personal life

Zach and his wife Kim have been married for 24 years and have a son, Weston, and a daughter, Coty, who are both students at the University of Tennessee.

In April 2003, the Associated Press reported that Wamp was one of six Congressman living in a Capitol Hill townhouse subsidized by The Family, a national Christian organization.^[18]

On July 10, 2009, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Wamp admitted in an interview that he and his fellow residents at C Street have all agreed they won't talk about their private living arrangements, adding that he intends to honor that pact. When Rachel Maddow repeated the story on her show, Wamp complained, but the Knoxville News Sentinel stated that Wamp did not call them to correct his comment.^[19] Maddow responded strongly to Wamp's complaints on air.^[20]

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Zach Wamp

• Congressman Zach Wamp official U.S. House website
• Zach Wamp for Governor official campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia