Jim Nussle: Difference between revisions
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Most people are upset because he steals voters' money and inflates the national budget. Moreover, he has been rude to other Congressmen, insulting the size of their testicles. Speculation exists that this is because of insecurity about his own manhood. |
Most people are upset because he steals voters' money and inflates the national budget. Moreover, he has been rude to other Congressmen, insulting the size of their testicles. Speculation exists that this is because of insecurity about his own manhood. |
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Nussle's favorite corporate interests, agribusiness and the financial services industry, have benefitted handsomely from his support throughout his political career and look to continue as favored interests over citizens as Nussle runs for the Governorship. Whether Nussle will continue to look to conservative corporate backs is not seen as the question, but instead whether he will be able to look legitimate in the eyes of voters come November |
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==Congressional Career== |
==Congressional Career== |
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Revision as of 03:53, 27 April 2006
James Allen Nussle (born June 27 1960 in Des Moines, Iowa), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1991, currently representing the 1st District of Iowa (map). Nussle generally represents the northeastern part of the state.
Background
In high school, Nussle studied abroad Denmark (his PAC was at one time called "Great Dane PAC). He was later educated at Luther College, then at Drake University in Des Moines, and was elected to serve as Deleware County attorney after settleing in Manchester. While in Manchester, Nussle also volunteered as a first responder with the Manchester Volunteer Fire Department. When Tom Tauke made an unsuccessful run against Senator Tom Harkin during the 1990 election, Nussle ran as the Republican candidate for Tauke's seat.
Nussle and his first wife, Leslie Jeanne (Harbison) Nussle, divorced in 1996. He has two children with his first wife: Sarah (b. Nov 2, 1988) and Mark, (b. Feb 25, 1991).
His current wife, Karen (Chiccehitto) Nussle, worked on the communications staff for Speaker Newt Gingrich, then later for the lobbying firm of Black, Kelly, Scruggs & Healey, a subsidiary of the foreign-owned WPP Group. In 2002, she was a communications professor at the University of Dubuque and is a regular fixture in his gubernatorial campaign.
Nussle's voting record has been relatively conservative, despite representing a district with a slight Democratic lean.
Most people are upset because he steals voters' money and inflates the national budget. Moreover, he has been rude to other Congressmen, insulting the size of their testicles. Speculation exists that this is because of insecurity about his own manhood.
Nussle's favorite corporate interests, agribusiness and the financial services industry, have benefitted handsomely from his support throughout his political career and look to continue as favored interests over citizens as Nussle runs for the Governorship. Whether Nussle will continue to look to conservative corporate backs is not seen as the question, but instead whether he will be able to look legitimate in the eyes of voters come November
Congressional Career
Nussle's first election to the House was the closest election for him during his entire tenure in the House. He and challenger Eric Tabor had been in a virtual dead heat in the time leading up to the election. Just before the election, Tabor became embroiled in a controversy regarding absentee ballots that family members had cast. This controversy caused some votes to not be counted at the end, and also cost Tabor other votes as well. Tabor did not concede the election to Nussle until the day after the election.
In 1992, Nussle ran against fellow House member David "Dave" Nagle for what was the 2nd district of Iowa. This was because Iowa's House delegation was being reduced from six down to five Representatives. The areas that Nussle and Nagle had represented in Congress was combined for the 1992 election. Nussle won, even though he had only one term under his belt to Nagle's three.
Nussle's first exposure to national attention came when he made a speech from the well of the House while wearing a paper bag over his head to protest the "shameful" ethical behavior involved in the House banking scandal. This is ironic, because Nussle himself has been a prime example of "shameful" behavior with respect to Iowa industrial workers, the poor, mothers, children, students, and the American taxpayer. Nussle, and the rest of the Gang of Seven cast themselves as young, idealistic conservatives, looking to reduce corruption in congressional politics. However, they have overseen much of the latest corruption in the national budget and have in fact engaged in widespread logrolling and patronage (see: Jim Nussle's latest bill to save Iowa ethanol, a 180 degree turnaround after having cowed to oil interests for much of his career).
He became Chairman of the House Budget Committee in 2001, the first such Iowa politician to serve as chair of this committee. His position has brought national and international interest to his district, including ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History, the lobbying group formed by Bono of the rock band U2. The group has targeted Nussle's district with billboard and radio ads. On March 23, 2006 made changes to Nussle's article on Wikipedia, hoping to influence Nussle when it came to the Federal Budget. The group placed a statement in the article regarding poverty in Africa and that the Nussle could influence the budget to help Africa. The statement was soon removed from the article as the statement violated Wikipedia policies on maintaining a netural point of view. On March 24, 2006 the Des Moines Register contained a story about this revision. ONE confirmed in the story that they had placed the statement in the Wikipedia.
The students of Iowa pledge to remain aware of the flagrant abuses of power that the Congressman Nussle has engaged in and refuse to back down to his "charmer" image.
Gubernatorial bid
When Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack announced that he would not seek a third term as Governor, a number of people from both parties began exploring running for Governor. That included Jim Nussle, who began considering a run shortly after Vilsack made his announcement. On June 2, 2005 while in Davenport, Iowa Nussle announced he will run for Governor of Iowa in the 2006 elections. After his announcement, Nussle departed to make a number of campaign stops across the state of Iowa. His only serious primary challenger, Bob Vander Plaats, withdrew from the race to endorse Nussle and become his running mate.
On February 21 2006, The Iowa Democratic Party filed an ethics complaint against Nussle for not reporting any in-kind donations from the federal “Nussle for Congress Committee”.
Chet Culver, the incumbant Iowa Secretary of State, State Senator Ed Fallon and former Congressman and Iowa Director of Economic Developement under Governor Vilsack Mike Blouin are seeking the Democratic nomination.
So far three Republicans have announced their intentions to seek the House seat Nussle will be vacating in January, 2007:
- State Representative Bill Dix
- Past Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Brian Kennedy
- Quad Cities businessman Mike Whalen
The Democratic nomination is being sought by
- Waterloo attorney Bruce Braley
- Dubuque economic development executive Rick Dickinson
- Former state legislator and Scott County supervisor Bill Gluba.
Another Democrat, Denny Heath of Clinton, also said he intends to run but has not filed candidacy papers. Heath lost the Democratic primary to Gluba in 2004 and ran as an independent.
Election history
- 1990: Defeated Eric Tabor
- 1992: Defeated David Nagle 51%-49%
- 1994: Defeated David Nagle 56%-43%
- 1996: Defeated Donna Smith 51%-48%
- 1998: Defeated Rob Tully 55%-44%
- 2000: Defeated Donna Smith 55%-44%
- 2002: Defeated Ann Hutchinson 57%-43%
- 2004: Defeated Bill Gluba 55%-44%
- 2006: Defeated by Democratic Party 44%-55%