John Fleming (American politician)

John Fleming
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Jim McCrery
Personal details
Born	John Calvin Fleming, Jr. (1951-07-05) July 5, 1951 Meridian, Mississippi, US
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Cindy Fleming
Children	4
Residence	Minden, Louisiana
Alma mater	University of Mississippi University of Mississippi School of Medicine
Occupation	Physician, businessman
Military service
Branch/service	United States Navy

John Calvin Fleming, Jr. (born July 5, 1951), is an American politician, physician, and businessman who has served as the U.S. Representative for Louisiana's 4th congressional district since 2009. A member of the Republican Party, he lives in his adopted city of Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana.

A second cousin (five generations removed) to the former Speaker of the House, Henry Clay of Kentucky, Fleming is a member of Sons of the American Revolution and Jamestowne Society; he is only the second Republican to hold his House seat since Reconstruction.

Early life, education and family

Fleming was born in Meridian in Lauderdale County in eastern Mississippi. He was reared in a working class home in which his mother became disabled and could not work when he was still young. Just prior to his high school graduation, Fleming's father died of a heart attack, and young Fleming had to work his way through college. He attended the University of Mississippi in Oxford, MS, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. Fleming was awarded his Bachelor of Science degree in 1973. He went on to attend medical school at the same university, but at the Jackson campus and received his M.D. degree in 1976. He entered the United States Navy to continue his medical training in 1976 and served until 1982 after completing his residency in 1979. Fleming also trained for years in karate attaining the rank of third degree black belt. Fleming and his wife, Cindy, married in 1978. The couple has four children.

Medical career

After earning his medical degree, Fleming was chief resident in family medicine at the Naval Regional Medical Center in Camp Pendleton, California. He also trained at the drug and alcohol treatment unit at the Navy Regional Medical Center in Long Beach, California. Serving in the Navy after his residency, Fleming practiced family medicine on the island of Guam. From 1979 to 1981, he was the director of drug and alcohol treatment and chairman of the Navy Family Advocacy Committee. He subsequently performed similar duties in Charleston, South Carolina.

After leaving the Navy, Fleming established his practice in Minden in August 1982. His first clinic was on Pearl Street across from the United States Post Office. He chose Minden for his city of residence because, in his words, it "has small-town charm, warm essence of life, long, lazy summer days with watermelon cuts and family reunions." To attract patients to his new practice, Fleming announced evening and Saturday morning hours to accommodate working people and students.

Fleming received a certification from the American Board of Family Practice and joined the staff of the Minden Medical Center. Fleming also joined the Louisiana Academy of Family Physicians (LAFP). In 2007, he was chosen as the LAFP "Louisiana Family Practice Physician of the Year."

Fleming previously worked with chemically dependent persons through the program called "New Beginnings" at the Minden Medical Center. His book, Preventing Addiction: What Parents Must Know to Immunize Their Kids Against Drug And Alcohol Addiction was published in 2006.

Business career

Fleming is a businessman who owns thirty-six Subway sandwich shops in North Louisiana and Fleming Expansions, LLC, a regional developer for The UPS Store, with outlets in Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Webster Parish coroner

In 1987, Fleming entered the race for Webster Parish coroner against the incumbent, the late Dr. Charles Hancock, but withdrew after learning the position would take too much time from his regular medical duties.

In 1995, he ran for coroner again. He defeated the nonpartisan candidate, Dr. Carlos A. Irizarry, 7,842 votes (6-.6 percent) to 5,143 (39.6 percent). Fleming succeeded Democratic incumbent Dr. Carl A. Hines, from Minden, who did not seek re-election.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2008

Fleming entered the race for the District 4 House seat after the 21-year Republican incumbent Jim McCrery announced his retirement from the House. Fleming received political support from the LAFP and the American Academy of Family Physicians' (AAFP) political action committee for his campaign.

Fleming supported the FairTax, which would replace the income tax with a flat rate on consumption, as defined in the legislation, of 23 percent of the total payment on personal consumption.

In the October 4, 2008, Republican closed primary, Fleming ran against Jeff R. Thompson, a lawyer from Bossier City, and Chris Gorman. In the election, no candidate received a majority of the votes. Fleming led with 14,500 votes (35.1 percent), followed by Gorman with 14,072 votes (34.1 percent), and Thompson with 12,693 votes (30.8 percent). This established a primary runoff between Fleming and Gorman. In the runoff, Fleming defeated Gorman, 43,012 votes (55.6 percent) to 34,405 (44.4 percent) and carried all but one of the thirteen parishes in the district.

In the 2006 race against McCrery, "Catfish" Kelley ran as a Republican and drew 12 percent of the vote under the old primary format. In 2008, his 3 percent was far more than the margin between Fleming and Carmouche. A plurality is sufficient to win the general election—which, along with the District 2 race, were the last congressional races in the nation in 2008.

Outgoing Vice President Dick Cheney appeared in Shreveport on November 21 to speak at a fundraiser for Fleming. Politico.com indicated that McCrery supports Fleming but had made no official endorsement and had not appeared at any of Fleming's campaign events. On December 2, McCrery spoke on Fleming's behalf in an appearance on The Moon Griffon Show radio program, which is syndicated in most Louisiana media markets. He used the argument that Carmouche, if successful, would cast his first vote for Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California.

On December 10, 2008, Paul Carmouche formally conceded the election to Fleming.

2010

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Louisiana, 2010 § District 4

Fleming was unopposed in the Republican primary in 2010 but was challenged by the Democratic nominee, David R. Melville. Governor Buddy Roemer, then still a Republican and later a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, supported David Melville in the general election.

Fleming was reelected saying that Democratic policies were out of step with his district and most of America.

2012

Fleming was unopposed by a Democratic candidate in his 2012 re-election bid in his district that is 2 to 1 Democratic registration but has a Cook PVI of R +11. In the November 6, 2012 general election, Fleming instead faced opposition from a Libertarian candidate, Randall Lord of Shreveport, a former chiropractor studying psychology at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. Fleming defeated Lord, 187,790 (75.3 percent) to 61,587 (24.7 percent).

2014

On April 4, 2013, Fleming announced that he would not in 2014 seek the United States Senate held since 1997 by the Democratic Mary Landrieu. Instead his colleague, U.S. Representative Bill Cassidy of Baton Rouge, had announced on April 3 that he would challenge Landrieu. In his statement, Fleming said: "For me to enter the race now would risk a contest between two experienced Republican congressmen, potentially offering Senator Landrieu a path back to Washington. I can't let that happen."

In August 2013, Fleming endorsed Republican State Senator Neil Riser of Columbia as his choice to succeed his retiring colleague Rodney Alexander of Jackson Parish in Louisiana's 5th congressional district. The special election to choose a successor to Alexander will be held on October 19.

On December 10, 2014, KTBS, a Shreveport based television station, reported that Fleming was considering running for the senate seat currently held by David Vitter. Vitter, who is running in the 2015 Gubernatorial Election, would have to vacate his seat should he be elected Governor of Louisiana. In a statement, Fleming said "If Senator Vitter is elected as Governor, I would certainly be interested in running for the seat he would vacate."

2015

See also: United States Senate election in Louisiana, 2016

On December 7, 2015, Fleming officially announced that he is a candidate for the United States Senate. He is a candidate to succeed fellow Republican David Vitter, who will not seek a third term in 2016. Vitter lost the gubernatorial runoff election on November 21, 2015, to the Democrat John Bel Edwards. Others expected to contest the Senate seat are Fleming's House colleague and fellow physician, Charles Boustany of Lafayette, State Treasurer John Neely Kennedy, and Colonel Rob Maness of Madisonville in St. Tammany Parish, a favorite of the Tea Party movement who ran against the defeated Mary Landrieu and the victorious Bill Cassidy in the race for Louisiana's other Senate seat in 2014. Foster Campbell of Bossier Parish, a Democratic member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission and an advisor to John Bel Edwards, has also been mentioned as a senatorial possibility.

"I not only fought the liberals in Washington, I also fought the leadership of my own party when they were all too willing to compromise on our conservative principles," Fleming said in his statement of candidacy.

Tenure

2011 tax plan comments

In a September 19, 2011 interview on MSNBC, in which Fleming criticized President Obama's proposed plan to increase taxes on the wealthy, Fleming told host Chris Jansing, "The amount that I have to invest in my business and feed my family is more like $600,000 of that $6.3 million.... So by the time I feed my family I have, maybe, $400,000 left over to invest in new locations, upgrade my locations, buy more equipment." When Jansing asked Fleming if he thought the "average person" might be unsympathetic to Fleming's position, Fleming responded, "Class warfare never created a job...This is not about attacking people who make certain incomes. You know in this country, most people feel that being successful in their business is a virtue, not a vice, and once we begin to identify it as a vice, this country is going down."

Fleming's remarks were widely reported and resulted in considerable commentary. Bruce Alpert, of Louisiana newspaper The Times-Picayune, reported that "on liberal blogs, Fleming was portrayed as insensitive to millions of working Americans who are struggling to meet expenses in the face of high unemployment and stagnant wages." Conservative sources including Bill O'Reilly and the Drudge Report defended Fleming's remarks; Josh Beavers, publisher of the Minden Press-Herald in Fleming's hometown, wrote an editorial which stated, "[Fleming's] sentiment was only that the more taxes he pays the fewer people he can employ. High taxes on business owners thwart economic activity."

2013 budget cuts statement

In 2013, Fleming was quoted in Forbes as saying:"Republicans in general, we desperately want a reduction in spending to get government back into balance. We would rather take some cuts in areas that we are not comfortable with than have no cuts at all." Forbes noted that Fleming's district includes Barksdale Air Force Base and Fort Polk, both major employers. At a discussion in February 2013 in DeRidder, Fleming stated he would not vote to allow the government to cut $600 million from the defense plan. Fleming voted against the Budget Control Act of 2011, the act which caused the automatic budget sequestration in March 2013. In this November 21, 2011 statement Fleming criticized the Budget Control Act because of what he called "devastating cuts to military spending."

2013 work to reform healthcare

In September 2013, Fleming cosponsored and introduced the Republican Study Committee’s American Health Care Reform Act, as an alternative to the soon-to-be-implemented Affordable Care Act, which Fleming said was “not fixable or repairable.”

Also in September 2013, Fleming was among several conservative House Republicans who worked to defund and/or delay Obamacare in connection with government funding and debt ceiling legislation.

2013 efforts to protect religious liberties in the military

In June 2013, Fleming sponsored an amendment to a Defense spending bill requiring the military to accommodate, except in cases of military necessity, "actions and speech" reflecting the "conscience, moral principles, or religious beliefs of the member." The amendment drew objections from President Obama, who said "commanders need discretion "to address potentially problematic speech and actions within their units." The amendment was approved by the House Armed Services Committee, and a companion measure passed in the Senate.

In July 2013, the U.S. House passed a measure—sponsored by Fleming—that bars the Defense Department from appointing atheist chaplains. Fleming said ""The notion of an atheist chaplain is nonsensical; it's an oxymoron."

Committee assignments

Upon his election to the United States House of Representatives, Fleming was assigned to these committees:

• Committee on Armed Services,
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces;
• Committee on Natural Resources,
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources
  • Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs (Chairman)

Caucus memberships

• The Republican Study Committee
• The Tea Party Caucus
• Co-chair of the Congressional Addiction, Treatment and Recovery Caucus

See also

• Physicians in US Congress

External links

• Congressman John Fleming official U.S. House site
• John Fleming for Congress
• John Fleming at Curlie
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart