Roy Blunt
Roy D. Blunt | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Acting United States House of Representatives Majority Leader | |
| In office September 29, 2005 – February 2, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Tom DeLay |
| Succeeded by | John Boehner |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 7th District | |
| In office January 7, 1997 – incumbent | |
| Preceded by | Mel Hancock |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 10, 1950 Niangua, Missouri |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Roseann Blunt (div.) Abigail Perlman Blunt |
Roy D. Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is a Republican politician from Missouri, representing Missouri's 7th congressional district (map). in the United States House of Representatives. He is currently the House Minority Whip for the 110th United States Congress.
After House Majority Leader Tom DeLay stepped down due to a criminal indictment in Texas, Blunt served as interim majority leader from September 29, 2005, to February 2, 2006, when John Boehner of Ohio was elected as DeLay's permanent replacement.
Blunt's son Matt Blunt is the Governor of Missouri.
Personal life
Blunt was born in Niangua, Missouri to Neva Dora Letterman and Leroy O. Blunt.[1] He earned a B.A. in History from Southwest Baptist University in 1970. Two years later, he earned a M.A. in History from Missouri State University (then Southwest Missouri State University).
Blunt has been married twice. He married Roseann in May 1967, and with her had three children: Matt (the current governor of Missouri), Amy Blunt Mosby, Andrew. Amy and Andrew are lawyers and lobbyists. He and Roseann split up after 35 years of marriage. After divorcing Roseann, he married Abigail Perlman, a Phillip Morris lobbyist on October 18, 2003. In April, 2006, he and Abigail adopted an 18-month old boy from Russia, whom they named Alexander Charles "Charlie" Blunt.[citation needed]
He has five grandchildren: Davis Mosby, Eva Mosby, Ben Blunt, William Branch Blunt, and Allyson Blunt.[citation needed]
Political career
Blunt entered politics in 1972, when he was elected county clerk and chief election official of Greene County, Missouri (where Springfield is located). Blunt was the Republican nominee for Missouri lieutenant governor in 1980, but lost to Democrat Ken Rothman. He served as Greene County clerk until 1984, when he was elected Missouri Secretary of State — the first Republican to hold that post in 50 years.
He ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Missouri in 1992, losing the Republican primary to Missouri Attorney General William L. Webster.
From 1993 to 1996, Blunt was president of Southwest Baptist University, his alma mater.
Blunt was first elected to Congress in 1996, when incumbent Congressman Mel Hancock honored his pledge to serve only four terms. Blunt's district, one of the most Republican districts in the country, is located in the Ozark Mountains of southwestern Missouri, a district that includes Springfield and Joplin.
Upon entering the House, Blunt served on the International Relations Committee, the House Committee on Agriculture and the Transportation Committee. In 1999, he gave up seats on the latter two committees and joined the powerful Committee on Energy and Commerce. He has also served on the Republican Conference Steering Committee since his election to the Congress. That committee determines to which committees Republican Members are assigned and elevates Members to positions of Ranking Member or Chairman.
After only one term, Blunt was appointed as Chief Deputy Whip, the highest appointed position in the House Republican Caucus. In that capacity, he served as the Republicans' chief vote-counter. When Dick Armey retired and fellow Texan DeLay was elected to succeed him, Blunt was elected to succeed DeLay as majority whip.
On January 8, 2006, one day after DeLay announced that he would not seek to regain his position, Blunt announced he would run to permanently replace DeLay.[2] On January 14, 2006, he issued a release claiming that the majority of the Republican caucus had endorsed him as DeLay's successor.[3] However, when the election was held by secret ballot on February 2, 2006, Boehner won on the second ballot, with 122 votes to 109 for Blunt. In November of 2006 he was elected by the House Republicans to their second highest position for the 110th Congress, the Minority Whip, defeating Congressman Shadegg of Arizona handily.[4]
Since he was first elected in 1996, Blunt has been reelected four times without significant opposition. In 2004, he received 70.4% of the vote[5].
Blunt is also the honorary chairman of the Rely on Your Beliefs Fund, his PAC.
Positions and interest group ratings
Blunt has a very conservative voting record. He is generally rated highly by conservative interest groups and receives correspondingly low ratings from liberal groups.
Social issues
Although Missouri Right to Life endorsed Webster over Blunt in the 1992 Republican gubernatorial primary, Blunt has voted pro-life in Congress and has a conservative record on most other social issues. He has voted to ban partial-birth abortions, and to restrict or criminalize transporting minors across state lines for the purpose of getting an abortion.[6] He also voted in favor of the Federal Marriage Amendment, which bans same-sex marriages and has voted against same-sex adoptions. He received 94% lifetime and 96% 2004 ratings from the American Conservative Union, a 14% rating from the American Civil Liberties Union[7], and a 92% rating from the conservative Christian Coalition.[8]
Environmental record
Blunt has received the lowest possible score from the nonpartisan environmental group League of Conservation Voters for seven out of the past eight congressional sessions. In 2006, Blunt voted to permit offshore drilling,[9] to open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling,[10] and to deny funding for energy assistance, which would have helped low-income families weatherize and insulate their homes.[11]. During previous congresses, Blunt drew criticism from environmental groups for voting to reduce habitat protections afforded by the Endangered Species Act and for voting to expedite the approval process for forest thinning projects.[12] The Sierra Club has suggested that Blunt lost his position as majority whip in part because of his promise not to do “‘anything meaningful’ on global warming” if voters returned him to Congress.[13][14]
Education
Blunt has voted in favor of school prayer and supported the No Child Left Behind Act. He has voted in favor of school vouchers within the District of Columbia but has voted against broader legislation allowing states to use federal money to issue vouchers for private or religious schools. He has received a 17% rating from the National Education Association.[15]
Guns
Blunt has voted to prohibit lawsuits against gun manufacturers and dealers if the guns they manufacture or sell are later used in a crime. He has also voted to reduce the waiting period for purchasing a gun from 72 hours to 24 hours. He has received an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association.[16]
Business
Blunt received a 97% rating from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce indicating a pro-business voting record. He supported banking industry-backed efforts to overhaul U.S. bankruptcy laws, requiring consumers who seek bankruptcy protection to repay more of their debts.[17]
Internet gambling ban
Blunt voted in favor of H.R. 4411 — The Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act[18]. This amendment to the Safe Port Act prohibits the owners of any gambling web sites "where such bet or wager is unlawful under any applicable Federal or State law in the State or Tribal lands in which the bet or wager is initiated, received, or otherwise made" from performing transactions with U.S. financial institutions. H.R. 4411 provides exemptions for state-sponsored online gambling transactions including lotteries, horse racing, and dog racing.
Commuting of Libby
Blunt said that Bush's commutation of Scooter Libby's prison sentence was "the right thing to do. . . . The prison sentence was overly harsh, and the punishment did not fit the crime."[19]
Controversies
Ties to the tobacco industry and lobbyists
In 2002, Blunt attempted to insert a provision, in support of tobacco corporations, into the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security. The "rider" would have made tobacco sales over the Internet more difficult, allowing tobacco companies to control distribution. At the time, Blunt was dating Altria (formerly known as Philip Morris) lobbyist Abigail Perlman, whom he later married. The rider had not been cleared by the House leadership. It was removed from the final bill by agreement between Blunt's staff and the Speaker's staff. The same basic provision was later adopted by the Senate and became law, restricting the ability of criminals and terrorists to use black market Internet sales of tobacco to underwrite illegal or nefarious activity.[20]
Citizens for Ethics released a report in June 2007 in which they pointed out that two of Blunt's children are lobbyists in addition to his wife.[21] Altria Group has made a $180,000 contribution to Blunt's PACs and is the largest donor to Blunt's campaigns, giving Blunt a total of $270,000 as of late 2006.[22] Son Andy Blunt is a lobbyist who has worked for Altria subsidiaries Kraft Foods, Miller Brewing, and Philip Morris, along with UPS. Blunt inserted a rider into an Iraq War appropriations bill in 2003 that benefited UPS.[21] Daughter Amy Blunt is a registered lobbyist for Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin.[21]
Citing the Homeland Security rider benefiting his largest donor Altria Group and the rider inserted to benefit UPS and FedEx after receiving campaign contributions from the companies totaling $58,000, Citizens for Ethics in September 2006 called Roy Blunt "one of the 20 most corrupt members of Congress."[22]
Ties to Tom DeLay
On November 16, 2005, Travis County, Texas District Attorney Ronnie Earle subpoenaed documents that purportedly show communication between DeLay's political action committee and that of Roy Blunt, which would not have been inpermissable. The subpoenaed documents were bank records of DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority PAC, which gave $75,000 to start Texans for a Republican Majority. Federal Election Commission records show that Blunt's PAC also paid roughly $88,000 in fees since 2003 to a consultant facing indictment in Texas in the same case as DeLay.[citation needed]
In June 2003, allegedly, Mr. Abramoff persuaded Majority Leader Tom DeLay to organize a letter, cosigned by Speaker Dennis Hastert, Whip Roy Blunt, and Deputy Whip Eric Cantor, that endorsed a view of gambling law benefitting Mr. Abramoff’s client, the Louisiana Coushatta, by blocking gambling competition by another tribe. Mr. Abramoff has donated $8,500 to Rep. Blunt’s leadership PAC, Rely on Your Beliefs Fund. However, Blunt had a long history of opposing gambling enterprises operated by Native Americans, due to the large presence of family-friendly tourism businesses in his Congressional district that includes Branson.[citation needed]
DeLay said of Blunt: "Roy Blunt has done a tremendous job. . . . His leadership is vital to our cause."[23]
Earmarking
In 2006 The Hill reported that "Blunt secured $80,000 to develop an industrial park, $1 million to improve waste-water treatment and $475,000 to renovate the Gillioz Theatre, as well as several defense-related earmarks. The Senate earmarked $250,000 for a natural-history museum in Springfield.<ref> Kaplan, Jonathan, "Hill leaders may be pressed to give up district projects", The Hill January 25, 2006.
References
- ^ http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~battle/reps/blunt.htm
- ^ "Boehner, Blunt seek to replace DeLay: Lawmakers debate scandals' impact on mid-term elections", CNN.com, January 8, 2006
- ^ "Blunt Claims Victory", National Journal, January 14, 2006
- ^ Carl Hulse and David Stout, "Ohio Congressman Wins Majority Leader Race, Replacing DeLay", New York Times, February 2, 2006
- ^ Official Election Returns, State of Missouri General Election, Tuesday, November 02, 2004
- ^ Roy Blunt on Abortion, OnTheIssues
- ^ Roy Blunt on Civil Rights, OnTheIssues
- ^ Roy Blunt on Families & Children, OnTheIssues
- ^ Office of the Clerk
- ^ ibid.
- ^ ibid
- ^ issues2002.org
- ^ Sierra Club
- ^ [1], Energy and Environment Daily, August 2, 2006
- ^ Roy Blunt on Education, OntheIssues
- ^ Roy Blunt on Gun Control, OntheIssues
- ^ Roy Blunt on Corporations, OntheIssues
- ^ Votes on H.R. 4411
- ^ CNN
- ^ "Blunt, Boehner Share Broad Network of Lobbyist Ties With DeLay", Bloomberg, January 10, 2006
- ^ a b c "Family Affair", Citizens for Ethics, June 19, 2007
- ^ a b "The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch)", Citizens for Ethics, 2006
- ^ Thomas B. Edsall, "House Majority Whip Exerts Influence by Way of K Street", The Washington Post, Tuesday, May 17, 2005
External links
- U.S. Congressman Roy Blunt official site
- United States Congress. "Roy Blunt (id: b000575)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Federal Election Commission — Roy Blunt campaign finance reports and data
- On the Issues — Roy Blunt issue positions and quotes
- OpenSecrets.org — Roy Blunt campaign contributions
- Project Vote Smart — Representative Roy Blunt (MO) profile
- SourceWatch Congresspedia — Roy Blunt profile
- Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Roy Blunt voting record
- Roy Blunt for Congress official campaign site
- Beyond Delay — Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington
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