Jump to content

Saxby Chambliss

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jon Holly (talk | contribs) at 01:22, 11 November 2008. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Future election candidate

Saxby Chambliss
United States Senator
from Georgia
Assumed office
January 3, 2003
Serving with Johnny Isakson
Preceded byMax Cleland
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 8th district
In office
January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2003
Preceded byJ. Roy Rowland
Succeeded byMac Collins[1]
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry
In office
January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2007
Preceded byThad Cochran
Succeeded byTom Harkin
Personal details
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJulianne Chambliss
ResidenceMoultrie, Georgia
Alma materUniversity of Georgia
Occupationattorney

Clarence Saxby Chambliss (born November 10, 1943) is the senior United States Senator from Georgia. He is a member of the Republican Party. In the 110th Congress, Chambliss serves as the Ranking Republican Member of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. He chaired the committee during 109th Congress (2005-2007), a rare distinction for a freshman Senator.

Early life and education

Chambliss was born in Warrenton, North Carolina. He graduated from C.E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1961. Chambliss earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Georgia in 1966 and earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1968. He is a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity (along with his opponent Jim Martin).

In the 1960s, during the Vietnam War, Chambliss was given five student deferments and he received a medical deferment (1-Y) for bad knees due to a football injury.[2]

Chambliss began his career as an attorney after he graduated from law school.

Political career

Chambliss is a member of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the United States Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and he is the Ranking Republican Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

During the 109th Congress, Chambliss served as Chairman of that committee and is the only senator since 1947 to have chaired a full standing Senate Committee after serving in the Senate for just two years.

Chambliss’ service on committees relevant to homeland security and intelligence while serving in the House led to an appointment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he has repeatedly advocated that the U.S. intelligence community must dramatically improve its information sharing and human intelligence gathering abilities

House of Representatives

Chambliss was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as one of the new conservative Republican congressmen whose elections caused the party to gain a majority in both houses of Congress. A long-time Congressman and fellow Georgian, Newt Gingrich, was the leader of the movement, and Chambliss and the other Republicans elected that year are known as the Class of '94.

Chambliss was elected from the Macon-based 8th District, which came open after six-term incumbent J. Roy Rowland retired. He was elected with 63 percent of the vote — an unexpectedly large margin since the 8th had never elected a Republican before. He was nearly defeated in 1996 by Macon attorney Jim Wiggins, but breezed to reelection in 1998 and 2000. During his four terms in the House, Chambliss served on the United States House of Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and served as Chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.

Chambliss was criticized for remarks he made during a November 19, 2001 meeting with emergency responders in Valdosta, Georgia, where he said that they should "turn the sheriff loose and arrest every Muslim that crosses the state line." Chambliss later apologized for the remarks.[3]

In 2006, under mounting pressure, Chambliss was among several congressional Republicans and Democrats who returned monetary gifts from convicted fraudster Jack Abramoff. [4]

Senate

2002 race

Main article: United States Senate election in Georgia, 2002

Chambliss ran for the Senate in 2002, defeating the Democratic incumbent, Max Cleland, 53 percent to 46 percent. His House career would have likely been over even if he hadn't run for the Senate; his home in Moultrie had been redrawn into the neighboring 1st District, represented by fellow Republican Jack Kingston.

His campaign used the refrain of national defense and security, but drew criticism for television ads that paired images of Cleland and Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and for questioning the commitment to homeland security of his opponent, a triple amputee and decorated Vietnam veteran. [5] Cleland was one of the senators who was blocking the passage of the homeland security bill because of a provision that would have allowed labor unions to organize the Department of Homeland Security.[6]

Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona said of one ad, "[I]t's worse than disgraceful, it's reprehensible;" Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska said the ads were "beyond offensive to me."[7] Chambliss supporters claimed the ad didn't question Cleland's patriotism, but rather his judgment.[8]

Chambliss never served in the military himself, allegedly due to a bad knee.[9]

2008 race

Main article: United States Senate election in Georgia, 2008

Chambliss held a comfortable lead against challenger, Democrat Jim Martin until August 2008, when Chambliss voted for the Wall Street bailout and the economy worsened.[10] Chambliss staff created several negative ads[clarification needed], and aired them on television stations.

The election results initially showed Chambliss with a comfortable lead, but the early ballots were not counted in the initial figures. Libertarian Allen Buckley garnered 4-8% of the vote after being invited by Chambliss to participate in six debates.[10] and neither major party candidate exceded 50% of the vote, so a run-off election will be scheduled for Dec 2nd.

Political positions

Voting Record

Chambliss' voting record is typically that of voting in line with Christian, Conservative issues.[11][12] He is the primary sponsor in the United States Senate for the tax-reform proposal The Fair Tax Act (S. 1025), attracting more cosponsors than any other fundamental tax reform bill introduced. On occasion he has chosen to participate in bi-partisan legislation, such as when he supported the bi-partisan immigration reform (led by John McCain and Ted Kennedy) in 2007. [13] He also voted for the the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system.[13] He is also the Republican leader of the Gang of 10, a bipartisan group which has worked to create a compromise surrounding the energy policy of the United States. On October 2, 2003, a measure was introduced to the senate floor that would mean an additional $322,000,000 for safety equipment for United States forces in Iraq (Including Life saving equipment such as imporved body armor) and to reduce the amount provided for reconstruction in Iraq by $322,000,000. Senator Chambliss voted against the measure. Fortunatly his opinion was a minority and the resolution passed.[14]

Ratings by Special Interest Groups

On abortion issues, the ratings given Chambliss as of 2007 by NARAL and the National Right to Life Committee identify him as having a voting record that is in line with the Republican party. NARAL rated him as voting 0% of the time with their interests,[15] while the National Right to Life Committee had rated him as voting 100% with their interests.[16]

On Civil Liberties and Civil Rights issues, in 2007, the American Civil Liberties Union rated him as voting 17% of the time in line with their interests,[17] and the NAACP rated him as voting 27% of the time with their interests.[18]

On Education issues, Chambliss was given a letter grade of "F" by the National Education Association in 2007[19] and in 2008, the Center for Education Reform, gave him a score of 9 out of 9, and called him a "real reformer".[20]

On Economic issues including voting on the national budget, national spending, and taxes, in 2007, the National Tax Limitation Committee scored Chambliss as voting in their interests 90% of the time,[21] and the group Americans for Tax Reform scored him as voting 100% with their interests.[22]

On labor/workers issues, in 2007 the AFL-CIO rated Chambliss as voting with their interests 11% of the time,[23] and the International Foodservice Distributors Association rated him as voting with their interests 85% of the time.[24]

Committee assignments

  • Committee on Armed Services
  • Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry (Ranking Member)
  • Committee on Rules and Administration
  • Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
  • Joint Committee on Printing
  • Select Committee on Intelligence

Personal life

Chambliss' son, Bo, is a registered lobbyist with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and lobbies on commodity futures trading issues that are directly under the purview of his father, who serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

Since May 2004, the senator's office has had a written office policy that staff members must refrain from engaging in any meeting or activity involving lobbying by Bo Chambliss: "Staff should not be informed of any lobbying that Bo might undertake with respect to committees or subcommittees on which Senator Chambliss serves," the policy says.[25]

Chambliss is a member of the St. John's Episcopal Church in Moultrie, Georgia. He married Julianne in 1966 and they have two children.

Electoral history

See also: United States Senate election in Georgia, 2008
Georgia's 8th congressional district: Results 1994–2000[26]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct
1994 Craig Mathis 53,408 37% Saxby Chambliss 89,591 63%
1996 Jim Wiggins 84,506 47% Saxby Chambliss 93,619 53%
1998 Ronald L. Cain 53,079 38% Saxby Chambliss 87,993 62%
2000 Jim Marshall 79,051 41% Saxby Chambliss 113,380 59%
Georgia Senator (Class II): 2002 results[26]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2002 Max Cleland 932,422 46% Saxby Chambliss 1,071,352 53% Claude "Sandy" Thomas Libertarian 27,830 1%

Further reading

  • James Moore. 2004. Bush's War for Reelection: Iraq, The White House, and the People. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-48385-0. Chapter 15, pp. 288–308.

References

  1. ^ In 2002, Georgia was redistricted as per the 2000 Census and some districts were renumbered. Democrat Jim Marshall took the seat in Georgia's 3rd congressional district, which was substantially the same as the old 8th district Chambliss represented.
  2. ^ Tom Robbins, "The Sunshine Patriots", Village Voice, August 17, 2004
  3. ^ Melanie Eversley, "Chambliss apologizes for remark on Muslims", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 21, 2001.
  4. ^ ["Bush, lawmakers returning Abramoff donations"|http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10723902/], MSNBC, January 5, 2006
  5. ^ Chambliss Ad (Cleland), You Tube, August 02, 2006
  6. ^ "Atlanta Journal Constitution interview with Karl Rove", August 20, 2007
  7. ^ Carlson attempted to downplay Republican attacks on Cleland — Media Matters, July 30, 2004
  8. ^ Slate.com: The Democrats' favorite victim
  9. ^ Georgia Republicans pander to those who prefer the ignoble past - St. Petersburg Times Online, November 17, 2002
  10. ^ a b ""Can I Get Equal Time Here?"". Reason. 2008-11-03. Retrieved 2008-11-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ "American Conservative Union Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  12. ^ "Christian Coalition Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  13. ^ a b "Scrambling the red states". The Economist. 2008-10-23. Retrieved 2008-10-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00376
  15. ^ "NARAL Pro-Choice America Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  16. ^ "National Right to Life Committee Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  17. ^ "American Civil Liberties Union Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  18. ^ "National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  19. ^ "National Education Association Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  20. ^ "US Senate Candidate Scorecard" (PDF). The Center for Education Reform.
  21. ^ "National Tax Limitation Committee Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  22. ^ "Americans for Tax Reform Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  23. ^ "AFL-CIO Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  24. ^ "International Foodservice Distributors Association Ratings". Project Vote Smart.
  25. ^ Democrats target Georgia's Chambliss over son's lobbying — USNews.com 3/7/06
  26. ^ a b "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved 2007-08-08.
Wikiquote has quotations related to Saxby Chambliss.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 8th congressional district
1995 – 2003 		Succeeded by
U.S. Senate
Preceded by U.S. senator (Class 2) from Georgia
2003–present
Served alongside: Zell Miller, Johnny Isakson 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee
2005 – 2007 		Succeeded by
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by United States Senators by seniority
71st 		Succeeded by
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference sucessessordistrict was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saxby_Chambliss&oldid=251004677"