Conrad Burns
Conrad Burns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Junior Senator, Montana | |
| In office January 1989–Present | |
| Preceded by | John Melcher |
| Succeeded by | Incumbent (2007) |
| Personal details | |
| Nationality | american |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Phyllis Burns |
- For other people named Burns, see Burns (disambiguation).
Conrad R. Burns (born January 25, 1935) is a Republican United States Senator from Montana.
Conrad Burns became only the second Republican elected to the Senate from Montana after the 1913 passage of the Seventeeth Amendment providing for the direct election of Senators when he defeated incumbent Democrat John Melcher in 1988. Now in his third term, Burns is the longest-serving Republican Senator in Montana history.
Senator Burns sits on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and is the chairman of its subcommittee on the Interior. He is also chair of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee's Communications subcommittee.
Burns was born on a farm near Gallatin, Missouri to Russell and Mary Frances (Knight) Burns. Graduating from Gallatin High School in 1952, Senator Burns enrolled in the College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri. Two years later Burns enlisted in the Marine Corps and was posted in East Asia.
Following his military service Burns began working for TWA and Ozark airlines until 1962, when he became a field representative for Polled Hereford World magazine in Billings, Montana. Named the first manager of the Northern International Livestock Expo in 1968, Burns began his career in radio and television broadcasting, reporting on agricultural market news and establishing his reputation as the voice of Montana agriculture.
In 1975, Burns founded four radio stations known as the Northern Ag Network, which grew to serve 31 radio and TV stations across Montana and Wyoming when he sold it in 1986.
Burns began his career in politics when he was elected to the Yellowstone County Commission, serving for two years before deciding to run for the U.S. Senate.
A controversial speaker
In 1991, he shocked lobbyists when he invited them to a slave auction after voting for a civil rights bill. Burns said his comments had been misinterpreted because he was talking about a charity fundraising event known as a "slave auction."
In 1994, Burns told the editorial board of the Bozeman Chronicle that when asked by a constituent, "How can you live back there Washington, DC with all those niggers?" he replied, "[It's] a hell of a challenge." About the use of the racial slur: "I never give it much thought."
On February 17, 1999, while at a meeting of the Montana Implement Dealers Association in Billings, Montana, Burns referred to Arabic people as "ragheads". Burns later apologized. (Thompson 1999)
In 2000, he offended a Billings woman when he pointed to her nose ring and asked her what tribe she was from.
His detractors would point out that Burns also has a legislative history of supporting measures and bills which would reduce (American) Indian tribal sovereignty, including a bill, co-sponsored with then-Washington Republican Senator Slade Gorton, that would require tribes to waive sovereignty rights such as immunity from lawsuits, in addition to meeting means testing, before they could receive federal funds. He has also sponsored legislation that some say would violate treaties by eliminating Native jurisdiction of reservation land owned by non-Indians. According to Montana State Representative Carol Juneau Browning (D), "Burns...has encouraged people to believe that Indians' rights can be terminated."
Two women have accused Burns of sexism, alleging that he told one of the women she could stay at home and be a mother if she lost her job to outsourcing. [1]
On December 21, 2005 Burns stated that "We've got to remember that the people who first hit us in 9/11 entered this country through Canada." This claim, which is false [2] and contradicted by the findings of the 9-11 Commission, drew criticism from those questioning Burns' grasp of domestic security. Canadian ambassador Frank McKenna demanded an apology from Burns.
2006 Election
Burns narrowly managed to evade defeat when he beat now-Governor Brian Schweitzer 51%-47% in 2000. Because of this narrow escape, the Democratic take over in 2004 of Montana's state government and because of polls in 2005 indicating his support among his constituents to be around 36%, Burns has been singled out as one of the most vulnerable Senators facing re-election in 2006. His Democratic opponent is likely to be either Montana State Senate President and organic farmer Jon Tester, former state Representative Paul Richards, or Montana State Auditor John Morrison.
Controversy over Abramoff-Reed Scandal
Burns is an alleged recipient of illegal favors and $136,000 in campaign contributions from scandal-plagued lobbyist Jack Abramoff, currently under indictment by one grand jury and under investigation by two more.
As the chair of the Interior subcommittee on Apropriations, Burns received over $136,000 in campaign contributions through Abramoff and then directed $3 million to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, an Abramoff client and one of the wealthiest tribes in the country from a program intended to help the neediest tribes fix delapidated schools.
After initially claiming credit for the appropriation Burns subsequently denied knowledge of it, "A lot of things happened that I didn't know about. It shouldn't have happened, but it did."
In September, 2005, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Burns one of the thirteen most corrupt members of Congress. [3]
In December, 2005, a leader of a tribe which gave $22,000 in campaign contributions to Burns in 2002 stated that they had done so solely at the request of Abramoff and believed the senator was part of “Abramoff's group.” [4]
References
- ^ 'Women accuse Burns of sexism', Great Falls Tribune, October 26, 2005
- ^ 'Canada Fights Myth It Was 9/11 Conduit', Washington Post, April 8, 2005
External links
- Burns' Senatorial Homepage
- U.S. Politics Today
- "A political outsider wages a clever campaign" by Steve Thompson article from 2000 election which discusses the 'raghead' comment and Burns' then-opponent and current Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer.
- MHRN: Yet Another Land Grab in Indian Country
- Missoula Independent: Going Non-Native, by Ron Selden, New report tracks Montana’s anti-Indian movement
- http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/special_packages/election2004/12330344.htm
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