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Bob Barr

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"Robert Barr" redirects here. For other uses, see Robert Barr (disambiguation).
Bob Barr
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 7th district
In office
1995–2003
Preceded byBuddy Darden
Succeeded byJohn Linder
Personal details
Political partyRepublican (while in office)
Libertarian (currently)
SpouseJeri Dobbin

Robert L. (Bob) Barr, Jr. (born November 5, 1948) is an American attorney and former member of the United States House of Representatives.[1] Barr represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003.[1][2] He achieved significant notoriety as one of the leaders of the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.[1]

Barr joined the Libertarian Party in 2006,[3] and as of 2008 serves on its National Committee.[4][5] On April 5 2008, Barr announced the formation of an exploratory committee for his seeking the Libertarian nomination for President of the United States in the 2008 election.[6] On May 12 2008, Barr formally announced his candidacy for the presidency.[7]

Early life

Barr was born in Iowa City, Iowa.[1] His parents served in the U.S. military,[citation needed] and he spent many years with them in Iran, graduating from Community High School in Tehran in 1966.[1] He later earned his B.A. from University of Southern California in 1970 and an M.A. from George Washington University in 1972.[1] Barr earned his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1977.[1]

From 1970 to 1978, Barr was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency.[1] In 1986, he was appointed by President Reagan[2] to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia -- a post Barr held until 1990.[1] From 1990 to 1991, Barr was president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation.[1]

Congressional career

Barr sought the Republican Party (GOP) nomination for U.S. Senate in 1992, but lost the primary election to Paul Coverdell.[8] The primary was very close, with Barr losing by less than 1,600 votes in a runoff election.[8]

Barr was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1994 as a Republican, upsetting six-term Democrat Buddy Darden, to represent Georgia's 7th congressional district in the 104th United States Congress. Barr was one of 73 GOP freshmen ushered into Congress by that election.[9] The election became known as the "Republican Revolution" because it resulted in the first GOP House majority in 40 years -- since the 1955 adjournment of the 83rd Congress.[citation needed]

Barr was later reelected three times, serving from 1995 to 2003.[1] While in Congress, Barr served as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, as Vice-Chariman of the Government Reform Committee, and as a member of the Committee of Financial Services.[2]

Georgia's congressional districts were reorganized by the Democrat-controlled Georgia legislature ahead of the 2002 elections for the 108th Congress.[10] The majority of the new district 7 was composed of regions formerly associated with district 11, then represented by Republican John Linder. Much to the Democrats' delight, this redistricting led Barr to challenge Linder for representation of district 7.[11] This was pleasing to Georgia Democrats, including then governor Roy Barnes, because it meant the inevitable defeat of an incumbent Republican (i.e., either Barr or Linder).[11] Recognizing Barr's precarious situation, the Libertarian Party seized on the opportunity to oust one of the federal drug war's most vocal proponents (Barr), and ran TV ads criticizing Barr's opposition to medical marijuana.[12] Barr was soundly defeated by a 2-to-1 margin.[12] The extent to which the issue of medical marijuana shaped the election is unclear. Some have argued that Barr's huge loss simply reflected the nature of the new 7th district, which was primarly redrawn from Linder's old 11th district.[10] However, before the medical marijuana ads were aired,[12] the Linder campaign acknowledged the race as being tight;[13] and Pat Gartland, southeastern director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, saw the race as "too close to call".[11]

As of 2008, Barr has not made any additional bids for a congressional seat.

Political positions in Congress

During his tenure, Barr was regarded as one of the most conservative members of Congress.[14] In 2002, he was described as "the idol of the gun-toting, abortion-fighting, IRS-hating hard right wing of American politics".[11] However, Barr's criticism of the Bush administration's encroachment on privacy and other civil liberties after the 9/11 attacks was unusual among House Republicans.[11] This criticism earned Barr other labels such as maverick,[11] Jekyll-and-Hyde,[15] and libertarian.[13]

War on drugs

Barr was a strong supporter of the War on Drugs, reflecting his previous experience as Anti-Drug Coordinator for the Department of Justice.[16] While in Congress, he was a member of the Speaker's Task Force for a Drug-Free America.[15][16] This task force was established in 1998 by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich to "design a World War II-style victory plan to save America's children from illegal drugs."[17] The task force crafted legislation specifically designed to "win the War on Drugs by 2002".[17]

There is no legitimate use whatsoever for marijuana. This is not medicine. This is bogus witchcraft. It has no place in medicine, no place in pain relief...

— Bob Barr, May 13 2002[18]

Barr advocated complete federal prohibition of medical marijuana. In 1998, He successfully blocked implementation of Initiative 59 -- the "Legalization of Marijuana for Medical Treatment Initiative of 1998" -- which would have legalized medical marijuana in the District of Columbia.[19] The "Barr Amendment" to the 1999 Omnibus spending bill not only blocked implementation of Initiative 59 but prohibited the vote tally from even being released.[19][20] Nearly a year passed before a lawsuit filed by the ACLU eventually revealed the initiative had received 69% of the vote.[21] In response to the judge's ruling, Barr simply attached an amendment to the 2000 Omnibus spending bill that overturned Intiative 59 outright.[22] Since leaving Congress, Barr's position on medical marijuana has changed dramatically and he now lobbies for state choice on the issue.[23][24]

In contrast to his otherwise fierce drug warrior image, Barr opposed prohibiting the dissemination of information about the manufacture of illegal drugs in the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, citing free speech reasons.[25]

Same-sex marriage

Barr took a lead in legislative debate concerning same-sex marriage. He authored and sponsored the Defense of Marriage Act, a law enacted in 1996 which states that only marriages that are between a man and a woman can be federally recognized, and individual states may choose not to recognize a same-sex marriage performed in another state.[26] However, he does not support the Federal Marriage Amendment, citing states' rights reasons.[27]

Terrorism

He voted for the Patriot Act, but only after his amendments adding "sunset clauses" were added to the final bill.[28] Barr played a similar role during the debate over Bill Clinton's Comprehensive Anti-terrorism Act of 1995, crafting pro-civil liberties amendments to the original text.[29] He now publicly regrets his Patriot Act vote.[30][31]

Other issues

In Congress, he also controversially proposed that the Pentagon ban the practice of Wicca in the military.[30][32]

Barr is also a supporter of the Fair Tax and repealing the 16th Amendment[33], which gives the US Congress the right to levy an income tax.

Role in Clinton impeachment

Barr is best known for his role as one of the House managers during the Clinton impeachment trial. It was Barr who first introduced a resolution directing Judiciary Committee to inquire into impeachment proceedings[34] -- months before the Monica Lewinsky scandal came to light. Chief among the concerns Barr cited at the time was apparent obstruction of Justice Department investigations into Clinton campaign fundraising from foreign sources, chiefly China.[35]

In 1999, during the impeachment trial of President Clinton, Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt offered money to anyone who could provide evidence that a prominent Republican had engaged in an extramarital affair. According to the American Journalism Review, "Barr was one of 13 House Republicans chosen to act as prosecutors in Clinton's Senate trial. Barr, Flynt's investigators found, "was guilty of king-size hypocrisy": An outspoken foe of abortion, the Georgia lawmaker had acquiesced to his then-wife having an abortion in 1983. And he had invoked a legal privilege during his 1985 divorce proceeding so he could refuse to answer questions on whether he'd cheated on his second wife with the woman who is now his third."[36]

Post-congressional career

Since leaving Congress in 2003, Barr has become a vocal opponent of the Patriot Act and has stated that he regrets voting for it, claiming that the Bush Administration has used it to further erode due process even in nonterrorism matters. He claims that the Clinton administration did much of the same thing.[30] In 2005--the year the Patriot Act was due for renewal he helped found an organization called Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, a bipartisan group dedicated to eliminating aspects of the Patriot Act that could potentially affect law-abiding citizens rather than terrorists, and to "restore traditional checks and balances on government power so the country can effectively fight terror without sacrificing the rights of innocent Americans, rights that are guaranteed by the Constitution."[37] Barr still serves as the group's chairman.

Barr sat on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association from 2001 to 2007.[38]

Departure from Republican Party

More recently, Barr has become a prominent member of the American Civil Liberties Union, sometimes doing paid consulting on privacy issues.[39] In the 2004 Presidential election, Barr abandoned the Republican Party and publicly endorsed the presidential ticket of the Libertarian Party.[40][41] He briefly wrote a regular column for Creative Loafing Atlanta, a U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Atlanta, metropolitan area.[30][42]

Barr has been a vocal opponent of President George W. Bush's claim of authorization to wiretap transnational phone calls without individual judicial license. He has said, "What’s wrong with it is several-fold. One, it’s bad policy for our government to be spying on American citizens through the National Security Agency. Secondly, it’s bad to be spying on Americans without court oversight. And thirdly, it’s bad to be spying on Americans apparently in violation of federal laws against doing it without court order." [citation needed]

In January of 2006, to emphasize the bipartisan nature of the event, Barr planned on introducing Al Gore at a speech cosponsored by the Liberty Coalition and the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy to address what they called the "NSA Spying Scandal", although technical problems interfered with Barr's live satellite feed.[citation needed]

In 2006 he debated the architect of PATRIOT Act, Viet Dinh, on terrorism and privacy issues.[43]

On December 12, 2006, he became a regional representative on the Libertarian National Committee, representing the Party's Southeast Region.[4] Since joining the Libertarian Party, Barr has reversed his previous stance on medical marijuana and is now a lobbyist for the Marijuana Policy Project. Barr still opposes legalization of recreational drugs, but advocates the federalist ideals of State legislation and enforcement over Federal control.[44][45] According to Barr,

I, over the years, have taken a very strong stand on drug issues, but in light of the tremendous growth of government power since 9/11, it has forced me and other conservatives to go back and take a renewed look at how big and powerful we want the government to be in people’s lives.[46]

He is one of the four founders of the American Freedom Agenda, which is described as "a coalition established to restore checks and balances and civil liberties protections under assault by the executive branch." The American Freedom Agenda has established a 10-point Freedom Pledge for presidential candidates to confirm their commitment to civil liberties.[47] He is also a member of the Constitution Project's bipartisan Liberty and Security Committee.[48]

Talk radio

Barr hosts a political talk radio show on Radio America called Bob Barr's Laws of the Universe[49], on which he has had guests including Trent Lott, Tom DeLay, Oliver North, and Robert Bork. His first "law of the Universe" is that "the world is full of idiots", and he features an "Idiot of the Week" on his show, along with a top ten of "Idiots of the Year" selected from the Idiots of the Week.

Other activities

In 2003, Barr served on the defense team for white supremacist Chester Doles. [50]

Barr is a commentator on political and social issues and is chairman of the American Conservative Union Foundation's '21st Century Center for Privacy and Freedom.'[citation needed] In Spring 2008, Barr is scheduled to teach a course on privacy rights at Kennesaw State University.

In 2008, in his column "The Barr Code", he lambasted the new policy of Boston police of allowing warrantless search for firearms in teenagers' homes.[51]

He appeared in the mock documentary Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. He met with "Borat" (portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen) in the United States Capitol where he was given cheese that Borat described as being made from his wife's tit.[52]

2008 presidential campaign

In early 2008, rumors circulated that Barr was considering jumping into the Libertarian Party presidential nomination contest. A draft Bob Barr petition was started, as well as a Facebook group.[53] In March, Barr confirmed that he was in fact considering such a campaign.[54]

On April 5th, he launched a presidential exploratory committee and campaign website.[55][56] The domain name of the campaign site was previously that of the online petition to draft Barr, and was donated to the campaign. The site is developed by Terra Eclipse, the same firm responsible for development on the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign. Early polling had Barr leading among candidates for the Libertarian nomination, but without enough delegates to take the convention on the first round of voting.[57]

On May 12, 2008, Barr formally announced his candidacy for President as a Libertarian Party candidate. [58] [59]

Books

  • Barr, Bob (July 2004). The Meaning of Is: The Squandered Impeachment and Wasted Legacy of William Jefferson Clinton. Stroud & Hall Publishers. ISBN 978-0974537627. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "BARR, Bob - Biographical Information". Cite error: The named reference "urlBARR, Bob - Biographical Information" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c "Bob Barr 2008 › Meet Bob". Retrieved 2008-04-20. Cite error: The named reference "urlBob Barr 2008 › Meet Bob" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ "CBS News: Ex-Rep. Barr Quits GOP for Libertarians. December 15 2006". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  4. ^ a b "Former Congressman Bob Barr Accepts Leadership Position within the Libertarian Party". Retrieved 2008-04-15. Cite error: The named reference "titleFormer Congressman Bob Barr Accepts Leadership Position within the Libertarian Party" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Libertarian National Committee Directory". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  6. ^ "Barr Announces Presidential Exploratory Committee, April 5, 2008" (PDF). Retrieved 2008-05-04.
  7. ^ "Barr announces presidential bid". Retrieved 2008-05-12.
  8. ^ a b "New Georgia Encyclopedia: Paul Coverdell (1939-2000)". Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  9. ^ Amer, Mildred (2005-06-16). "Freshmen in the House of Representatives and Senate by Political Party: 1913-2005" (PDF). CRS Report for Congress. The Library of Congress: 1–6. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  10. ^ a b "usnews.com: Opinion: Lessons from the defeat of Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney in the Georgia primary (8/29/02)". Retrieved 2008-04-16.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "OnlineAthens: Opinions: Shipp: Barr vs. Linder: Great Republican train wreck 06/02/02". Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  12. ^ a b c "cannabisnews.com: Medical Marijuana Ads Play Role in Defeat of Barr". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  13. ^ a b "Liberty - Targeting Bob Barr, August 2002". Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  14. ^ "Reason Magazine - Bob Barr, Civil Libertarian". Retrieved 2008-04-20.
  15. ^ a b "While Reformers Brood, Politicos Make Drug-Terror Connection, September 28 2001". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  16. ^ a b "Bob Barr - Medical Marijuana ProCon.org". Retrieved 2008-04-21.
  17. ^ a b "Speaker's Task Force Focuses on Supply Side Initiatives During "Drug-Free Borders Week", May 13 1998". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  18. ^ "Newsbrief: Barr Booed for Anti-Pot Remarks in Home District Event, May 17 2002". Retrieved 2008-04-30.
  19. ^ a b "On the Hill, Barring Democracy, November 23 1998". Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  20. ^ "Marijuana Vote Results Kept Secret, November 4 1998". Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  21. ^ "cannabisnews.com: DC Medical Marijuana Initiative 59 - Landslide Win, September 21 1999". Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  22. ^ "American Civil Liberties Union: Democracy Held Hostage, December 31 2000". Retrieved 2008-04-25.
  23. ^ "Barr Shifts in Support of Medical Marijuana". Retrieved 2008-04-24.
  24. ^ "Bob Barr Joins MPP". Retrieved 2008-04-15.
  25. ^ The Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act of 1999
  26. ^ The Defense of Marriage Act PBS
  27. ^ Testimony of Bob Barr on Senate Judiciary Committee, June 22, 2004
  28. ^ Testimony of Bob Barr on Senate Judiciary Committee, September 22, 2004
  29. ^ Congressional Record
  30. ^ a b c d Bob Barr, Civil Libertarian
  31. ^ Milbank, Dana""Bob Barr:Bane of the Right?"". Washingtonpost.com. February 11, 2006. Retrieved 2008-04-17.
  32. ^ The "Burning Times Award" given to U.S. Rep. Bob Barr of Georgia
  33. ^ www.bobbarr2008.com/issues
  34. ^ House Resolution 304, 105th Congress
  35. ^ Congressman Barr lowers the boom Insight on the News
  36. ^ "Gatekeepers Without Gates". {{cite web}}: Text "American Journalism Review" ignored (help)
  37. ^ www.checkbalances.org
  38. ^ NRA 2007 Official Ballot, up for re-election of a three year term
  39. ^ ACLU Announces Collaboration With Rep. Bob Barr; Says Conservative Congressman Will Consult on Privacy Issues
  40. ^ "Creative Loafing Atlanta, An agonizing choice, October 10 2004". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  41. ^ "Across the Divide; Bob Barr supports Badnarik for President. October 28 2004". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  42. ^ "Creative Loafing Atlanta Archives, Bob Barr". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  43. ^ Milbank, Dana (2006-02-11). "Bob Barr, Bane of the Right?". Washington Post. pp. A02. Retrieved 2007-05-26. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  44. ^ "Bob Barr on Hannity & Colmes. April 10 2008". Retrieved 2008-05-01.
  45. ^ For example, see Federalist No. 45.
  46. ^ Frates, Chris. "Bob Barr Flip-Flops on Pot." The Politico. 28 March 2007. [1]
  47. ^ Charlie Savage: Disaffected conservatives set a litmus test for '08. In Boston Globe, June 12, 2007.
  48. ^ Liberty And Security Initiative:Members, www.constitutionproject.org
  49. ^ Bob Barr Biography, www.americanfreedomagenda.org
  50. ^ Rankin, Bill. 2004. "White-power leader guilty in arms case" The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Jan. 13. pp B3.
  51. ^ Barr, Bob. Boston police jump gun with ‘Safe Homes’. February 27, 2008.
  52. ^ Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan Sequence 0:23:30 to 0:24:00
  53. ^ Hallow, Ralph Z.: Libertarians seek Barr candidacy, Washington Times.com, March 20, 2008
  54. ^ "Bob Barr thinking 'very serious' thoughts about a presidential race, Iraq, and torture". Atlanta Journal Constitution. 26 March 2008.
  55. ^ BobBarr2008.com
  56. ^ "The Weekend Political Thread: Bob Barr Edition". Reason Magazine. 5 April 2008.
  57. ^ "New polling data for Libertarian Party presidential hopefuls". Third Party Watch.
  58. ^ "Former Republican announces plans to run as Libertarian candidate". Fox News. 12 May 2008.
  59. ^ "Barr announces Libetarian White House bid". MSNBC. 2008-05-12.
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Georgia's 7th congressional district
January 3, 1995 — January 3, 2003 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bob_Barr&oldid=212090745"