name	Joe Barton
image name	Joe Linus Barton-Congressman.jpg
birth date	September 15, 1949
birth place	Waco, Texas
state	Texas
district	6th
termstart	January 3, 1985
preceded	Phil Gramm
office2	Chairman Emeritus of the House Energy and Commerce Committee
term start2	January 5, 2011
predecessor2	John D. Dingell, Jr.
occupation	Engineer
residence	Ennis, Texas
alma mater	Texas A&M University, Purdue University
party	Republican
spouse	Terri Barton
religion	Methodist }}

Joseph Linus "Joe" Barton (born September 15, 1949) is a Republican politician, representing (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1985, and a member of the Tea Party Caucus. The district includes Arlington, part of Fort Worth and several rural areas south of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. During a Congressional hearing, Barton apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward for the White House's investigation of the Gulf oil spill, calling it a "shakedown", which promptly raised controversy.

Early life

Barton was born in Waco, Texas, the son of Bess Wynell (née Buice) and Larry Linus Barton. He graduated from Waco High School. He attended Texas A&M University in College Station on a Gifford-Hill Opportunity Award scholarship and received a B.S. in industrial engineering in 1972. An M.Sc. in industrial administration from Purdue University followed in 1973. Following college Barton entered private industry until 1981 when he became a White House Fellow and served under United States Secretary of Energy James B. Edwards. Later, he began consulting for Atlantic Richfield Oil and Gas Co. before being elected to the United States Congress in 1984.

Political career

Barton made his first run for elected office in 1984, when he entered the Republican primary for Texas's 6th congressional district after six-term incumbent Phil Gramm left his seat to run for the United States Senate that year. He finished first in the five-candidate field and defeated Max Hoyt in the runoff. He then defeated the Democratic nominee, former state representative Dan Kubiak of Rockdale, Texas, in the general election, having obtained 56 percent of the vote. Kubiak had lost to Gramm the previous year in the special election called when Gramm resigned to run again for the seat as a Republican candidate. Barton was one of six freshmen Republican congressmen elected from Texas in 1984 known as the Texas Six Pack. He was held to 55.8 percent of the vote in 1986 against Democrat Pete Geren (who would later be elected to Congress from a neighboring district). Since that time Barton has not faced a serious challenge, having usually won with more than 60 percent of the vote. The Democrats failed to offer a candidate against Barton in 1998 and 2000.

In 1993, Barton ran in the special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Lloyd Bentsen, who became United States Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration. Barton finished third in the contest, behind state treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senator Bob Krueger, thus missing a runoff slot. He divided the more conservative vote in that election with House colleague Jack Fields of Houston.

U.S. House of Representatives

Former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, primary House author of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and chairman of the House-Senate energy conference committee. Both initiated and eliminated "safe harbor" provision for MTBE (in Energy Policy Act of 2005).

Co-founded the Congressional Privacy Caucus, cosponsor of the anti-spyware SPY ACT, initiated reauthorization of the National Institutes of Health.

Opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 2006

A list of all bills that Representative Barton has introduced is available at Sponsored Bills and amendments at Amendments.

Barton has been the lead representative in forcing the switch from analog to digital TV and auctioning off the public airwaves to private companies.

Committee assignments

Committee on Energy and Commerce (Chair ''emeritus'')

*Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade

*Subcommittee on Communications and Technology

*Subcommittee on Energy and Power

*Subcommittee on Environment and Economy

*Subcommittee on Health

*Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

;Caucus memberships

Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans

Congressional Privacy Caucus (Founder/Co-Chair)

International Conservation Caucus

Republican Study Committee

Sportsmen's Caucus

Tea Party Caucus

Political views

Budget and economy

Congressman Barton voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 in both of its manifestations.

Environment

In 2005, prompted by a February 2005 ''Wall Street Journal'' article, Barton launched an investigation into two climate change studies from 1998 and 1999. In his letters to the authors of the studies he requested details on the studies and the sources of the authors grant funding. ''The Washington Post'' condemned Barton's investigation as a "witch-hunt".

During Former Vice President Al Gore's testimony to the Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2007, Barton asserted to Gore that "You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong." Stating that "Global Warming science is uneven and evolving."

Barton tried to block the bipartisan Combating Autism Act of 2006. Barton said that the money steered toward environmental causes of autism were not the reason he blocked passage of the bill.

BP Oil Spill

On June 17, 2010, Barton accused the White House of a "$20 billion shakedown" of oil giant BP after the company agreed to establish an escrow account to pay the claims of people harmed by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He made the accusation at the outset of a House hearing where BP's chief executive officer, Tony Hayward, appeared for the first time before Congress. Facing Hayward at the witness table, Barton said, "I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words — amounts to a shakedown, so I apologize." Barton was referring to the agreement that President Barack Obama announced with BP for establishment of a relief Super-fund of $20 Billion US dollars managed by a White House political appointee.

Barton's remarks were widely criticized by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, Vice President Joe Biden, GOP congressional leadership and fellow Republicans, some of whom called on Barton to relinquish his leadership role in the House Energy Subcomittee.

Barton later said that his earlier remarks had been "misconstrued" and that he believed BP was responsible for the accident. Later that day, he issued a statement apologizing for using the term "shakedown" and fully retracted his apology to BP.

Wind energy

Barton has questioned the wisdom of deficit spending to fund an extensive national wind turbine energy generation grid. He said, "Wind is God’s way of balancing heat. Wind is the way you shift heat from areas where it’s hotter to areas where it’s cooler. That’s what wind is. Wouldn’t it be ironic if in the interest of global warming we mandated massive switches to energy, which is a finite resource, which slows the winds down, which causes the temperature to go up? Now, I’m not saying that’s going to happen, Mr. Chairman, but that is definitely something on the massive scale. I mean, it does make some sense. You stop something, you can’t transfer that heat, and the heat goes up. It’s just something to think about."

Barton Family Foundation

The Barton Family Foundation was established to support charities within the congressman's district. His daughter-in-law, Amy Barton, is the Foundation's Executive Director. Major energy corporations, such as the Chicago-based nuclear energy producer, Exelon Corporation, make major gifts to the Foundation. In June 2008, at a time when Barton had introduced legislation to assist corporations with the recycling of spent nuclear fuel, the corporation donated $25,000 to the Foundation. Exelon has also donated $80,000 to Barton's campaign funds. The Foundation gave $90,000 to the local Boys and Girls Club.

Personal life

Joe Barton and his wife Terri own several homes in the Texas cities of Ennis and Arlington. Barton has four children, two stepchildren and five grandchildren.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported that Barton paid his wife Terri $57,759 in salary and bonuses, from his campaign funds in the 2006 election cycle. A spokesman said that Terri served as the campaign's outreach director and planned fund raising and special events. Barton's daughter Kristin was paid $12,622 in salary and bonuses and his mother, Nell Barton, was paid $7,000 for a car.

Barton's office announced that, on December 15, 2005, he suffered a heart attack and was taken to George Washington University Hospital.

Barton revealed during a congressional hearing on video games that he was a video game player. He announced that he had "worked [his] way up to Civilization IV".

Barton has also been an advocate of a playoff system to determine a national champion for college football, even introducing legislation to require that any game being marketed as a national championship game be a part of a playoff. On May 1, 2010, Barton grilled Bowl Championship Series coordinator John Swofford, saying of the BCS that, "It's like communism. You can't fix it." He also suggested that the 'C' be dropped from the BCS and it be called "the 'BS' system."

References

External links

U.S. Congressman Joe Barton ''official House site''

Joe Barton U.S. Congress ''official campaign site''

Campaign contributors at ''Newsmeat''

Profile at SourceWatch

;Articles

How the Wall Street Journal and Rep. Barton celebrated a global-warming skeptic: The untold story of how a front-page article and powerful U.S. politicians morphed former mining executive Stephen McIntyre into a scientific superstar ''Environmental Science & Technology'', August 31, 2005

"Big Oil Looking for a Government Handout, Courtesy of Joe Barton" ''World Internet News'', April 2006,

"Activists Putting Heat on Barton" ''Dallas Morning News'', October 2006

Category:1949 births Category:American Methodists Category:Living people Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Texas Category:People from the Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex Category:People from Waco, Texas Category:Purdue University alumni Category:Texas A&M University alumni Category:Texas Republicans

de:Joe Barton la:Iosephus Barton fi:Joe Barton sv:Joe Barton

name	Bart Stupak
image name	Bart Stupak official portrait.jpg
birth date	February 29, 1952
birth place	Milwaukee, Wisconsin
state	Michigan
district	1st
term start	January 3, 1993
term end	January 3, 2011
preceded	Bob Davis
succeeded	Dan Benishek
party	Democratic Party
religion	Roman Catholic
spouse	Laurie Ann Stupak
children	Ken StupakBartholomew Thomas Stupak Jr.(deceased)
residence	Menominee, Michigan
alma mater	Northwestern Michigan College (A.A.), Saginaw Valley State University (B.S.), Thomas Cooley Law School (J.D.)
occupation	Police Officer }}

Bartholomew Thomas "Bart" Stupak (; born February 29, 1952) is a lobbyist and American politician of the Democratic Party. He served as the U.S. Representative from from 1993 to 2011.

Stupak chose not to seek re-election in 2010. He departed Congress in January 2011, and was succeeded by Dr. Dan Benishek, a surgeon from the Upper Peninsula. He is now a lobbyist with Venable LLP.

Early life, education and career

Stupak was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and graduated from Gladstone High School in Gladstone, Michigan in 1970. He is an Eagle Scout. He earned his Associate's degree from Northwestern Michigan College, a community college in Traverse City in 1972. He earned his Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from Saginaw Valley State University in 1977, graduating ''magna cum laude'', and he earned a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan in 1981. He worked as an Escanaba police officer in 1972. Stupak later served as a Michigan State Police Trooper from 1973 to 1984. He also practiced law.

Michigan legislature

In 1988, Stupak was elected a Michigan State Representative, representing Menominee, Delta, and Dickinson counties, defeating two-term Republican Jim Connors. In 1990, Stupak ran for state senator but lost a hotly contested primary to eventual general election winner Don Koivisto.

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Committee on Energy and Commerce

*Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection

*Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet

*Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation (Chairman)

Caucus memberships

Founder and Co-chair of the Law Enforcement Caucus

Co-chair of the Congressional Northern Border Caucus

Member, Congressional Motorcycle Safety Caucus

During his service in Congress, Stupak sponsored 36 bills, but none became law. He cosponsored 157 bills, 5 of which were enacted into law. He voted with the members of his party 96% of the time, andabstained from 5% of the votes. Because of the 1st District's extensive amount of Great Lakes shoreline (over 1,600 miles), Stupak was very active on issues related to the protection of the Great Lakes, including opposing sale or diversion of Great Lakes water and drilling for oil and gas under the lakes.

Political positions

Financial system

In 2009, Stupak voted against the Dodd-Franks bill to expand Federal regulation and oversight of the US financial system, which was introduced after the US financial and banking crisis of that year.

Civil liberties

Stupak voted for the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009, which expanded the definition of hate crimes to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

Health care

Stupak expressed a desire to support the 2009 health care reform bill put forth by President Obama; however, Stupak feared that under the insurance system to be established, federal funds would indirectly pay for abortion services. Therefore, Stupak and Republican Congressman Joseph R. Pitts submitted an amendment known as the Stupak-Pitts Amendment to prohibit such payments. The Stupak-Pitts Amendment was adopted by the House of Representatives, but a similar provision was not included in the Senate version of the health reform legislation (known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act). Stupak announced that he and several other Democratic representatives who supported health reform legislation, but opposed abortion, would not vote for the final version of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act if the Stupak-Pitts Amendment was not included in it. The ensuing controversy made Stupak "perhaps the single most important rank-and-file House member in passing the bill."

Stupak's position on the issue of abortion funding was strongly opposed by abortion advocates who held a "Stop Stupak" rally on Capitol Hill in December 2009. In the ensuing months, Stupak publicly stated that the pressure and opposition he received in regard to his abortion stance on the health reform legislation had caused him to unplug the phone at his house due to "obscene phone calls and threats" and had made his life a "living hell." "My staff is overwhelmed and we're accosted basically wherever we go by people who disagree," Stupak added.

In March 2010, President Obama and Stupak reached an understanding whereby the President promised to sign an Executive Order that purported to bar federal funding of abortion through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and Stupak and several of his allies promised to withdraw their opposition to the bill. Stupak's reversal was criticized by anti-abortion groups who argued that the Executive Order would not be effective. Pro-life organizations accused Stupak of having betrayed the pro-life movement, and the Susan B. Anthony List revoked a pro-life award it had planned to give to him and ran $150,000.00 worth of radio advertisements against him. Following Stupak's April 2010 announcement of his retirement, conservative groups pointed to the political consequences of his alleged abandonment of his pro-life position as a possible reason for his decision. However, Stupak himself attributed the exertion of constant travel back and forth from Washington, D.C. as a primary reason for his decision to retire.

Controversies

Apartment controversy

Stupak rented a room at "C Street", a Washington, D.C. facility of The Fellowship (also known as The Family), a Christian fraternal organization. The Fellowship has been the subject of controversy over its claimed tax status as a church, the ownership of the property and its connection to the Fellowship, and the reportedly subsidized benefits the facility provides to members of Congress.

Jeff Sharlet, author of a book about The Fellowship, said, "When I lived with The Family at Ivanwald, a house for younger men being groomed for leadership, I was told that Stupak was a regular visitor to the Cedars." The Cedars, according to the ''Washington Independent'', is also owned by The Family and hosts weekly prayer events. Stupak has denied any affiliation with the Family and appeared to deny knowledge of the organization, stating "I don’t belong to any such group" and that "I don’t know what you’re talking about, [The] Family and all this other stuff."

Political campaigns

In 1992, incumbent Republican Representative Robert William Davis retired. He had represented the Michigan 11th Congressional district, covering the Upper Peninsula, which due to reapportionment was now the 1st district. Stupak won the heavily contested Democratic primary, and defeated former Republican Representative Philip Ruppe in the general election.

Stupak defeated Republican Don Hooper of Iron River in the 2002, 2004 and 2006 elections, and Republican Tom Casperson In 2008.

On April 9, 2010, Stupak announced that he would not run for re-election, and that he would retire from Congress at the end of his then-current term.

Campaign funding

Electric utilities and health care professionals were among the top four industries contributing to his campaigns in 2006, 2008 and 2010. Of his top 20 largest contributors throughout his political career, 16 were unions and associations, two were energy companies, one was an insurance company and one was a telecommunications firm.

Electoral history

1992 Democratic primary for Congress

*Bart Stupak, 48.63%

*Mike McElroy, 43.11%

*Daniel Herringa, 8.27%

1992 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 53.93%

*Philip Ruppe (R), 43.58%

*Gerald Aydlott (L), 1.52%

*Lyman Clark (NL), 0.96%

1994 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 56.86%

*Gil Ziegler (R), 41.99%

*Michael McPeak (NL), 1.12%

1996 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 70.68%

*Bob Carr (R), 27.24%

*Michael C. Oleniczak (L), 1.10%

*Wendy Conway (NL), 0.96%

1998 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 58.67%

*Michelle McManus (R), 39.51%

*John W. Loosemore (L), 1.04%

*Wendy Conway (NL), 0.78%

2000 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 58.39%

*Chuck Yob (R), 40.37%

*Wendy Conway (NL), 0.63%

*John W. Loosemore (L), 0.61%

*Sven Johnson (I), 0.01%

2002 campaign for Congress

*Bart Stupak (D), 67.67%

*Don Hooper (R), 31.10%

*John W. Loosemore (L), 1.23%

2004 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 65.57%

*Don Hooper (R), 32.76%

*David J. Newland (G), 0.96%

*John W. Loosemore (L), 0.71%

2006 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 69.43%

*Don Hooper (R), 27.99%

*Joshua J. Warren (Tax.), 0.88%

*David J. Newland (G), 0.87%

*Kenneth L. Proctor (L), 0.85%

2008 general election

*Bart Stupak (D), 65.04%

*Tom Casperson (R), 32.74%

*Jean Treacy (S/G), 0.81%

*Dan Grow (L), 0.77%

*Joshua J. Warren (Tax.), 0.63%

Personal life

Stupak lives in Menominee, Michigan, with his wife, Laurie, who is a former mayor of Menominee, and unsuccessful candidate for the Michigan House of Representatives. Laurie Stupak was defeated by Tom Casperson. In 2008 Casperson unsuccessfully challenged Bart Stupak, the incumbent for Michigan's 1st Congressional district seat in the United States House of Representatives.

The Stupaks' son Ken graduated from Pepperdine University's School of Law in 2006 and resides in California. Their other son, Bart Jr., committed suicide in May 2000. Congressman Stupak testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee during a 2002 hearing on the safety of Accutane, an acne medication, which he believes contributed to his son's death.

References

External links

Bart Stupak for Congress ''official campaign site''

"Divine Impulses: Rep. Bart Stupak on pro-life political 'hypocrisy'", video interview with Sally Quinn from ''The Washington Post''

Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:People from Milwaukee, Wisconsin Category:American state police officers Category:American people of Polish descent Category:Eagle Scouts Category:Members of the Michigan House of Representatives Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Michigan Category:Michigan Democrats Category:Northwestern Michigan College Category:Saginaw Valley State University alumni Category:Spouses of United States mayors Category:Thomas M. Cooley Law School alumni Category:American Roman Catholics

cs:Bart Stupak de:Bart Stupak sv:Bart Stupak uk:Барт Ступак