Baron Hill

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Baron Hill
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's 9th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 6, 1999–January 3, 2005 January 4, 2007
Preceded by	Lee Hamilton (1965–1999) Mike Sodrel (2005–2007)
Succeeded by	Mike Sodrel (2005–2007) Incumbent
Born	June 23, 1953 (1953-06-23) (age 54) Seymour, Indiana
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Betty Schepman Hill
Religion	United Methodist

Baron Paul Hill (born June 23, 1953) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 9th congressional district, located in the southern portion of the state. He previously represented the district from 1999 until 2005. Hill belongs to the Blue Dog Democrats.

[edit] Early life, education and career

Hill was a three-sport star at Seymour High School, where he was all-state in football and basketball. He was inducted into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame in 2000.

Hill accepted an athletic scholarship to Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina; where he earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1975. After graduation, he moved back to Seymour and joined his family's insurance and real estate business.

Hill is married to Betty Schepman, a math teacher in the public schools. They have three adult daughters.

Hill was a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1982 to 1990. He served as chairman of the Caucus Campaign Committee, where he played a prominent role in building a Democratic majority in the House.

In 1990, Hill ran against Senator Dan Coats to fill the last three years of Dan Quayle's term; Quayle had been elected Vice President. He lost, 54-46 percent. Hill made a name for himself during that campaign by walking the length of the state, from the Ohio River to Lake Michigan, to meet with voters.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

Hill was elected to the House in November 1998. He defeated Republican Jean Leising, 51%-48%, winning the seat vacated by retiring 30-year incumbent Lee Hamilton. He was reelected in 2000, but with only 54 percent of the vote.

In 2001, Hill voted for a version of the "No Child Left Behind Act", which passed the House 384-45. [1]. In 2006, he said he was in favor of scrapping the version that passed, calling it a "more or less of a federal takeover of our system". [2]

Due to concerns over Hill's close victories in a district that Hamilton had held without much trouble for years, the Democratic-controlled Indiana General Assembly drew most of the Republican-leaning Cincinnati suburbs out of the 9th, replacing them with heavily Democratic Bloomington. Even so, Hill only managed to narrowly defeat Republican Mike Sodrel with 51 percent of the vote in 2002. Sodrel, a New Albany trucking company owner had 46 percent.

In December 2003, Hill was named communication co-chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, also known as Blue Dog Democrats.

[edit] 2004 election

In November 2004, in a rematch, Hill lost to Sodrel by a margin of about 1,500 votes. There was a recount, but the scope was limited because of the use of DRE voting machines in Indiana.

[edit] 2006 election

Hill won the Democratic nomination in the 9th District in 2006. He was included in the "First Wave" of the Democratic Party's "Red-to-Blue" program. [3]

Texas millionaire Bob J. Perry gave more than $5 million to the Economic Freedom Fund, a 527 group, which included Hill as one of its targets for removal. The group paid for automated "push poll" calls attacking Hill. Such calls were stopped after action by the Indiana Attorney General [4]. The Indiana Attorney General later filed complaints against several liberal organizations for over 40 negative campaign automated calls against Sodrel by groups hoping to assist Hill in his bid for election. Those suits are still pending.

Cook Political Report rated the race as a toss-up. [5]

Baron Hill won the 2006 election with a preliminary 50% of the vote; Sodrel with 46% percent and Libertarian Eric Schansberg with roughly 4 percent.

As is the custom for returning members of Congress, the Democrats gave Hill back his seniority. He was named to the Energy and Commerce and Science and Technology committees.

[edit] Political Gaffes

In a speech in Bloomington on May 30, discussing high oil prices, Hill said, “I think we need those regulations put back on place where they were in 2000. In the year 2000, the Bush administration removed those regulations, so now these [oil] speculators are able to do anything that they want to do in order to drive that price up so they can make a lot of money. And that practice needs to stop.” [6]

Of course, George Bush wasn't inaugurated until January 2001. The year 200 was during the Clinton administration, which Hill was serving from Congress, so any regulation relief from 2000 would have been a Democratic initiative. Hill has yet to offer any explanation for these comments.

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Energy and Commerce Committee
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection
  • Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials
  • Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet
• Science and Technology Committee
  • Subcommittee on Research and Science Education

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Baron Hill official House site
• Baron Hill for Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia