Doug Lamborn

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Doug Lamborn
Doug Lamborn
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Colorado's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 4, 2007
Preceded by Joel Hefley
Born May 24, 1954 (1954-05-24) (age 54)
Leavenworth, Kansas
Political party Republican
Spouse Jeanie Lamborn
Religion Non-denominational Protestant

Doug Lamborn (born May 24, 1954, Leavenworth, Kansas) is a Republican politician for the U.S. state of Colorado. He currently serves in the United States House of Representatives as the Congressman for Colorado's 5th congressional district, based in Colorado Springs. He has been assigned to the Armed Services Committee, the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and the Committee on Natural Resources.

Lamborn attended the University of Kansas as a National Merit Scholar, where he received a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1978 and graduated with his Juris Doctor in 1986. Lamborn practiced law as an attorney before entering politics. In 1995, he was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives and was elected Republican Whip in 1997. He successfully ran for a Colorado Senate seat in 1998, where he was elected President Pro-tem in 1999. Lamborn served in the Colorado Senate until winning a seat in Congress.[1] Lamborn was the ranking Republican on the Colorado State Military and Veterans Affairs, and Appropriations committees. While in the State Senate Lamborn sponsored the largest tax cut in Colorado State History, [2] and was named the highest-ranking tax cutter in the Senate five times, by the Colorado Union of Taxpayers.[1]

Lamborn has a conservative voting record [3] and opposes gun control, abortion except when the mother's life is threatened, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, providing public benefits to illegal immigrants, and is an opponent of the new eminent domain rulings.[4]

Contents

[edit] Accomplishments

With help from Congressman Lamborn, an office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was established in Colorado Springs. The office is expected to open in February 2009 and will increase immigration enforcement agents in the area from two to ten. “The immediate need is to address those that have committed a crime and make sure they’re sent out of the country,” Lamborn said.[5]

Congressman Lamborn was instrumental in bringing a Brigade Combat Team to his district in December, 2007. The Brigade Combat Team consisting of almost 5,000 soldiers, their families, support personnel as well as increased military construction.[6]

Lamborn has accumulated a conservative voting record. Congressional quarterly said that through the first August recess, Lamborn had voted against the Democratic agenda in the U.S. House more than any other Republican.[3] Lamborn led an effort among conservative Republicans to force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to discard proposed regulations that would have affected accessibility to small arms ammunition, which were opposed by Second Amendment groups.[7]

[edit] Committee Assignments

  • Armed Services Committee
    • Readiness Subcommittee
    • Seapower and Expeditionary Forces Subcommittee
  • Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
    • Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs (Ranking Member)
  • Committee on Natural Resources
    • Subcommittee on Water and Power
    • Subcommittee on National Parks Forests and Public Lands

[edit] Elections

[edit] 2006 Election

Main article: Colorado 5th congressional district election, 2006

On February 16, 2006, Joel Hefley announced he would retire after 10 terms in Congress.[8] In the August 8, 2006 Republican primary, Lamborn defeated five other candidates to win the party nomination. Outside organizations ran ads for and against the candidates in the race, some of whose claims were disputed in the close contest, creating contention. One of the most controversial came when, just before the election, the Christian Coalition of Colorado, which supported Doug Lamborn, sent out mailers claiming that Jeff Crank supported the "radical homosexual lobby." Lamborn denied any personal involvement, saying, "The strongest thing I ever said about my opponents in debate was that some tried to raise taxes,"[9]

Lamborn earned the endorsement in the primary of numerous national organizations, including National Right to Life, National Pro-life Alliance, [10] National Rifle Association, Gunowners of America, [11] Club for Growth, National Right to Work, Eagle Forum, and Minuteman PAC. [12] The Democratic nominee for the open seat in Colorado's 5th congressional district was Jay Fawcett. Lamborn won the election on November 7, 2006 with 59% voting for Lamborn and 40% voting for Fawcett.

[edit] 2008 Election

Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn have both announced that they will challenge Lamborn in the 2008 Republican primary. Both lost to Lamborn in the 2006 primary.

The Colorado Republican Party announced it wouldn't endorse Lamborn in the primary because he has challengers. Colorado GOP Chairman Dick Wadhams explained the decision by saying, "It's one of those situations where the party is so divided...that there's no advantage getting involved one way or another." [13]

The Primary Election is on August 12, 2008.

[edit] Voice mail controversy

On August 24, Jonathan Bartha, who works for Focus on the Family (headquartered in Colorado Springs), and his wife Anna wrote a letter to the editor in a community newspaper expressing concerns about Congressman Lamborn's taking several campaign contributions from the gaming industry. A few days later, Lamborn left two voice mails saying that there are "consequences" if they didn't renounce their "blatantly false" letter. He also said that he would be "forced to take other steps" if the matter wasn't resolved "on a Scriptural level". Congressman Lamborn claims that he returned said donations, and some have suggested that the Barthas did not understand how Federal Election Committee finance reports work. “Federal Elections Commission records aren’t clear enough for the average person” said El Paso Country GOP Chairman Greg Garcia. Garcia also added that he’s convinced Lamborn did not accept campaign contributions from gaming companies.[14]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b About Rep. Lamborn Retrieved May 10, 2007
  2. ^ The Club For Growth — Doug Lamborn — Colorado's 5th District Retrieved May 11, 2007
  3. ^ a b Giroux, Greg. "CQPolitics.com Candidate Watch", Congressional Quarterly, August 10, 2007. 
  4. ^ Rep. Elect Doug Lamborn Congressional Quarterly November 8, 2006
  5. ^ ICE Office, More Agents Slated For Springs Retrieved January 19, 2007
  6. ^ [http://www.gazette.com/articles/fort_31061___article.html/carson_troops.html Post Heads For 30,000 ] Retrieved December 21, 2007
  7. ^ Labor Department Announces It Will Revise Overreaching OSHA Explosives Rule Retrieved September 24, 2007
  8. ^ Sprengelmeyer, M.E.. "Hefley calls it a career", Rocky Mountain News, 17 Feb 2006. 
  9. ^ Foster, Dick. "Reagan's vision drew Lamborn to political life", Rocky Mountain News, October 18, 2006. 
  10. ^ Rep. Doug Lamborn on Pro Life Issues Retrieved November 3, 2007
  11. ^ Rep. Doug Lamborn on Guns and the Second Amendment Retrieved November 3, 2007
  12. ^ Doug Lamborn: More Support for Doug Lamborn Retrieved November 3, 2007
  13. ^ Colorado GOP not endorsing Lamborn for reelection in primary - The Crypt's Blog - Politico.com
  14. ^ GOP calls spat just a misunderstanding Retrieved September 8, 2007

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Joel Hefley		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Colorado's 5th congressional district
2007-01-03 – present		 Incumbent
v • d • e
Colorado's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Representative(s)
Diana DeGette (D), Mark Udall (D), John Salazar (D), Marilyn Musgrave (R), Doug Lamborn (R), Tom Tancredo (R), Ed Perlmutter (D)
State delegations
Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming
Non-voting delegations