Louie Gohmert

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Louie Gohmert
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 1st district
In office 2005–present
Preceded by	Max Sandlin
Born	August 18, 1953 (1953-08-18) (age 54) Pittsburg, Texas
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Kathy Gohmert
Children	Katy, Caroline, and Sarah
Religion	Southern Baptist

Louis Buller "Louie" Gohmert, Jr. (born August 18, 1953, in Pittsburg, Texas) is an American politician and current Republican U.S. Representative from Texas's 1st congressional district (map).

Gohmert received his B.A. from Texas A&M University in 1975. At A&M, he was a Brigade Commander of the Corps of Cadets. He later received his Juris Doctor from Baylor University in Waco in 1977. Gohmert served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Army, at Fort Benning, Georgia, from 1978 to 1982.

Gohmert was elected as district judge in Smith County (Tyler) in 1992 and was reelected two times before being appointed as an appeals court judge by Governor Rick Perry for the 12th Circuit, where he served from 2002 to 2003. After Texas' 2003 mid-decade redistricting process, he successfully defeated Democratic incumbent 1st District Congressman Max Sandlin for his seat in Congress; becoming the first Republican since Reconstruction to represent the 1st District of northeast Texas.

The congressman serves on three House committees. Because of his judicial background, Gohmert was appointed to the Judiciary Committee. He also serves on the Committee on Resources and the Small Business Committee. His district sits on top of the East Texas oil field, making the Resources committee important to the region. The district's constituents are also overwhelmingly employed by small business owners.

Gohmert gained notoriety in June 2006 for having said of Representative John Murtha ". . . thank God he was not here and prevailed after the bloodbaths at Normandy and in the Pacific or we would be here speaking Japanese or German."

In 2006, Gohmert won his second term by defeating the Democrat Roger L. Owen (born March 8, 1953), a swimming pool builder from Hallsville.

In February 2007, Gohmert again criticized John Murtha and the entire Democratic majority for being the reason that the Dow Jones Industrial Average and other markets had recently dealt with large losses. From the House floor he stated,

"You know, over the last 12 years, the Democrats have been in the minority, Republicans have been in the majority. The economy boomed in the late 90s. We had this tragic event on 9/11. It should have sent this country in a terrible depression, but this Congress, Republican majority, pushed through tax cuts that has allowed the economy to rebound and be robust and provide jobs and better standard of living. And in two months of talking about raising taxes and more regulation and we are not — one committee chairman talking about how he's going to undermine the President's national security policy — two months! — we have this terrible damage to the stock market, to the economy. Unbelievable. They were saying last night on the news that this is the biggest drop since 9/11. In two months of talking about all these new plans, we are going to cost people jobs. I just encourage my friends across the aisle, be careful. We built a great economy. Don't blow it quite so quickly."

Gohmert's critics quickly pointed to various articles citing analysts who stated the Chinese stock market, remarks from Alan Greenspan, and fluctuating oil prices as the main causes of the market drop and flatly denied any corrolation to Democrats being in the majority.

[edit] External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Official congressional website
• Official campaign website
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Louie Gohmert profile
• "Nine New Veterans Join Congress", Veterans of Foreign Wars Magazine
• Video of Rep. Gohmert Criticizing Rep. Murtha
• Video of Rep. Gohmert Blaming Stock Market Failures on Democrats and Rep. Murtha
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