Terry Everett

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Terry Everett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Alabama's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Bill Dickinson
Born	February 15, 1937 (1937-02-15) (age 71) Dothan, Alabama
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Barbara Pitts Everett
Religion	Baptist

Robert Terry Everett (b. February 15, 1937) is an American politician, who has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1993, representing Alabama's 2nd congressional district. This district includes the entire southeastern portion of the state, including Dothan, Enterprise and part of Montgomery.

On September 26, 2007, Everett announced his intention to retire at the end of the 110th Congress.^[1]

[edit] Life & political career

Everett was born in Dothan as the oldest son of a sharecropper and railroad worker. Both of his parents died at an early age, and Everett had to work two jobs to help his two brothers and sister. After graduating high school, he served four years in the Air Force as an intelligence specialist in Europe, where he learned Russian, and then worked a sports and police beat reporter for the Dothan Eagle. He eventually became owner of a chain of newspapers in the Southeast, as well as a large farm and a real estate development. He sold all but one of his holdings in 1988.

The 2nd District had been one of five Alabama districts to fall into Republican hands as Barry Goldwater carried the state in the 1964 presidential election, when Bill Dickinson won the seat. He retired in 1992, and it was widely expected that the race to succeed him would be between Democratic state treasurer George Wallace, Jr. (son of the former governor) and Republican state senator Larry Dixon, who represents part of Montgomery. However, Everett scored two major upsets to take the seat. First, he upset Dixon in the Republican primary, winning by 15 points largely by dominating the area of the district outside Montgomery. Then he defeated Wallace by just over a point in November, likely because most of Montgomery's black residents had been drawn into the 7th District. (Wallace, Jr. later became a Republican and currently served on the state Public Service Commission until 2006.) Everett was reelected with 73 percent of the vote in the 1994 Republican wave and has not faced serious opposition since then.

Everett and his wife, the former Barbara Pitts, makes their home in Enterprise, Alabama, though he is listed in the House roll as "R-Rehobeth." They are Southern Baptists.

Early congressional photo of Everett

[edit] House record

Everett is one of the most conservative members of the House. He has the highest lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of any member of the Alabama delegation. He has shown a concern about local issues and demonstrates a real impact on some issues that are vital to his constituency. In 1995, he formed a Peanut Caucus and on the Agriculture Committee held out against the Freedom to Farm Act until he got the peanut program continued (though with a 10% cut in the support price). On the 2002 Farm bill, Everett chaired the Speciality Crops and Foreign Agriculture Programs Subcommittee, which placed him in a strong position to advocate the interests of peanut farmers. When the 30% peanut subsidy finally lost congressional support, he managed to secure passage of a $3.5 billion program for a fallback government purchase option for peanut farmers.

Terry Everett's political orientation based on voting record

Terry Everett visiting Vandenberg Air Force Base

Everett has also worked on military and veterans' issues (the 2nd District includes Fort Rucker). As a Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee chairman in 1999, he took credit for a $1.7 billion increase for veterans' health care spending and the opening of four new national cemeteries. Everett sought to shift funding priorities "from longer-term efforts to those that will provide more immediate benefit to the war fighter in Iraq", including space-based capabilities.

In 2006, he voted against extending the Voting Rights Act due to the House's failure to adopt an amendment that would have distributed the act's provisions by current data and extended its coverage to areas beyond the southeast showing voter discrimination.^{[citation needed]}

On June 16 2006 he voted for the continued occupation of Iraq. December 14 2005 he voted for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. On June 29 2005 he voted for the increase of funds by $25 million for anti-marijuana print and TV ads.

In an Oct. 2006 New York Times Op-ed piece, Congressional Quarterly journalist Jeff Stein revealed that despite Everett's being vice-chairperson of the House intelligence subcommittee on technical and tactical intelligence, Everett did not know the ideological and religious differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims. Stein wrote that he posed a question to Everett: “'Do you know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite?'... Mr. Everett responded with a low chuckle. He thought for a moment: 'One’s in one location, another’s in another location. No, to be honest with you, I don’t know. I thought it was differences in their religion, different families or something.'" After Stein explained some of those differences to the congressman, Everett responded, "“Now that you’ve explained it to me, what occurs to me is that it makes what we’re doing over there extremely difficult, not only in Iraq but that whole area.”^[2]

In February 2007, Everett co-sponsored a house bill with Ron Paul to end United States membership in the United Nations.^[3]

[edit] Committees and subcommittees

• House Committee on Agriculture (4th of 25)
  • Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy and Research
  • Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture Programs
• House Committee on Armed Services (6th of 34)
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces
• Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (4th of 12)
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations (Ranking Member)
  • Subcommittee on Terrorism/HUMINT, Analysis and Counter Intelligence
  • Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence

[edit] Electoral history

2006 General Election

2004 General Election

2002 General Election

• General Election 2000: Terry Everett (R) — 68%
• General Election 1998: Terry Everett (R) — 69%
• General Election 1996: Terry Everett (R) — 63%
• General Election 1994: Terry Everett (R) — 74%
• General Election 1992: Terry Everett (R) — 49%

[edit] Group ratings (2004)

• National Journal
  • Economic: 25% Liberal, 74% Conservative
  • Social: 0% Liberal, 91% Conservative
  • Foreign: 25% Liberal, 68% Conservative
• Americans for Democratic Action: 0
• American Civil Liberties Union: 5
• Chamber of Commerce of the United States: 100
• Christian Coalition: 100
• American Conservative Union: 92
• National Taxpayers Union: 54
• League of Conservation Voters: 9

[edit] References

1. ^ Congressman Terry Everett - September 26, 2007: Congressman Everett Announces Intentions to Retire
2. ^ Jeff Stein. "Can You Tell a Sunni From a Shiite?", New York Times, October 17, 2006.  ALTERNATE site http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/10/17/opinion/edstein.php
3. ^ Results - THOMAS (Library of Congress)

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Terry Everett official House 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
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia profile