Duncan Hunter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Duncan Hunter | |
 |
|
|
California's 52nd district |
|
|
1981 - present |
|
| Political party: | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by: | First Representative (District Created After 1990 Census) |
| Succeeded by: | Incumbent |
| Religion: | Baptist |
| Born: | May 31, 1948 Riverside, California |
| Spouse: | Lynne Hunter |
Duncan Lee Hunter (born May 31, 1948), American politician, has been a Republican member of the House of Representatives since 1981 from the 52nd District in northern and eastern San Diego County [1]. It was previously numbered the 42nd District from 1981 to 1983 and then the 45th District from 1983 to 1993. Hunter is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He is currently a candidate for President of the United States. [2]
Contents |
[edit] Early life, education, and career
Hunter was born in Riverside, California. He briefly attended the University of Montana and the University of California, Santa Barbara before enlisting in the United States Army. He served in the Vietnam War in the 173rd Airborne Brigade and the 75th Army Rangers. After leaving the Army, he enrolled at Western State University College of Law and earned a BSL and JD in 1976. He then worked as a plaintiff's attorney.
[edit] U.S. House of Representatives
[edit] Initial election and re-elections
In 1980, Hunter was recruited to run for Congress in what was then the 42nd District against 18-year incumbent Democrat Lionel Van Deerlin. Hunter was initially a decided underdog, but his attacks on Van Deerlin's record on defense gained surprising traction in a district dominated by military bases and personnel. By the time Van Deerlin ramped up his campaign machine, it was too late, and Hunter narrowly defeated him. He was one of many Republicans swept into office from historically Democratic districts as a result of Reagan's coattails; Van Deerlin had been the district's only congressman since its creation in 1963.
After the 1980 census, many of the more Democratic areas were cut out of Hunter's district, and he hasn't faced serious opposition since.
[edit] Political actions and positions
Hunter became chairman of the Armed Services Committee in 2003. As such, he has since sponsored the defense fiscal authorization bills. In 2006, he attempted to amend the bill to restrict women in the army that, according to The New York Times, would have "barred women from nearly 22,000 jobs."[3] The amendment was withdrawn after it became clear that it would not pass.
On April 28, 2004, Hunter introduced legislation that he said could "turn parents into prosecuting attorneys fighting a wave of obscenity." [4] House Bill 4239, also called the "Parents Empowerment Act,"[5], would allow the parent or guardian of a minor to sue in federal court anyone who knowingly disseminates any media (such as a comic book) containing "material that is harmful to minors" if the material is distributed in a way that "a reasonable person can expect a substantial number of minors to be exposed to the material and the minor, as a result to exposure to the material, is likely to suffer personal or emotional injury or injury to mental or moral welfare."[6]
In November 2004, Hunter and Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner blocked a bill that would have created a National Intelligence Director (NID). Creating a NID was a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Hunter argued that the military is the biggest consumer of intelligence and any reforms enacted must not endanger the lives of troops on the battlefield.
On November 3, 2005, Hunter introduced legislation calling for the construction of a reinforced fence along the entire United States-Mexican border, and a border zone on the American side of 100 meters.
On November 18th, 2005, in response to Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha's call for a partial withdrawal and redeployment of American troops in Iraq, Hunter and other Republicans drafted a two-sentence resolution which read:
- Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
- Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
Democrats condemned the bill as a political stunt; they made much of the fact that Hunter himself didn't support his own resolution. It was heavily defeated, 403-3, in the House of Representatives.
On the issue of trade, Hunter is a fair trader, repeatedly voting against international trade agreements such as CAFTA and the WTO.[7] In the 109th Congress, he also voted for higher spending in the Transportation Bill and voted against the Republican Study Committee's conservative alternative 2005 budget.
Regarding abortion rights, Hunter introduced H.R. 552 The Right to Life Act on February 2, 2005. The purpose of the bill is to "implement equal protection ... for the right to life of each born and preborn human person." It presently has 101 cosponsors.[8]
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Connection to Cunningham scandal
A Department of Defense inspector general found that the department awarded ADCS, a company owned by Brent Wilkes, a $9.8 million contract in mid-1999 after "inquiries from two members of Congress." Hunter has repeatedly acknowledged that he joined with Representative Randy Cunningham that year to contact Pentagon officials, who then reversed a decision and gave ADCS the contract, one of its first big ones.[9]
Between 1994 and 2004, Wilkes and ADCS gave $40,700 in campaign contributions to Hunter. In 2003, Wilkes's foundation hosted a "Salute to Heroes" gala to give Hunter an award, just as it did for Cunningham a year earlier. The Wilkes Foundation also gave $1,000 in 2003 to a charity run by two of Hunter's staffers.[9] However, Hunter has not been found to have committed any crimes or ethical violations. Wilkes is currently an unindicted co-conspirator.
[edit] Size of home and taxes paid
In October 2006, the San Diego Union Tribune reported that Hunter's Alpine home was listed on tax rolls as a two-bedroom, 2½-bath house with 2,946 square feet of living space. In fact, the house had six bedrooms and was about 6,200 square feet. The property also featured a 2,000-square-foot guest house, a swimming pool and tennis court. The discrepancy resulted in Hunter paying less in taxes than others in similar-sized properties.
Hunter said it was not his responsibility to make sure property records – and the resulting tax assessments – were correct. "All I know is what the county gives me," Hunter said. "They sent a person on the premises when I bought it. He said, 'This is what you owe.' We simply paid it. We've paid it ever since."[10]
Rep. Hunter's main defense of the UT article was in the form of a $26,000 full page ad in the Union Tribune immediately following the UT's article. Using a large dose of humor including pictures of the "estate" on a dirt road showing the property was in less than optimum condition. He notes his assessement was set at 40% more than the 1% base amount set by California law. Nowhere in the article is it claimed that Mr. Hunter did not get permits on his expansion of the property. Any reassessment beyond the maximum legal increase of 1% of the tax per year normally would have been made based on those permits. The UT makes no claims as to how the County of San Diego failed to update the Assessor's files to match the permitted improvements.
The house in question was burned to the ground in the wildfires of October 2003. The family is rebuilding as of the date of the UT article.
[edit] 2006 re-election campaign
In 2006, Hunter did not face any opponent in the Republican primary. In the November general election, he defeated Navy veteran/Minister John Rinaldi, a Democrat, and Michael Benoit, a Libertarian. Hunter was re-elected with 65% of the vote, a 33-point margin over Rinaldi.
[edit] 2008 Presidential campaign
On October 30, 2006, Hunter announced his intention to consider running for the Republican nomination for President in 2008. "You never say never, but Congressman Hunter faces extremely long odds given that practically no one apart from students of Congress knows who he is," said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College. "He's a good member of Congress, a very effective chairman of Armed Services. It's just that he has no following within the party."[11]
[edit] Personal
Hunter married the former Lynne Layh in 1973. Hunter's son, Duncan Duane Hunter, a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq in 2003. Hunter has another son, Samuel.
Hunter's Alpine, California home burned down during the October 2003 Cedar Fire. The loss topped $500,000, but insurance covered most of it. [12] It has been speculated that the loss of his house was the major reason for his sharp criticism of then governor Gray Davis's response to the fire [13], even though Davis was generally praised for his response.
[edit] External links
- Official Congressional website
- Official campaign website
- USA TODAY - Duncan Hunter associated with Randy "Duke" Cunningham/Brent Wilkes scandal, November 29, 2005.
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
[edit] References
- ^ California District 52 Map
- ^ "GOP chairman takes first steps toward '08 bid", AP, October 31, 2006.
- ^ "Then and Now, Female Soldiers Just Do Their Jobs", accessed 2006, November 11
- ^ http://www.family.org/cforum/fnif/news/a0031904.cfm bad link
- ^ http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.4239: bad link
- ^ "New Censorship Bill Turns Parents into Prosecutors", Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, May 18, 2004
- ^ VOTE DATABASE: 2005 House Key Votes for California, Freedomworks.org, accessed October 30, 2006
- ^ Right to Life Act 2005 list of co-sponsors and text of bill, accessed October 30, 2006
- ^ a b Matt Kelley and Jim Drinkard, "Contractor spends big on key lawmakers", USAToday, November 29, 2005
- ^ Jeff MacDonald, "Hunter got break on taxes for home", San Diego Union Tribune, October 8, 2006
- ^ Elliot Spagat, "Rep. Hunter exploring presidential run", Associated Press, October 30, 2006
- ^ Josephine Hearn, "A Hill of credit-card debt", The Hill, March 10, 2005
- ^ Jeff McDonald and Brian Hazle, "In the line of duty: Novato firefighter killed, 3 injured as flames overrun crew", San Diego Union-Tribune, October 30, 2003
| Preceded by: Lionel Van Deerlin |
United States Representative for the 42th Congressional District of California 1981–1983 |
Succeeded by: Daniel E. Lungren |
| Preceded by: District Created |
United States Representative for the 45th Congressional District of California 1983–1993 |
Succeeded by: Dana Rohrabacher |
| Preceded by: District Created |
United States Representative for the 52nd Congressional District of California 1993– |
Succeeded by: Incumbent |
