Bob Corker

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Bob Corker

Junior Senator-Elect, Tennessee
Term of office: term begins 2007
Political party:	Republican
Succeeding:	Bill Frist
Born:	August 24, 1952 Orangeburg, South Carolina
Spouse:	Elizabeth Corker
Religion:	Presbyterian

Robert Phillips "Bob" Corker, Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician of the Republican Party. He was formerly the mayor of Chattanooga, Tennessee and is the Senator-elect from Tennessee. He will be the only new Republican Senator in the 110th Congress.

1 Early life and family
2 Business career
3 Political career
4 2006 United States Senate race
- 4.1 Issue positions and ideology
5 Senate Career
6 Controversy
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Early life and family

Born in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Corker moved to Tennessee at the age of 11. He attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management. He and his wife Elizabeth, whom he married in 1987, have two daughters, Julia and Emily.

[edit] Business career

After working four years as a construction superintendent, he started his own construction company, Bencor, which he sold in 1990. In 1999, he purchased the two largest real estate companies in Chattanooga, making him the largest private land owner in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He sold most of these holdings in 2006 to Henry Luken. His business successes have made Corker a multimillionare. ^[1]

[edit] Political career

Corker first ran for the United States Senate in 1994, losing the Republican primary to eventual winner Bill Frist.^[1]

In 1995, Corker was appointed Commissioner of Finance and Administration for the State of Tennessee, working for Governor Don Sundquist.

As mayor of Chattanooga from 2001 to 2005, Corker oversaw a $120 million renovation project, including an expansion of the Hunter Museum, a renovation of the Creative Discovery Museum, an expansion of Chattanooga's River Walk, and the addition of a new salt water building to the Tennessee Aquarium. After announcing his intent to run for Senate, some of his actions in office as Mayor of Chattanooga have been scrutinized.^[a]

[edit] 2006 United States Senate race

Main article: Tennessee United States Senate election, 2006

In 2004, Corker announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Senator Bill Frist, who is stepping down in 2007 after two terms. Corker faced two other Republicans in the August primary, Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, which he won with 48% of the vote to Bryant's 34% and Hilleary's 17%. Corker invested $4.2 million in television advertising in the course of the primary, especially in the western portion of the state, where he was relatively unknown before the primary.^[1] Not long after Corker's primary victory was assured, his Democratic opponent, Harold Ford, Jr., challenged Corker to seven televised debates across the state. In response, Corker said he will debate Ford, though he did not agree to seven debates.^[2]

President Bush hosted a campaign fund-raiser for Corker on August 30, 2006. The $2,100-per-person dinner, which was held in a "glitzy Nashville hotel with 500 contributors," raised over a million dollars for Corker's campaign.^[3]

Corker and Ford participated in a televised debate in Memphis on October 7^[4], in Chattanooga on October 10^[5], and in Nashville on October 28.^[6] NBC's Meet the Press extended an invitation for the candidates to debate on the nationally-televised show in January 2006. Ford accepted the invitation, stating that "any weekend would work for him." The Corker campaign, however, "has thus far not given [Meet the Press] a date they wanted to do it and have not said they want to do it for sure... nine months after the invitations have gone out."^[6]

As of Wednesday November 8th, Corker has been declared the winner for the Senate seat in Tennessee. Results showed that the election was close, with Corker winning by less than three percentage points.[1]

[edit] Issue positions and ideology

In the 2006 Senate race, Corker positioned himself as a conservative on most social and economic issues through television advertisements, his campaign website, and in debates. Corker supports broad Second Amendment rights, "appointing Federal judges who practice judicial restraint," making the 2001 tax cut and the 2003 tax cut permanent, and increasing security on U.S. borders by hiring more border agents and constructing barriers in high traffic areas.^[7]

Corker has expressed skepticism regarding the claims of human-caused global warming; supports continued U.S. involvement in Iraq; and has shown interest in replacing the federal progressive income tax with a flat tax.^[8]

In the primary campaign, Corker's opponents pointed out that Corker has changed his view on abortion since his first Senate campaign in 1994.^[9] Corker responded that he "was wrong in 1994" when he said that the government should not interfere with an individual's right to an abortion, stating that he now believes that life begins at conception.^[9] Corker now says he opposes abortion rights except when the life of the mother is endangered or in cases of rape and incest.^[9]

In the general election, Corker received the endorsement of the National Right to Life Committee, but the state branch of the group, Tennessee Right to Life, refused to endorse Corker, calling him a "pro-abortion" politician.^[10]

[edit] Senate Career

Corker will be sworn in as Senator on January 4, 2007. It has already been announced that he will serve on the Energy Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Small Business Committee as well as the Special Committee on Aging.^[11]

[edit] Controversy

[edit] The sale of protected wetlands

In 2003, Corker's real estate company sold protected wetlands near South Chickamauga Creek in Chattanooga to Wal-Mart for $4.6 million while he was mayor of Chattanooga.^[12] According to Joe Prochaska, an attorney representing the Tennessee Environmental Council, "What they did was outrageous. They just ran roughshod over this public property for private gain."^[12] Environmental educator Sandy Kurtz filed suit in 2003 to stop the land deal, but the lawsuit was dismissed.^[12]

New allegations, however, surfaced in August 2006, and a suit was filed by Kurtz and the Tennessee Environmental Council over the alleged encroachment of Wal-Mart onto an adjacent protected nature area which is also held by a company owned by Corker.^[12] The suit alleges that Corker did not fully disclose his interest in the property where the Wal-Mart was built or in the adjacent nature area at the time the deal was made.^[12] The Corker campaign has countered that Corker's company filed papers to develop the wetlands in 2000, before Corker became mayor, and that it was widely known that Corker had an interest in the property.^[12]

On September 18, 2006 a Memphis, Tennessee newspaper, The Commercial Appeal, reported that Corker's attorneys acquired city authorization to cut a road through the protected property owned by Corker in July 2003 while Corker was mayor.^[13] City records show that Corker's attorneys won concessions from the city as details of the deal were worked out, much of which was done in private.^[13]

Corker's campaign manager has said that a blind trust kept Corker from the details of the project.^[13]

On October 13, 2006, lawyers involved in the case announced a settlement agreement. Details of the settlement were not announced, but court records indicate that a portion of the settlement involved a 45 day option for the Tennessee Environmental Council to purchase over thirteen acres of the land in dispute that the Council hopes to dedicate for public use.^[14]

[edit] Missing papers

On September 9, 2006 The Commercial Appeal reported that official records from both Corker's 2001 to 2005 service as mayor and his 1996 service as state finance commissioner are missing.^[15] The missing records include letters written and received by Corker during a six month period in 1996 and e-mails written and received by Corker in his official capacity as mayor between 2001 and 2005.^[15]

Some of the e-mails were discovered on his former assistant's computer by The Commercial Appeal in October.^[16]

[edit] Blind trust

On October 11, 2006, The Commercial Appeal reported that the blind trust that Corker set up to run his businesses to avoid conflicts of interest while he was mayor "may not have been all that blind".^[16] According to e-mails discovered by the Appeal (some of which had previously presumed to be lost):

"Corker met often with employees from his private companies while mayor from 2001 to 2005, and he shared business tips with others. Corker also got help organizing his 2001 mayoral campaign from City Hall, where a government secretary passed on voting lists and set up meetings for the millionaire commercial real estate developer."^[16]

The e-mails show that Corker often met with officials from his private company, the Corker Group, which was part of the blind trust, while he was mayor.^[16] When asked about these e-mails by the Appeal, Corker said that he thought the blind trust had "worked very well" and that he had sold most of his business holdings so that he could avoid the appearance of conflicts of interest in the Senate.^[16]

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b ^c Corker appreciates 1994 loss, Knoxville News Sentinel, Tom Humphrey, July 2, 2006.
^ Corker wins; Ford challenges him to debates, The Commercial Appeal, Richard Locker and Ruma Banerji Kumar, August 3, 2006.
^ http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4965864,00.html
^ Senate candidates spar over Corker's comments about Ford's Memphis 'political machine', by Richard Locker, The Commercial Appeal, October 8, 2006
^ Ford treads Corker's turf, by Beth Rucker, Associated Press, October 11, 2006
^ ^a ^b Corker silent on invitation to debate, The Commercial Appeal, Bartholomew Sullivan, September 7, 2006.
^ Corker campaign website, issues
^ Knoxville News Sentinel, Scott Barker, June 30, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c GOP Senate candidates conclude debates ahead of Aug. 3 primary, The Commercial Appeal, Richard Locker, July 17, 2006.
^ National right to life supports corker, but state affiliate does not, The Commercial Appeal by the Associated Press, August 8, 2006.
^ http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061214/NEWS02/61214024/1001/NEWS , The Tennessean, December 13, 2006
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Old lawsuit back to haunt Corker in race, The Commercial Appeal, Marc Perrusquia and Richard Locker, August 20, 2006.
^ ^a ^b ^c Land sale predates Corker as mayor, But road to Wal-Mart on site prompts questions of conflict, Marc Perrusquia, The Commercial Appeal, September 18, 2006.
^ Suit settlement aids Corker and nonprofit, by Marc Perrusquia, The Commercial Appeal, October 26, 2006
^ ^a ^b http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/politics/article/0,1426,MCA_1496_4979605,00.html
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Corker saw to interests in 'blind' trust, records show, by Marc Perrusquia, The Commercial Appeal, October 11, 2006

[edit] External links

Preceded by Jon Kinsey	Mayor of Chattanooga 2001–2005	Succeeded by Ron Littlefield
Preceded by William Frist	United States Senator (Class 1) from Tennessee Term Starts January 2007	Succeeded by Incumbent