Duncan Hunter
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| Duncan Hunter | |
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| In office 1981 - present |
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| Preceded by | First Representative (District Created After 1990 Census) |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Born | May 31, 1948 Riverside, California |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Lynne Hunter |
| Religion | Baptist |
Duncan Lee Hunter (born May 31, 1948), American politician, has been a Republican member of the House of Representatives since 1981 from California's 52nd congressional district in northern and eastern San Diego. 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 seeking the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States.[1]
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[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. Van Deerlin did not respond quickly enough, 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. In his district, he consistently gets over 60% of the hispanic vote and nearly 70% of the Democrat vote.
[edit] Political actions and positions
Hunter became chairman of the House Armed Services Committee in 2003. As such, he has sponsored legislation authorizing defense department fiscal year activities from FY2004 to FY2007. During consideration of the FY2006 Defense Authorization Act, Hunter offered an amendment to the bill clarifying enacted policy restricting women from direct combat units. According to The New York Times, Hunter's efforts would have "barred women from nearly 22,000 jobs"[2] and amendment was withdrawn after it became clear that it would not pass. Contrary to this interpretation, Hunter's amendment only codified existing Army policy enacted in 1994 under former Defense Secretary Les Aspin that prohibited women from submitting or migrating into combat units or operations. The amendment was subsequently withdrawn in order for a study to be conducted on the rationale and future implementation of the policy. [3]
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 material "that is harmful to minors" if it 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 witheld their support for a bill creating a National Intelligence Director (NID)until specific conditions were met. Hunter argued that the military is the biggest consumer of intelligence and any reforms enacted, including the creation of a NID, must not endanger the lives of troops on the battlefield. Hunter's concerns were ultimately satisfied and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act, which created the NID position, was passed by Congress and signed by the president later that year.
In 1994, Hunter legislatively mandated the construction of 14 miles of security fencing on the international land border separating San Diego County and Tijuana, Mexico. Pointing to the success of the San Diego Border Fence, Hunter introduced legislation calling for the construction of a reinforced fence along the entire U.S.-Mexico border. After successfuly adding an amendment to a House passed illegal immigration reform billthat ultimately stalled in House-Senate negotiations, Hunter's amendment was later incorporated into H.R. 6061, the Secure Fence Act, introduced by New York Congressman Peter King. [7]
On November 18, 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 soundly 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 NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO.[8] Hunter contends that free trade policies directly impact America's manufacturing base and contribute to the country's burgeoning trade deficit.
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." In the 109th Congress, the legislation collected 101 cosponsors.[9] Hearings for H.R. 552 were scheduled for December 12, 2006 at 10am, but were cancelled right before the House adjourned [1].
[edit] Controversies
[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]
Hunter's main defense of the Union-Tribune 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, Hunter noted that his assessement was set at 40% more than the 1% base amount set by California law. Nowhere in the article is it claimed that 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 Union-Tribune made 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. As of December 2006, the house had been almost rebuilt, and Hunter was still contesting the assessment of back taxes, which had been significantly reduced.[11]
[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.[12]
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.[12] However, Hunter has not been found to have committed any crimes or ethical violations. Wilkes is currently an unindicted co-conspirator.
[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."[13]
[edit] Personal
Hunter married the former Lynne Layh in 1973. Hunter's son, Duncan Duane Hunter (born 1977), a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps, was deployed to Iraq in 2003. Hunter has another son, Samuel. His family attends First Baptist Church of Alpine, which is affiliated with the San Diego Southern Baptist Association.
Hunter's Alpine, California home burned down during the October 2003 Cedar Fire. The loss topped $500,000, but insurance covered most of it.[14] 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 [15], 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.
- Hunter's voting record maintained by the Washington Post
[edit] References
- ^ "GOP chairman takes first steps toward '08 bid", AP, October 31, 2006.
- ^ "Then and Now, Female Soldiers Just Do Their Jobs", accessed November 11, 2006
- ^ "National Defense Authorization Act for FY2006", House Armed Services Committee
- ^ 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
- ^ Chet Barfield,"Border fence will be built", San Diego Union Tribune, October 7, 2006.
- ^ 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
- ^ Jeff MacDonald, "Hunter got break on taxes for home", San Diego Union Tribune, October 8, 2006.
- ^ Jeff McDonald and Philip J. LaVelle, "Rep. Hunter still disputing $667 property tax bill", San Diego Union-Tribune, December 1, 2006
- ^ a b Matt Kelley and Jim Drinkard, "Contractor spends big on key lawmakers", USAToday, November 29, 2005.
- ^ 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 |
Categories: 1948 births | Living people | Members of the United States House of Representatives from California | United States Army soldiers | Vietnam War veterans | Current members of the United States House of Representatives | American Veteran Politicians(Republican) | United States presidential candidates
