Barbara Cubin

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Barbara Cubin
Barbara Cubin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wyoming's At-large district
In office
1995 - present
Preceded by Craig Thomas
Succeeded by Incumbent
Born November 30, 1946 (age 60)
Salinas, California
Political party Republican
Spouse Fritz Cubin
Religion Episcopalian


Barbara Lynn Cubin (born November 30, 1946) is an American politician. She has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1994, the sole member of that body from Wyoming. She is a member of the House Resources Committee and the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Contents

[edit] Early life, education, and early career

Cubin was born in Salinas, California. She grew up in Casper, Wyoming, and graduated from high school there. She received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Cubin worked as a substitute science and math teacher until she was employed full-time as a social worker for senior citizens and disabled adults. She later worked for the state Labor Department and Ironworkers' Union to train minorities and Vietnam veterans to become iron workers.

In 1974, Cubin joined the Wyoming Machinery Co. as a chemist, and in 1975, began managing the office of her husband, a doctor. She became a realtor in 1979.

[edit] Personal

Cubin and her husband, Fritz, have two children.

In past elections, Cubin has had to fend off attacks on missed floor votes, which she attributed to her husband's severe health problems.[1][2] Cubin also has had health issues of her own. In 1993 and 1995, she had surgeries related to her gall bladder. In July 2005 she suffered a mild heart attack and underwent surgery to place a stent in an artery that was 70 percent blocked.[3]

[edit] Early political career

Cubin began her political career in November 1986, when she was elected to the Wyoming House of Representatives from Natrona County, Wyoming. She served there for six years. During the 1992 session, she was the primary sponsor of legislation that put on the ballot an initiative that would create the sentence of life without parole.

In November 1992, Cubin was elected to the Wyoming Senate, representing part of Casper, Wyoming. She served there for two years before being elected to the U.S. House.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

[edit] 1994 election

In November 1994, Cubin ran for Wyoming's U.S. House seat, to succeed Republican Craig Thomas, who was running for (and would be elected to) the United States Senate. Cubin defeated eight other Republicans in the primary, then won the general election against Bob Schuster, a Jackson attorney and then-partner of prominent trial attorney Gerry Spence.

Cubin's first race was very close by Wyoming standards (Wyoming is one of the most Republican states in the nation), with Cubin get 53% of the vote. It was also the most expensive campaign in state history.

Cubin became the first woman to win an election for federal office in the state of Wyoming.

[edit] Subsequent elections

In 1996, Cubin was re-elected with 55 percent. Subsequent races were less close, until 2004, when she again won with 55% of the vote. By contrast, George W. Bush won the state with 69% of the vote. In 2006, Cubin won her seat again, but barely, registering 48.3% of the vote to her Democratic opponent's 47.8%.

[edit] Political positions

Cubin's voting record is conservative: the American Conservative Union gave her 2005 voting record a rating of 96 points out of 100.

A staunch opponent of abortion in any form, Cubin has consistently voted for restrictions on abortion and against funding of family planning groups that provide abortion services, counseling or advocacy. [3]

In 2006, Cubin was listed as co-sponsoring legislation that would sell off some federal land to help pay for Hurricane Katrina and other disaster relief. Cubin maintains she never signed on to the legislation, saying there must have been a clerical error. About 42 percent of Wyoming's land is owned by the federal government, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.

With regard to global warming, Cubin has stated that "there still exists broad disagreement within the scientific community on the extent to which humans actually contribute to the Earth's temperature changes." She has been criticized for disregarding the scientific consensus in favor of the interests of the energy industry. [4]

The League of Conservation Voters, a nonpartisan PAC, gave Cubin a lifetime rating of 3 on a scale of 0 to 100. In 2006, she scored a 0 [5]].

According to the Center for Public Integrity, Cubin's largest campaign contributors include the tobacco industry, livestock companies, and extractive industries (including oil, gas, and mining companies).

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Racial comment

On April 7, 2003, Cubin said on the House floor, "My sons are 25 and 30. They are blond-haired and blue-eyed. One amendment today said we could not sell guns to anybody under drug treatment. So does that mean if you go into a black community, you cannot sell a gun to any black person, or does that mean because my …" Representative Melvin Watt, (D-N.C.), who is black, interrupted and demanded that Cubin retract the statement. Cubin said that she did not mean to offend her "neighbors" on the Democratic side, and maintained that her comment was within House rules.[4]

[edit] Abramoff

Cubin's association with Jack Abramoff was relatively minor. In January 2006, a spokesman for Cubin said she would donate the $250 she received from Abramoff in 1996 to the Wyoming Substance Abuse Treatment and Recovery Center in Sheridan, Wyoming.[5] Cubin did use Abramoff's skyboxes. Rob Jennings, president of American Event Consulting Inc., an organization that raises funds for Republicans, said that "The word was out among fundraisers." Politicians could sell skybox tickets to supporters for $500 to $1,000, said Jennings, who arranged six events in the skyboxes for two of his clients, House Transportation Committee Chairman Don Young (R-Alaska) and Cubin. "It was a venue that was fun to use," Jennings said. "It was a big draw."[6]

[edit] 2006 Election

Cubin was reported to tell Libertarian candidate, Thom Rankin, who lives in a wheelchair because of cerebreal palsy, that if "[he] wasn't in that chair [she] would slap him."

[edit] Notable Embarrassments

Cubin once startled a group of GOP donors during a speech on energy policy by interjecting, "I know what Victoria's Secret is. She's a slut." [7]

During the Florida presidential recount in 2000, Cubin complained at a Republican leadership meeting, "We are bending over and taking it from the Democrats." (When a colleague objected to her language, she replied, "Quiet down, or you'll get a spanking.")[7]

While serving in the Wyoming legislature, Cubin distributed penis-shaped cookies (but did not, she insisted to Roll Call, bake as the hotel she lived at during the legislative sessions did not provide kitchen facilities to its guests) to several male colleagues. [7]

[edit] "Slap"

On October 22, 2006, after a televised debate with Democratic candidate Gary Trauner and Libertarian candidate Thomas Rankin, Cubin approached Rankin, who has multiple sclerosis and is a wheelchair user. Rankin states that Cubin said, "If you weren't sitting in that chair, I'd slap you across the face." No other onlookers reported overhearing the remark. Cubin does not deny the remark, but in a prepared statement, a spokesman said that Rankin "misrepresented her [Cubin] and insulted her integrity during the debate." Rankin denies that, and accuses Cubin of a slur against people with disabilities. [8]. The Billings Gazette reported that Cubin "later apologized, saying she may have been influenced by listening to too much Rush Limbaugh." [9]

[edit] ARMPAC

The Wyoming Democratic Party has repeatedly called for Cubin to return the $22,520 she received from Tom DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority political action committee (ARMPAC). The party noted, "It's clear that Barbara Cubin will do anything and everything to raise money, but the great irony is more and more people in Wyoming are seeing her transparent efforts and that's why she's forced continually to turn to out-of-state PACs for contributions."[10]

On July 23, 2006 the Star-Tribune reported Cubin "will keep the money she received from former Rep. Tom DeLay's fundraising committee even though the organization has been fined for campaign finance violations and is shutting down." ARMPAC agreed to pay a fine to the Federal Election Commission for "misstatements of financial activity, failure to report debts and obligations and failure to properly allocate expenses between federal and non-federal accounts.""[10] As of October 2006, Cubin's position was that she will return the money if DeLay is convicted.[11]

[edit] 2006 re-election campaign

In her initial campaign for Congress in 1994, Cubin pledged that she would not serve more than six terms.[12] However, she is running for re-election in 2006, for a seventh term to begin in January 2007.

[edit] Primary

Cubin posted a surprisingly weak victory in the late August primary. Retired Navy officer Bill Winney spent almost no money, but won 39% of the vote. Winney won Laramie County (Cheyenne) and evenly split Natrona County (Casper). Cubin won big in the less-populated rural counties to give her the victory.

[edit] General election

In May 2006, the Rasmussen Reports polling firm reported that Cubin was ahead of Democratic candidate Gary Trauner by four percentage points, 47% to 43% , and that Cubin was viewed favorably by 49%, unfavorably by 47% of those polled. [13]

For the second quarter of 2006, Trauner raised slightly more campaign money than Cubin did.[14]

In mid-August, CQPolitics changed their rating of the race from "Republican Favored" to the more competitive "Leans Republican." They wrote: "Despite a usually dominant Republican edge in conservative Wyoming, Cubin personally is not overwhelmingly popular ... With popular Gov. Dave Freudenthal at the top of their ticket, Democrats are hoping for an upset by small business owner Gary Trauner. He trailed the incumbent in overall fundraising as of June 30 but actually had slightly more cash on hand." Ultimately she won the election by 0.5%. [15]


[edit] References

  1. ^ "Fritz Cubin to Undergo Emergency Surgery: Husband of Wyoming Representative Continues to Battle Illness", press release, July 30, 2002
  2. ^ "Fritz Cubin in stable condition", Casper Star-Tribune, November 25, 2003
  3. ^ Mary Clare Jalonick, "Cubin recovers, leaves hospital"], Associated Press, July 8, 2005
  4. ^ Juliet Eilperin, " Debate on Gun Rights In House Turns Racial", Washington Post, April 8, 2003
  5. ^ Mary Clare Jalonick, "Wyoming lawmakers will give away Abramoff donations", Associated Press, January 4, 2006
  6. ^ Susan Schmidt and Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, ["Tribal Money Linked to GOP Fundraising: Skybox Events Were Not Always Reported to FEC"], Washington Post, December 26, 2004.
  7. ^ a b c Timothy Noah, "What Cubin Meant", What Cubin Meant, April 15, 2003
  8. ^ Morton, Tom. [1] Cubin tells challenger, "I'd slap you"] Casper Star-Tribune. October 24, 2006
  9. ^ [2]
  10. ^ a b Noelle Straub, "Cubin keeps DeLay dollars", Casper Star-Tribune, July 17, 2006
  11. ^ Dan Lewerenz and Bob Moen, "Wyo. opponent says incumbent made threat", Associated Press, October 24, 2006
  12. ^ Andrea Stone, "Term-limit pledges get left behind", USA Today, April 12, 2006
  13. ^ "Wyoming House Seat in Play", Rasmussen Reports, May 8, 2006.
  14. ^ Jared Miller, "Trauner fundraising outpaces Cubin", Casper Star-Tribune, July 17, 2006
  15. ^ Bob Benenson, "Big Batch of Rating Changes Reflects Stronger Democratic Breeze", CQPolitics.com, August 10, 2006.

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Craig Thomas		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Wyoming's At-large congressional district
1995 – present		 Incumbent


Wyoming's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators: Craig Thomas (R), Mike Enzi (R)

Representative(s): Barbara Cubin (R)

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