Chris Bell (politician)
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| Robert Christopher Bell | |
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| In office 2003 - 2005 |
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| Preceded by | Ken Bentsen, Jr. |
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| Succeeded by | Lloyd Doggett |
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| Born | November 23, 1959 (age 47) Abilene, Texas |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Robert Christopher "Chris" Bell (born November 23, 1959) is a Democratic Party politician in the United States. He last served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Texas District 25 in Houston from 2003 to 2005. He was the Democratic candidate in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas. Chris Bell lost the November 2006 election to incumbent Rick Perry by just over 407,155 votes (Perry 39% versus Bell 30%).
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[edit] Personal history
Chris Bell was born in Abilene, Texas in 1959. He was raised in Dallas and moved to Austin when he was accepted to the University of Texas at Austin. As a student, Bell served as president of the Intrafraternity Council and spearheaded a successful effort to reinstate student government. In 1982, he graduated with a journalism degree and began work as a television and radio journalist, first in Ardmore, Oklahoma and later in Amarillo. He then moved to Houston, working as a Harris County court radio reporter while taking night classes at South Texas College of Law. Despite his success in journalism (he was named “best radio reporter in the state” in 1990 by the Texas Associated Press), he left journalism and began what would become a successful litigation practice after receiving a law degree in 1992. Bell's public service career began in 1997, after being elected to the Houston City Council. He currently lives in Houston with his wife, Alison Ayres Bell, and their two sons, Atlee, ten, and Connally, eight. Alison previously worked for Mosbacher Energy and as the scheduler for Republican Rob Mosbacher’s 1994 campaign for lieutenant-governor. ft&h=495&w=778&hasAd=1&mod=blogs)
[edit] Career
[edit] Houston City Council (1997-2002)
Bell served as at large Position 4 councilman for the Houston City Council for five years. During this time, he served as chairman of both the Council Committee on Customer Service and Initiatives and the Ethics Committee. Throughout his service, he focused on ethics reform, passing laws that limited the use of soft money in city elections. He also championed what he called “customer-driven government,” featuring innovative ideas to make government more accessible to the public. He also helped pass the largest tax cut in the city's history and worked to pass sweeping ethics reform that significantly cleaned up what was a corrupt local government.
[edit] Mayoral campaign (2001)
In 2001, Bell attempted to run against incumbent mayor Lee Brown. Brown and Bell first butted heads when, in 2000, Bell joined with conservatives to pass a 2-cent property tax rollback. In turn, Brown replaced Bell as chairman. Bell finished third behind Brown and Republican candidate Orlando Sanchez. There were no hard feelings between Bell and Mayor Brown after the election—Bell endorsed Brown during the resulting runoff election and Brown was a vocal supporter for Bell's 2002 congressional bid.
[edit] US Congress (2002-2005)
In 2002, Bell successfully ran for the United States House of Representatives for Texas District 25 in Houston. He was a “star freshman,” and was soon made assistant whip by House Democratic whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland. Bell also served on four standing committees, and was responsible for founding the Port Security Caucus, a group dedicated to improving seaport security. He also looked out for Houston’s interests while in Washington.
In October 2003, Bell became the prime target in Republican Tom DeLay’s infamous 2003 congressional redistricting effort. Bell's District 25 was redrawn and resulted in District 9, a district intended for minority representation. On March 9, 2004, Bell was defeated in the Democratic primary for District 9 by Al Green, the former president of the Houston NAACP.
On June 15, 2004, in conjunction with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, Bell filed an ethics complaint against Tom DeLay, alleging an abuse of power and illegal solicitation of money, among other things. This ended a seven-year "truce" on such official accusations between the parties. Four months later, the House Ethics Committee unanimously admonished DeLay on two of Bell's charges. The third charge was left for criminal investigation in Texas. In 2005, DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury on criminal charges that he had violated campaign finance laws.
[edit] Gubernatorial campaign (2006)
- See also: Texas gubernatorial election, 2006
Bell was the Democratic candidate in the 2006 election for the office of Governor of Texas. He ran against Republican incumbent Rick Perry and independents Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman. [1]
[edit] Issues and positions
[edit] Immigration
Bell supports the use of United States National Guard troops along the US-Mexico border, "as long as we are very careful not to turn the border into a militated zone." He also supports the McCain-Kennedy bill that would provide a so-called "pathway" to citizenship for millions of illegal immigrants already in the country, provided they had jobs, learned English, paid fines and met certain other requirements. "I don't want to see anybody cutting in line, but I do think that people should be able to earn their citizenship if they're productive and law-abiding citizens.” [2]
[edit] Education
Bell is dedicated to increasing spending for the Texas public education system. He wants to focus on acquiring and retaining quality teachers, stopping textbook censorship, and taking the focus away from standardized tests like Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS). He wants to create a bipartisan committee on public education and give school districts more local control. [3] Finally, he wants to make Texas higher education affordable. He wants to end the tuition deregulation put in place by Rick Perry, which caused a 23% average increase in tuition at Texas state schools. He also wants to give public universities the state funding they need to remain competitive and to help students by making textbooks tax free. [4]
[edit] Gay rights
Bell is a lifelong proponent of gay rights. In 2002, the Houston Chapter of the Human Rights Campaign awarded him with their first ever John Walzel Political Equality Award in 2002. He co-sponsored the Permanent Partners Immigration Act with Houston Congress member Sheila Jackson-Lee. The bill seeks to offer residency to immigrant same-sex partners of U.S. citizens, much as citizens of other countries who marry Americans are allowed to stay in the country.[5] Bell also supports civil unions for gay and lesbian couples, and is against a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.[6]
[edit] Healthcare
Bell is a passionate supporter of stem cell research. After losing his mother to Parkinson's, and nearly losing his wife to cancer, he believes that using science to cure disease is a moral imperative. Bell is on the board of StemPAC, a leading stem cell advocacy group, and often speaks at national stem cell conferences. While a member of the 108th United States Congress, he consistently voted pro stem cell research. As governor, he plans to use state funding for stem cell research initiatives in Texas. Bell also wants to put the focus back on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a program that was recently a target of budget cuts by Governor Rick Perry. [7]
[edit] Trans-Texas Corridor
Bell is dedicated to fighting the Trans-Texas Corridor. A toll road formerly recommended, but now opposed, by Comptroller and gubernatorial opponent Carole Strayhorn and passed by Governor and gubernatorial opponent Rick Perry, the Trans-Texas corridor as proposed would consume 1.5 million acres (6000 km²) of farmland and 150 square miles of privately owned property. Bell plans to put an immediate stop to the project and open it up to public debate. [8]
[edit] External links
- Chris Bell for Governor
- Entry from the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
- A Message from Alison Ayres Bell
| Preceded by Ken Bentsen Jr. |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 25th congressional district 2003–2005 |
Succeeded by Lloyd Doggett |
