Dave Reichert

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Dave Reichert

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington's 8th district
In office 2005-present
Preceded by	Jennifer Dunn
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	August 29, 1950 (age 56) Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Julie Reichert
Religion	Lutheran

David George Reichert (born August 29, 1950) is an American politician and the former sheriff of King County, Washington. He has served since 2005 as Republican congressional representative of Washington's 8th congressional district (map).

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life
- 1.2 Education
2 Law enforcement career
3 Congressional service
4 Family
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Reichert was born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, the oldest of seven children and grandson of the town marshal. His family moved to Washington State in 1951 living first in Renton, Washington, and later moving to Kent, where he attended Kent Meridian High School. He left high school in 1968 and attended junior college before entering the Air Force Reserves in 1971. He served in the reserves until 1976.

[edit] Education

In 1970, Reichert earned an Associates degree from Concordia Lutheran College in Portland, Oregon where he also played on the football team [1].

[edit] Law enforcement career

Reichert served with the King County Sheriff's Department beginning in 1972. Early in his career, Reichert faced a deranged man with a knife. Reichert climbed through the man's bedroom window whereupon the man slashed at his throat [2]. Reichert's steel collar-stays saved his life.

He was a SWAT Commander, Commander-Hostage Negotiation, Commander-Bomb Disposal Unit, Commander-Traffic Unit, and an Acting Commander-Internal Investigations. Reichert was a leading member of the Green River Task Force, which was formed to track down the so-called "Green River Killer." DNA evidence eventually identified Gary Leon Ridgway as the Green River Killer in 2001. Ridgway was sentenced to life without parole for the Green River murders.

[edit] County Sheriff

In 1997 he became the first elected (nonpartisan) Sheriff in 30 years in King County, Washington. He served two terms from 1997 to 2004. A widely rebroadcast event during the Seattle World Trade Organization riots showed Reichert chasing looters down 3rd Avenue in Seattle.

[edit] Affiliations

He served as president of the Washington State Sheriff's Association.

[edit] Awards

Reichert won the 2004 National Sheriffs' Association's Sheriff of the Year award.

[edit] Publications

July 2004 non-fiction book "Chasing the Devil: My Twenty-Year Quest to Capture the Green River Killer" ISBN 0-316-15632-9

[edit] Congressional service

[edit] 2004 Election

In 2004 Reichert ran for Congress. Early in his campaign, he walked out on a candidate debate due to criticism from other candidates and vowed not to debate again [3].

Reichert's record as sheriff enabled him to defeat well known KIRO-AM talk show host Dave Ross in the 2004 Congressional elections by a 5 percentage-point margin. Receiving 51% of the vote, he replaced retiring Republican representative Jennifer Dunn. At the same time, a shift of swing voters gave Democrat John Kerry a 51 percent to 48 percent edge over President Bush in the 8th district. That made Reichert one of just 17 House Republicans elected in a district that went Democratic for president [4].

He was appointed Chairman for the Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Science and Technology, a subcommittee within the Homeland Security Committee. Reichert is a member of the following committees: House Committee on Homeland Security, Subcommittee on Intelligence Information Sharing and Terrorism Risk Assessment, Subcommittee Management Integration and Oversight, House Committee on Science, Subcommittee on Energy, Subcommittee on Research, Subcommittee on Environment Technology and Standards, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, Subcommittee on Highways Transit and Pipelines.

ARMPAC, one of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action committees, donated $20,000 to Reichert's election campaign [5] [6]. Since DeLay's 2005 indictment on charges of conspiracy to launder money, [7], Democrats have urged Reichert to return the money or to donate it to charitable causes. He has refused to do so [8]. Republicans say that the charges against DeLay are politically motivated.

[edit] 2006 campaign for re-election

In the 2006 campaign for re-election, Reichert was challenged by Darcy Burner of Carnation. As such, Reichert was identified by the GOP in the list of top ten representatives at risk [9]. By the fall of 2005, he had amassed more than $1,000,000 for his re-election campaign [10]. A fundraiser featuring Vice President Dick Cheney yielded over $100,000 to his campaign [11]. President George W. Bush attended a $1,000-a-head fund raising reception in Medina on June 16, 2006 to benefit Reichert and the state Republican Party [12]. Microsoft's political action committee donated to Reichert's campaign, as did its chairman Bill Gates and its CEO Steve Ballmer [13].

Rep. Reichert also accepted $20,000 from Tom DeLay's ARMPAC and $5,000 from Bob Ney, the first congressman to be implicated based on the Jack Abramoff guilty plea.

During the campaign at a GOP function, Reichart cited his involvement in getting a school bus driver fired for an obscene gesture she made toward President Bush in a visit to the Seattle area. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, he said the day after the incident he "called the superintendent of that school district and that bus driver no longer works for that school. That's the old sheriff part of me still around." When contacted later after outrage of the firing surfaced in the media, Reichart denied he was responsible for the firing, that he waited weeks to talk to the superintendent, and the driver was already in the process of being fired. When the local Democratic Party offices heard his claim, they portrayed it as bragging and released a tape of his speech, which was recorded by a staffer present at the function [14].

In late October the two major Seattle newspapers split in their endorsements: the Seattle Times endorsed Reichert after having endorsed the Democrat Dave Ross in 2004[15] while the Seattle Post-Intelligencer endorsed Burner. The King County Journal and Tacoma News Tribune [16] endorsed Reichert.

[edit] Views

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During the 2004 campaign, Reichert touted himself as a moderate conservative to appeal to swing voters in the largely suburban 8th district. His top priority in his campaign was security, both of his district and of the U.S. as a whole. He vowed to champion efforts to strengthen intelligence agencies, support the military and ensure proper equipment and training for first-responders [17].

Abortion issues
- Endorsed by WeVoteProlife.com [18]
- April 23, 2004: He says his opposition to abortion stems from his belief that the Christian Bible is literally true, and that American law should reflect Christian values. When it comes to pregnancy prevention, he favors abstinence-only education. Reichert believes he has an answer for unwanted children. His family adopted, and his daughter continued the tradition [19].
- October 5, 2004: In a debate against Democratic candidate Dave Ross, he declared his position “I’m pro-life.” He also stated that “No federal funding should be spent on sex education ever. Period.” [20]
- March 25, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on Overseas Military Facilities Abortion Amendment, an amendment that lifts the ban on privately funded abortions at U.S. military facilities overseas.
- April 27, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, a bill that prohibits the transportation of a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion without the consent of a parent or legal guardian.

Budget, spending and taxes
- April 13, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Estate Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2005, a bill that would permanently repeal the sunset provision of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001. Makes the one-year trial termination of the estate tax permanent.

Business and consumers
- April 14, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Bankruptcy Reform Bill, a bill that imposes a means test for individuals wishing to file for bankruptcy. The means test determines whether the individual would be allowed to file under Chapter 7, essentially exonerating their debts after they have liquidated their assets, or if they would be forced to file under Chapter 13, requiring them to pay back creditors on a court approved time table.

Civil liberties
- Reichert is strongly against gay marriage. He has promised to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning gay marriage [21].
- June 22, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Flag Desecration Resolution[22]
- October 25, 2005: Dave Reichert is pushing for expanding the DNA database, by requiring everyone arrested or detained by the police to have DNA samples taken for a national DNA database [23]. This is an attachment by Senator Jon Kyl to the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which Reichert sponsored [24].

Education
- September 22, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on School Readiness Act, which reauthorizes the Head Start Act to improve the school readiness of disadvantaged children. Other parts of the bill expand the powers of "faith-based" providers.

Energy
- October 7, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on the Gasoline for America's Security Act - Vote Passed (212-210, 12 not voting) This House bill encourages the construction of new oil refineries and directs the Federal Trade Commission to investigate gasoline price gouging.
- July 28, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Energy Policy Act of 2005
- April 21, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Energy Policy Act of 2005
- April 20, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling Amendment, to strike language from the bill that will allow oil and gas explorations in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Environment
- April 20, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Liability Shield Language Amendment, an amendment that strikes language from the bill that that shields manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE from liability lawsuits concerning contamination of drinking water.
- May 19, 2005: Reichert voted "no" to an amendment to the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which would have provided federal funds for sewage treatment plant construction [25].
- June 1, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" to allow nuclear waste to be stored at Hanford Site [26].
- September 22, 2005: Reichert broke ranks with Republicans and voted against the development of ANWR [27].
- September 29, 2005: Reichert broke ranks with Republicans and voted "no" on Endangered Species Reauthorization bill, a bill that overhauls the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The bill would also allow more pesticide runoff into salmon streams, require payoffs to developers and make voluntary many habitat protections for the threatened and endangered wildlife species in Washington [28].
- September 29, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on Threatened and Endangered Species Recovery Act, an amendment that reauthorizes the Endangered Species Act of 1973 through 2010 and alters several definitions to broaden the range of the act. Reichert joined state Democrats in opposing the bill and supporting a more balanced subsititute bill, which was voted down. Reichert was concerned about the elimination of critical habitat requirements [29][30].
- October 6, 2005: Reichert and Representatives Jay Inslee, and Norm Dicks convinced House leaders to remove language from an energy bill that would reverse a 28-year-old federal law credited with reducing the risk of oil spills in the Puget Sound region [31].
- December 3, 2005: When ANWR was attached to the Defense Appropriation bill, Reichert voted in favor of developing ANWR [32][33]. Reichert's chief of staff, Mike Shields, said it was impossible to vote against a defense appropriations bill while the nation is at war: "We saw in the election last year that you have to support the troops."

Foreign aid and policy issues
- June 17, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on United Nations Reform Act of 2005, a bill that limits the United States' contribution to the U.N. by up to one-half by the year 2007, if certain reforms are not made.
- June 15, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on the Bans Use of Funds to Enforce Cuba Regulations Amendment, an amendment to prohibit use of funds in the bill to implement, administer, or enforce regulations relating to amendments made to the Code of Federal Regulations relating to license exemptions for gift parcels and humanitarian donations for Cuba.

Gun rights
- August 27, 2004: Dave Reichert advocates letting the federal ban on semi-automatic firearms expire. Reichert said "I've never changed my position," Reichert said. "My whole point has always been holding gun owners responsible and accountable and always focusing on those people who were committing crimes with guns. ... I've never felt that the banning of certain weapons has really done anything at all." [34]
- October 21, 2005: Reichert voted to protect firearms manufacturers and dealers from lawsuits resulting from the misuse of their products by others [35] [36].

Human rights
- 2005: Reichert voted against establishing an independent commission to investigate the treatment of detainees at prisons such as Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib [37].

Immigration
- February 10, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on Real ID Act of 2005, a bill that amends the Immigration and Nationality Act and grants the Secretary of Homeland Security the power to set minimum security requirements for state driver licenses and identification cards.

Legal issues
- March 21, 2005: Reichert was one of only five Republicans to vote against federal intervention in the Terri Schiavo case (Terri Schiavo Incapacitated Persons Protection Bill).

National security issues
- June 15, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on Patriot Act Amendment - Library Records, an amendment that would have eliminated the ability of federal officials to search library and bookstore records.
- July 21, 2005: Reichert voted yes on USA PATRIOT & Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act, a bill that reauthorizes and extends certain provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 and adds new provisions to the act.
- July 21, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on USA PATRIOT & Terrorism Prevention Act- Motion, a motion to recommit the bill with instructions to set an expiration date of December 31, 2009 for all provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act originally set to expire on December 31, 2005.

Science and medical research
- July 22, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on Advanced Research Opportunities Amendment, an amendment to initiate a four-year pilot grant program for NASA to promote research, development, testing and evaluation at minority-serving institutions.
- May 24, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on Stem Cell Research Bill of 2005, a bill that would amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for human embryonic stem cell research.

Social Security
- 2005: Reichert held a workshop in Bellevue on a Social Security reform plan, which promises to create Retirement Savings Accounts. Contributions would be made on an after-tax basis [38][39][40]. Reichert sees RSAs to be one of three important factors for retirement security. The other two are corporate pension plans and personal savings [41].

Trade issues
- June 9, 2005: Reichert voted "no" on Withdrawing Approval from the WTO Agreement, a bill that would withdraw the United States from the accord that establishes the World Trade Organization.
- July 28, 2005: Reichert voted "yes" on CAFTA Implementation Bill, a bill implementing a free trade agreement between the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. CAFTA is the largest free trade agreement in over a decade.

Women
- June 20, 2005: Reichert Sponsors Violence Against Women Act [42]

[edit] 110th Congress

Early in 2007, Reichert voted for ethics reform changes that passed 430-1, and against "pay-as-you-go" rules that also passed, calling the latter a "a thinly disguised attempt to raise taxes"[43].

On February 16th, 2007, Reichert voted against H. Con. Res. 63 (which disapproved of the decision to send 20,000 more troops to Iraq)[44], saying that the resolution "lacked an alternate plan" and that the resolution would send "a terrible message to our enemies and to our soldiers" [45].

[edit] Family

His wife is named Julie, whom he met in college. Together, the Reicherts currently live in Auburn and have three grown children, Angela, Tabitha and Daniel, and six grandchildren. Reichert is a Missouri Synod Lutheran.