Randy Forbes

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Randy Forbes

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 4th district
In office 2001 - present
Preceded by	Norman Sisisky
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	February 17, 1952 (age 55) Chesapeake, Virginia
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Shirley Forbes
Religion	Baptist

James Randy Forbes (born February 17, 1952) is an American politician who has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Fourth Congressional District of Virginia (map).

Born in Chesapeake, Virginia, he graduated first in his class from Randolph-Macon College in 1974, and from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1977. Forbes worked in private practice, for Kaufman & Canoles PC, and served in the Virginia House of Delegates (1989-1997) and the Virginia State Senate (1997-2001). He was also Chair of the Virginia State Republican Party from 1996 to 2001. Forbes was first elected to the House in 2001 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Congressman Norman Sisisky. Forbes has faced a Democrat opponent twice, in 2001 in a special election against Louise Lucas (52-48%).[1] In 2004, he faced Jonathan R. Menefee in which he won with 65% of the vote.[2] However, between these elections in 2002 the 4th district was re-drawn to remove the predominantly Democratic city of Portsmouth, effectively removing any chance of a real challenge to his seat.

1 Controversial Campaign Contributions
2 Major issues
- 2.1 Culture
- 2.2 Gangs
3 Committees, caucuses, and other groups
4 External links

[edit] Controversial Campaign Contributions

Forbes received campaign contributions from House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC. DeLay has since resigned and is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Forbes has not offered to return or donate to charity any of the $30,000 he received, despite calls from Democrats to do so. [3][4] He has donated $1,000 he received from Jack Abramoff to charity; however, he kept the $4,000 he received from Indian tribes that hired Abramoff for lobbying work. [5] He also accepted $1,000 from convicted former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham and $5,000 from the founder of MZM, who pleaded guilty to corruption charges.[6] Also of interest is the "Hero of the Tax Payer" award Forbes received from Americans for Tax Reform (ATR).[7] A Senate report revealed recently that ATR, headed by Grover Norquist whom admitted to using ATR to sell clout to and launder money for Jack Abramov, may have violated its tax exempt status.[8]

[edit] Major issues

[edit] Culture

Forbes has made a major issue out of the "culture war," by forming the Push Back Team [9], basically a fundraising measure for Forbes' campaign. As part of this campaign, Forbes is the founder and chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, [10] formed for the purpose of encouraging prayer through legislation, and opposing laws such as those banning prayer led by school officials.

[edit] Gangs

Forbes sponsored H.R. 1279[11] The Gang Deterrence and Community Protection Act of 2005 (The Gangbusters Bill) which intends to increase support for police in going after gangs, re-define violent crime, and sets higher minimum mandatory sentences for gang related activity.[12] Some critics of the bill say that it re-defines violent crime very broadly, allows the death penalty for "any crime resulting in death," and sets overly stringent minimum sentences.[13] Forbes has said he sees gangs partially as a problem brought in with immigrants, specifically mentioning the MS-13 gang. This bill passed the House on May 11, 2005, and has been referred to the Senate. Similar legislation was passed again on September 21, 2006, yet to be taken up by the Senate.[14]