David Davis (U.S. politician)

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David Davis
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 4, 2007
Preceded by	Bill Jenkins
Born	November 6, 1959 (1959-11-06) (age 48) Unicoi, Tennessee
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Joyce Davis
Children	Matthew and Rachel
Religion	Baptist

David Lee Davis (born November 6, 1959) is a Republican politician from Tennessee and a former member of the Tennessee House of Representatives representing the 6th district, which is composed of parts of Sullivan County, Washington County and Hawkins County. He is currently serving as U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 1st congressional district, a seat the Democratic Party has not held since 1881.

[edit] Early career

David Davis obtained a 13 week certification in respiratory therapy from East Tennessee State University in 1979 and received a correspondence A.A.S. in respiratory therapy from California College^[1][2] in 1983. In 1991, he received a B.S. in Organizational Management from Milligan College. He is currently president of Shared Health Services, Inc. and the former president of Advanced Home Health Care, Inc.^[3]

[edit] Political career

[edit] Tennessee State State Representative

Davis was elected to the 101st General Assembly representing parts of Washington County, Tennessee and Hawkins County, Tennessee. Davis was a member of the Transportation Committee, the Government Operations Committee, and the Public Safety and Rural Roads Subcommittee while serving with the Tennessee General Assembly.

Davis was also a delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business.

While in the Tennessee General Assembly, Davis voted aye twice in transportation committee to allow illegal immigrants to apply for Tennessee driver licenses (2001 H.B. 983)^[4] and also filed legislation on February 3, 2005 (2005 H.B 714)^[5] for changing county wheel tax legislation that (if enacted) would have taken away the ability of Tennessee citizens to vote aye or nay on local wheel tax referendum questions and give Tennessee county commissioners the sole authority to enact wheel taxes with a simple majority vote.

[edit] U.S. Representative

While Davis has only filed two bills within the U.S. House of Representatives as the original sponsor (one Davis bill was to create a federal "American Eagle Day"), he has signed on as cosponsor to other pending legislation including H.R.621, a House resolution that seeks to "...amend part B of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore the Medicare treatment of ownership of oxygen equipment to that in effect before enactment of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005."^[6]

In 2007, U.S. Rep.Davis also cosponsored H.R.1398 to amend the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 by providing that manure shall not be considered to be a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.^[7] H.R. 1398 has been referred to the Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment.

During November 2007, Davis was quoted by the Mountain Press of Sevierville, Tennessee as favoring amnesty for illegal immigrants within the United States with his reported statement that "Most people in East Tennessee will welcome people with open arms if they come here legally," Davis said. "Illegal is illegal, though. I don't think the answer is deporting 12 million people, though."^[8]

[edit] U.S. House Office Staff of Rep. David Davis

• Chief of Staff: Brenda Otterson
• Scheduler: Karen Kaumeier
• Legislative Director: Richard Vaughn
• Press Secretary: Timothy Hill (brother of Tennessee State Representative Matthew Hill)

[edit] 2006 election to Congress

In 2006, Davis ran to replace retiring Bill Jenkins, a Republican who had represented the Tennessee 1st U.S. House District. In May, Davis appointed then Leitner Pharmaceuticals lobbyist (and former King Pharmaceuticals lobbyist) James "Jim" L. Holcomb, who was also the treasurer of the Tennessee Conservative PAC, ^[9][10] as his campaign co-chairman.^[11].

[edit] Primary

Davis finished first in the strongly contested Republican primary, with 22 percent of the vote. The second-place finisher, Richard Venable, received only 576 less votes.

Tennessee law authorizes a recount in the case of a tie vote, an indication of voter fraud, voting machine malfunctions or tabulation problems, and for "any other instance the court or body with jurisdiction of a contested election finds that a recount is warranted." Veneable reportedly had sought a recount because "less that seven-tenths of one percent" of the primary votes determined the outcome of the election and because in Sullivan County long lines at polling places had reportedly discouraged voters.^[12] The Tennessee Republican Party Primary Board decided not to have a recount.^[13]

[edit] General election

In the general election, Davis defeated his Democratic opponent, City Councilman Rick Trent of Morristown, Tennessee.^[14]

[edit] See also

• Tennessee Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey
• Tennessee Senator Rusty Crowe
• Tennessee Representative Jason Mumpower
• Sullivan County, Tennessee Mayor Steve Godsey
• Tennessee Representative Matthew Hill
• USA Congressional staff edits to Wikipedia
• Rhône-Poulenc
• Hoechst AG
• Altace
• EDGAR

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Congressman David Davis official U.S. House website
• David Davis for U.S. Congress official campaign website
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com