Dick Armey
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| Richard Keith "Dick" Armey | |
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| In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Dick Gephardt |
| Succeeded by | Tom DeLay |
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| In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 2003 |
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| Preceded by | Tom Vandergriff |
| Succeeded by | Michael C. Burgess |
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| Born | July 7, 1940 Cando, North Dakota |
| Political party | Republican |
| Profession | Economist |
Richard Keith "Dick" Armey, Ph.D. (born July 7, 1940 in Cando, North Dakota) is a former U.S. Representative from Texas's 26th congressional district (1985–2003) and House Majority Leader (1995–2003). He was one of the architects of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades, and the chief author of the Republican Contract with America.
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[edit] Early life
Armey grew up in rural North Dakota, living in the farming town of Cando. He attended Jamestown College, earning his bachelor's degree. Armey then proceeded to receive a master's degree from the University of North Dakota and a Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma.
[edit] From academia to Congress
Armey, a member of the Republican Party and former economics professor at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in Denton, was first elected to the House in 1984 in the 26th District of Texas, defeating freshman congressman Tom Vandergriff in what is still considered a huge upset (Vandergriff is well-known in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, most notable for bringing the Texas Rangers to the area). However, due to the increasingly Republican tilt of the Metroplex, Armey would never face another credible challenge again, and was reelected eight times.
During his time in Congress, Armey conceived the independent nonpolitical commission that became responsible for identifying those military bases to be closed as a cost-cutting measure. Armey was one of Congress's fervent supporters of privatization of Social Security and phasing-out of farm subsidies. He is a strong supporter of replacing the progressive tax levels with a single or flat tax rate. However, Armey is very critical of a competing tax reform proposal that would replace the current system with a national sales tax, the FairTax.
In 1994, Armey, then House Republican Conference Chairman, joined Minority Whip Newt Gingrich in drafting the Contract with America. Republican members credited this election platform with the Republican takeover of Congress, rewarding Gingrich with the position of Speaker and Armey with the number two position of House Majority Leader. Gingrich delegated to Armey an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling legislation on the House floor, a power traditionally reserved to the Speaker. However, some charge that Armey was involved in a 1997 attempt to oust Gingrich as Speaker [1], something Armey has strongly denied.
In 1995 Armey also wrote a book, Freedom Revolution (ISBN 0-89526-469-2).
In 1998, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, a reporter asked him what he would do if he were in President Bill Clinton's position. He replied "If I were in the President's place I would not have gotten a chance to resign. I would be lying in a pool of my own blood, hearing Mrs. Armey standing over me saying, 'How do I reload this damn thing?'" [2] That same year, after Gingrich was forced to resign from the House after heavy Republican losses in the midterm elections, Armey had to fend off a bruising challenge for his majority leader post from Steve Largent of Oklahoma. Still, Armey served another four years before announcing his retirement in 2002. In his last legislative effort, he was named chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security and was the primary sponsor of the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security.
Armey's words would sometimes get him in trouble. On May 1, 2002, during an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews (transcript), Armey called for a homeland for the Palestinians outside of Palestine, which the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee interpreted as a call for ethnic cleansing. He was also accused of calling openly homosexual Congressman Barney Frank, 'Barney Fag', although he said it was a slip of the tongue.
According to Armey, he also sparred with Focus on the Family leader James Dobson while in office. Armey wrote, "As Majority Leader, I remember vividly a meeting with the House leadership where Dobson scolded us for having failed to 'deliver' for Christian conservatives, that we owed our majority to him, and that he had the power to take our jobs back. This offended me, and I told him so." Armey claims that Focus on the Family targeted him politically after the incident, writing, "... Focus on the Family deliberately perpetuates the lie that I am a consultant to the ACLU."
As he approached retirement from the House, he admitted to being the "mystery man" who snuck a rider into the 2002 version of the Homeland Security bill that blocks lawsuits against the manufacturer of a controversial vaccine preservative, "thimerosal". [3]
As a free-market economist influenced by the ideas of Milton Friedman, Armey favored relatively open immigration and the elimination of barriers to the movement of goods and people across national boundaries.
After Armey's retirement, fellow Texan and Republican Tom DeLay, then House Majority Whip, was elevated to hold Armey's Majority Leader position. Armey's son, Scott, ran for his father's seat in the 2002 election, but lost in the Republican Party (GOP) runoff to Michael C. Burgess, who would go on to hold the strongly Republican 26th District for the GOP in November
[edit] After Congress
Recently, Armey joined the Washington office of the law firm DLA Piper (formerly DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary) as a senior policy advisor. [4] Armey is also the firm's co-chairman of its Homeland Security Task Force. [5]
In 2003, Armey became co-chairman of Citizens for A Sound Economy, which in 2004 merged with Empower America to become FreedomWorks. "FreedomWorks" is a common Armey saying and the organization is dedicated to advancing a "Freedom Agenda" of "lower taxes, less government, and more freedom." FreedomWorks claims 700,000 members nationwide and full time staff in 10 states. In his role as Chairman, Armey continues to be a national political figure and grassroots leader. He travels widely, meeting with activists and legislators. In 2005, for example, he testified before the President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform and debated Governor of Colorado Bill Owens on a tax increase ballot measure.
Also in 2003, Armey published Armey's Axioms.
In 2006, the book Hubris included Armey as an on-the-record source, claiming to have been initially reluctant to support the George W. Bush administration's call for war with Iraq, and to have warned President Bush that Iraq might be a "quagmire." Armey said that the intelligence presented to him in support of the war appeared questionable, but he gave Bush and Cheney the benefit of the doubt.
An animated version of Dick Armey appears in a 2001 episode of the FOX TV Series Family Guy entitled "Mr. Griffin Goes to Washington" wherein lead character Peter Griffin asks if Dick Armey's wife is called Vagina Coast Guard.
[edit] External links
- Dick Armey at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Christian Science Monitor, December 13, 2001, "Armey's Exit Triggers Fight for GOP Direction"
- Retiring House GOP leader speaks out against Iraq war
- Rep. Dick Armey Calls for Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians
- Salon.com, May 24, 2004, "House Divided: GOP Enforcer Tom DeLay and His Former Partner Dick Armey Are Locked in a Nasty Dispute Over the Future of the Republican Party"
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
[edit] Other sources
- Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War by Michael Isikoff and David Corn (Crown 2006)
- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0576950/
| Preceded by Tom Vandergriff |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 26th congressional district 1985–2003 |
Succeeded by Michael C. Burgess |
| Preceded by Jerry Lewis California |
Chairman of House Republican Conference 1993–1995 |
Succeeded by John Boehner Ohio |
| Preceded by Dick Gephardt Missouri |
House Majority Leader 1995–2003 |
Succeeded by Tom DeLay Texas |
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