Jack Fields

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Jack Fields
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 8th district
In office 1981–1997
Preceded by	Bob Eckhardt
Succeeded by	Kevin Brady
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Lynn Fields
Alma mater	Baylor University
Religion	Baptist

Jack Milton Fields, Jr. (born February 3, 1952), is a Texas businessman and a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from a Houston-based district.

Fields was born in Humble in Harris County to Mr. and Mrs. Jack Fields, Sr. He graduated from Humble High School in his hometown in 1970. Fields earned both bachelor of arts and Juris Doctor degrees from Baptist-affiliated Baylor University in Waco in 1974 and 1977, respectively. After being admitted to the Texas bar in 1977, Fields worked as a lawyer in private practice and as a vice president of a family-owned business through 1980.

[edit] Congressional career

In 1980, at the age of twenty-eight, Fields was elected to the U.S. House on the coattails of President Ronald Reagan's electoral victory in a congressional district that had elected only Democrats for the preceding eighty-four years. He defeated incumbent Representative Bob Eckhardt, a liberal Democrat who had held the seat for seven terms. Fields was sworn in on January 5, 1981, and represented the Texas's 8th congressional district from 1981 to 1997.

When the Republican Party assumed majority control of the House of Representatives in the 1994 elections, Fields was elected chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance of the House Committee on Commerce. In that role, he was one of the principal authors of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, the National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

[edit] 1993 special senate election

In 1993, Fields joined a field of twenty-four candidates in a special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Lloyd Bentsen, when Bentsen was appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton as the secretary of the treasury. However, Fields failed to win enough votes to advance to a runoff election, in which fellow Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison of Dallas, won the seat.

In the Senate race, Fields divided the pro-life vote with fellow U.S. Representative Joe Barton of Ennis. The Fields-Barton split propelled Hutchison, who supported the United States Supreme Court Roe v. Wade abortion decision, into the runoff with appointed incumbent Democratic Senator Robert Krueger of New Braunfels. Two former governors divided their support between Fields and Barton. John B. Connally, Jr., supported his fellow Houstonian Fields, and Bill Clements, endorsed his fellow Dallasite Barton.

[edit] Post-congressional career

Fields did not run for reelection to the 106th Congress in 1996. Instead, he started two companies, the 21st Century Group, Inc., a government relations firm based in Washington, D.C., and Texana Global, Inc., an international trade corporation headquartered in Texas. He has served on various corporate and charitable boards. In 2004, the U.S. Post Office in Kingwood was renamed the "Congressman Jack Fields Post Office" in Fields' honor.

Fields is married to Lynn Fields and has two daughters, Jordan and Lexi, and a stepson, Josh Hughes.

[edit] References

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Congressional discussion of bill to name post office after Fields