Joe Wilson (U.S. politician)

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Joe Wilson
Joe Wilson (U.S. politician)

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office 
December 18, 2001
Preceded by Floyd Spence

Born July 31, 1947 (1947-07-31) (age 60)
Charleston, South Carolina
Political party Republican
Spouse Roxanne Wilson
Religion Presbyterian

Addison Graves Wilson, Sr., usually known as Joe Wilson (born July 31, 1947) is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of South Carolina, currently representing the state's 2nd congressional district (map), in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district is based in the state capital, Columbia, and stretches to the resort towns of Beaufort and Hilton Head Island.

Contents

[edit] Political, legal, military, and state senate career

Wilson was born in Charleston, South Carolina to Hugh de Veaux Wilson and Wray Graves Wilson.

He was active in South Carolina Republican politics from a young age, participating in his first Republican campaign in 1962. As a teenager he joined the campaign of Congressman Floyd Spence, later working as an aide to Senator Strom Thurmond.

Wilson graduated from Washington and Lee University in 1969, obtained a law degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1972, worked as a real estate attorney, and co-founded the law firm Kirkland, Wilson, Moore, Taylor & Thomas[1] in West Columbia, where he practiced for over 25 years. Wilson was also a Judge in Springdale.

From 1972 to 1975, Wilson served in the United States Army Reserve, and then as a Staff Judge Advocate in the South Carolina Army National Guard assigned to the 218th Mechanized Infantry Brigade until retiring from military service as a Colonel in 2003.

In 1981 and 1982, during the Reagan Administration, Wilson served as Deputy General Counsel for former Governor Jim Edwards at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Wilson was elected to the South Carolina Senate in 1984 as a Republican from Lexington County, and never missed a statutory session in 17 years. After the Republicans gained control of the chamber in 1996, he became the first Republican to serve as Chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee. Wilson was a member of the Columbia College Board of Visitors and Coker College Board of Trustees.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

After Congressman Spence died in 2001, Wilson ran for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. He won the December 18 special election with 73 % of the vote.[2] [3] He was sworn in the next day.

Wilson assumed Spence's seat on the House Armed Services Committee where he serves on the Military Personnel, Air and Land Forces, and Seapower and Expeditionary Forces subcommittees. He is also a member of the Committee on Education and the Workforce (serving on the Education Reform and Employer-Employee Relations subcommittees), the International Relations Committee, and the House Republican Policy Committee.

Wilson has continued Spence's pattern of conservative voting and strong support for the military. Unlike Spence however, he has attracted attention for controversial remarks. In September 2002, during a debate on the possibility of going to war in Iraq, Wilson called Congressman Bob Filner "viscerally anti-American" and claimed that he had a "hatred of America" after Filner suggested the United States supplied chemical and biological weapons to Saddam Hussein. Wilson said later that he didn't intend to insult Filner.[4]

Wilson won election to a full term in 2002 with 84 % of the vote.[2] [5]

Wilson was mentioned as a possible candidate for retiring Senator Fritz Hollings' seat in 2004,[citation needed] but he decided to run for a second full term and beat his opponents, Democrat Michael Ray Ellisor and Constitution Party nominee Steve Lefemine with 65 % of the vote[2] [6]

In the 2006 elections, he defeated Ellisor again with 62.7 %, and kept his House seat.[7]

However, Wilson's standing in the United States House was reduced to minority status, because of the new Democratic control.

[edit] Claims Democrats aid terrorists

In June 2005, Wilson responded to calls by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman for an independent commission to investigate the alleged abuse of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, saying that it "is just inconceivable and truly incorrigible that in the midst of the war, that the Democratic leaders would be conducting guerrilla warfare on American troops." Wilson called the proposal "another example of some Democrat leaders trusting the words of terrorists over the proven decency of U.S. troops."[who?]

[edit] Bills

Rep. Wilson has sponsored dozens and cosponsored hundreds of bills,[citation needed] issuing press releases regarding seven of them, concerning teacher recruitment and retention, college campus fire safety, National Guard troop levels, arming airline pilots, tax credits for adoption and living organ donors, and state defense forces, most of which are still in committee. As of January 2006, eight bills cosponsored by Wilson have been signed by the president, including H.R.1973, the Senator Paul Simon Water for the Poor Act of 2005, making safe water and sanitation an objective of U.S. assistance to developing countries.[citation needed]

[edit] Family

Joe and his wife Roxanne Dusenbury McCrory Wilson have four sons, all Eagle Scouts and four grandchildren. His oldest son Alan McCrory Wilson is also a lawyer, working as an assistant Attorney General, and a Major in the Army National Guard, having served a year as an intelligence officer in southern Iraq. Addison G. "Add" Wilson, Jr. is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and is now an Ensign attending the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. Julian Dusenbury Wilson is a recent graduate of Clemson University and is a Second Lieutenant in the Army National Guard. Hunter Taylor Wilson currently attends Clemson University.

Joe's second oldest son Addison has two sons, Addison and Houston. In October 2007, Add and his wife Lauren had Emily Ruth Wilson. Joe's oldest son Alan and his wife Jennifer had their first son Michael McCrory Wilson on April 11, 2008.

Joe's father Hugh was a member of the Flying Tigers in World War II. The Wilson family attend First Presbyterian Church in Columbia.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=3985,
  2. ^ a b c AP.org web site. Accessed April 10, 2008.
  3. ^ The vote totals were 40,355 for Wilson, to 14,034 for the Democrat, with three minor party candidates receiving the remainder. See South Carolina Election Commission official web site, go to the page for December 18, 2001 special election. Accessed April 10, 2008].
  4. ^ Washington Post article
  5. ^ He received 144,149 votes to 17,189 and 9,650 minor party candidates with 371 write-in votes. See South Carolina Election Commission official web site, go to the page for November 5, 2002 general election. Accessed April 10, 2008].
  6. ^ Wilson got 181,862 votes to 93,249 for Democrat Ellisor, and 4,447 for minor party candidate Lefemine, with 312 write-ins. See South Carolina Election Commission official web site, go to the page for November 2, 2004 general election. Accessed April 10, 2008].
  7. ^ Wilson received 127,811 votes to Ellisor's 76,090 votes, with 151 write-ins. See South Carolina Election Commission official web site, go to the page for November 7, 2006 general election. Accessed April 10, 2008].

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Floyd Spence
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 2nd congressional district

2001-12-19 – present
Incumbent