Bill McCollum

Infobox Politician
name = Bill McCollum


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office = United States House of Representatives
term_start = 1981
term_end = 2001
predecessor = Richard Kelly
successor =
constituency = Florida's 5th Congressional district
majority =
office2 = Attorney General of Florida
term_start2 = 2006
term_end2 = Incumbent
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constituency2 = Florida
majority2 =
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birth_date = Birth date and age|1944|7|12|mf=y
birth_place = Brooksville, Florida
USA
death_date =
death_place =
party = Republican
relations =
spouse = Ingrid Seebohm McCollum
civil partner =
children = 3
residence = Florida
occupation =
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Ira William "Bill" McCollum, Jr. (born July 12, 1944 in Brooksville, Florida) is the current Florida Attorney General and a former Republican Congressman from Florida.

Early life

Born and raised in Brooksville, Florida, McCollum graduated from Hernando High School and earned his bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Florida, where he was inducted into the University of Florida Hall of Fame (the most prestigious honor a student leader could receive at UF), and served as president of Florida Blue Key. McCollum began his professional career on active duty with the United States Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps from 1969 to 1972. (In 1992, he retired from the United States Naval Reserve as a Commander, having served 23 years). In 1973 McCollum entered private practice in Orlando, and immediately became involved in local politics, serving as Chairman of the Seminole County Republican Party from 1976 to 1980.

Congressional career

In 1980 McCollum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from a district including Walt Disney World and most of Orlando.

While in Congress, McCollum founded the House Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, chairing it for six years. He also served three terms on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, two of which as Chairman of its Subcommittee on Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counterintelligence. Additionally, McCollum served as Vice Chairman of the House Banking Committee and served on the Judiciary Committee, where he was Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime. While serving the House, McCollum was selected for a variety of Republican leadership positions, including three terms as Vice Chairman of the House Republican Conference. McCollum gained national attention as one of fifteen members selected to serve on the House Committee to Investigate the Iran-Contra Affair, and, in 1998 – 1999, as one of the House Managers of President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Rather than seek reelection to the House in 2000, McCollum ran for an open United States Senate seat. He lost that race to current Senator Bill Nelson, bringing an end to McCollum's twenty year career in the Congress.

Bids for U.S. Senate

McCollum later launched an unsuccessful bid for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack, narrowly losing to former Congressman Bill Nelson.

McCollum made his second run for the Senate in the U.S. Senate election, 2004. During the early months of 2004, he competed with former Bush administration official Mel Martinez for the position of Republican front-runner: by mid-summer, businessman Doug Gallagher began approaching McCollum and Martinez in support as well. McCollum stressed his own experience on homeland security issues, and contrasted his position on tort reform against Martinez's background as a plaintiff's lawyer. Inexplicably, McCollum, who was considered one of the most conservative members of Congress for many years, was lambasted by Martinez as "the darling of homosexual extremists" due to his vote in favor of gay hate crimes legislation. Connie Mack appeared with McCollum at a press conference to denounce Martinez's comments. Martinez went on to win the primary on August 31 by a wide margin, defeating McCollum in most parts of Florida with the exception of the Tampa Bay area. Shortly thereafter, McCollum endorsed Martinez for the general election.

Florida Attorney General

In 2006, McCollum ran for the office of Attorney General of the State of Florida, defeating State Senator Skip Campbell in the general election. McCollum ran on the message of "making Florida a safer place to live, work, and raise a family."

Since taking office, McCollum has positioned Florida as a national leader in the fight against child pornography and internet child predators. At his request, the Florida Legislature provided the resources to greatly expand the Attorney General’s Child Predator CyberCrime Unit (CPCU) and passed laws giving law enforcement new tools and greater punishments for those who prey on children over the internet. Additionally, with the cooperation of the state’s school superintendents, the Attorney General’s office has prepared a cybersafety program to present in all of Florida’s middle schools and high schools. McCollum also launched a cybersafety website for children, teens and adults, located at http://www.safeflorida.net/safesurf.

As Attorney General, McCollum's other priorities include developing a statewide strategy to address gangs, violent crime and drugs; consumer protection; combating Medicaid fraud; improving the state’s security against terrorist threats, and fighting crimes against the elderly, especially identity theft. More information on his statewide strategy to combat gang violence is available online at http://www.safeflorida.net/safestreets.

In 2008, McCollum served as the Florida Chairman for the Rudy Giuliani presidential campaign. [http://www.joinrudy2008.com/article/pr/1154]

Prior to his election as Florida Attorney General, McCollum served as a partner with the Baker & Hostetler LLP law firm, practicing in the federal policy area. In addition to his duties as the state’s chief legal officer, he serves as President and Chairman of the Healthy Florida Foundation, chartered in 2002 to find consensus on long-term solutions to the nation’s health care system.

McCollum is married to Ingrid Seebohm McCollum. They have three sons: Doug, Justin and Andy.

He is a board member of the James Madison Institute.

External links

* [http://myfloridalegal.com/pages.nsf/4492d797dc0bd92f85256cb80055fb97/1515ce372e59d1e885256cc60071b1c4!OpenDocument Bill McCollum, official profile] , Office of the Attorney General of Florida

Persondata
NAME= McCollum, Bill
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Florida Attorney General, former Republican Florida
DATE OF BIRTH= 1944-07-12
PLACE OF BIRTH= Brooksville, Florida
USA
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=