Steve Stockman

:Otherpeople3|the American politician

Infobox Congressman
name= Steve Stockman


state= Texas
district= 9th
party= Republican
term= 1995–1997
preceded= Jack Brooks
succeeded= Nick Lampson
date of birth= Birth date and age|1956|11|14|mf=y
place of birth= Bloomfield Hills, Michigan
date of death=
place of death=
spouse= Patti
alma_mater = University of Houston
current occupation= Consultant

Steve Stockman (born November 14, 1956) is a Republican politician who represented Texas's 9th Congressional District between 1994 and 1997.

Biography

Stockman was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, near Detroit.

In 1992, Stockman ran as a Republican for the House of Representatives against Jack Brooks. He was unsuccessful in this attempt, though he unseated the 42-year incumbent and then chairman of the House Judiciary Committee in 1994.

During Stockman's time in Congress, the district represented Chambers, Galveston, Jefferson, and part of Harris counties, including part of metropolitan Houston.

A conservative, he was a faculty member at, and later worked for, the Leadership Institute in Arlington, Virginia. He has also been involved with the Young Conservatives of Texas, and has represented Republicans at International Democrat Union meetings.

Legislative Record

In Stockman's one term in office, he sponsored 22 bills or resolutions and cosponsored 241. One sponsored resolution was agreed to by both the House and Senate; 37 cosponsored bills or resolutions passed the House, of which 18 passed the Senate. Of those, 2 were vetoed and 1 died in conference.

Notable sponsored bills in the 104th Congress included:
* H.CON.RES.166 Authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the Washington for Jesus 1996 prayer rally. This was Stockman's only successful sponsored legislation.
* H.J.RES.87 A constitutional amendment to prevent citizenship to native-born children of non-legal residents, and other changes.
* H.R.2087 To provide that human life shall be deemed to exist from conception.
* H.R.2393 To eliminate background checks, waiting periods, and registration requirements for firearms.
* H.R.2749 To investigate the Kinsey Reports.
* H.R.4222 To make private school costs tax-deductible.

Notable cosponsored bills in the 104th Congress that became law included:
* H.R.436 required heads of Federal agencies to differentiate between different types of fats, oils, and greases, when issuing regulations.
* H.R.1514 authorized and assisted programs to enhance safety, training, research, and development in the propane gas industry. The bill was aimed at improving the industry for the sake of consumers and the public.
* H.R.1627 amending the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; as well as, the Fderal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
* H.R.2137 amended the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to require the release of information to protect the public from sexual offenders (Megan's Law).
* H.R.3396 To define and protect the institution of marriage, the Defense of Marriage Act.

Notable cosponsored bills in the 104th Congress that did not become law included:
* H.J.RES.1 A balanced budget amendment to the Constitution.
* H.J.RES.79 An amendment to prohibit desecration of the flag.
* H.R.2 Line-item veto.
* H.R.123 to declare English as the official language of the Government of the United States.
* H.R.1833 Banning Partial Birth Abortion.

Controversies

In June 1996, Stockman and his campaign alleged that Houston Press reporter Tim Fleck trespassed in Stockman's campaign headquarters, which was also his home, and terrorized his wife. Fleck countered with a lawsuit alleging libel and slander. Both the charges and lawsuit were later dropped. [cite web
url=http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/1996-06-27/news/news4.html
title=Fleck Exonerated; Stockman Sued
publisher=Houston Press
author=Bob Simmons
accessdate=2006-09-02] [cite web
url=http://www.houstonpress.com/Issues/1997-05-01/news/news2.html
title=The Insider
publisher=Houston Press
author=Tim Fleck
date=May 1, 1997
accessdate=2006-09-02]

Reelection attempts

The 1996 general election for Texas's 9th Congressional District was unusual.

After the normal primaries had been held, the district boundaries of the 18th, 29th and 30th districts were struck down as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander in "Bush v. Vera", [ [http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/94-805.ZO.html Bush v. Vera, 517 U.S. 952 (1996) ] ] necessitating redistricting of the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 18th, 22nd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 28th and 30th Districts.

Because the redistricting was held after the normal primaries, those results were discarded and new votes for these districts were held as special elections; open to all candidates without a primary, and requiring a majority to win the seat outright.

These elections were held concurrently with the November general election for other elective positions. Stockman led Democrat Nick Lampson in the special election, 46.44 percent to 44.13 percent, but did not get a majority in a three-way race. [cite web
url=http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe
title=Race Summary Report: 1996 November Special Election
publisher=Texas
author=Office of the Secretary of State of Texas
date=November 5, 1996
accessdate=2006-09-02]

In the subsequent head-to-head runoff, Lampson defeated Stockman, 52.83 percent to 47.16 percent. [cite web
url=http://elections.sos.state.tx.us/elchist.exe
title=Race Summary Report: 1996 Special Runoff Election
publisher=Texas
author=Office of the Secretary of State of Texas
date=December 10, 1996
accessdate=2006-09-02]

In 1998, Stockman was an unsuccessful Republican primary candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission. He lost to Governor George W. Bush's preferred candidate, Tony Garza, by a margin of 53 percent to 47 percent. Garza went on to win the Railroad Commission position in the November general election.

In 2006, he attempted to run as an independent candidate for Texas's 22nd congressional district, Tom DeLay's former seat, but he failed to gather enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/politics/3994768.html] However, Stockman did register for the Special Election to fill out the remainder of the term for the Texas 22nd Congressional district, one of five candidates. [ cite web | url=http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/candidates/2006con.pdf | title=Races with Candidates with Addresses Report | publisher=Texas Secretary of State | accessdate=2006-09-01|format=PDF] He received 10% of the vote, coming in third place.

References

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000937 Congressional biography of Steve Stockman]
* [http://www.infoplease.com/biography/us/congress/stockman-steve.html Steve Stockman biography at "Infoplease.com"]
* [http://www.campusleadership.org/ Campus Leadership Program at the Leadership Institute]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,982917,00.html "Time" "The Movement's Sympathetic Ears on Capitol Hill"]
* [http://thomas.loc.gov/bss/d104query.html Look Up Bills Sponsored/Cosponsored by Steve Stockman]