- Mike Coffman
-
Mike Coffman 
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Colorado's 6th districtIncumbent Assumed office
January 3, 2009Preceded by Tom Tancredo Colorado Secretary of State In office
January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2009Preceded by Gigi Dennis Succeeded by Bernie Buescher Colorado Treasurer In office
2006–2007Preceded by Mark Hillman Succeeded by Cary Kennedy Colorado Treasurer In office
January 3, 1999 – June 9, 2005[1]Preceded by Bill Owens Succeeded by Mark Hillman Member of Colorado Senate from the 27th District In office
December 12, 1994[2] – January 3, 1999Preceded by Bill Owens[3] Succeeded by John Andrews Member of Colorado House of Representatives from the 40th District In office
1989 – December 12, 1994Succeeded by Gary McPherson[4] Personal details Born March 19, 1955
Fort Leonard Wood, MissouriPolitical party Republican Spouse(s) Cynthia Coffman Residence Aurora, Colorado Alma mater University of Colorado Profession real estate executive Religion Methodist Military service Service/branch United States Army
United States Marine CorpsYears of service 1972-1978 (U.S. Army)
1979-1994, 2005-2006 (USMC)Battles/wars Persian Gulf War
Iraq WarMichael "Mike" Coffman (born March 19, 1955) is the U.S. Representative for Colorado's 6th congressional district, serving since 2009, and a former Secretary of State of Colorado. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Contents
Early life, education, and business career
Michael Coffman was born on March 19, 1955 in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to Harold and Dorothy Coffman, and is one of five children. His father served in the United States Army at Fort Leonard Wood, and after 1964, at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado.
In 1972, Coffman enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to a mechanized infantry battalion. The following year, he earned a high school diploma through an Army program. Leaving active duty for the U.S. Army Reserve in 1974, he entered the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He also studied at Vaishnav College in Chennai, India, and the University of Veracruz in Mexico for a year. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado, Coffman transferred from the Army Reserve to the United States Marine Corps in 1979, becoming an infantry officer. In 1983, he transferred from active duty to the Marine Reserves, serving until 1994. In 1983, he created an Aurora, Colorado-based property management firm, serving as senior shareholder until 2000.
State politics
Legislature
Coffman began his political career serving as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995. Shortly after winning re-election in 1990, he took an unpaid leave-of-absence from the State House during his active duty service in the Persian Gulf War, during which he saw combat as a light armored infantry officer. In 1994, he retired from the U.S. Marine Corps after 20 years of combined service to the Army, Army Reserve, Marines, and Marine Reserve. When State Senator Bill Owens resigned his seat to become State Treasurer, the party's vacancy committee named Coffman the replacement in December 1994. In 1996, he was elected to a full term to the Colorado State Senate unopposed.[5] He became the Chairman of the Finance Committee.
Statewide offices
In 1998, Coffman was elected as State Treasurer of Colorado with 51% of the vote, defeating Democratic nominee Jim Polsfut[6]. In 2002, he was re-elected with 56%, defeating Democrat State Senator Terry Phillips.[7]
He resigned from that post in 2005 in order to resume his career in the U.S. Marines, and serve in the War in Iraq, where he helped support the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, which oversaw two national elections, and helped establish interim local governments in the Western Euphrates Valley. In 2006, he completed his duty in Iraq and was re-appointed as State Treasurer. He served that position for only a few months because in November 2006, he was elected Colorado Secretary of State with 51% of the vote, defeating Democrat State Senator and Minority Leader Ken Gordon.[8]
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
- 2008
Coffman announced that he would run for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Republican Tom Tancredo in 2008 in Colorado's 6th congressional district. He won the Republican primary election, and went on to defeat Democrat Hank Eng in the general election. The seat is considered to be the most Republican-dominated district of the Denver-area seats and is also one of the wealthiest in the nation.[9] The Denver Post endorsed Coffman on October 10, 2008.[10] Governor Bill Ritter designated State Representative Bernie Buescher, a Democrat to succeed Coffman as Secretary of State.[11]
Groups including American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, Common Cause of Colorado, the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund accused the Secretary of State's office of improperly marking 6,400 voter registration forms as incomplete, because they failed to check a box on the form. Incomplete registrations require voters to either re-register or provide extra identification when they go to vote.[12] Soon after the accusations were made, Common Cause filed suit against Coffman, in his official capacity as Secretary of State. The Secretary of State's office denied wrongdoing, and Coffman said he believes his office was correctly applying the law.[13] On October 30, 2008, the court approved a preliminary injunction allowing purged voters to participate in the 2008 election.[14] Bernie Buescher, Coffman's successor as Secretary of State, replaced Coffman as defendant in the case in January 2009.[15] The bulk of the litigation was settled in January 2010 after changes to Colorado's election regulations, and the remaining portions were decided in January 2011.
- 2010
Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Colorado, 2010#District 6Coffman was challenged by Democratic Party nominee John Flerlage, Libertarian nominee Rob McNeally, and Independent Michael S. Kearns. He won convincingly with 66% of the votes. Flerlage got 31%, McNeally got 2%; results for Kearns were not recorded.[16] Coffman's 66% of the vote represents a gain of 6 percentage points over his first House election in 2008.
Tenure
Coffman's proposals to cut military entitlements has raised controversy on the House Armed Services Committee.[17]
Committee assignments
- Committee on Armed Services
- Subcommittee on Military Personnel
- Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
- Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces
- Committee on Natural Resources
- Committee on Small Business
- Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Tax and Capital Access
- Subcommittee on Contracting and Workforce
- Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations (Chairman)
Caucus memberships
- Congressional Balanced Budget Amendment Caucus (Chairman)
- Congressional Bike Caucus
- Congressional Caucus on Turkey and Turkish Americans
- Congressional Coal Caucus
- International Conservation Caucus
- Natural Gas Caucus
- Republican Study Committee
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Tea Party Caucus
Personal life
Coffman's wife, Cynthia Coffman, is currently Chief Deputy Attorney General in the office of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, and was previously Chief Counsel in the office of then-Governor Bill Owens.
Coffman is a Methodist.[18]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2005/06/06/daily58.html?jst=b_ln_hl
- ^ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=RM&p_theme=rm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4E1D7141E4F80&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
- ^ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=RM&p_theme=rm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4E1E7CDA998E0&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
- ^ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DP&p_theme=dp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF443AF2E3C7E6&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
- ^ http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/ElectionArchives/1996/General/1996StateSenateResults.pdf
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=882
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=878
- ^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=179258
- ^ "Race to Watch: U.S. House, Colorado - 6th District". CQPolitics.com. http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=district-CO-06.
- ^ "Editorial: Coffman's financial skills needed in D.C." (republished by Mike Coffman for Congress). Denver Post. October 10, 2008. http://www.coffmanforcongress.com/news22.htm.
- ^ Kim, Myung Oak (December 19, 2008). "Buescher first Dem to become secretary of state since 1963". Rocky Mountain News. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/dec/19/ritter-name-buescher-new-secretary-state/?partner=yahoo_headlines.
- ^ Kim, Myung Oak (October 14, 2008). "Voting forms ruled incomplete for lack of check mark". Rocky Mountain News. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/oct/14/voting-forms-ruled-incomplete-for-lack-of-check/. Retrieved 2008-10-24.
- ^ "Lawsuit alleges voters in Colorado illegally purged from rolls". CNN. October 27, 2008. http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/27/lawsuit-alleges-voters-in-colorado-illegally-purged-from-rolls/.
- ^ "Order Approving Parties' Stipulated Preliminary Injunction" (republished by the Moritz College of Law). October 30, 2008. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/Coffman-Order-10-30-08.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ "Notice of Substitution of Party by Defendant Michael Coffman" (republished by the Moritz College of Law). January 21, 2009. http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/Coffman-Notice-1-21-09.pdf. Retrieved 2009-11-15.
- ^ "Beyond the Results: House". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/2010-race-maps/house/. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
- ^ Sherry, Allison. "Coffman's proposed military cuts face strong opposition." Denver Post, 21 April 2011.
- ^ "About Mike Coffman". Mike Coffman for Congress. http://www.coffmanforcongress.com/about.htm.
External links
- Congressman Mike Coffman official U.S. House website
- Mike Coffman for Congress official campaign website
- Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
- Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
- Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Profile at SourceWatch
- Colorado Ethics Watch Report on Mike Coffman
- Coffman in Fight over Seat with Republicans Pueblo Chieftain, August 17, 2008
- Colorado Faces Suit in Voter Purges New York Times, October 25, 2008
Political offices Preceded by
Bill OwensState Treasurer of
Colorado
1999–2005Succeeded by
Mark HillmanPreceded by
Mark HillmanState Treasurer of Colorado
2006–2007Succeeded by
Cary KennedyPreceded by
Gigi DennisColorado Secretary of State
2007 – 2008Succeeded by
Bernie BuescherUnited States House of Representatives Preceded by
Tom TancredoMember of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Colorado's 6th congressional district
2009–presentIncumbent United States order of precedence Preceded by
Jason Chaffetz
R-UtahUnited States Representatives by seniority
304thSucceeded by
Gerry Connolly
D-VirginiaColorado's current delegation to the United States Congress Senators Mark Udall (D), Michael Bennet (D)Representatives Diana DeGette (D), Jared Polis (D), Scott Tipton (R), Cory Gardner (R), Doug Lamborn (R), Mike Coffman (R), Ed Perlmutter (D)Other states'
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Categories:- 1955 births
- Living people
- State treasurers of Colorado
- Colorado State Senators
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Colorado
- Members of the Colorado House of Representatives
- American military personnel of the Gulf War
- United States Marine Corps officers
- University of Colorado alumni
- Secretaries of State of Colorado
- Colorado Republicans
- American Methodists
- People from Aurora, Colorado
- People from Pulaski County, Missouri
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