Tom Campbell (California politician)

Infobox_Congressman
name = Thomas J. Campbell


date of birth = Birth date and age|1952|8|14|mf=y
place of birth = Chicago, Illinois
USA
state = California
district = 12th and 15th
term = 1989–1993 in 12th
1995–2001 in 15th
preceded = Ernie Konnyu
Norman Y. Mineta
succeeded = Tom LantosDue to redistricting, most of what was the 12th District became the ushr|California|14|14th District. Anna Eshoo was elected to succeed Campbell in the reconfigured 12th District.]
Mike Honda
party = Republican
religion = Catholic
spouse = Susanne Campbell

Thomas J. (Tom) Campbell (born August 14, 1952) is a former congressman from California's 12th and 15th districts, the current dean of the Haas School of Business, and a professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley. He served as the Director of Finance for the State of California in 2004 and 2005, and he previously served five nonconsecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Republican.

Early life

Born in Chicago, Campbell obtained his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Chicago (1973) and a J.D. from Harvard Law School (1976). He returned to the University of Chicago to earn a Ph.D. in economics in 1980. His mentor was Milton Friedman. He was raised in a Democratic family, but became a Republican during college.

Campbell was admitted to the bar in 1976 and went into private practice in Chicago. He was a White House Fellow in the office of the chief of staff and White House counsel (1980–1981). He then served as director of the Bureau of Competition, Federal Trade Commission (1981–1983).

Law professor

Campbell became a law professor at Stanford University in 1983, becoming the youngest professor ever awarded tenure at Stanford.

Congressional career

Campbell took a leave of absence in 1988 to run for the Republican nomination in California's 12th Congressional District, which included his home in Campbell, just outside San Jose. It also included Palo Alto, home to Stanford University. The 12th had traditionally been a moderate Republican bastion, but had grown increasingly friendly to Democrats over the years. Campbell narrowly defeated his Democratic opponent, San Mateo County Supervisor Anna Eshoo. He served two terms before making an unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat being vacated by Alan Cranston. He lost the Republican primary to a considerably more conservative Republican, Bruce Herschensohn, who in turn was defeated by Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Boxer. His political career would have probably been in jeopardy in any case; his district had been renumbered as the 14th District and had been made considerably more Democratic than its predecessor (ironically, it was won by Eshoo, who still holds the seat).

In 1995, 15th District Democratic Congressman Norman Mineta, later the Secretary of Commerce under president Bill Clinton and Secretary of Transportation under George W. Bush, unexpectedly resigned. Campbell's home had been redrawn into this San Jose-based district, and he ran in the special election. Mineta had held the seat since 1975, and it was widely considered a safe Democratic district. Despite the considerable disadvantage in voter registration and Democratic attempts to tie him to Speaker Newt Gingrich, Campbell won the December special election easily. He won a full term in 1996 and was re-elected in 1998.

Campbell was one of the most fiscally conservative and socially liberal Republicans in Congress. This was not surprising, as Bay Area Republicans tend to be somewhat more moderate than their counterparts in the rest of California. He was pro-choice on abortion and was strongly supportive of gun control and gay rights. He was also a vehement opponent of the war on drugs.

Campbell led a group of seventeen bipartisan members of Congress who filed a lawsuit against President Bill Clinton in 1999 over his conduct of the war in Kosovo. In the filing, they accused Clinton of not reporting to Congress within 48 hours on the status of the action as required by the 1973 War Powers Resolution and not first obtaining a declaration of war from Congress as required in the Constitution. Congress had voted 427 to 2 against a declaration of war with Yugoslavia and had voted to deny support for the air campaign. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that since Congress had voted for funding after the U.S. was actively engaged in the war with Kosovo, legislators had sent a confusing message about whether they approved of the war. Campbell said afterwards that this was a sidestepping of the law, and lawmakers who disagree with a war should not be forced to cut off funding for troops who are in the midst of it in order to get a judge to order an end to it. [cite web |url= http://www.house.gov/paul/press/press99/pr060999.htm|title= Judge sides with Clinton|accessdate= 2007-06-12|author= Ron Paul's Congressional office|date= 06-09|year= 1999|publisher= U.S. House of Representatives homepage]

In 2000, Campbell won the Republican nomination to take on Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein. Despite touting his service as a Republican representing a strongly Democratic district, he was a decided underdog against the popular Feinstein. It did not work in his favor that he had voted for two of the four articles of impeachment against Clinton shortly after being reelected in 1998. [http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1998/roll543.xml] During the impeachment debate, Campbell suggested that Clinton's misleading statements about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky had incapacitated him from serving as president. Campbell was badly defeated, losing by over 19 points.

Return to law

He then returned to Stanford, ending what had turned out to be a 13-year leave of absence. He remained there until his appointment at the Haas School in 2002.

As Dean of the Haas School, Campbell stressed the study of corporate social responsibility and business ethics amid an era of corporate scandals. A full-fledged Center for Responsible Business was established. In September 2004, Campbell was named by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to his newly formed Council of Economic Advisors. From 2004 to 2005 Campbell took a leave of absence from his Berkeley post to serve as director of the California Department of Finance in the Schwarzenegger administration, but has since returned to lead the Haas School of Business.

On Aug 27th, 2007, Campbell announced that he would step down from his position at Haas in the summer of 2008. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/27/BU50RQ9AJ.DTL] Campbell joins the Chapman School of Law for a 2-year visiting appointment beginning January 2009. He will serve as the Fletcher Jones Distinguished Visiting Professor at Chapman University School of Law. [http://www.chapman.edu/law/faculty/visiting/campbell.asp] Campbell is the latest of several significant appointments announced by the Chapman School of Law.

References

External links

* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=C000100 CAMPBELL, Thomas J., (1952– )] , "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress"
* [http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/faculty/campbell.html Haas profile]