Diane Black

Diane Black
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 6th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Bart Gordon
Member of the Tennessee Senate from the 18th district
In office 2005–2010
Preceded by	Jo Ann Graves
Succeeded by	Ferrell Haile
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from the 45th district
In office 1998–2005
Succeeded by	Debra Young Maggart
Personal details
Born	January 16, 1951 (1951-01-16) (age 60)
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Dave Black
Children	3 Adult Children; 6 Grandchildren
Residence	Gallatin, Tennessee
Occupation	Nurse
Religion	Lutheran
Website	Official website

Diane Lynn Black^[1] (born January 16, 1951) is the U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 6th congressional district. The district includes several suburban and rural areas east of Nashville. She is a member of the Republican Party. She is formerly a member of the Tennessee Senate for the 18th district, which encompasses Robertson County and part of Sumner County. She was floor leader of the State Senate Republican Caucus.

Early life, education, and nursing career

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Black graduated from Andover High School 1969 Linthicum, Md Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold, Maryland with an associate's degree in nursing in 1971. She graduated from Belmont University with a bachelor's degree in nursing in 1991 and worked as a Registered Nurse. Later she has also served as an educator at Volunteer State Community College.^[2] She lives with her husband Dave in Gallatin, Tennessee, a suburb of Nashville.^[3] Her net worth is almost $29 million because of her husband's stake in Aegis Sciences Corp.^[4]

Tennessee legislature

Before becoming a state senator in 2004, she had previously served as a state representative for six years from 1998. Black was the Assistant Floor Leader of the Senate Republican Caucus, a member of the Senate Government Operations Committee, and the Vice-Chair of the Senate General Welfare, Health and Human Resources Committee. She was elected the Tennessee Senate Republican Caucus Chairman in 2006.^[2]

Aide's email controversy

In May 2009, Sherri Goforth, a legislative aide in Black's office, circulated a racially charged email depicting a collection of portraits of United States Presidents showing current President Barack Obama as a black frame with only eyeballs visible. The email was denounced as blatant racism. Senator Black's response of reprimanding her employee, Goforth, gained national attention and condemnation.^[5] Black opted only to reprimand Goforth, a response which drew heated criticism from local^[6] and national^[7] blogs, as well as Tennessee Democratic Party Chair Chip Forrester, who called on Black to denounce the email and fire the staffer.^[8] Black did denounce the email, said the email did not reflect her views and stated her reprimand was in following with human resources' policy for email guideline violations.^[9]

U.S. House of Representatives

2010 election

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Tennessee, 2010

In December, 2009, she became a candidate for Tennessee's 6th congressional district to succeed Bart Gordon, who was not running for reelection.^[10] Her biggest competitions in the Republican primary came from former Rutherford County GOP chairwoman Lou Ann Zelenik and State Senator Jim Tracy. On August 5th, 2010, Diane narrowly won the Republican primary with 31% of the vote, over Zelenik and Tracy, who earned 30% each.^[11] Brett Carter was nominated by the Democrats after well-known elected officials declined the candidacy, which resulted in CQ Politics rating this race as "Safe Republican".^[12]

In the November election, Black won handily, taking 67 percent of the vote. However, this was not considered an upset. The 6th had been trending Republican for some time as Nashville's eastern suburbs bled into the district. National Democrats had all but written off the seat as a Republican pickup after no well-known local Democrats expressed interest.

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Human Resources

• Tea Party Caucus
• Republican Study Committee

References

1. ^ "Campaign contributions". OpenSecrets.org. http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?cycle=2010&id=TN06. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "About Diane". Diane Black for Congress. http://www.votedianeblack.com/index.php/about-diane.html. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
3. ^ /ContentPage.aspx?WebPageId=23954&GroupId=825 "Biography". Diane Black for State Senate. http://www.dianeblack.org /ContentPage.aspx?WebPageId=23954&GroupId=825. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
4. ^ http://www.rollcall.com/news/-202702-1.html
5. ^ The GOP's Minority Outreach?
6. ^ Racist and Ridiculous
7. ^ Latest Republican Racist Email Features Hilarious Summary of 44 American Presidents
8. ^ Forrester Demands Sen. Diane Black Fire Staffer Who Sent Racist Email
9. ^ Black says she followed HR rules on Senate staffer email
10. ^ "Diane Black Joins Race To Succeed Gordon In Congress". WTVF. Associated Press. December 18, 2009. http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=11696944. Retrieved 2010-07-12. 
11. ^ "Tennessee 6th District Race Profile - Election 2010". The New York Times. http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/TENNESSEE/6. Retrieved 2010-08-07. ^{[dead link]}
12. ^ McArdle, John (March 31, 2010). "Gordon’s Tennessee Seat All But Gone for Democrats". CQ Politics. http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003635279. Retrieved 2010-07-23. 

External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Diane Black official U.S. House site
• Diane Black for Congress official campaign site
• 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
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• 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

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Bart Gordon	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 6th congressional district January 3, 2011 – present	Succeeded by Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Rick Berg R-North Dakota	United States Representatives by seniority 348th	Succeeded by Mo Brooks R-Alabama

Persondata
Name	Black, Diane
Alternative names	Black, Diane Lynn
Short description
Date of birth	1951-01-16
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death