- Lloyd Doggett
Infobox_Congressman
name = Lloyd Doggett
date of birth = birth date and age|1946|10|06
place of birth =Austin, Texas
state =Texas
district = 25th
term = 1995–present
preceded = Chris Bell
succeeded = Incumbent
party = Democratic
spouse = Libby Doggett
religion =Methodist
occupation= attorney
residence=Austin, Texas
alma_mater=University of Texas Lloyd Alton Doggett II (born
October 6 ,1946 ), Americanpolitician , is a Democratic politician fromTexas . He has represented a district based in the state capital, Austin, in theUnited States House of Representatives since 1995. He represented 10th congressional district from 1995 to 2005, and now represents 25th congressional district.Biography
Early life
Born in Austin, Doggett received both his
bachelor's degree in business andJuris Doctor degree from theUniversity of Texas at Austin , where he served as student body president his senior year. While attending Texas, he also joinedLambda Chi Alpha Fraternity.Political career
His political career began in 1973, when he was elected to the
Texas State Senate , serving until 1985. He authored the bill creating the Texas Commission on Human Rights, as well as a law outlawing "cop killer" bullets and a "sunset law" requiring periodic review of government agencies.He first gained notoriety in 1979, as a member of the "Killer Bees" — a group of 12 Democratic state senators who opposed a plan to move the state's presidential primary to
March 11 . The intent was to give former governorJohn Connally a leg up on the 1980 Republican nomination. The Killer Bees wanted aclosed primary . When this proposal was rejected, they walked out of the chamber and left the Senate two members short of aquorum . The bill was withdrawn five days later.In 1984 he lost the U.S. Senate election to
Phil Gramm by a margin of 59%-41%. Later, in 1989 he became both a justice on theTexas Supreme Court and an adjunctprofessor at theUniversity of Texas School of Law , hisalma mater .He was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994, and was one of the few Democrats to win an open seat in that year's massive Republican landslide. Running for re-election in 1996, Congressman Doggett defeated a peculiar challenger in Republican Teresa Doggett, to whom he is no relation. It marked the second election in a row in which he defeated a black female Republican. In the years following his first re-election, Doggett would consistently win around 85% of the vote, facing only Libertarian opponents. The 10th, which had once been represented by
Lyndon Johnson , had long been a liberal Democratic bastion in increasingly Republican Texas.Redistricting by the Texas Legislature in 2003 split Austin, which had been located entirely or almost entirely in the 10th district for more than a century, among three districts. Doggett's home wound up in a new, heavily Republican 10th district stretching from north central Austin to the
Houston suburbs. Most of Doggett's former territory wound up on the 25th district, which consisted of a long tendril stretching from Austin to McAllen on the Mexican border. It was derisively called "thefajita strip" or the "thebacon strip" because of its shape. [ [http://cf.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Details.cfm&StoryID=817&Section=Local TheMonitor.com ] ] Doggett moved to the newly configured 25th and entered the Democratic primary--the real contest in the heavily Democratic, majority-Hispanic district. Despite claims that Doggett should have deferred to a Latino [ [http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/CandidateProfile.aspx?ci=292&oi=H USATODAY.com ] ] , Doggett won the primary and went on to victory in November.On
June 28 ,2006 , theUnited States Supreme Court ruled that the nearby 23rd District's lines violated the rights of Latino voters. As part of the 2003 redistricting, heavily Democratic and majority-LatinoLaredo, Texas had largely been cut out of the 23rd and replaced by several heavily Republican areas near San Antonio. The decision turned on the fact that the 23rd was a protected majority-Latino district--in other words, if the 23rd was ever redrawn to put Latinos in a minority, an acceptable majority-Latino district had to be created in its place. While the new 23rd was 55 percent Latino, only 46 percent of its voting population was Latino. The Court therefore found that the 23rd was not an acceptable Latino-majority district. It also found that the 25th was not compact enough to be an acceptable replacement because the two Latino communities in the district were more than 300 miles apart, creating the impression that it had been deliberately drawn to pick up as many Latinos as possible without regard to compactness. [ [http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/05-204.ZO.html Decision in LULAC v. Perry] , which forced the redrawing of the 25th]Due to the size of the 23rd, the ruling forced the redrawing of five districts between
El Paso and San Antonio, including the 25th. For the 2006 election, Doggett regained most of his old base in Austin (though not the area around theUniversity of Texas at Austin , which stayed in the 21st), and also picked up several suburbs southeast of the city. He was handily re-elected, defeatingGrant Rostig andBrian Parrett .He is a member of the House Committee on Ways and Means, where he serves on the Health Subcommittee, and the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee.
In April 2008 while celebrating the upcoming
Earth Day Doggett fell off of his bicycle and broke his leg. This accident was eerily similar to a bicycle crash that occurred a year previously in which his friend, the former liberal mayor of AustinBruce Todd , fell off his bicycle and suffered a serious head injury and several broken bones. [http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/04/22/0422doggett.html] [http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A315724]The Sunlight Project estimates his average net worth in 2006 was over $13 million. [ [http://fortune535.sunlightprojects.org/lawmaker/110/] The Sunlight Project]
Issues
Doggett is one of the most liberal white Democrats ever to represent Texas in Congress. He has long supported more open government, and is also a leading advocate for campaign finance reform. On the Ways and Means Committee, he has sought to close many overseas tax shelters.
Iraq
Doggett was one of the leading opponents of the authorization of the
Iraq War in 2003 and has called for a timetable for U.S. troops pulling out of Iraq. On May 24, 2007, Doggett was one of 140 Democrats and 2 Republicans to vote against HR 2206, a bill that would provide emergency supplemental appropriations for funding the war.Gay Rights
Doggett voted against a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage in the
109th Congress . He voted against HR 4380 and HR 2587, bills that would have banned all gay adoptions. [http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=21689&type=category&category=31&go.x=10&go.y=15] However, in 1996, Doggett voted for the Defense of Marriage Act. [http://www.vote-smart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=21689&type=category&category=13&go.x=16&go.y=9]Abortion
Doggett is pro-choice. In 2003 he voted against a bill that would have banned all partial-birth abortions. He was given a 100% by the
NARAL , indicating a pro-choice voting record. He voted yes on a bill that would provide federal funding for embryonic stem cell research in 2007. He voted no on a bill that would ban human cloning.Civil Rights
He voted no on authorizing the
PATRIOT Act , and no on making it permanent. Doggett voted no on a Constitutional amendment that would have banned desecrating the American flag. Doggett was given an 87% by theACLU , indicating a pro-civil rights voting record.He is a strong supporter ofaffirmative action Environment
Doggett is a strong supporter of environmental preservation. He is one of the leading opponents in the House of drilling for oil in the
ANWR area of Alaska. TheLCV gives Doggett a 100%, indicating that he strongly supports the environment.Gun Control
Doggett supports
gun control . He voted against a bill that would have reduced the waiting limit for purchasing a gun from 3 days to 1. He voted no on prohibiting product misuse lawsuits on gun manufacturers in the 109th Congress, and no on prohibiting suing gunmakers & sellers for gun misuse in the 108th Congress. The NRA gave him an F in 2003.Immigration
He supports a guest worker program for illegal immigrants. In 2004, he voted no on a bill to report illegal immigrants that received hospital treatment to the Justice Department. FAIR gave him a 0% in 2003, indicating that Doggett does not support toughening United States policy regarding immigration.
Election history
References
External links
* [http://www.house.gov/doggett Congressman Lloyd Doggett] official U.S. House site
* [http://www.votedoggett.com/ Lloyd Doggett for U.S. Congress] official campaign site
* [http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lloyd_Doggett Profile] atSourceWatch Congresspedia
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.