Earl Pomeroy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Earl Pomeroy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Dakota's at-large district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1993
Preceded by	Byron Dorgan
Born	September 2, 1952 (1952-09-02) (age 55) Valley City, North Dakota
Political party	Democratic-NPL
Spouse	divorced
Religion	Presbyterian

Earl Pomeroy (born September 2, 1952) is an American lawyer and politician from the U.S. state of North Dakota. A member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, Pomeroy has been the sole member of the United States House of Representatives from North Dakota since 1993.

Pomeroy lives in Mandan, North Dakota; a suburb of Bismarck, with his two children, Kathryn and Scott.

[edit] Education and career

Pomeroy was born in Valley City, North Dakota. He attended Valley City State University and later transferred to the University of North Dakota, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and went on to do graduate research in legal history at Durham University in England. Pomeroy returned to North Dakota to attend the University of North Dakota School of Law, receiving his Juris Doctor law degree in 1979.

Pomeroy was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives in 1980, and became North Dakota Insurance Commissioner in 1985, a post that he held until 1992. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1992 elections.

Until recently, Pomeroy didn't run up the victory margins scored by North Dakota's two Senators, Kent Conrad and Byron Dorgan. Until 2004, he never won more than 57% of the vote. However, in 2004 he was reelected with almost 60%.

Pomeroy most recently faced Republican Matthew Mechtel in the 2006 general election, easily winning re-election to his eighth term. He received a larger percentage of votes in the 2006 election than in his previous elections.

[edit] House career

[edit] Committees and political associations

• Agriculture Committee
  • Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
  • Subcommittee on Specialty Crops, Rural Development and Foreign Agriculture
• Ways and Means Committee
  • Subcommittee on Health
  • Subcommittee on Social Security
• Co-Chair of the bipartisan Rural Health Care Coalition

From 2003 through 2005, $14.7 billion in crop subsidies went to the congressional districts of members on the House Committee on Agriculture, an analysis by the non-partisan Environmental Working Group found. That was 42.4% of the total subsidies. Pomeroy is reported to have brought $1.03 billion to his district.^[1]

[edit] Political positions

[edit] Iraq War

Although he supported authorizing force in Iraq in 2002, he has increasingly spoken out against the war.^[2] Earl Pomeroy supported the House resolution opposing George W. Bush's troop surge plan in February 2007. He said in a floor speech,^[3] "We take care of our soldiers over [in Iraq] by making sure their deployments are only for acceptable periods and at acceptable intervals, with enough time at home in between to heal, to rest, and to train. But beyond these things, we take care of our soldiers over there when we as a Congress make certain the mission they have sent to perform has a reasonable chance of success.

"In a war where so many tragic mistakes have been made, this Congress must not sit quietly by while additional plans are cooked up in Washington whose only certainty is to accelerate the loss of American lives, compound the already severe strain on our military capabilities, and accelerate the burn rate of American dollars spent in Iraq. ... Without the commitment between the warring parties in Iraq to stop the killing, and create a political agreement upon which a national government can exist, 20,000 more U.S. soldiers are not likely to bring about a lasting peace."

[edit] Controversy

In 2007, Pomeroy was "ambushed" by a group of political activists and asked about the impeachment of President Bush. He said that he "couldn't stand" the president and later referred to him as a "clown," but also noted that he was leery of supporting impeachment because his constituents didn't agree with such a drastic move. Video leaked onto Youtube and drew criticism. Critics have said that he should not have used the language he did, though few have argued that the point he was trying to make, that the people he represent did not support the president's impeachment, and he couldn't disagree with them on something of that magnitude, was invalid. Pomeroy also said he wasn't aware that he was being videotaped and says he regrets calling the president a clown. [1] [2]

[edit] See also

• North Dakota's At-large congressional district election, 2000
• North Dakota's At-large congressional district election, 2002
• North Dakota's At-large congressional district election, 2004
• North Dakota's At-large congressional district election, 2006

[edit] References

1. ^ Dilanian, Ken, " Billions go to House panel members' districts", USA Today. July 26, 2007.
2. ^ "Pomeroy opposes troop buildup." Mary Claire Jalonick. Associated Press. 2/15/07.
3. ^ C-SPAN Iraq War Debate

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Earl Pomeroy official U.S. House website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Earl Pomeroy for Congress official campaign website
• [3] Environmental Working Group Subsidy Database — Pomeroy ranked #2 of all Members of Congress with $7 billion 1995–2005