Lloyd Doggett

Lloyd Doggett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas's 25th district
In office 1995–present
Preceded by	Chris Bell
Personal details
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Libby Doggett
Residence	Austin, Texas
Alma mater	University of Texas
Occupation	attorney

Lloyd Alton Doggett II (born October 6, 1946), American politician, is a Democratic politician from Texas. He has represented a district based in the state capital, Austin, in the United States House of Representatives since 1995. It is currently numbered as the 25th congressional district but was numbered as the 10th congressional district from 1995 to 2005.

Biography

Early life

Born in Austin, Doggett received both his bachelor's degree in business and Juris Doctor degree from the University of Texas at Austin, where he served as student body president his senior year. While attending Texas, he also joined Lambda 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 governor John Connally a leg up on the 1980 Republican nomination. The Killer Bees wanted a closed primary. When this proposal was rejected, they walked out of the chamber and left the Senate two members short of a quorum. The bill was withdrawn five days later.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 the Texas Supreme Court and an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law, his alma 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 "the fajita strip" or the "the bacon strip" because of its shape.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, Doggett won the primary and went on to victory in November.

On June 28, 2006, the United 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-Latino Laredo, 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 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.

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 the University of Texas at Austin, which stayed in the 21st), and also picked up several suburbs southeast of the city. He was handily re-elected, defeating Grant Rostig and Brian 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 Austin Bruce Todd, fell off his bicycle and suffered a serious head injury and several broken bones.[2] [3]

The Sunlight Project estimates his average net worth in 2006 was over $13 million.

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.[4] However, in 1996, Doggett voted for the Defense of Marriage Act. [5]

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 the ACLU, indicating a pro-civil rights voting record. He is a strong supporter of affirmative 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. The LCV 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.

External links

• Congressman Lloyd Doggett official U.S. House site
• Lloyd Doggett for U.S. Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia

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