Randy Forbes
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Political History
James Randy Forbes (born February 17 1952) is an American politician who has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2001, representing the Fourth Congressional District of Virginia (map). Born in Chesapeake, Virginia, he attended Randolph-Macon College and the University of Virginia, graduating with a degree in Law. Forbes worked in private practice and served in the Virginia State House of Delegates (1989-1997) and the Virginia State Senate (1997-2001). He was also Chair of the Virginia State Republican Party from 1996 to 2001. Forbes was first elected to the House in 2001 to fill a vacancy caused by the death of Congressman Norman Sisisky. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee and the House Judiciary Committee. Forbes has only faced an opponent once, in 2004, Jonathan R. Menefee in which he won with 65% of the vote.[1]
Campaign Finance
Forbes was a large recipient of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Forbes has not offered to return or donate to charity any of the $30,000 he received, despite calls from Democrats to do so.[2][3] He has donated the $1,000 he received from Abramoff to charity, however he kept the $4,000 he received from Abramoff-linked Indian tribes.[4] He also accepted $1,000 from convicted former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham and $5,000 from the founder of MZM, whom pleaded guilty to corruption charges.[5] However, to this date he has not been tied to any scandal beyond accepting money from people now found to be guilty of bribery.
Major Issues
Forbes career thus far has been fairly unremarkable. He has voted with the GOP leadership 97% of the time, causing some to consider him a rubber stamp for the Bush Administration.[6]Along with this he has made a major issue out of the culture war, by forming the Push Back Team.[7] This is part of Forbes campaign, and a group of concerned citizens that believe that America’s founding principles are under attack, they organize to “push back” against these forces by encouraging people to put campaign signs in their yards, and donating money to Forbes campaign. As part of this fight in the culture war Forbes is the founder and chairman of the Congressional Prayer Caucus, [8] formed for the purpose of recognizing prayer as a uniting force, to recognize the history of prayer in American government, to encourage prayer through legislation, and oppose legislation that may be detrimental to prayer, such as laws banning prayer led by school officials ect.
Caucuses, Focus Groups, ect.
- Judicial Activism Working Group
- Alzheimer's Task Force
- Army; Navy/Marine Corps; Coast Guard; Special Operations Force Caucuses
- Military Retiree-Veterans Caucus
- Cancer Working Group
- Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus
- Internet Caucus
- Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force
- House Republican Israel Caucus
- Children's Caucus
- Diabetes Caucus
- Immigration Reform Caucus
- Historic Preservation Caucus
- Congressional Prayer Caucus
- Congressional China Caucus
- Congressional Modeling and Simulation Caucus
- Congressional pro-life caucus
External links
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