Bob Beauprez

Bob Beauprez
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 7th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 7 2003 – January 4 2007
Preceded by	None (new district created after 2000 Census)
Succeeded by	Ed Perlmutter
Born	September 22 1948 (1948--) (age 59) Lafayette, Colorado
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Claudia Beauprez
Religion	Roman Catholic

Robert L. "Bob" Beauprez (born September 22, 1948) is an American politician who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 7th Congressional District of Colorado.

Beauprez was the Republican nominee for governor of Colorado in 2006, and was endorsed by outgoing governor Bill Owens. He faced Bill Ritter in the November 7 election, conceding defeat at 10:15 PM that night. By November 10, results showed Ritter with 779,000 and Beauprez with 566,000, with less than 100,000 absentee and provisional ballot left to count. This election marked the first time a native Coloradan had been elected governor in 58 years and the first time one had served as governor in 32 years (since the defeat of John D. Vanderhoof, who had succeeded to the governorship in 1973).

Beauprez is married with four children.

Early life

Beauprez grew up Catholic on his family's dairy farm outside of Boulder, Colorado, which had been purchased by his grandparents. His grandparents had emigrated from Belgium to Colorado and raised draft horses on the family's land. Joseph C. Beauprez and Marie Stengel,^[1] his parents, raised both Hereford and dairy cattle on the farm. Beauprez often cites his father's example as a major influence on his life

Beauprez attended Fairview High School where he played football and was named all-conference offensive tackle. He went on to study physical education at the University of Colorado, and received his B.S. in 1970.

Career before entering politics

Farmer

Following graduation he married his wife, Claudia Paul, and together they returned to his family's farm to continue in the dairy business with his brother Mike Beauprez. During his time on the farm Beauprez was involved in breeding Holstein cattle and served on the board of directors of the Holstein Association of America. Beauprez later sold the family farm to build Indian Peaks golf course.

Banker

Following those years as a land developer Beauprez and his wife bought into a small local bank known as Bank VII. It was renamed Heritage and its assets went from just $4 million in 1990 to around $450 million by 2006. In addition the bank grew from 1 location to over a dozen. Beauprez has indicated that his decision to go into banking was partially influenced by the hope that he could help small businesses, as it was a bank loan in a drought during the 1950's that saved his family's farm. Due to the money from both land development and a controlling stake in Heritage bank it is estimated that Beauprez is worth over $6 million. Heritage Bank was found to be accepting matricula consular cards from illegal immigrants. While Beauprez claimed to have no influence over their activities since he was elected to Congress, his wife Claudia still maintains an important position in the bank.

Political career

Republican Party Chairmanship

While Beauprez had been involved in the Republican Party for some time, his first leadership role came in 1997 as the chairman of the Boulder County Republican Party. In 1999, with the backing of Senator Wayne Allard, Beauprez became chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. His tenure as state party chairman was marked by an aggressive attempts to use redistricting to get more Republican candidates elected in Colorado. The Republican Party lost control of the Colorado State Senate for the first time in four decades while Beauprez was chairman.

Congress

In 2002 Beauprez ran to represent Colorado's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. In beating Democrat Mike Feely by only 121 votes he managed to win the closest race in the nation even though President Bush's approval ratings were at their highest. As a freshman Beauprez served on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the Veterans Affairs Committee, and the Small Business Committee. He was re-elected in 2004 and subsequently obtained a position on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

ARMPAC contributions

Beauprez was a recipient of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. In 2005, DeLay was indicted on felony money laundering charges. While DeLay has not been convicted of any crime, and no one has accused Beauprez of misconduct, the charges against DeLay have led Democrats to call on Beauprez to return the money or to donate it to charity. [1] Republicans say that the charges against DeLay are politically motivated. [2] [3]

Michael Cherney

In 2004, Beauprez accepted $21,226 from Michael Cherney (also known as Mikhail Chernoy) to travel to Israel for two days and deliever a speech at The Jerusalem Summit, an event sponsored by Cherney. Cherney is a suspected member of the Russian Mafia and is believed to have cornered the Russian aluminum industry through bribery and murder. [4]

Beauprez initially failed to disclose his trip and acceptance of Cherney's money to the House Ethics Committee, though he eventually did so after DeLay received bad press over his failure to disclose travel expenses.

Beauprez was the only U.S. congressman to attend The Jerusalem Summit. Other guests and panelists included the former heads of Israeli, Turkish, and Jordanian intelligence agencies. [5]

Beauprez counters that The Jerusalem Summit "is a highly respected organization that attracts distinguished scholars and diplomats from around the world" and that "was an honor for me to have been invited to address the organization." [6]

2006 Colorado gubernatorial race

See also: Colorado gubernatorial election, 2006

Beauprez won the Republican Party nomination for governor in August 2006, running to succeed two-term governor Bill Owens, who was ineligible for a third consecutive term. Beauprez ended up winning the nomination uncontested; he was briefly opposed by Marc Holtzman, who dropped out of the race and endorsed Beauprez several months before the primary. After Beauprez was defeated by Ritter, there was speculation that he might consider running for the retiring Wayne Allard's Senate seat in 2008.^{[citation needed]}

Military service

Bob Beauprez, third from right, following a flight in an F-16 over Colorado.

On February 2 2006, veterans called on Beauprez to apologize for appearing at a photo-op in a military-issued uniform, even though he had never served in the military. He had requested and received three draft deferments and then a medical release during the Vietnam War. [7] In May 2006, ProgressNow, a liberal advocacy group, produced an Internet-based ad that again focused on Beauprez's draft status during Vietnam. The Beauprez campaign dismissed the ad as done by a "well-financed attack machine."

NCIC database

In October, Beauprez started running ads that attacked Ritter's performance as Denver district attorney, citing a plea-bargained case against illegal immigrant and alleged heroin dealer Carlos Estrada Medina. Under the plea bargain, the dealer was given probation. Later, he was arrested in California, under an alias, on suspicion of sexual abuse on a child. But the fact that that information couldn't be verified in public court records prompted inquiries to Beauprez's campaign as to where it got its facts. Beauprez's campaign manager, John Marshall told a local news station, "In federal criminal databases, the guy's information matches up." That comment set off alarms in Ritter's campaign because federal criminal databases are off-limits to anyone but law enforcement and can be used only for law enforcement purposes.^[2] Because the subsequent arrest was under an alias, Ritter's supporters argued that the information could only have been obtained by accessing the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database, which access is restricted by federal law. The Colorado Bureau of Investigation initiated an investigation, and found enough evidence to then ask FBI to join its probe.^[3]. Beauprez denied anything improper had occurred, and that he had never heard of the NCIC database. The Denver Post noted that, as a Congressman, Beauprez had cosponsored a bill relating to the database.^[4] Within a few days, a federal agent was named in the press as the source of the information.^[5] Beauprez defended the action as "whistleblowing," citing a pattern of plea bargains during Ritter's term as district attorney.

References

External links

• Bob Beauprez at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Denver Post profile

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