Steve Chabot

Steve Chabot
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 4, 1995
Preceded by	David Mann
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	January 22 1953 (1953--) (age 54) Cincinnati, Ohio
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Donna Chabot
Religion	Roman Catholic

Steven (Steve) Chabot (born January 22, 1953) is a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Ohio, representing that state's 1st congressional district, in the Cincinnati area.

Early life and career

Chabot was born in Cincinnati. He graduated from La Salle High School in Cincinnati, and then from the College of William and Mary in 1975, earning a B.A. in history. He went on to obtain a Juris Doctor degree from Northern Kentucky University's Salmon P. Chase College of Law, in Highland Heights, Kentucky, in 1978. He worked as an elementary school teacher in 1975–1976 while taking law classes at night.

Chabot ran unsuccessfully for the Cincinnati City Council as an independent in 1979 and as a Republican in 1983. Then, running as a Republican, he won a seat in 1985, 1987 and 1989. He was appointed a Commissioner of Hamilton County, Ohio in 1990, and was elected later that year and again in 1992, staying until 1994. See Election Results, City Council of Cincinnati, Ohio.

As a practicing attorney from 1978 to 1994, Chabot was a sole practitioner, operating out of small law office in Westwood,^[1] such as domestic disputes and the drafting of wills.^[2] Chabot's father served as his assistant.

U.S. House of Representatives

Initial election

Chabot was first elected to the House in November 1994. He defeated Democratic incumbent David Mann, 56% to 44%, in a heated race over balanced budgets and abortion.^[3] It was his second attempt; he had run unsuccessfully in 1988.

Committees and caucuses

Chabot is a member of the Judiciary, Small Business and International Relations Committees. Chabot was elected by his fellow Republican members as Ranking Member of the Small Business Committee for the 110th Congress.^[4]

Political positions and actions

U.S. Representative Steve Chabot giving a speech at a Memorial Day ceremony in North College Hill, Ohio, May 27, 2006.

Chabot is a strong advocate for fiscal responsibility, and has pursued a fiscally conservative standard for the government. Anti-tax advocacy groups such as Citizens Against Government Waste, the Concord Coalition, and the National Taxpayers Union consistently rate Chabot as one of the most anti-tax members of Congress.^[5]

Chabot's work in Congress has included the elimination of logging subsidies in the Tongass National Forrest in Alaska,^[6] co-sponsoring the Voting Rights Act reauthorization,^[7] and promoting relations with Taiwan.^[8] Chabot opposes abortion except if the mother's life is in danger or in cases of rape and incest. Chabot has authorized a bill, which passed the House but not the Senate, to make it illegal to take a minor across state lines for an abortion.

He just recently voted against legislation that would support embryonic stem cell research.

In 2002, Chabot helped spearhead the local campaign against building a light rail system in Hamilton County.

Reelections

1996 — was re-elected to the U.S. House with 54 percent of the vote against Democrat Mark Longabaugh.

1998 — successfully defended his seat against popular Cincinnati Mayor Roxanne Qualls, winning 53% to 47%. The issues of school choice and abortion played a key role. In the series of debates during that campaign, Qualls criticized Chabot for not funneling enough federal spending back to his home district. Chabot countered that he would not support "wasteful or unnecessary" federal programs.^[9][10]

2000 — was re-elected in with 53 percent of the vote, defeating John Cranley for the first time.

2002 — beat Greg Harris, getting 65 percent of the vote.

2004 — defeated Greg Harris again with 60 percent of the vote.

2006 — defeated Democratic challenger John Cranley a 2nd time in the 1st Congressional District, 53 to 47 percent.

Environmental record

The group Republicans for Environmental Protection issued Chabot an "environmental harm demerit" in 2006 for contributing to urban sprawl by sponsoring H.R. 4772, a bill that allows land use disputes to proceed immediately to federal court; according to the organization, the bill "would have undermined local control over local planning and zoning matters, a central principle of America's federal system."^[11] In the same year, the group praised Chabot for offering legislation "prohibiting the Forest Service from spending taxpayer dollars to build new logging roads for private interests in the Tongass National Forest. The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters gave Chabot a grade of 10% for the 109th Congress, noting that he voted "anti-environment" on 11 out of 12 issues selected by that organization as crucial; his lifetime grade from the LCV is 23%.^[12]

In June 2007, Chabot sponsored an amendment to block federally-funded road building in Tongass National Forest. Proponents of the amendment said that the federal timber program in Tongass is a dead loss for taxpayers, costing some $30 million annually, and noted that the Forest Service faces an estimated $900 million road maintenance backlog in the forest. Supporters of the bipartisan amendment included the Republicans for Environmental Protection. Of the bill, Representative Chabot said "I am not opposed to logging when it's done on the timber company's dime...But in this case, they are using the American taxpayer to subsidize these 200 jobs at the tune of $200,000 per job. That just makes no sense"^[13].

Controversies

Earmarks for Cincinnati institutions

Chabot is a longtime critic of pork barrel spending and of federal funding for the arts. "I wasn't sent up here to bring pork back to my district," he told the Cincinnati Post in 1995. In previous Congresses, he has cosponsored bills that would have abolished the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. However the fiscal 2007 Labor HHS Education appropriations bill, there are $1.6 million in earmarks for the Cincinnati Museum Center, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Xavier University, the University of Cincinnati and the Cincinnati Children's Hospital Center. All five organizations have members on their board of directors who are also members of Chabot's inner circle of contributors and fundraisers.

Gary Lindgren, Chabot's chief of staff, said that "there's not a connection" between the donations and the earmarks. Lindgren said the earmarks are for major institutions where it would be expected that board members would be politically active. "You could look at almost any district, and the people who sit on boards of museums and institutions will be wealthy and donate to campaigns," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. Schatz noted that Chabot has won high marks from CAGW in the past.^[14]

Personal

Chabot and his wife Donna have two children: daughter Erica and son Randy. They live in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Westwood. He is a practicing Roman Catholic.

See also

• List of United States Representatives from Ohio

References

1. ^ Paul Barton, "Chabot guaranteed place in textbooks", Cincinnati Enquirer, January 14, 1999
2. ^ Juliet Eilperin, "Like-Minded Team of 13 to Present House's Case", Washington Post, January 14, 1999
3. ^ http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/almanac/2006/people/oh/rep_oh01.htm
4. ^ http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/oh01_chabot/SmallBiz1.html
5. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/components/ratescongress/details_all_years.php3?house_id=490
6. ^ http://www.dispatch.com/editorials-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/05/16/20060516-A8-02.html
7. ^ http://judiciary.house.gov/printshop.aspx?Section=110
8. ^ http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2006/06/30/2003316410
9. ^ http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/almanac/2006/people/oh/rep_oh01.htm
10. ^ http://www.enquirer.com/editions/1998/10/28/loc_first28.html
11. ^ Republicans for Environmental Protection 2006 Scorecard
12. ^ League of Conservation Voters 2006 National Scorecard
13. ^ U.S. House Boosts Spending for Environment, Conservation
14. ^ Jonathan Allen, "Chabot aims earmarks at places linked to donors", The Hill, September 19, 2006

External links

• U.S. Congressman Steve Chabot official site
• Steve Chabot at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Steve Chabot campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Steve Chabot issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Steve Chabot campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Steven J. 'Steve' Chabot (OH) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Steve Chabot profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Steve Chabot voting record
• Chabot for Congress official campaign site

Donate to Wikimedia