Tom McClintock

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2008) (Find sources: Tom McClintock – news, books, scholar)

Tom McClintock
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 4th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2009
Preceded by	John Doolittle
California State Senator from the 19th district
In office December 4, 2000 – December 1, 2008
Preceded by	Cathie Wright
Succeeded by	Tony Strickland
Member of the California State Assembly from the 38th district
In office 1996 – 2000
Preceded by	Paula Boland
Succeeded by	Keith Richman
Member of the California State Assembly from the 36th district
In office 1982 – 1992
Preceded by	Charles R. Imbrecht
Succeeded by	Nao Takasugi
Born	July 10, 1956 (1956-07-10) (age 53) White Plains, New York
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lori McClintock
Children	Justin and Shannah
Residence	Thousand Oaks, California (1982-2009) Elk Grove, California (2009-present)
Alma mater	UCLA
Profession	political assistant
Religion	Baptist[1]

Thomas Miller McClintock II (born July 10, 1956) is a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California's 4th congressional district. The district extends from the eastern suburbs of Sacramento to the Nevada and Oregon borders.

A former Assemblyman, and later a state Senator, representing the 19th district covering Ventura and much of Santa Barbara Counties, McClintock ran for Governor of California in the 2003 California recall election and finished third out of 135 candidates with 13.5 percent of the overall vote. In 2006, he was the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor of California, but lost to Democratic nominee John Garamendi, whom he now serves alongside in the House.

Early life and career

Born in White Plains, New York, McClintock graduated in 1978 from UCLA. He was elected Chairman of the Ventura County Republican Party at the age of 23 and served until 1981. He was chief of staff to State Senator Ed Davis from 1980 to 1982. From 1992 to 1994, he served as director of the Center for the California Taxpayer^[2]. He was director of the Claremont Institute's Golden State Center for Policy Studies from 1995 to 1996.^[3]

Political offices

McClintock, was elected to the California State Assembly in 1982 at the age of 26. He was reelected in 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990.

In 1992 McClintock got trounced when he managed just 39% of the vote against incumbent Rep. Anthony C. Beilenson in the Malibu based 24th district. Despite being a liberal Democrat in a marginal district, Beilenson won reelection with 56% of the vote.

In 1994, McClintock ran for California State Controller but lost by 187,734 votes (2.3%) to the better-financed Kathleen Connell. McClintock won the support of 3,792,997 (46.0%) Californians while Connell had the votes of 3,980,731 (48.3%) people. Three other candidates split the other 463,152 (5.7%) votes. Connell outspent McClintock by a 3-to-1 margin.

Voters in the 38th State Assembly District returned McClintock to the Assembly in 1996 by a 15.8% electoral margin. McClintock was supported by 71,597 (55.6%) voters, while Democrat Jon Lauritzen obtained 51,274 (39.8%) votes. Natural Law Party candidate Virginia Neuman garnered the remaining 6,021 (4.6%) votes. In 1998, McClintock ran unopposed for reelection to the Assembly.

McClintock won a four-year term in the California Senate by a 15.2% margin in 2000. He won the support of 165,422 (57.6%) voters in the 19th State Senate District, while Daniel Gonzalez lost with 121,893 (42.4%) votes.

Official State Senate photo

2002 run for State Controller

McClintock ran for State Controller again in 2002 and finished 22,730 votes behind eBay executive Steve Westly out of 7,258,758 votes cast. He logged 3,273,028 (45.1%) votes to Westly's 3,289,839 (45.4%); three other candidates won 695,891 (9.5%) votes. Westly outspent McClintock by a 5-to-1 margin. McClintock's campaigns for State Controller have focused on increasing accountability for the state budget. His ads featured the character Angus McClintock, a fictional cousin and fellow Scottish American extolling Tom McClintock's virtues of thriftiness and accountability with low-budget fifteen-second ads.

Opposition to taxes and support for debt reduction

McClintock has a long history of opposing taxes. During the 2000 dot-com bubble, he was instrumental in proposing a two-thirds reduction in the vehicle license fee, or car tax. In 2003, when then-Governor Gray Davis attempted to rescind the rollback, McClintock led the effort to stop the repeal^[4]. McClintock has also opposed additional borrowing, making him odd bedfellows with liberal State Treasurer Phil Angelides, who opposed Proposition 57 as well. While McClintock argued for more spending cuts, Angelides favored increasing taxes instead of borrowing.^[5] McClintock has carried this dedication to the federal government as a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge^[6].

2003 recall

State Senator McClintock with an enthusiastic delegate of the California Youth and Government program

In the 2003 Gubernatorial recall election, McClintock finished third with the support of 1,160,182 (13.5%) Californians. Fellow Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger won the election with support from 4,203,596 (48.6%) people while Democratic Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante won 2,723,768 votes (31.5%). Together, Republicans Schwarzenegger and McClintock were supported by 5,363,778 Californians (62.1%). 132 other candidates won the remaining 6.4% of the vote.

2004 re-election and 2006 gubernatorial election

McClintock was re-elected to the California Senate in 2004, winning 61% of the vote. He was the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor in the 2006 elections. He ran for the Republican nomination virtually unopposed (Fresno realtor Tony Farmer gleaned 6.3% of the vote) but was defeated by State Insurance Commissioner Democrat John Garamendi by 49.1% to 45.1% (343,726 votes).

2008 run for U.S. House of Representatives

On March 4, 2008, McClintock announced his candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives in California's 4th congressional district, which is hundreds of miles away from the district McClintock represented in the state Senate. The district's nine-term incumbent, fellow Republican John Doolittle, did not seek re-election.^[7] Upon McClintock's entry into the race, fellow Republicans Rico Oller and Eric Egland withdrew from the Republican primary and endorsed McClintock.^[7][8]

In the Republican primary, McClintock defeated former Congressman Doug Ose, Suzanne Jones, and Theodore Terbolizard. Ose formerly represented the neighboring 3rd District. The Democratic nominee was retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, who ran an unexpectedly strong race against Doolittle in 2006.

In March 2008, Ose's campaign commercials criticized McClintock for receiving payments totaling over $300,000 in per diem living expenses during his time in the California State Senate, despite the fact that he lived in Elk Grove, near Sacramento, for most of the year. McClintock held that the payments were justified because his legal residence was in Thousand Oaks, in his State Senate district. He stated, "Every legislator's [Sacramento area] residence is close to the Capitol. My residential costs up here are much greater than the average legislator because my family is here."^[9] However, Ose's campaign commercials argued McClintock does not own or rent in home in the 19th district, but uses his mother's address. These attacks prompted a response from McClintock's wife, Lori, who said McClintock stays with his mother in order to better care for her after she fell ill and after the death of her husband.^[10]

McClintock was endorsed by the Republican Liberty Caucus, a libertarian political action committee within the Republican Party, for his 2008 race for California's Fourth District Congressional seat.^[11] He was also endorsed by Ron Paul, who sent a fundraising email on McClintock's behalf.

In the November 4, 2008 election, McClintock had a razor-thin lead over Brown and the race wasn't called by the end of the night. On November 23, 2008, McClintock led Brown by 1,566 votes (0.427% of the vote), 184,190 to 182,624. Subsequent returns expanded the margin slightly with the last returns coming in from El Dorado County shortly after Thanksgiving. Finally, on December 1, 2008, McClintock declared victory and on December 3, 2008, Brown conceded the race^[12], with the final totals 185,790 for McClintock to 183,990 for Brown; a margin of 1,800 votes in the 807 precincts. McClintock ultimately prevailed by virtue of a 3,500-vote margin in Placer County, the largest county located entirely in the district. ^[13][14]

Ironically, McClintock couldn't vote for himself in either the primary or the general election because the California Constitution required him to maintain his legal residence in his State Senate district until the end of his Senate term.

Congressional career

Committee Assignments

• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education
  • Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power

Electoral History

For a complete list of all candidates who participated in the 2003 recall election, see California gubernatorial recall election, 2003.

References

External links

• Congressional website
• Official Campaign Web Site

• 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
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Profile at VoteCircle
• Tom McClintock Political History