Posted on 11/20/2006 4:10:15 PM PST by jwalsh07
Congressman Duncan Hunter represents the 52nd Congressional District of California, encompassing eastern and northern San Diego County. First elected in 1980, the voters in the 52nd district re-elected him in 2004 with over 69% of the vote. A Vietnam veteran, he served in the 173rd Airborne and 75th Army Rangers. Hunter utilized the G.I. Bill to attend Western State University Law School in San Diego and, while completing his degree, he supplemented his income by working in farming and construction. After graduating, the new attorney opened a storefront legal office where he served many in the Hispanic community, often without compensation. In 1980, he was asked to mount a challenge for the Congressional seat held by an 18-year incumbent, Lionel Van Deerlin. Despite the district having a 2-to-1 Democrat registration, Hunter won the seat in an upset.
Coming to Washington, the new Congressman immediately sought a seat on the House Armed Services Committee where he could work on America’s national security needs. Hunter became Chairman of the full committee in 2002. As Chairman, Hunter oversees a $532 billion defense budget and focuses his efforts on providing President Bush with the necessary resources to win our nation’s military conflicts, protecting our men and women in uniform, and developing modernization initiatives that will move new and more effective technologies into the field of battle.
Since his election, Hunter has made securing the California-Mexico border a top priority. Congressman Hunter works tirelessly to ensure that the region is safe for communities on both sides of the border and to put a stop to illegal immigration and drug trafficking. His efforts have yielded over 59 miles of fencing and border infrastructure to date, including continued construction of the Southwest Border Fence Project. His provision to extend the San Diego Fence for 700 miles across Arizona, New Mexico and Texas is now law.
Congressman Hunter’s other legislative priorities include retaining and increasing jobs in the 52nd District and across this nation, providing tax relief to hard-working families, keeping our promises to America’s veterans, protecting Social Security for present and future generations, and continued cleanup efforts at the New River and Salton Sea in Imperial County, an area he represented for 20 years.
In response to the needs of his district, Hunter continues working to secure funding for local projects. Accomplishments include funding for the Mission Valley East Light Rail extension and continued funding for the widening of I-15 and adding more managed lanes to meet San Diego’s growing transportation needs. Also, funds were provided for enhanced emergency care at Grossmont Hospital Emergency Department and Edgemore Hospital. Youth recreational and handicapped facilities were built throughout San Diego County at the Junior Seau Sports Complex and the Sweetwater and Loveland Reservoirs. To ensure the safety of students attending Shoal Creek Elementary School in Scripps Ranch, funds were allocated for the construction of a new pedestrian bridge. Congressman Hunter worked to provide funding for the new Boys and Girls Club in Santee, the YMCA in Rancho San Diego, La Maestra Clinic in El Cajon, which provides healthcare for low-income citizens, and Phoenix House, where drug users (particularly methamphetamine) are treated. Hunter’s legislation saved the Mt. Soledad Memorial by making it a national memorial.
Congressman Hunter is residing in El Cajon with his wife, Lynne. Like many of his constituents, he is in the process of re-building his Alpine home after losing it in the October 2003 wildfires. In 2006, Duncan and Lynne celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. They have two sons, Duncan Duane, honorably discharged from the Marines Corps and now president of Boise Hunter Homes, and Sam Hunter, a business student at San Diego State University. Duncan D. and his wife, Margaret, have three children, Duncan Lee, Elizabeth Grace and Sarah Louise and reside in Boise, Idaho. Sam was married on Valentine’s Day 2004 to the former Theresa Heger of Jamul and they are expecting their first child.
If he becomes POTUS, then he should pardon the two border patrolmen and appoint JD Hayworth as the head of Homeland Security..(I can dream..)
sw
Click here for 7 full quotes on Free Trade OR background on Free Trade.
* Voted NO on implementing CAFTA, Central America Free Trade. (Jul 2005)
* Voted YES on implementing US-Australia Free Trade Agreement. (Jul 2004)
* Voted NO on implementing US-Singapore free trade agreement. (Jul 2003)
* Voted NO on implementing free trade agreement with Chile. (Jul 2003)
* Voted YES on withdrawing from the WTO. (Jun 2000)
* Voted NO on 'Fast Track' authority for trade agreements. (Sep 1998)
* Rated 24% by CATO, indicating an pro-fairanti-freedom, economically constricting, third world poverty exacerbating trade voting record. (Dec 2002) See, I can play word games, too. Who knew?
A few, like Jeff Flake and Ron Paul, have, but any reform will really require a systematic changes, so no one district is particularly "hurt" by it.
He is a populist where CAFTA/NAFTA and China are concerned for sure but so were Tester, Webb and 15 Conservative dems who took republican seats.
I lean more toward free trade than Hunter does but I can't ignore what I saw in the recent election. His position on trade sells with the middle and there's a lot of votes there.
He sounds like just what the board's populist contingent is looking for.
Very funny. That's why he is so dangerous to the dems. He is exactly where their conservative dems were. See Webb, Tester and about 15 conservative dems who ran as social conservatives and anti-CAFTA/NAFTAites.
Apparently. It is even a bit more than I and my partners bring home. Hard to believe, but true. :) No, Young Scholar, I certainly am NOT going to indicate what firm I work for, but suffice it to say, that if I told you, it probably would not read a bell. We are a bit more "boutique." :)
It might sell well with working-class voters in manufacturing states like Ohio, but other than that, it will be a liability, particularly with the groups whose financial support is key to winning any election.
Clinton was a Governor, Hunter's a mere Congressman.
I'm not saying he can't win or that he's not a good candidate, but he has a LOT of ground to cover in the name recognition department.
I had the honor of meeting Congressman Hunter at the 2004 Summer California Republican Convention. He is a stand-up guy!
That's probably a good move on an Internet message board.
I'm starting law school next year, so I'm already looking into law firm life (do I really want to put 60 hours a week into it, even for what a firm like Cravath pays associates?)
I'm spreadin' the word.:-}
I'm just a blue collar guy but I happen to know that Ohio is NOT an insignificant state. Know what I mean?
"third world poverty exacerbating...."
Something about the whole free trade mantra of "spreading the wealth" and "using America's jobs and resources to halt third world poverty" sounds kind of socialist to me.
Swine? Anti-freedom? Really?
Ohio is politically significant, but without the money from pro-free trade, pro-business Republicans (many of whom may live in solid blue states, making donations their only way to influence an election), he would lack the resources to be competitive in a wide range of other states.
Clinton was a Governor, Hunter's a mere Congressman
Hunter for the past yrs has been chairman of the armed services comm.
BJ gov. of Ark. LOL the population of San Diego County is more than the state of Arkansas.
"Hunter's a mere Congressman"
For non-incumbent primaries:
Vice President > Governor > Senator > Representative > Mayor > Anything else
It's not socialist, it's based on the recognition that the free market is not only great for the rich, it provides enormous opportunity for many of the world's poorest people. The market lets everyone compete (with their products, labor, etc.) with each other, and thus promotes greater equility, as well as prosperity, than systems of government protectionism and market constraint.
The next election will be fought in Penn, Ohio, New Mexico, Minnesota, Florida and Iowa. All states quite susceptible to Hunters position on trade.
I didn't know he announced. Thanks for posting it.
Given what's currently out there, Freepers need to line up behind somebody who isn't a Rudy-Mitt-McCain type.
Maybe it's Hunter.
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