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| '''Richard George Renzi''' (born ] ]), ] politician, has been a ] member of the ] since ], representing the 1st District of ] (). | '''Richard George Renzi''' (born ] ]), ] politician, has been a ] member of the ] since ], representing the 1st District of ] (). | ||
| Congressman Rick Renzi proudly serves the First District of Arizona in the United States House of Representatives. The 1st District is home to over 640,000 Arizonans and the total land area encompasses nearly half of the state in what could be described as one of the most diverse landscapes in the nation. | |||
| He was born and grew up in Sierra Vista, Arizona, where his father, retired U.S. Army Major General Eugene Renzi (two star general), served at Ft. Huachuca. Congressman Renzi graduated from Buena High School. He was educated at ] with a B.S. in ] in ], and the ] with a J.D. in ]. He was an ] businessman and a ] employee in the ] area before entering the House. Renzi's father is the executive vice president of Mantech International, a company providing information technology services to a number of intelligence and defense-related federal government agencies; over 1/3 of Mantech International's employees have top secret government security clearances. | |||
| Congressman Renzi was first elected to Congress in 2002 and is currently serving his second term after being re-elected in 2004. | |||
| Rick and Roberta Renzi are the parents of 12 children. | |||
| Congressman Renzi is well placed in Congress to help rural Arizona and the nation as a member of the House Resources Committee, and the House Financial Services Committee. | |||
| ==Issues and positions== | |||
| While in office, Renzi has been criticized for consistently introducing and voting in favor of bills benefiting his father's defense company . | |||
| In 2004, Speaker of the House Dennis J. Hastert selected Congressman Renzi to serve the nation in the War on Terror as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. | |||
| In 2004, he was one of a handful in the House to vote in favor of an amendment to pull the United States out of the ]. | |||
| Congressman Renzi is a proud graduate of Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona, where his father, U.S. Army Major General Gene Renzi (retired), served at Ft. Huachuca. | |||
| Renzi is an opponent of ] and in May of 2005, he got into an argument on the House floor with Congressman ] (R-IL) which was initially reported as Renzi choking Kirk until the argument was broken up by Congressman ] (R-AZ), although the offices of all three Congressmen deny this. The argument ensued after Renzi had learned that Kirk and the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership commissioned secret polling in the districts of Renzi and other members of Congress who oppose stem cell research. Renzi claims that he was only yelling at Kirk: "I was yelling at him. I told him it's absolutely unprecedented that Republicans would pay for a push poll to attack another Republican on such a core belief of mine...You're not going to change my view on the issue, as a father of 12." | |||
| The Congressman attended Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff on an athletic scholarship. Elected captain of the NAU football team, he helped lead the Lumberjacks to their first Big Sky Championship. In 1998, Congressman Renzi and his teammates were elected to NAU’s Hall of Fame. | |||
| Renzi is generally a supporter of expanded legal ] into the United States, and supports expansion of ] programs and the ] visa. He supports increased border enforcement against ], however. | |||
| After graduating from NAU in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, he and his wife Roberta were married in Flagstaff. There he started his first of three Arizona-based small businesses. | |||
| During the 2002 election campaign, Renzi proposed that ] in ] be renamed the "National Park of the American Flag" and add an ] theme to the park including displays of U.S. flags throughout history; this was in response to proposals by local citizens that Walnut Canyon National Monument be expanded and given ] status. Renzi's proposal was widely ridiculed and he has not promoted it since. | |||
| At age 39, Congressman Renzi attended the prestigious Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington D.C. where he studied public policy and the process of federal legislation. To supplement his academic career with practical knowledge, he served as a legal extern for members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation. | |||
| During debates with his ] and ] opponents for the U.S. House in 2004, Renzi attacked the ], naming in particular those who oppose ] as a forest thinning measure and those who support the removal of ]. | |||
| In 2001, Congressman Renzi completed his law study at Catholic University and received his juris doctorate degree with a dual certificate in law and public policy. | |||
| ==Ethical Questions== | |||
| He and his wife Roberta are the proud parents of twelve children, seven boys and five girls. | |||
| In ] ], Renzi was named one of the 13 most corrupt members of Congress by ]. | |||
| In ], Renzi sponsored legislation (signed into law in ] ]) that dealt hundreds of millions of dollars to his father’s business while, according to environmentalists, devastating the ]. The provision exempted the Army’s ] base in ] from maintaining water levels in the ] as called for in an agreement made in ] with the ]. Renzi claimed he introduced the measure to prevent the closing of the Fort and to promote its enlargement. Notably, neither the fort nor the river is located in Renzi’s district. | |||
| A key beneficiary of Renzi’s legislation was ] Corp., a ] based defense contractor where Renzi’s father, Retired ] Eugene Renzi, is an executive vice president. ManTech had $467 million in contracts at ] with options for an additional $1.1 billion between ] through ]. In addition, the company, which has an office in ], was the largest contributor to Renzi’s ] congressional campaign and the second largest in his ] campaign. | |||
| ==The 2002 election== | |||
| Despite having lived in Virginia for over 20 years since graduating from Northern Arizona University, when a new congressional district was created in Arizona he bought a house in ] in 2002 so he could claim Arizona residency and run for the seat. There is no evidence he actually moved into the house, and in 2003 after Renzi was elected to Congress, the bank foreclosed on the home after Renzi missed a series of mortgage payments. During the entire period, Renzi's actual residence continued in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. | |||
| Widely denounced as a ] by local activists within his own party, he nonetheless won a hotly contested Republican primary which included several other candidates. The 2002 Democratic primary, also hotly contested, was narrowly won by George Cordova, a party outsider who won over several better-known candidates supported by the ]. Renzi spent $436,590 of his own money on the election, in addition to large donations from Mantech International executives, who were the largest single source of outside money for the campaign. | |||
| The Renzi campaign was criticized for the heavy use of negative advertising attacking Cordova, which the cash-strapped Cordova campaign was unable to match. The Renzi campaign also made heavy use of automated telephone calls throughout the district with various claims and innuendos about Cordova. Renzi claimed most of the negative advertising had been placed by the ] without his permission. | |||
| On election day, Rick Renzi defeated George Cordova by a 49%-46% margin, a difference of about 6,000 votes. | |||
| ==The 2004 election== | |||
| In preparation for the ] campaign, the Democratic Party in Arizona tapped ], ] commissioner and the brother of ] to run for the seat, and pressured all other candidates with the exception of political unknown Bob Donahue out of the primary in order to clear the way for Babbitt to run against Renzi without a costly primary contest. Paul Babbitt's campaign was named a top national priority by most major Democratic fundraisers and liberal ], because a plurality of Arizona 1st Congressional District voters are registered Democrats and because Renzi was able to defeat George Cordova by only about 6000 votes in 2002. Unlike the Cordova campaign of two years prior, which received only token support from the national Democratic Party organizations, the Babbitt campaign received major support; nonetheless, the Babbitt campaign was unable to match Renzi's fundraising. | |||
| The Renzi campaign once again flooded the district with negative advertising attacking Babbitt. On election day, Renzi was reelected by a 59%-36% margin. Pundits noted a number of reasons why Babbitt performed so poorly in a plurality Democratic district, among them the unpopularity of the Babbitt name in some parts of the district, resentment over pressure tactics used by the state Democratic Party to pressure other candidates out of the primary, and Renzi's record of securing congressional appropriations for the district especially on the ]. However, the most common complaint was simply that Babbitt ran a poor campaign and was unwilling to commit to a firm position on much of anything, while Renzi merely had to repeat the campaign tactics he had successfully used in 2002. | |||
| ==External links== | ==External links== | ||
Revision as of 14:20, 7 December 2005
Richard George Renzi (born June 11 1959), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing the 1st District of Arizona (map).
Congressman Rick Renzi proudly serves the First District of Arizona in the United States House of Representatives. The 1st District is home to over 640,000 Arizonans and the total land area encompasses nearly half of the state in what could be described as one of the most diverse landscapes in the nation.
Congressman Renzi was first elected to Congress in 2002 and is currently serving his second term after being re-elected in 2004.
Congressman Renzi is well placed in Congress to help rural Arizona and the nation as a member of the House Resources Committee, and the House Financial Services Committee.
In 2004, Speaker of the House Dennis J. Hastert selected Congressman Renzi to serve the nation in the War on Terror as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Congressman Renzi is a proud graduate of Buena High School in Sierra Vista, Arizona, where his father, U.S. Army Major General Gene Renzi (retired), served at Ft. Huachuca.
The Congressman attended Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff on an athletic scholarship. Elected captain of the NAU football team, he helped lead the Lumberjacks to their first Big Sky Championship. In 1998, Congressman Renzi and his teammates were elected to NAU’s Hall of Fame.
After graduating from NAU in 1980 with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice, he and his wife Roberta were married in Flagstaff. There he started his first of three Arizona-based small businesses.
At age 39, Congressman Renzi attended the prestigious Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law in Washington D.C. where he studied public policy and the process of federal legislation. To supplement his academic career with practical knowledge, he served as a legal extern for members of Arizona’s Congressional delegation.
In 2001, Congressman Renzi completed his law study at Catholic University and received his juris doctorate degree with a dual certificate in law and public policy.
He and his wife Roberta are the proud parents of twelve children, seven boys and five girls.
External links
| Arizona's current delegation to the United States Congress | |
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| Senators |
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| Representatives (ordered by district) |
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