Denny Rehberg

Denny Rehberg
U.S. House, Montana, At-large
Former member
In office
January 3, 2001-January 3, 2013
Party	Republican
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 2, 2010
First elected	November 7, 2000
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
Lieutenant Governor of Montana
1991-1997
Montana House of Representatives
1985-1991
Education
Bachelor's	Washington State University
Personal
Birthday	October 5, 1955
Place of birth	Billings, Montana
Profession	Rancher, Political staffer
Religion	Episcopalian
Websites
Campaign website
Denny Rehberg campaign logo

Dennis R. "Denny" Rehberg (b. October 5, 1955) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Montana. Rehberg represented Montana's at-large congressional district from 2001 to 2013.

Rehberg ran for U.S. Senate in 2012. He defeated challenger Dennis Teske in the Republican primary on June 5, 2012, but was defeated in the general election by incumbent Jon Tester (D).

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Rehberg was a "moderate Republican leader".

Biography

Rehberg was born in Billings, Montana. He studied at Montana State University from 1973-1974 but finished his B.A. at Washington State University in 1977.

Career

Rehberg is a fifth generation Montana cattle rancher and small business owner. After he graduated from Washington State University he went to work in the Montana State Legislature as an intern, and later worked as a legislative assistant for Montana Congressman Ron Marlenee.

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2011-2012

Rehberg served on the following committees:

• Appropriations Committee
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Service, and Education (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water
  • Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch

Issues

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Rehberg voted against the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was one of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.

Lobbying position after leaving office

Rehberg was listed in March 2013 by USA Today as one of 16 former lawmakers who took on a lobbying related position after leaving office. 16 of the 98 total lawmakers who have retired or were ousted by voters since January 2011 hold lobbying-related jobs. USA Today looked at lawmakers who retired, resigned or lost their seats in the last Congress — along with the handful who left their posts during the first months of the new Congress.

Despite rules in place to prevent the constant rotation of lawmakers into lobbying positions, many former lawmakers are entering into positions with either lobbying firms or trade associations. Former House members are barred from lobbying their former colleagues for a year, and former senators, are barred for two years.

There are no restrictions, however, on providing behind-the-scenes advice to corporations and others seeking to shape federal legislation. Ex-lawmakers can immediately lobby the executive branch and officials in state and local governments. Many former lawmakers are taking advantage of this slight distinction, and are taking positions after their political careers end as consultants and strategists.

Elections

2012

See also: United States Senate elections in Montana, 2012

Rehberg ran for U.S. Senate in 2012. He defeated Dennis Teske in the Republican primary. He was defeated by Democratic incumbent Jon Tester in the November general election.

The University of Virginia's Center for Politics published an article called Sabato's Crystal Ball on March 22, 2012 detailing the 8 races in the Senate in 2012 that will decide the political fate of which party will end up with control in 2013. The article ranks Tester's current Senate seat as the toss-up seat most likely to change hands in the 2012 elections. The article points out that one reason for this is the fact that incumbent Jon Tester is a slight underdog against challenger Rehnberg

On May 4, 2012, [1] reported that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had purchased nearly $3 million in Montana broadcast time from late August through the November general election to help re-elect Tester. According to Politico, "the DSCC's early commitment to fall spending in the race indicates a level of confidence in the Democrat against a less-examined challenger. Given the map of seats the Democrats need to win to maintain the majority, the DSCC clearly thinks Tester is a wise investment."

According to the website Daily Kos, this race was one of nine top-ballot 2012 races that contained Libertarian candidates who received more total votes than was the difference between the Democratic winner and the GOP runner-up. In this case, Dan Cox took in over 12,500 more votes than the number that separated Tester and Rehberg.

General election

U.S. Senate, Montana, General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Jon Tester Incumbent	48.6%	236,123
	Republican	Denny Rehberg	44.9%	218,051
	Libertarian	Dan Cox	6.6%	31,892
Total Votes				486,066
Source: Montana Secretary of State "2012 Election Center"

Republican Primary

U.S. Senate-Montana Republican Primary, 2012
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Denny Rehberg	76.2%	105,632
Dennis Teske	23.8%	33,079
Total Votes		138,711

2010

On November 2, 2010, Rehberg was re-elected to the United States House for a sixth term. He defeated Dennis McDonald (D), and Mike Fellows (Libertarian).

United States House, Montana General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Denny Rehberg Incumbent	60.4%	217,696
	Democratic	Dennis McDonald	33.8%	121,954
	Libertarian	Mike Fellows	5.7%	20,691
Total Votes				360,341

Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Montana, debates Democratic challenger Dennis McDonald in Bozeman at a Montana Newspaper Association event.

Campaign donors

2012

Rehberg lost the U.S. Senate election in 2012. During that election cycle, Rehberg's campaign committee raised a total of $9,560,983 and spent $9,526,859.

United States House of Representatives, 2012 - Denny Rehberg Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$9,560,983
Total Spent	$9,526,859
Total Raised by Opponent	$13,376,360
Total Spent by Opponent	$13,328,572
Top contributors to Denny Rehberg's campaign committee
Alliance Resource Partners	$36,500
Elliott Management	$31,211
Las Vegas Sands	$30,000
Exxon Mobil	$29,500
Koch Industries	$29,000
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Retired	$725,177
Oil & Gas	$489,201
Securities & Investment	$475,503
Leadership PACs	$382,993
Republican/Conservative	$311,464

Out-of-state donations

According to an Open Secrets report, Rehberg ranked among the top ten senate candidates receiving out-of-state donations during the 2012 election cycle. He received $4,288,512, or 78.6%, of his donations from outside of Montana.

2010

Breakdown of the source of Rehberg's campaign funds before the 2010 election.

Rehberg was re-elected to the U.S. House in 2010 for a sixth term. His campaign committee raised a total of $1,384,402 and spent $1,400,364.

U.S. House, Montana, 2010 - Denny Rehberg Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$1,384,402
Total Spent	$1,400,364
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$333,295
Total Spent by General Election Opponent	$333,295
Top contributors to Denny Rehberg's campaign committee
Advanced Acoustic Concepts	$12,500
FirstEnergy Corp	$11,800
Bresnan Broadband Holdings	$10,800
American Bankers Assn	$10,000
American Crystal Sugar	$10,000
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Retired	$65,179
Electric Utilities	$51,050
Oil & Gas	$43,950
Casinos/Gambling	$33,150
Lobbyists	$30,528

Analysis

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Rehberg paid his congressional staff a total of $983,633 in 2011. Overall, Montana ranked 15th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Rehberg's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $-2,152,987 to $12,129,996, which is lower than the average net worth of Republicans in 2010 of $7,561,133.

Political Analysis

National Journal vote ratings

Each year, National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted, as compared to other members, in the previous year. More information about the analysis process can be found on the vote ratings page.

2012

According to the data released in 2013, Rehberg was ranked the 172nd most conservative representative during 2012.

2011

According to the data released in 2012, Denny Rehberg was ranked the 197th most conservative representative during 2011.

Voting with party

November 2011

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Denny Rehberg has voted with the Republican Party 90.1% of the time, which ranked 188th among the 242 House Republican members as of November 2011.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Denny + Rehberg + Montana + House

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Denny Rehberg News Feed

• Tester seeks constitutional amendment on corporate spending in elections - Great Falls Tribune
• Landowners, Forest Service agree on Cherry Creek access - Billings Gazette
• Tester, Udall roll out constitutional amendments to allow campaign-finance ... - Billings Gazette
• Some say Schweitzer already planning US Senate run - The Missoulian
• Schweitzer not sure yet; likely US Senate candidate, sources say - Montana Standard
• Tester pushes bill on surveillance: NSA under fire for secret record stash - Great Falls Tribune
• Coal plant in spotlight in Tester, Rehberg race for US Senate - Ravalli Republic
• A Bipartisan Energy Committee Stuck in a Partisan Senate - National Journal
• Rep. Daines wants to work with Dems to pass key bills - Montana Standard
• Wheeling Native Finally Gets WWII Recognition - Wheeling Intelligencer

Personal

Denny has been married to his high school sweetheart, Jan, for over 30 years. They have three children, A.J., Katie and Elsie. They live outside of Billings, Montana.

External links

• Rehberg's campaign Web site

• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
• Biographies:
  • U.S. Congress
• Political profiles:
  • GovTrack
  • OpenCongress
  • Project Vote Smart
• Financial:
  • FEC
  • OpenSecrets.org
  • LegiStorm.com
• Interest group ratings:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Public statements:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Voting record:
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Washington Post
• Media coverage:
  • Washington Post

References

Political offices
Preceded by Rick Hill	U.S. House of Representatives - Montana At-large District 2001-2013	Succeeded by Steve Daines
Preceded by Allen Kolstad	Montana Lieutenant Governor 1991-1997	Succeeded by Judy Martz
Preceded by '	Montana House of Representatives 1985-1991	Succeeded by '