Jon Kyl

Jon Kyl
U.S. Senate, Arizona
Former member
In office
1995-2013
Party	Republican
Leadership
Assistant Minority Leader/Minority Whip, United States Senate
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 6, 2012
First elected	November 8, 1994
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
United States House of Representatives
1986-1994
Education
Bachelor's	University of Arizona, 1964
Other	LLB, University of Arizona, 1966
Personal
Birthday	April 25, 1942
Place of birth	Oakland, NE
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Presbyterian

Jon Kyl (b. April 25, 1942) was a Republican member of the U.S. Senate from the state of Arizona. Kyl was in office from 1995 to 2013.

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Kyl was a "rank-and-file Republican".

Kyl retired at the end of his term instead of seeking re-election in 2012. Four candidates are currently running for Kyl's Senate seat. Primary elections were held on August 28, 2012.

Career

The information about this individual is current as of when his or her last campaign ended. See anything that needs updating? Send a correction to our editors

Below is an abbreviated outline of Kyl's academic, professional and political career:

• 1964: Graduated from University of Arizona, Tucson, B.A.
• 1966: Graduated from University of Arizona, LL.B.
• 1966-1986: Practiced law with Jennings, Strouss and Salmon
• 1984-1985: Chairman, Phoenix Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce
• 1987-1995: U.S. Representative from Arizona
• 1995-2013: U.S. Senator from Arizona

Committee assignments

U.S. Senate

2011-2012

• Finance
  • Subcommittee on Health Care
  • Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy
  • Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight, Ranking Member
• Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (Supercommittee)
• Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, Ranking Member
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security
  • Subcommittee on The Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights

Issues

Senate Judiciary Committee

Senator Kyl was first appointed to the Senate Judiciary Committee shortly after he was sworn into the Senate in January of 1995.

Senator Kyl is the Republican Ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security. The Senator also serves on the Senate Judiciary Subcommittees on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, The Constitution, and Immigration, Refugees and Border Security.

Sotomayor hearings

During her 2009 Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Senator Kyl expressed concern about how Sonia Sotomayor would approach her decisions as a judge. It was noted during the July 14, 2009 hearings that Senator Kyl scolded Sotomayor for relying on her subjective experience, specifically her race and gender, to make decisions. The Senator said to Judge Sotomayor: "here you are reaching judgment that it could not make a difference but it should make a difference" in relation to a previous speech made by Judge Sotomayor on how racial and gender attitudes would impact a case.

The Senator pointed out contradictions in some of her opinions, based on statements before the Committee, where she said that race does not play a part in her decisions as a judge, and her earlier public speeches and writings, in which she openly claimed that race and gender do play a role in judging.

Lobbying position after leaving office

Kyl 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.

Fiscal Cliff

Kyl voted for 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. The bill was passed in the Senate by a 89/8 vote on January 1, 2013.

Elections

2012

See also: United States Senate elections in Arizona, 2012

Kyl did not run for re-election in 2012. Jeff Flake (R) defeated Richard Carmona (D), Marc Victor (L), and Ian Gilyeat (I) in the general election.

2006

On November 7, 2006, Kyl won re-election to the United States Senate. He defeated Jim Pederson and Richard Mack in the general election.

U.S. Senate, Arizona General Election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jon Kyl Incumbent	53.3%	814,398
	Democratic	Jim Pederson	43.5%	664,141
	Libertarian	Richard Mack	3.2%	48,231
Total Votes				1,526,770

Campaign donors

2006

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

Kyl won re-election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. During that re-election cycle, Kyl's campaign committee raised a total of $15,524,019 and spent $16,103,008.

His top 5 contributors between 2001-2006 were:

U.S. Senate election, Arizona, 2006 - Jon Kyl Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$15,524,019
Total Spent	$16,103,008
Total Raised by Opponent	$14,709,628
Total Spent by Opponent	$14,709,241
Top contributors to Jon Kyl's campaign committee
Club for Growth	$155,753
Viad Corp	$61,800
Snell & Wilmer	$59,750
Squire, Sanders & Dempsey	$55,250
Farnsworth Companies	$54,350
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Retired	$1,107,165
Real Estate	$1,080,946
Lawyers/Law Firms	$747,181
Health Professionals	$723,702
Securities & Investment	$501,665

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. Jon Kyl paid his congressional staff a total of $2,863,770 in 2011. He ranked 4th on the list of the highest paid Republican Senatorial Staff Salaries and he ranked 83rd overall of the lowest paid Senatorial Staff Salaries in 2011. Overall, Arizona ranked 31st in average salary for senatorial staff. The average U.S. Senate congressional staff was paid $2,529,141.70 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, Kyl's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $645,238 and $708,235. That averages to $676,736, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican Senators in 2010 of $7,054,258.

National Journal vote ratings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

2012

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Kyl ranked 15th in the conservative rankings among U.S. Senators in 2012.

2011

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Kyl ranked 19th in the conservative rankings among U.S. Senators.

Political positions

Percentage voting with party

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Kyl voted with the Republican Party 95.5% of the time. This ranked 5th among the 47 Senate Republicans in 2011.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Jon + Kyl + Arizona + Senate

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

Jon Kyl News Feed

• Sen. Baucus Called on IRS to Investigate Activities of Tax-Exempt Groups in 2010 - CNSNews.com (blog)
• Republicans go after Begich in wake of IRS scandal - Alaska Dispatch
• Senate Democrats Pushed for IRS Tea Party Snooping Before Criticizing It - U.S. News & World Report (blog)
• Up to His Old Tricks on Immigration - Burnt Orange Report
• The Real IRS Scandal - New York Times
• Acting IRS Commissioner Miller Resigns and ?Targets? Stand up to be Counted! - The Nonprofit Quarterly
• Congress Members Sprint for Money to Lobby After Election - Bloomberg
• Sen. John McCain hosts Vice President Joe Biden at Sedona Summit - AZFamily
• How Jeff Flake Became The Most Unpopular Senator In America - Huffington Post - Huffington Post
• Senator introduces legislation targeting patent trolls - PCWorld

Personal

Kyl and his wife, Caryll, have two children.

External links

• Social media:
  • Twitter
• Biographies:
  • U.S. Congress
  • NNDB
  • Wikipedia
• Political profiles:
  • GovTrack
  • National Journal
  • OpenCongress
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Roll Call
• Financial:
  • FEC
  • OpenSecrets.org
  • LegiStorm.com
• Interest group ratings:
  • National Journal
  • Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions:
  • On The Issues
  • Project Vote Smart
• Public statements:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Voting record:
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Washington Post
• Works by or about:
  • WorldCat
• Media appearances:
  • C-SPAN
  • IMDb
• Media coverage:
  • New York Times
  • Washington Post

References

Political offices
Preceded by Dennis DeConcini	U.S. Senate - Arizona 1995-2013	Succeeded by Jeff Flake