Bill McCollum

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Bill McCollum
Florida Attorney General
Incumbent
Assumed office
2006
Current term ends
2010
Political party Republican
Website Official Florida Attorney General website

Contents

Ira William "Bill" McCollum, Jr. (born July 12, 1944, in Brooksville, Florida) is the current Attorney General of Florida. He announced on May 18, 2009, that he would be running for the state's gubernatorial office. [1]

Education

  • Graduated from Hernando High School
  • Bachelor's degree, University of Florida (1965)
  • Juris Doctorate degree, University of Florida (1968)

Professional experience

Shortly after graduating from law school, McCollum joined the United States Navy's Judge Advocate General Corps., remaining within active duty from 1969 until 1972. After serving twenty-three years as an officer, he retired from the United States Naval Reserve as a Commander (O-5) in the United States JAG Corps. in 1992.

Political career

McCollum was first elected to serve as a member of the Florida State House of Representatives in 1980. It was during his twenty year tenure that McCollum founded the House Republican Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, chairing the committee for six years. Also at this time he served three terms on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, two of which as Chairman of its Subcommittee on Human Intelligence, Analysis, and Counterintelligence, in addition to vice chairmanship of the House Banking Committee. McCollum garnered national attention when he was selected as one of fifteen members to serve on the House Committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair and one of the House Managers at President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial in 1998.

In the years after retiring from the State Legislature in 2001, McCollum launched two unsuccessful bids for the Republican nomination in races for the United States Senate. The first, campaigning to fill the seat left vacant by retiring Republican Senator Connie Mack, saw him lose the party nomination to former Congressman Bill Nelson. The second, in 2004, was a three way primary race between McCollum, former-Bush Administration official Mel Martinez, and businessman Doug Gallagher. Despite being considered one of the most conservative members of Congress for many years in the State Legislature, Martinez went to capture the nomination.

He ran for Attorney General of the State of Florida, defeating State Senator Skip Campbell in the general election. McCollum ran on the message of "making Florida a safer place to live, work, and raise a family."

Other roles

  • Chair, Seminole County Republican Executive Committee (1976-1980)
  • President/Chairman, Healthy Florida Foundation (2002-present)
  • Member/Board of Governors, State University System (2005-2006)
  • Member, American Bar Association
  • Member, American Legion
  • Member, Board of Directors, American Security Council
  • Member, Florida Bar Association
  • Member, Florida Blue Key
  • Member/Board of Directors, James Madison Institute
  • Member, Orange County Bar Association
  • Member, Reserve Officers Association
  • Member, Florida Domestic Security Advisory Panel

Controversies

State plane usage

Florida's Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink (D) and Attorney General Bill McCollum (R), both leading candidates in each of their respective party's primary race for the state's governor's office, have each been hit up with ethnic complaints from constituents over their ambiguous use of state owned planes. These come in the wake of a June 2009 article published in the Miami Herald/Times detailing how a number of state officials, chief among them McCollum and Sink, "had racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in flights, including questionable use of planes by family members and use of the planes to commute to work from their homes in other parts of the state." It was revealed that even though Sink's flights charged more to the Florida taxpayers then McCollum's ($414,000 compared to $280,000), the State AG used the state plane far more "for one-way trips that resulted in an empty plane flying to or from Tallahassee to an airport near his suburban Orlando home." [2]

Since the Miami Herald/Tribune article was published, personal use of the state plane has been far less frequent. McCollum was shown to have only used it twice from July to October 2009, a significant decline from the twenty-five times he used it during that same period of time the year before. This resulted in savings of $53,000 for Florida taxpayers.

Campaign contributions

2006 Race for Attorney General - Campaign Contributions
Total Raised $4,180,288
Total Raised by Primary Opponent N/A
Total Raised by Gen. Election Opponent $2,098,361
Top 5 Contributors Florida Republican Party $911,401 (21.80% of Total)
Public Fund $897,104 (21.46%)
Bill McCollum $9,540 (0.23%)
Manatee County Republican Executive Committee $5,000 (0.12%)
Bankers Insurance Group $4,000 (0.10%)
Individuals v. Institutions $1,425,240 (34.1%)
$883,479 (21.1%)
In v. Outside State $4,027,958 (97.2%)
$114,407 (2.8%)

Electoral history

2006

  • 2006 Race for Attorney General - Republican Primary
    • Bill McCollum ran unopposed
2006 Race for Attorney General - General Election [3]
Candidates Percentage
Bill McCollum (R) 52.7%
Walter Campbell (D) 47.2%
Write Ins 0.1%
Total votes 4,645,967

Family life

McCollum currently resides in Longwood, Florida with his wife, Ingrid Seebohm. The couple has had three sons together - Andrew, Douglas, and Justin. He is also a practicing Episcopalian.

Contact Information

Office of Attorney General
State of Florida
The Capitol PL-01
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1050

Phone: 850-414-3300
Toll Free Phone: 866-966-7226
Fax: 850-410-1630
E-mail: ag.mccollum@myfloridalegal.com

External links

References

  1. ↑ Palm Beach Post "Republican McCollum announces campaign for governor" 18 May, 2009
  2. ↑ Miami Herald "State planes used less in '09" 17 Nov. 2009
  3. ↑ Florida Department of State - 2006 General Election Results


Political offices
Preceded by
Richard Kelly 		Florida House of Representatives - District 5
1981–1993 		Succeeded by
Karen Thurman
Preceded by
Bill Young 		Florida House of Representatives - District 8
1993–2001 		Succeeded by
Ric Keller
Preceded by
Charlie Crist 		Florida Attorney General
2007–present 		Succeeded by
NA
v • d • e
State Attorneys General
   
Attorney General elections, 2010
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