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Jo Bonner

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Jo Bonner
Jo Bonner.jpg
U.S. House, Alabama, District 1
Incumbent
In office
2003-Present
Term ends
January 3, 2013
Years in position 10
PartyRepublican
Leadership
Chair, House Ethics Committee
2011-Present
Compensation
Base salary$174,000/year
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 2, 2010
First electedNovember 5, 2002
Next electionNovember 6, 2012
Term limitsN/A
Education
Bachelor'sUniversity of Alabama
J.D.University of Alabama (did not earn degree)
Personal
BirthdayNovember 19, 1959
Place of birthSelma, Alabama
ProfessionPolitical Assistant
ReligionEpiscopalian
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Contents

Josiah Robins "Jo" Bonner, Jr. (b. November 19, 1959) is a Republican member of the U.S. House representing Alabama's 1st congressional district. Bonner was first elected to the House in 2002.

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Bonner is a "rank-and-file Republican".[1]

Bonner is running for re-election in 2012. He defeated Peter Gounares, Pete Riehm and Dean Young in the Republican primary on March 13, 2012, and is unopposed in the November 6 general election.[2]

Biography

Bonner was born in Selma, Alabama. He earned his B.A. from the University of Alabama in 1982, and attended the University of Alabama Law School but did not earn a degree.[3]

Career

Below is an abbreviated outline of Bonner's academic, professional and political career:[4]

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2011-2012

Bonner serves on the following committees:[5]

Issues

Campaign themes

2012

Bonner's campaign website lists the following issues:[6]

  • Jobs Create Opportunity for All
Excerpt: "Lower taxes and less government intrusion will create job growth"
  • Preserve Individual Freedom & Personal Responsibility
Excerpt: "Fight to repeal ObamaCare"
  • Defend Our Nation
Excerpt: "Protect our National interests abroad"
  • Cut Government Spending
Excerpt: "Cut spending—get the exploding deficit under control"

Political positions

Heritage Action for America, a conservative policy advocacy organization, reports that 55% of Bonner's votes align with Heritage's preferred policy stances. [7]

Bonner has received a 0% on the legislative scorecards for NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Human Rights Campaign, and the American Civil Liberties Union. [8]

In 2008, following Bonner's appointment to the Appropriations Committee, free-market advocacy group FreedomWorks called on Bonner to accept a personal one-year moratorium on accepting earmarks. A FreedomWorks statement said that "Representative Bonner has a long history of securing earmarks for his district, and voting in favor of egregious pork projects on the House floor." [9]

Bonner has declined to join the Tea Party Caucus, saying, "I try not to get involved in caucuses that make me look like a radical, right-wing nut." [10]

Influential conservative website RedState has endorsed Dean Young over Bonner, calling Young "the only challenger who has spent some money and has gained any traction." RedState also said, “Although Young has no record as an elected official, he has successfully fought against tax increases on a local level and will clearly be more conservative than Bonner." [11]

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, Bonner votes with the Republican Party 93.5% of the time. This ranks 88th among the 242 House Republicans in 2011.[12]

Voting record

In 2007, Bonner voted to increase the federal minimum wage.[13] In 2008, he voted in favor of TARP, the financial bail out package.[10] Bonner voted against Republican-supported regulations on the credit-card industry and the Cash for Clunkers program.[14] Bonner supported the Iraq war and opposed a timetable for withdrawal of American troops.[10] He supports warrantless wiretapping. Bonner supports amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage and he voted against repealing "Don't Ask Don't Tell."[15] Bonner voted to raise America's debt ceiling.[16]

Ethics investigation

In September 2011, Dean Young sent a letter to the United States House Committee on Ethics requesting that committee chairman Bonner recuse himself from any oversight of his personal financial disclosure statement. Young made the request due to allegations that Bonner improperly received investigative information from the committee’s probes of two lawmakers. The alleged secret communication concerned the investigations of Charles B. Rangel and Maxine Waters. The committee's former staff director accused two committee attorneys of improperly sharing investigative information with Republicans on the panel, including Bonner.[17][18] Bonner, along with five other members of the Ethics Committee, officially recused themselves from the Waters investigation in February 2012. [19]

Campaign for Primary Accountability

A super PAC called the Campaign for Primary Accountability has spent $21,000 to try to unseat Bonner. Bonner told the New York Times that “obviously, when the Supreme Court made their decision to open up corporate war chests, this is the result." Bonner said he believed he would survive the primary challenge because his campaign expenditures far exceed the money being spent against him. “If I hadn’t had $1 million in my account, I could be underwater right now,” said Bonner.[20] The Campaign for Primary Accountability has been assisting Dean Young in his effort to unseat Bonner.[21]

Elections

2012

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2012

Bonner is running for re-election to the 1st congressional district in 2012. He defeated Peter Gounares, Pete Riehm, and Dean Young in the the March 13 Republican primary election and is unopposed in the November 6 general election.

2010

On November 2, 2010, Bonner won re-election to the United States House. He defeated David Walter (Constitution) in the general election.[22]

U.S. House, Alabama District 1 General Election, 2010
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark.jpgJo Bonner Incumbent 83% 129,063
     Constitution David Walter 17% 26,357
Total Votes 155,420

Campaign donors

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

2010

Bonner won re-election to the U.S. House in 2010. During that election cycle, Bonner's campaign committee raised a total of $913,053 and spent $1,101,701.[23]

His top 5 contributors between 2009-2010 were:

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a Google news search for the term Jo + Bonner + Alabama + House

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

Jo Bonner News Feed


Cite error: <ref> tags exist, but no <references/> tag was found


Personal

Bonner and his wife, Janee, have two children, Jennifer and Josiah.[24]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Gov Track "Jo Bonner," Accessed February 16, 2012
  2. ↑ Alabama Press-Register "Mobile Bar polls judicial races; new candidate in AL-01 (Political Skinny)" February 13, 2012
  3. ↑ Biographical Directory of the United States Congress "BONNER, Jr., Josiah Robins (Jo), (1959 - )"
  4. ↑ Biographical Director of the United States Congress "Josiah Robins Bonner, Jr.," Accessed October 28, 2011
  5. ↑ Congressman Jo Bonner, Representing the 1st District of Alabama "About Congressman Jo Bonner"
  6. ↑ Campaign website, Issues
  7. ↑ Heritage Action for America "Scorecard," Accessed February 24, 2012
  8. ↑ The Hill "Rep. Jo Bonner (R-Ala., 1st) Lawmaker Scorecard," Accessed February 24, 2012
  9. ↑ FreedomWorks "FreedomWorks Calls on Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL) to Take Personal Earmark Pledge," February 15, 2008
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Washington Post "Jo Bonner (R-Ala.)," Accessed February 24, 2012
  11. ↑ Al.com "Presidential candidates stump on Gulf Coast; latest endorsements and more (Political Skinny)," March 12, 2012
  12. ↑ Open Congress "Voting With Party," Accessed October 28, 2011
  13. ↑ House of Representatives Vote Results "Fair Minimum Wage Act," January 10, 2007
  14. ↑ House of Representatives Vote Results "Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act of 2009," April 30, 2009
  15. ↑ House of Representatives Vote Results "Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania Amendment No. 79," May 27, 2010
  16. ↑ Al.com, "Congressional hopeful Pete Riehm wants larger federal budget cuts, including to defense", November 30, 2011
  17. ↑ Al.com "Dean Young chides Rep. Jo Bonner over Ethics Committee controversy," September 14, 2011
  18. ↑ Talking Points Memo "Only In Washington: Ethics Questions Follow Ethics Chairman," September 22, 2011
  19. ↑ Washington Times "Six House members recuse themselves from Waters’ case," February 17, 2012
  20. ↑ New York Times, "‘Super PAC’ Increasing Congress’s Sense of Insecurity", March 8, 2012
  21. ↑ New York Times "Anti-Incumbent Sentiment Fuels Primary Fights in Deep South," March 12, 2012
  22. ↑ U.S. Congress House Clerk "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010"
  23. ↑ Open Secrets "Jo Bonner 2010 Election Cycle," Accessed October 28 2011
  24. ↑ "Congressman Jo Bonner, Biography," Jo Bonner's Congressional Website, accessed March 12, 2012
Political offices
Preceded by
Sonny Callahan 		U.S. House of Representatives - Alabama, District 1
2003-Present 		Succeeded by
'
v • d • e
Alabama's current delegation to the United States Congress
SenatorsCongressLogo.png
Representatives
Jo Bonner (R) • Martha Roby (R) • Mike Rogers (R) • Mo Brooks (R) • Robert Aderholt (R) • Spencer Bachus (R) • Terri Sewell (D)
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