Sam Clovis
| Sam Clovis | |||
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| Basic facts | |||
| Organization: | Morningside College | ||
| Role: | Professor of economics | ||
| Affiliation: | Republican | ||
| Education: | •United States Air Force Academy (B.A.) •Golden Gate University (M.B.A.) •University of Alabama (Ph.D.) •Georgetown University (National Security Program) | ||
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Sam Clovis is a tenured professor of economics at Morningside College and a tea-party activist who served as fourth district chair for the 2012 Republican convention. He was the co-chair and policy advisor for 2016 Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and was responsible for crafting policy and explaining it in media appearances for the campaign.[1]
Presidential election, 2016
Donald Trump
Campaign role
On August 25, 2015, Clovis joined Donald Trump's campaign as the co-chair and policy advisor. In an interview with NPR, Clovis said his reasons for switching to Trump's campaign were "personal." He also noted, "I thought Mr. Trump, of all the people running for office, is the only one I believe I can trust will go to Washington and change things."[2]
The Sioux City Journal described Clovis' role in the campaign as varied, writing, "He appears on TV as a Trump surrogate, writes talking points for speeches and helps find key people who can inform Trump's developing policies on economics, immigration and foreign affairs." Clovis told the paper, "My job is to facilitate all that, gather the data, gather the inputs and put the products together and make sure that they get to Mr. Trump. ... It is really exciting, because no day is ever the same. I get an opportunity to touch everything in the campaign from a policy perspective."[3]
The following are Sam Clovis' statements projecting policy positions for Trump. As the campaign's co-chair and policy advisor, Clovis was responsible for crafting many of the campaign's policies and had a hand in most domestic and foreign policy proposals.
| Clovis statements on Trump policy positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Policy | Date of statement | Statement |
| Corporate taxes | March 2, 2016 | Clovis explained the campaign's corporate tax policy on The Caiden Cowger Program: "Where the major reforms are going to come in the form of corporate tax reform. We are going to allow repatriation of all the capital that's offshore back to the United States at 10 percent. We're going to have essentially a flatter corporate tax rate of only 15 percent. This will then encourage all the capital to come back, we think upwards of $5 trillion maybe. We'll bring millions of jobs back into the country and will also lead directly to direct foreign investment."[4] |
| Federal assistance programs | August 27, 2015 | Speaking with Alan Colmes, Clovis said, "The idea of talking about reform of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security is something that is part of the policy discussion. ... This is something we will get through as we process the policy issues."[5] |
| May 11, 2016 | At an event sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Clovis explained that entitlement reform was a possible policy for a Trump administration: "After the administration has been in place, then we will start to take a look at all of the programs, including entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. We’ll start taking a hard look at those to start seeing what we can do in a bipartisan way. ... Right now, we’re not going to touch anything because we can’t predict the growth. We have to start taking a look not just at Medicare and Social Security but every program we have out there, because the budgetary discipline that we’ve shown over the last 84 years has been horrible."[6] | |
| Foreign policy | January 31, 2016 | Speaking with Bloomberg, Clovis said, "One, we want to take a very clear worldview in our foreign policy, dealing with the national interest, and let that be our organizing principles. Two is that we want to make sure that we engage in free markets, but we want those markets to be fairer as well. And three, if we do not have strong economic recovery, we can’t do the other two. ... If that’s not a Trump doctrine, I don’t know what is."[7] |
| July 2016 | Speaking of Trump's proposal to reevaluate alliances including involvement with NATO, Clovis said, "We’re not about to spill one drop of blood or spend one more dollar unless we know exactly what the outcome is going to be or at least have some notion of what the predictability is."[8] | |
| Healthcare | April 8, 2016 | Clovis told The New York Times of Trump's plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act while also ensuring health coverage for all. Clovis said, "A lot of it depends on what initiatives we can get through Congress. ... The trend will eventually be that employers will provide income to buy insurance on your own, and the employers will get out of the group policy business."[9] |
| Higher education | May 13, 2016 | Speaking with Inside Higher Ed, Clovis outlined the Trump campaign's policy stance on higher education. In reference to student loan debt, Clovis said the Trump campaign supported colleges sharing risk on student loans, meaning loan eligibility would be based on prospective majors and prospective earnings after graduation. He said, "We think if the college has real skin in the game, it will change its model. If you are going to study 16th-century French art, more power to you. I support the arts. But you are not going to get a job. ... If you choose to major in the liberal arts, there are issues associated with that."[10] |
| Immigration | December 7, 2015 | Speaking of Trump's proposal to ban all Muslim travel and immigration to the United States, Clovis said the ban would last "however long it would take for these departments and entities to come back and report to the American people that we have a sound system, good oversight and checks and balances and assurances from country of origin that we are looking at this thing."[11] |
| Income tax | March 2, 2016 | Clovis also explained the campaign's plan for reforming the personal income tax structure to The Caiden Cowger Program: "The issue is to take a look at where we are and to essentially eliminate three of the tax brackets. Drop it down from seven to four. ... We remove about 75 million people from the tax roles. ... We get rid of the death tax, remove a lot of the carveouts for special interests, and a lot of those areas, and make this a much flatter and fairer tax."[4] |
| Crop insurance | September 16, 2016 | Speaking with reporters after a Washington state agriculture discussion: "You can pay for 100 percent of a devastating natural disaster or you can go out and pay 50 percent and make sure that it doesn’t happen, or at least protect the people from it happening. ... So I think that crop insurance would be an important part of any farm bill we would approach.[12] |
| More on Donald Trump's 2016 campaign staff |
|---|
| Staff overview |
| • Trump staff overview |
| Management and strategy |
|
•Steve Bannon, Executive chairman |
| Communications |
|
•Hope Hicks, Communications director |
| Advisors |
|
•Roger Stone, Informal advisor |
Muslim travel ban
In December 2015, Clovis was one of the campaign's policy advisors when Trump called for a ban on all Muslim travel to the United States. Clovis told The Guardian that the policy was a "reasonable precaution" and that it would allow the country to "stop, take a break, have a look and make sure everything is cool."[11] Morningside College, from which Clovis had taken a leave of absence when he joined the Perry campaign, told Iowa Starting Line that the Muslim ban conflicted was inconsistent with Clovis' actions on campus: "This is not the Sam Clovis that we knew when he was here. Sam was a staunch defender of the Constitution and a strong advocate for religious freedom. If he played a role in drafting or advising the Trump campaign on this issue, we will be outraged and extremely disappointed in Dr. Clovis."[13] The college's provost, William Deeds, told KCAU-TV, "The views being expressed are entirely inconsistent with the views of Morningside College."[14]
Brokered convention
On March 18, 2016, Clovis told CNN that he would leave the Republican Party if a possible brokered convention led to the blocking of Trump's nomination. He stated:
| “ | "I will tell you this, if the Republican Party comes into that convention and jimmies with the rules and takes away the will of the people, the will of the Republicans and the Democrats and Independents who voted for Mr. Trump, I will take off my credentials, I will leave the floor of that convention, and I will leave the Republican Party forever,"[15] | ” |
Comments on Republican opposition to Trump
On June 16, 2016, Clovis spoke with CNN about Republican opposition to Trump's candidacy. Clovis said, "Either they want to get behind the presumptive nominee who will be the nominee of this party and make sure that we do everything we can to win in November or we're just asking them if they can't do that, then just shut the hell up." He went on to criticize Republican leaders, saying, "They haven't done anything to work toward the balancing of the budget. They have gutted the military and they've done nothing to protect the cultural values of this country. So I'm really tired of the Republican establishment coming out and shooting their mouths off and talking about how we need to comport with them. That's not the way this works."[17]
Comments on Trump claims of voter fraud
On October 18, 2016, Clovis spoke with Boston Herald Radio about Trump's claims of widespread voter fraud. Clovis said that large numbers of illegal immigrants were registering and voting with fraudulent documents. He said, "I’ve done a lot of work and study in this area, so here’s what happens: you have the opportunity for illegal immigrants to come to the state, and the state loosens its laws to provide for individuals to get driver's licenses in the state, illegal or otherwise. ... Then, through fraudulent documentation, because you've used fraudulent documents to achieve a status in this country, then you are able to register to vote because you've established residency. And people are no longer interested in whether you are a citizen and eligible to vote. The fact of the matter is, you're a resident and they assume you're eligible to vote."[18]
Rick Perry
Clovis was the Iowa director of the 2016 Rick Perry presidential campaign. He left Perry's campaign in August 2015.[1] In an interview with The Washington Post, Clovis said, "I feel bad for the campaign and I feel bad for Governor Perry because I think he’s a marvelous human being, he’s a great man and it was my honor to be a part of this, but it was just time to move on." Although, at the time, Clovis had not yet signed on with Trump's campaign, he also told the Post that Trump's campaign was "fascinating": "It’s like watching NASCAR. You just can’t take your eyes off the cars."[19]
Career
Clovis was born in Salina, and raised in Medora, Kansas.[20] He graduated from Buhler High School and left his home state to attend the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, where he earned his bachelor's degree. Over Clovis' 25-year career in the Air Force, he commanded the 70th Fighter Squadron and ultimately rose to the rank of Colonel. Upon his retirement in 1996, Clovis was the Inspector General of the United States Space Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command.[20]
Clovis holds an M.B.A. from Golden Gate University and a Ph.D. in public administration from the University of Alabama. He also studied national security at Georgetown University.[21]
Since 2005, Clovis has taught economics at Morningside College, a private liberal arts college located in Northwest Iowa. Before becoming a tenured full professor at Morningside, he worked for the Homeland Security Institute from 2004 to 2010 and taught classes in a graduate-level public administration program at Iowa State University. In addition, Clovis hosted the conservative radio show "Impact With Sam Clovis" on KSCJ-AM in Sioux City, Iowa.[21] According to the Sioux City Journal, "Clovis has something of a rock star quality with Siouxland tea party people."[22]
Issues
The following sections detail Clovis' record and experience as a candidate for public office.
On The Issues Vote Match
- See also: On The Issues Vote Match
On The Issues conducts a VoteMatch analysis of elected officials based on 20 issue areas. Rather than relying on incumbents to complete the quiz themselves, the VoteMatch analysis is conducted using voting records, statements to the media, debate transcripts, or citations from books authored by or about the candidate.[23]
The table below contains the results of analysis compiled by staff at On The Issues.
| On The Issues Vote Quiz[24] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Economic Issues | Social Issues | ||
| Issue | Stance | Issue | Stance |
| Legally require hiring women & minorities | Strongly Opposes | Abortion is a woman's unrestricted right | Strongly Opposes |
| Expand Obamacare | Strongly Opposes | Comfortable with same-sex marriage | Strongly Opposes |
| Vouchers for school choice | Favors | Keep God in the public sphere | Strongly Favors |
| Absolute right to gun ownership | Strongly Favors | No "rights" to clean air and water | Opposes |
| Higher taxes on the wealthy | Strongly Opposes | Stricter punishment reduces crime | Strongly Favors |
| Support & expand free trade | Favors | Pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens | Strongly Opposes |
| More enforcement of the right to vote | Strongly Opposes | Maintain U.S. sovereignty from UN | Strongly Favors |
| Prioritize green energy | Strongly Opposes | Expand the military | Strongly Favors |
| Stimulus better than market-led recovery | Strongly Opposes | Stay out of Iran | Strongly Opposes |
| Privatize Social Security | Strongly Favors | Never legalize marijuana | Opposes |
| Note: Information last updated: May 20, 2015.[23] If you notice the rating has changed, email us. | |||
2014
Clovis began the 2014 election cycle as a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in Iowa.[25] He was defeated by Joni Ernst in the Republican primary on June 3, 2014.[26] Exactly one month after his Clovis' elimination from the U.S. Senate race, he filed to run on the GOP ticket for state treasurer. In May 2013, before launching his 2014 congressional campaign, he said he believes voters "are ready for a red-meat conservative."[27]
Iowa State Treasurer
Clovis ran for Iowa Treasurer in 2014. He filed for the office on July 3, 2014, one month after his loss in the Republican primary election for U.S. Senate. He was nominated at the Iowa GOP convention and faced incumbent Democrat Michael Fitzgerald and Libertarian Keith Laube in the general election. The general election took place November 4, 2014.[28]
Results
| Iowa Treasurer, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Michael Fitzgerald Incumbent |
52.9% | 576,942 | |
| Republican | Sam Clovis | 43.7% | 476,633 | |
| Libertarian | Keith Laube | 3.4% | 36,945 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 0.1% | 670 | |
| Total Votes | 1,091,190 | |||
| Election results via Iowa Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign themes
Clovis' campaign website listed the following themes for the 2014 race:
| “ |
I intend to change the culture of the Treasurer of State in Iowa by: Protecting the wealth of Iowa and Iowans Expanding opportunities to grow the wealth of future generations of Iowans Provide a vision for a Better, Greater Iowa The Treasurer of State should be able to articulate–for the General Assembly, the Governor, and the People—a plan on how to retain and grow the population and wealth of the state. The role of the Treasurer of State in creating this vision is critical. As the steward of the wealth of the state, the Treasurer must be able to offer expanded investment opportunities for Iowans, more options in public pension plans, affordability and portability in savings and investment plans, more options for educational options and efficient, effective operations in restoring lost wealth back to the rightful owners. Without the strong advocacy of the Treasurer of State, the future of the state might be less certain. The next Treasurer of State for Iowa must be more than a caretaker and bureaucrat. Through Stewardship, Leadership and Statesmanship, I will do all I can to meet the objectives outlined above.[29] [15] |
” |
Endorsements
2014
Endorsed by Clovis: In October 2014, Clovis announced his endorsement of Republican Jeremy Davis for state Senate District 23, Clovis' home district, in the 2014 elections. Davis, an Ames City Councilman, ran against incumbent Democrat state Sen. Herman Quirmbach. Clovis called praised Davis' "limited government approach" and uniting style of leadership in a press release.[30]
Endorsements for Clovis: Clovis' 2014 treasurer campaign received the endorsement of the Iowa Association of Business and Industry's (ABI) Iowa Industry PAC (IIPAC)[31]
U.S. Senate
Clovis ran as a Republican candidate for the United States Senate in the 2014 elections in Iowa.[32] He was defeated by Joni Ernst in the Republican primary on June 3, 2014.[26]
| U.S. Senate, Iowa Republican Primary, 2014 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | ||
|
Joni Ernst |
56.2% | 88,535 | ||
| Sam Clovis | 18% | 28,418 | ||
| Mark Jacobs | 16.8% | 26,523 | ||
| Matt Whitaker | 7.5% | 11,884 | ||
| Scott Schaben | 1.4% | 2,233 | ||
| Total Votes | 157,593 | |||
| Source: Iowa Secretary of State | ||||
Campaign donors
2014
U.S. Senate primary
Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2014 elections season. Below are Clovis' reports.[33]
| Sam Clovis (2014) Campaign Finance Reports | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Report | Date Filed | Beginning Balance | Total Contributions for Reporting Period | Expenditures | Cash on Hand | ||||
| July Quarterly[34] | July 15, 2013 | $0.00 | $14,132.48 | $(2,328.62) | $11,803.86 | ||||
| October Quarterly[35] | October 15, 2013 | $11,803.86 | $78,426.98 | $(51,660.18) | $38,570.66 | ||||
| Running totals | |||||||||
| $92,559.46 | $(53,988.8) | ||||||||
Clovis raised $75,000 in the third quarter of 2013, after raising just $14,000 in the previous quarter.[36] He ended the quarter with about $35,000 in cash on hand.[36]
Personal
Clovis resides in Hinton, Iowa, with his wife, Charlotte, and his stepson, Khan. He also has two adult children.[21][20]
Media
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms 'Sam Clovis'. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles; they are included to provide readers with the most recent news articles on the subject. Click here to learn more about this section.
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See also
- Rick Perry presidential campaign, 2016
- Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- Iowa Treasurer
- Iowa down ballot state executive elections, 2014
- United States Senate elections, 2014
- United States Senate elections in Iowa, 2014
- Iowa
External links
- Donald Trump Campaign
- Clovis' 2014 Campaign website
- Sam Clovis on LinkedIn
- Sam Clovis on Facebook
- Sam Clovis on Twitter
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 CBS Iowa, "Clovis Joins Trump Campaign," August 26, 2015
- ↑ NPR, "Sam Clovis: I Trust Trump To Go To Washington And Change Things," August 29, 2015
- ↑ Sioux City Journal, "Northwest Iowa's Clovis recounts campaign work for Trump," April 23, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 The Caiden Cowger Program, "Trump Adviser Sam Clovis Interview," March 2, 2016
- ↑ Fox News, "Alan Talks to Sam Clovis," August 27, 2015
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, "Trump Adviser Says He’s Open to Entitlement Program Changes, May 11, 2016
- ↑ Bloomberg, "The Trump Doctrine Revealed," January 31, 2016
- ↑ The Jerusalem Post, "Trump: Bye bye Baltics," July 27, 2016
- ↑ The New York Times, "Donald Trump’s Health Care Ideas Bewilder Republican Experts," April 8, 2016
- ↑ Inside Higher Ed, "Trump's Emerging Higher Ed Platform," May 13, 2016
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 The Guardian, "Trump campaign: 'Nothing wrong' with banning Muslims from entering US," December 7, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "On ag policy, Trump vexes conservative flank," September 16, 2016
- ↑ Iowa Starting Line, "Morningside: 'Outraged Over Sam Clovis’ Work With Trump’s Muslim Policy," December 8, 2015
- ↑ Charisma News, "Key Donald Trump Adviser Now Under Fire," December 10, 2015
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributed to the original source.
- ↑ Newsmax, "Trump Adviser Sam Clovis: I'll Quit GOP Forever If RNC 'Jimmies With Rules'," March 18, 2016
- ↑ Talking Points Memo, "Trump Co-Chair: Support The Nominee Or ‘Shut The Hell Up,’" June 16, 2016
- ↑ Think Progress, "Trump’s new claim that Obama stole North Carolina in 2008 is bad. His campaign’s defense is worse," October 18, 2016
- ↑ The Washington Post, "Rick Perry’s Iowa chairman quits: 'Time to move on,' August 24, 2015
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 The Des Moines Register, "Iowa's U.S. Senate seat: Samuel H. Clovis Jr., Republican," May 15, 2014
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 Sam Clovis for Treasurer 2014 Official campaign website, "About Sam," accessed October 12, 2014
- ↑ Sioux City Journal, "Politically Speaking: 7 facts about Sam Clovis, possible Senate candidate," June 7, 2013
- ↑ 23.0 23.1 On The Issues, "Sam Clovis Vote Match," accessed May 20, 2015
- ↑ The questions in the quiz are broken down into two sections: social and economic. In social questions, liberals and Libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while conservatives and populists agree in choosing the more restrictive answers. For the economic questions, conservatives and Libertarians agree in choosing the less-government answers, while liberals and populists agree in choosing the more restrictive answers.
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Sioux City radio host Sam Clovis joins U.S. Senate race" accessed June 12, 2013
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Associated Press, "Election Results," accessed June 3, 2014
- ↑ The Gazette, "Sioux City radio host considering U.S. Senate run," May 23, 2013
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcandlist - ↑ Sam Clovis for Treasurer 2014 Official campaign website, "Platform," accessed October 12, 2014
- ↑ The Ames Tribune, "Davis scores Clovis endorsement," October 14, 2014
- ↑ Sam Clovis for Treasurer 2014 on Facebook, "Timeline," accessed October 17, 2014
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Sioux City radio host Sam Clovis joins U.S. Senate race" accessed June 12, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Sam Clovis 2014 Summary reports," accessed November 12, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "July Quarterly" accessed July 31, 2013
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "October Quarterly," accessed November 13, 2013
- ↑ 36.0 36.1 Des Moines Register, "Radio talk show host Sam Clovis raises $75,000 for U.S. Senate race," accessed October 11, 2013
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