Jim Kolbe
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Jim Kolbe | |
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Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona | |
In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 2007 | |
Preceded by | James F. McNulty Jr. |
Succeeded by | Gabby Giffords |
Constituency | 5th District (1985-2003) 8th District (2003-2007) |
Personal details | |
Born | James Thomas Kolbe June 28, 1942 Evanston, Illinois, U.S. |
Political party | Republican (until 2018) Independent (2018–present) |
Spouse(s) | Sarah Dinham (m. 1977–1992)Hector Alfonso (m. 2013) |
Education | Northwestern University (BA) Stanford University (MBA) |
Military service | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Branch/service | ![]() |
Years of service | 1967–1969 (Active) 1970–1977 (Reserve) |
James Thomas Kolbe (born June 28, 1942) is an American politician and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for Arizona's 5th congressional district, 1985–2003 and 8th congressional district, 2003–2007.
Personal life[]
Kolbe was born in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, but when he was five, his family moved to a ranch in rural Santa Cruz County, Arizona. He attended Patagonia Elementary School and Patagonia Union High School, but graduated from the United States Capitol Page School in 1960 after serving for three years as a United States Senate Page for Barry Goldwater. He completed his higher education at Northwestern University in Evanston, where he was a member of Acacia fraternity and Stanford University in Palo Alto, California. He served in the United States Navy, including a year in Vietnam in the riverine, "Swift Boat," force.[1] He was a special assistant to Illinois Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie. He then moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he was a business executive.
In 1976, Kolbe ran for the Arizona Senate in a Tucson-area district and defeated a one-term Democrat who had been elected in the national Democratic wave of 1974. He served three terms in that body, and was majority whip from 1979 to 1982. He and his wife were divorced in 1992.[2] He is a member of Catalina United Methodist Church.[3] In 2013 he married his partner, Hector Alfonso.[4]
Congressional career[]
In mid-1982, Kolbe resigned from the state Senate to run in the newly created 5th congressional district. He lost to Democrat Jim McNulty, a member of the Arizona Board of Regents, by 2,400 votes. However, Kolbe sought a rematch in 1984. Buoyed by Ronald Reagan's massive national landslide that year (Reagan carried the 5th with 60 percent of the vote), Kolbe won by 6,000 votes, becoming the first—and until the 2014 elections, only—Republican to represent the Arizona-Mexico border region in the House. He was reelected 10 times, only facing serious opposition once. In 1998, former Tucson mayor Tom Volgy held Kolbe to only 51 percent of the vote. The district was renumbered the 8th district after the 2000 census.
Kolbe served as chair of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the House Appropriations Committee.
Kolbe is a moderate Republican.[5] This served him well; although his district included most of Tucson's Republican-leaning suburbs, the brand of Republican politics practiced in Southeast Arizona has traditionally been a centrist and independent-minded one. Like his mentor, Goldwater, he is pro-choice. He was generally more supportive of environmental legislation than most Republicans, especially those from the West. He is a member of various moderate Republican groups such as the Log Cabin Republicans, the Republican Main Street Partnership, the Republican Majority For Choice, Republicans for Choice, Republicans For Environmental Protection and It's My Party Too. He is one of the four Republicans who voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act which was passed by the House of Representatives with 281–142 votes on October 2, 2003.
In 2002, Kolbe introduced the Legal Tender Modernization Act which would have ceased production of the U.S. one-cent piece (penny). In July 2006, Kolbe introduced the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act, which would round cash transactions to the nearest five cents. This act would effectively remove the penny from circulation. Kolbe argues that, because of inflation, the penny is virtually worthless, and that the U.S. should stop using the penny now that the costs of penny production exceed its value. Kolbe has received some media attention as one of the foremost promoters of eliminating the penny from circulation.
In 2004, State House Majority Whip Randy Graf challenged Kolbe for the Republican nomination. It was the first substantive primary challenge Kolbe had faced since his initial run for the seat in 1982. Graf ran well to Kolbe's right, but was best known for his hardline approach to illegal immigration. In contrast, Kolbe was a strong supporter of guest worker programs for immigrants. Immigration is a hot-button issue in the 8th, which takes up about half of Arizona's share of the Mexican border. Kolbe managed to fend Graf off. He easily won an 11th term in November. Also in 2004, Kolbe was among the 27 Republicans who voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment, a constitutional amendment intended to ban gay marriage.[6] He voted against banning gay marriage again in 2006.[7]
On November 23, 2005, Kolbe announced that he would not seek a 12th term in 2006. His exit left the district open. While Kolbe had usually coasted to reelection, it had been expected to be very competitive if he ever retired. (Bill Clinton had narrowly won the district in 1996, and George W. Bush narrowly edged out Al Gore and John Kerry in both of his presidential bids.) Graf won the five-candidate primary on September 12, 2006. Kolbe refused to endorse Graf, who lost to Democrat Gabby Giffords in the November 2006 election.
Kolbe endorsed State Senate President Tim Bee's bid to unseat Giffords in 2008. However, he withdrew his endorsement in July 2008.[8]
Kolbe donated his congressional papers to the University of Arizona, Special Collections in 2006.
Sexual orientation[]
Kolbe came out as gay in August 1996 after his vote in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act spurred efforts by some gay rights activists to out him.[9][10] He won re-election that year. In 2000, he became the first openly gay person to address the Republican National Convention, although his speech did not address gay rights.[11] He was the second openly gay Republican to serve in Congress, the first being Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin.[12]
In 2013, Kolbe was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.[13]
Mark Foley scandal[]
In 2000, when Kolbe found out about former Congressman Mark Foley's "Internet communications with teenagers" who were subordinate to Foley, he informed the office that oversaw the page program. He assumed the matter had been taken care of, although this was not brought to the public's attention until September 29, 2006,[14] when it became public that Foley had sent sexually explicit and solicitative e-mails and instant messages to young adult male pages. Republican leaders had claimed that they had only recently been made aware of Foley's actions, despite Kolbe's actions.[15] In January 2007, the Federal Election Commission committee ruled that Kolbe could use campaign funds for legal expenses associated with the Foley scandal.[16] Former Senator Larry Craig cited this ruling in 2012 in defense against a lawsuit by the FEC regarding Craig's use of campaign funds in his own legal defense.[17]
In October 2006, federal prosecutors in Arizona opened a preliminary investigation into a camping trip that Kolbe took in July 1996 that included two teenage former congressional pages, as well as National Park officials, then-current staff, and Kolbe's sister. During that trip to the Grand Canyon, he was accused of "acting inappropriately"; NBC News interviewed several people who were on the trip, and their accounts vary. On June 5, 2007, federal investigators absolved Kolbe of any wrongdoing in the case. In a statement released by the Justice Department, "investigators have completed their work on the preliminary inquiry opened by federal prosecutors last fall, and see no reason to pursue it further."[18]
After Congress[]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/73/Jim_Kolbe_%26_Martha_McSally_%2829401831087%29.jpg/220px-Jim_Kolbe_%26_Martha_McSally_%2829401831087%29.jpg)
Kolbe is now a fellow at the German Marshall Fund think tank and a consultant at Kissinger McLarty Associates. He focuses on issues that were his priorities when he was in Congress—trade, aid and migration. In the fall semesters 2007 to 2009, he taught a class on trade and globalization at the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law in Tucson. He is a member of the board of directors of the International Republican Institute.[19] During the 2010 election he broke from the Republican Party to endorse the candidacy of Democrat Andrei Cherny for state treasurer.[20] He is also a member of Washington D.C. based think tank the Inter-American Dialogue.[21]
In September 2010, President Barack Obama appointed Kolbe to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.[22] Kolbe currently serves on the Board of Advisors for International Relief and Development Inc.[23] He is also a Co-Chairman of the dollar coin alliance.[24] Kolbe serves on the Board of Directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.[25]
In 2018, Kolbe left the Republican Party.[26]
He endorsed Joe Biden for president in the 2020 presidential election.[27]
He currently sits on the Executive Advisory Board for autonomous trucking company TuSimple.[28]
After leaving office, he became involved in political reform efforts, including joining nine other former members of Congress to co-author a 2021 opinion editorial advocating reforms of Congress.[29]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ The Vietnam War and the Congressman of the 1980s, New York Times, David K. Shipler, May 28, 1986. Retrieved May 5, 2020.
- ^ "The Free Library". The Free Library. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ Star, Becky Pallack Arizona Daily. "Jim Kolbe to marry partner of 8 years". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
- ^ Source, The Reliable (2013-05-20). "Jim Kolbe, former congressman, weds Hector Alfonso". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-11-11.
- ^ Hook, Janet (2005-11-24). "Republican Moderate Kolbe Puts His House Seat in Play". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
- ^ Stolberg, Sheryl Gay. "Same-Sex Marriage Amendment Fails in House". Retrieved 2018-07-26.
- ^ Covarrubias, Amanda (2006-11-04). "He's GOP and he's proud". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-08-30.
- ^ Burns, Alexander (July 7, 2008). "Bee gets stung by leading campaign backer". Politico. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
- ^ Dunlap, David W. (August 3, 1996). "A Republican Congressman Discloses He Is a Homosexual". The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ "It's a Relief, Kolbe Says". Tucson Citizen, August 1, 1996. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
- ^ Campbell, Julia (August 1, 2000). "Openly Gay Congressman Addresses Convention". ABC News.
- ^ Eaklor, Vicki Lynn (2008). Queer America: a GLBT history of the 20th century. ABC-CLIO. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-313-33749-9.
- ^ Avlon, John (2013-02-28). "The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay Marriage Brief". Thedailybeast.com. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ Weisman, Jonathan (October 9, 2006). "Lawmaker Saw Foley Messages In 2000". The Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
- ^ "Three More Former Pages Accuse Foley of Online Sexual Approaches". ABC News. October 5, 2006. Archived from the original on October 11, 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
- ^ Associated Press (2007-12-25), "FEC: Kolbe may use campaign funds for defense in Foley case", Tucson Citizen, retrieved 2012-08-03
- ^ Miller, John (2012-08-03), "Ex-Idaho senator: Bathroom trip official business", San Francisco Chronicle, retrieved 2012-08-03
- ^ "Feds probe trip that Kolbe made with pages". NBC News. October 13, 2006. Retrieved 2006-10-13.
- ^ "International Republican Institute web site, accessed July 16, 2010". Iri.org. Archived from the original on April 28, 2010. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ "Republican Kolbe endorses Democrat for treasurer". The Associated Press. August 30, 2010.
- ^ "Inter-American Dialogue | Jim Kolbe". www.thedialogue.org. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
- ^ Advocate.com Editors (2010-09-16). "Obama Appoints Kolbe to Trade Group". Advocate.com. Archived from the original on 2010-10-18. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ and a member of the advisory board for the . "IRD Board of Directors". Archived from the original on January 4, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
- ^ "About Our Coalition". Dollarcoinalliance.org. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ "Board Members". www.crfb.org. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
- ^ TucsonSentinel.com. "Former Rep. Jim Kolbe says he left Republican Party 18 months ago". TucsonSentinel.com. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
- ^ Star, Jim Kolbe Special to the Arizona Daily. "Jim Kolbe: I'm a conservative and I'm voting for Joe Biden". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
- ^ TuSimple. "TuSimple Announces Executive Advisory Board Consisting of Industry and Regulatory Experts". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
- ^ "We Know Congress Needs Reform". West Virginia Gazette.
External links[]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jim Kolbe. |
- Jim Kolbe at the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Salon: A gay Republican talks about trade
- Jim Kolbe on the issues
- The Reluctant Warrior
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
- Article on the COIN Act
- Log Cabin Republicans
- Jim Kolbe Papers at the University of Arizona
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- 1942 births
- 21st-century American politicians
- American LGBT military personnel
- Arizona Independents
- Arizona Republicans
- Gay politicians
- International Republican Institute
- LGBT Christians
- LGBT members of the United States Congress
- LGBT people from Illinois
- LGBT state legislators in Arizona
- Living people
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from Arizona
- Northwestern University alumni
- People from Evanston, Illinois
- People from Santa Cruz County, Arizona
- Politicians from Tucson, Arizona
- Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives
- Stanford University alumni
- United States Navy officers
- Gay military personnel
- LGBT conservatism in the United States