Duncan Hunter
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Categories: 110th Congress | California Republicans | 2008 Presidential candidates
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Duncan Hunter is the Republican Congressman for California's Fifty-Second District and, as of October 30, 2006, a candidate for the 2008 Republican nomination for President of the United States. At a new conference in San Diego on that date he said, "As I finish my final two years as chairman of the Armed Services Committee and serve you, I am also going to be preparing for a run for president of the United States. This is going to be a long road, it's going to be a challenging road," he said. "But I think it's the right thing to do for our country." Observers speculate that he is responding to the impending probable loss of his committee chairmanship when Republicans lose their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives by "rolling the dice" in a bid for higher office. He withdrew after the South Carolina primary.
On April 28, 2004, Hunter introduced legislation that he said could turn parents into prosecuting attorneys fighting a wave of obscenity. [1] House Bill 4239, also called the "Parents’ Empowerment Act," [2], would allow the parent or guardian of a minor to sue in federal court anyone who knowingly disseminates any media (such as a comic book) containing "material that is harmful to minors" if the material is distributed in a way that "a reasonable person can expect a substantial number of minors to be exposed to the material and the minor, as a result to exposure to the material, is likely to suffer personal or emotional injury or injury to mental or moral welfare." [3]
In November 2004, Hunter and Wisconsin Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner blocked a bill that would have created a National Intelligence Director (NID). Creating a NID was a key recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. Hunter argued that the military is the biggest consumer of intelligence and any reforms enacted must not endanger the lives of troops on the battlefield.
On November 3, 2005, Hunter introduced legislation calling for the construction of a reinforced fence along the entire United States–Mexican border, and a border zone on the American side of 100 meters.
On November 18th, 2005, in response to Pennsylvania congressman John Murtha's call for a partial withdrawal and redeployment of American troops in Iraq, Hunter and other Republicans drafted a two-sentence resolution which read: Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately.
The bill was condemned as a stunt by Democrats, who made much of the fact that Hunter himself didn't support his own resolution. It was heavily defeated, 403-3, in the House of Representatives.
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Military Service
Hunter served during the Vietnam War, and was decorated for bravery. [4]
Connection to Cunningham scandal
In a report in 2000, the Department of Defense inspector general said that ADCS, a company owned by Brent Wilkes, got a $9.7 million contract under pressure from two congressmen. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the two congressmen were Hunter and Randy Cunningham. [5] Wilkes is currently an unindicted co-conspirator.
Property scandal
Hunter bought a house from the Federal government, then apparently hid its true value from the local tax assesor. (Source: DailyKos diary based on a story in the San Diego Union Tribune, Oct. 8, 2006.)
GovTrack link
External Links
- About Duncan (US House of Representatives)
- HUNTER, Duncan Lee, (1948 - ) from Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1774-Present
- Rep. Duncan Hunter On the Issues
- OpenSecrets.org: Career Profile of Rep. Duncan Hunter
- OpenCongress.org: Rep. Duncan Hunter
- Progressive Punch: Rep. Duncan Hunter
- Project Vote Smart: Interest Group Ratings of Rep. Duncan Hunter
- Washington Post Votes Database: Rep. Duncan Hunter
- Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch): Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, September 2007.