Jim Kolbe

James Thomas "Jim" Kolbe (born 1942 June 28) is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1985 to 2007.

Biography

Kolbe was born in Evanston, Illinois. From 1958 to 1959, Kolbe was a United States Senate Page. Kolbe was educated at Northwestern University in Evanston and Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, served in the United States Navy, and was a special assistant to Illinois Republican Governor Richard B. Ogilvie. He was a business executive and a member of the Arizona Senate before he entered the U.S. House. He is the second openly gay Republican to serve in the United States House of Representatives, Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin being the first.

Sexuality

Kolbe came out about being 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. 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. He has been lukewarm in his support of same-sex marriage, having voted in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, but he strongly supports the availability of universal civil unions. Kolbe supports abortion rights and is a strong proponent of guest worker programs for immigrants. All of these stances have caused some resentment in the Republican Party as well as from a far right primary challenger, conservative Randy Graf, in 2004. Nevertheless, Kolbe won renomination over Graf.

Congressional career

On 2005 November 23, Kolbe announced that he would not seek a 12th term in 2006. His exit left the district open; it was considered politically competitive (George W. Bush narrowly edged out Al Gore and John Kerry in Arizona's 8th.) Randy Graf, the Republican candidate for that seat, won the five-candidate primary on 2006 September 12. Kolbe refused to endorse Graf, who lost to Democrat Gabrielle Giffords in the November 2006 election. (Although Kolbe never officially endorsed Giffords, he was present at her victory party on election night).

Kolbe served as chair of the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Export Financing and Related Programs of the House Appropriations Committee.

Kolbe is a member of various centrist 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 4 Republicans who voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act which was passed by the House of Representatives with 281-142 votes on 2003 October 2.

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 nickel. 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. Critics allege the act would lead to increased nickel production. Kolbe's home state of Arizona, being the U.S.'s largest producer of copper, would strongly benefit from such an increase as copper is the principal metal used in the nickel.

Mark Foley Scandal

In 2000, when Kolbe found out about former Congressman Mark Foley's "Internet communications with teenagers" 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 2006 September 29[1] when it became public that Foley had sent sexually explicit and solicitative e-mails and instant messages to young male pages. Republican leaders had claimed that they had only recently been made aware of Foley's actions, despite Kolbe's actions.

In October 2006, federal prosecutors in Arizona opened a preliminary investigation into a camping trip Kolbe took in 1996 that included two teenage former congressional pages, as well as National Park officials, then-current staff, and Kolbe's sister.

Recent career prospects

Sources in Washington said the administration nominated Kolbe to head the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. [2]

External links

• Jim Kolbe at the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
• Salon: A gay Republican talks about trade
• Jim Kolbe on the issues
• Template:nndb name
• The Reluctant Warrior
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post
• Article on the COIN Act

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This article is based on a GNU FDL LGBT Wikia article: Kolbe Jim Kolbe

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