Dan Burton

Danny Lee Burton has been a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Indiana's newly configured 5th Congressional district since January of 1983.

Iraq War
Burton voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Lobbying Contributions
In 1997, Burton was accused of demanding a $5,000 contribution from a Pakistani lobbyist. When the lobbyist was unable to raise the funds, the congressman complained to the ambassador for the Bhutto government and later threatened to make sure "none of his friends or colleagues" would meet with the lobbyist or his associates.

Illegitimate Child
In 1998, Burton admitted to fathering a child outside of his marriage.

Doctored Web Hubbell transcripts
In 1998, his investigation of campaign fundraising during the 1996 presidential campaign ground to a halt when it was revealed that his staff had doctored transcripts of prison phone calls made by former Clinton Administration official Webster Hubbell. 

Missed votes to play golf
In January 2007, Burton was revealed to have missed 19 votes to play in a charity golfing tournament. Burton was playing in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in Palm Springs, Calif. A review of Burton's voting record shows that he has missed votes every year at the same time the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic takes place. In 2006 Burton ranked last in voting among Indiana congressmen making 89 percent of all votes.

Golfing conflicts of interests
Burton has previously been involved in other controversies regarding golf tournaments. In 1997, Burton played with the chairman of AT&T in the AT&T-sponsored Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Burton was then the chairman of a committee overseeing the award of a federal telecommunications contract. AT&T hosted a fundraiser for Burton at the tournament.

In 1995, Burton attempted to block an effort to tighten House rules regarding the attendance of Members at charity golf tournaments. Burton said, "Members of Congress who like to play golf -- when they're not in session and there's no business in the district -- can help charity and have fun." In January 2007, Burton cast the lone "nay" vote against the new ethics rules in the House rules package (H.Res.6).

DC voting rights bill
In 2006, when the House was considering a bill to give the District of Columbia a voting seat in the House, Burton argued in favor of the bill, stating “I'd like to say we should support this as a civil rights step.”

On January 24, 2007, after Democrats took control of the House following the 2006 congressional elections, a rule change was again passed providing delegates and the resident commissioner with limited voting rights. The change allowed delegates and the resident commissioner (4 of 5 of whom were Democrats) to vote on the House floor in the "Committee of the Whole," whereby bills are debated and amendments are added. The rule, however, stipulated that if a delegate's vote was decisive, the committee would disband and a new vote would be taken without the non-voting members. Rep. Burton was the only Republican to vote in favor of the measure.

Bio
Burton was born June 21, 1938 in Indianapolis, was educated at Indiana University and the Cincinnati Bible Seminary and served in the United States Army. Before his election to Congress, Burton was a member of the Indiana State Senate (1969-1970 and 1981-1982), and the Indiana House of Representatives (1967-1968 and 1977-1980).

Congressional career
Burton has been an outspoken critic of the failure of government agencies to find answers to the question of what is causing the evident autism epidemic. Burton has a personal stake in the growing controversies in autism, and has said his grandson became autistic a few days after receiving nine innoculations. "My only grandson became autistic right before my eyes – shortly after receiving his federally recommended and state-mandated vaccines."

In an October 25, 2000, letter to the Department of Health and Human Services, acting in his role as Chairman of the House Committee on Government Reform, Burton asked the agency's director to get the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to recall all vaccines containing the neurotoxin thimerosal. "We all know and accept that mercury is a neurotoxin, and yet the FDA has failed to recall the 50 vaccines that contain Thimerosal," Burton wrote, adding "Every day that mercury-containing vaccines remain on the market is another day HHS is putting 8,000 children at risk." Burton's committee later discovered regulatory agencies have never required drug companies to conduct studies on the use of the widely used neurotoxin, which is still used today in many flu shots.

2006 elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated Katherine Fox Carr, and the Libertarian Party nominated Sheri Conover Sharlow to face Burton in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) Burton retained his seat.

2008 elections
In 2008, Burton faced the most serious challenge of his 25 year Congressional career. He was challenged by Republican John McGoff, and retained his seat by winning the election by 6 percentage points.

Money in politics
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Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * House Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
 * Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Ranking Member
 * House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
 * Subcommittee on National Security and International Relations
 * House Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * House Committee on Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Criminal Justice Drug Policy and Human Resources
 * Subcommittee on National Security Emerging Threats and International Relations
 * House Committee on International Relations
 * Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific
 * Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere - Chair
 * On the Board of Governors for the Partnership for Public Service

Twitter
 Dan Burton posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/danburton/

Latest posts: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/15378621.rss|title=none| max=3| short See all the members of Congress who Twitter

Articles and Resources
Sources
 * 'Autism & Vaccines' (autism reports compiled by Burton)
 * 'Pharma's Poisoned Generation', Evelyn Pringle, Scoop Independent News (November 29, 2005)
 * 'Congressman questions officials at Thimerosal hearings: A United States congressman is calling for criminal penalties for any government agency that knew about the dangers of Thimerosal in vaccines, and did nothing to protect American children', Valeri Williams, WFAA-TV (June 20, 2002)

Resources

 * Official website
 * Official Burton Campaign website
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Torporindy

Articles about Dan Burton

 * Michael Roston, "Republican who probed Clinton White House hits at Democrats for House investigations," The Raw Story, April 10, 2007.