Henry Bonilla

Henry Bonilla was a Republican member of the U. S. House of Representatives representing Texas' 23rd district from 1993 to 2007. He was defeated in the 2006 congressional elections by Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas).

Bio
Bonilla was born January 2, 1954 in San Antonio. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. degree in journalism. Bonilla was a popular newscaster in San Antonio before entering politics. He started as a reporter in San Antonio, he later became a producer for WABC in New York, Assistant News Director for WTAF in Philadelphia, and returned to KENS-TV in San Antonio in 1986 as Executive Producer/News. In 1989, Henry assumed the role of Executive Producer for Public Affairs at KENS.

Congressional career
According to his House biography, "Henry believes the most pressing issues affecting the 23rd District and the nation are burdensome federal regulations, and government waste and spending. He has emerged as a leader in the fight to protect private property rights and to reduce the federal burden on small business. He has 6 military bases in or near his district and has been active in defense issues and keeping our military strong."

The 23rd had been a Democratic district since its creation in 1967, but Bonilla charged three-term incumbent Albert Bustamante with neglecting his district's needs. Bonilla won by the largest margin of victory against an incumbent in the 1992 election. He has compiled a very conservative voting record despite the fact that his district had a slight Democratic lean until 2004 when it was redistricted, with part of the former 23rd becoming part of the 28th district. The new districting left a heavily Republican section of San Antonio in the 23rd. Because of this, Bonilla didn't face a credible challenge until 2002, when former Democratic Secretary of State Henry Cuellar came within 2 points of unseating him. Cuellar was priming for a rematch in 2004, but further redistricting moved most of Cuellar's hometown of Laredo to the 28th district. Bonilla won re-election by a 2-to-1 margin.

On August 4, 2006, a three-judge federal panel drew a Texas congressional district map that increased the influence of Hispanic voters in South Texas. The ruling was in response to a Supreme Court ruling in June 2006 which declared Bonilla’s district (Texas-23) to be unconstitutional following the 2003 Texas congressional redistricting effort. The district drawn by the court was 61 percent Hispanic, compared to the 51 percent Hispanic it was previously. Following the ruling, many expected Bonilla to have a more difficult time in his 2006 reelection bid than in previous cycles. 

Records and Controversies
Bonilla voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

2006 elections
In 2006, Democrats nominated Ciro D. Rodriguez to face Bonilla in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) Bonilla received 48% of the vote in the election, which fell short of the necessary 50% needed to prevent a run-off election between Bonilla and Ciro D. Rodriguez, the second-highest vote-getter. Rodriguez defeated Bonilla 55%-45% to take possession of the seat. 

Money in politics
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Controversy
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Bonilla and the tobacco industry
Rep. Bonilla has been an ally to the tobacco industry during his career in the House. In July 1995 he succeeded in inserting an amendment into a House Appropriations bill to stop funding the U.S. Surgeon General's Office, the government health agency that issues periodic reports describing the health hazards of smoking.

R.J. Reynolds lobbyist John H. Fish described Bonilla in a 1996 letter to another tobacco industry lobbyist as having been "extremely helpful on several issues of concern to [the industry]." In the letter Fish asks that a $1,000 contribution be made to Bonilla with a goal of "helping him remain in Congress for a long time." 

In June of 2000, Bonilla voted to end funding for the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against the major American tobacco companies. The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids in a press release about the issue noted that Bonilla had received $19,000 in tobacco industry contributions from 1997 to 2000.

American Dream PAC
Richard Muhammad wrote in the August 13, 2004, StraightWords E-Zine that "earlier this year the Washington Post reported how the American Dream PAC, a Republican fund set up to financially support qualified minority candidates and run by Rep. Henry Bonilla (R-Texas), had raised over $500,000 since 1999. The problem is little of the money went to any minority candidate running for office.

"The Post found 'only $48,750 -- or 8.9 percent -- of the $547,000 the southwest Texas congressman has raised for his Political action committee has gone to minority office-seekers while more than $100,000 has been routed to Republican Party organizations or causes, including a GOP redistricting effort in Texas, a legal defense fund for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) and Bonilla's reelection campaign. Most of the remainder of the money went to legal fees, fundraisers in Miami and other cities, airline tickets, hotels, catering services, consultants and salaries.'

"The Post continued, 'In all, 27 minority office-seekers, predominantly Hispanic American, received money, mostly small donations. But Bonilla said it was sometimes difficult to find 'good, solid minority candidates to expend the funds on.'"

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

 * House Committee on Appropriations
 * Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA Subcommittee- Chair
 * Defense Appropriations Subcommittee- Senior member

Resources

 * Interview with Jon Stewart, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, August 2, 2004. (Other Daily Show interviews with members of Congress.)
 * Official website
 * Campaign website
 * Technorati Search: Henry Bonilla
 * Google News Search: Henry Bonilla
 * Yahoo! News Search: Henry Bonilla
 * Power Trips: How much did Henry Bonilla travel?
 * GovTrack Statistics: Henry Bonilla
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Fort Bend Democrats
 * South Texas Chism
 * Burnt Orange Report

SourceWatch Resources

 * The Donatelli Group

Articles

 * Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Bonilla Against Food-Labeling," New York Times, January 8, 2004.
 * Dan Morgan, "'Dream' PAC Not Living Up to Goal," Washington Post, April 7, 2004.
 * Mark Ames, "Our Man in Moscow: The true story of how a nice kid from Los Gatos moved to Moscow, pranked the media and ended up in the crosshairs of the Russian government and a U.S. congressman," MetroActive (Metro is Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper), August 4, 2004.
 * Richard Muhammad, Commentary: "A Flunky by Any Other Name," StraightWords E-Zine (Pacific News.org), August 13, 2004.
 * "American DREAM Act introduced in the House," MIRA Coalition (Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition), March 6, 2006.
 * Alison Vekshin, "Arkansas Companies Offer Jets to Political Candidates," Arkansas News Bureau, March 16, 2006.
 * April Castro, "Judges reunite Webb County into one district," Associated Press, August 4, 2006.
 * Greg Jefferson, "Rodriguez upsets incumbent Bonilla," San Antonio Express-News, December 13, 2006. re Ciro Rodriguez

Contact
DC Office: 2458 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone: 202-225-4511 Fax: 202-225-2237 Web Email Website

District Office- Del Rio: 111 East Broadway, Suite 101 Del Rio, TX 78840 Phone: 830-774-6547 Fax: 830-774-5693

District Office- Laredo: 1300 Matamoros Street, Suite 113B Laredo, TX 78040 Phone: 956-726-4682 Fax: 956-726-4684

District Office- San Antonio: 11120 Wurzbach, Suite 300 San Antonio, TX 78230 Phone: 210-697-9055 Fax: 210-697-9185

District Office- West Texas: Brewster County Courthouse 201 West Avenue East Mailing Address: 107 West Avenue East, Suite 14 Alpine, TX 79830 Phone: 432-837-1313 TollFree: 1-800-361-4TEX (4839) Fax:

Campaign Address Post Office Box 17292 San Antonio, TX 78217 Phone: Fax: resource_id=38799 resource_code=bonilla_henry search_term=Henry Bonilla