Jim Bunning

James Paul David "Jim" Bunning, a Republican, has been the Junior Senator from Kentucky from 1999 to 2011.

Bunning is also well known as a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher, playing from 1955 to 1971.

Iraq War
Bunning voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq in Oct. 2002.

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

Anonymous hold on Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act
On April 26, 2007, when Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) tried again to bring the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, which would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically to the Federal Election Commission, to the floor for a unanimous consent motion after an initial anonymous hold had been placed on it, Sen. Bunning registered another anonymous objection from the Republican side, blocking it again.

Erratic behavior during 2004 election
During Bunning's reelection bid in 2004, controversy erupted when Bunning described Mongiardo as looking "like one of Saddam Hussein's sons." Public distaste compelled him to apologize. Other behavior, including accusing Mongiardo of physically assaulting Bunning's wife&mdash;claiming that his wife was left "black and blue"&mdash;and the use of a teleprompter during a televised debate, caused several media analysts to question Bunning's mental state.

Bunning set unprecedented conditions on the debate in question: he could not appear in person due to an important vote held just few hours before the debate and instead was televised from the Republican national headquarters; he refused to allow an independent observer in the room with him; he insisted that no portion of any recording of his performance could be rebroadcast; he insisted that the debate be broadcast live in the afternoon instead of the customary prime time hours; and other conditions. After the debate, the state's two largest newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald-Leader, both called for Bunning to step down, however both papers had previously been critical of Bunning.

In yet another instance of questionable behavior, Bunning told reporters, in October of 2004, that he had not heard about protests by American soldiers in Iraq who refused to ride in insufficiently armored vehicles. His explanation: "Let me explain something: I don't watch the national news, and I don't read the paper. I haven't done that for the last six weeks. I watch Fox News to get my information."  

Jack Abramoff campaign contribution
Jim Bunning received $1,000 for "his 2004 re-election campaign" "directly" from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff "and his wife, Pamela"

Background
Jim Bunning was born October 23, 1931 in Southgate, Kentucky. He graduated from St. Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1945 and later received a bachelor's degree in economics from Xavier University.

He pitched for the Detroit Tigers from 1955 to 1963, moving to the Philadelphia Phillies from 1964 through 1967, to the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1968 through the middle of the 1969 season, finished the 1969 season on the Los Angeles Dodgers, and returned to the Phillies in 1970, retiring in 1971.

Bunning was first elected to office in 1977, serving two years on the city council of Fort Thomas, Kentucky. In 1979 he won a seat in the Kentucky Senate. From 1987 to 1999 he served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Kentucky's 4th Congressional District Bunning was the Republican candidate for governor in 1983, but lost in the general election.

Senate Career
In 1998, Wendell Ford decided to retire after 24 years in the Senate. Bunning won the Republican nomination for the seat, and faced fellow Congressman Scotty Baesler in the general election. Bunning defeated Baesler by just over half a percentage point. The race was very close; Bunning only won by swamping Baesler in his home district (the 4th) by a margin that Baesler couldn't make up in the rest of the state.

Bunning is one of the Senate's most conservative members, gaining high marks from several conservative interest groups.

Bunning was the only member of the United States Senate Banking and Urban Affairs Committee to have opposed Ben Bernanke for Chief of the Federal Reserve. He claimed it was because he had doubts that he would not be different then Alan Greenspan.

Among the bills that has Bunning sponsored is the Bunning-Bereuter-Blumenauer Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2004.

Bunning was heavily favored for a second term in 2004 after his expected Democratic opponent, Governor Paul Patton, saw his career implode in a scandal over an extramarital affair. Eventually, the Democrats settled on Daniel Mongiardo, a relatively unknown physician and state senator from Hazard. Despite heavily outspending Mongiardo, Bunning was dogged by several gaffes and other instances of erratic behavior. The race turned out to be another nail-biter, with Mongiardo leading with as many as 80% of the returns coming in. However, Bunning eventually won by just over a percentage point. Some analysts felt that had it not been for George W. Bush's 20-point victory in the state, Mongiardo would have won.

Bunning had an estimated $4 million campaign war chest, while Mongiardo had only $600,000. The Democratic Party began increasing financial support to Mongiardo when it became apparent that Bunning's bizarre behavior (see "Conroversy" below) was costing him votes, purchasing more than $800,000 worth of additional television airtime on his behalf.

Money in politics
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Committees and Affiliations

 * Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
 * Subcommittee on Economic Policy - Ranking Member
 * Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
 * Senate Committee on the Budget
 * Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
 * Subcommittee on Energy
 * Subcommittee on Public Lands and Forests
 * Subcommittee on Water and Power
 * Senate Committee on Finance

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

 * Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Economic Policy - Chair
 * Subcommittee on Financial Institutions
 * Subcommittee on Securities and Investment
 * Senate Committee on the Budget
 * Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
 * Subcommittee on Energy
 * Subcommittee on Water and Power
 * Senate Committee on Finance
 * Subcommittee on Health Care
 * Subcommittee on Social Security and Family Policy
 * Subcommittee on International Trade

More Background Data

 * See how you compare to Jim Bunning

Resources

 * Official website
 * Baseball Hall Of Fame biography
 * Baseball-Reference.com - career statistics and analysis
 * Baseball Almanac page

Articles

 * Mary Jacoby, "Weirdness in Kentucky," Salon, October 12, 2004.
 * Joe Biesk, "Bunning Apologizes for Saddam Remark," Associated Press (USA TODAY), October 11, 2004.
 * Mike Espo, "Democrats Take Aim at Bunning in Kentucky," Associated Press, October 22, 2004. (No active link found.)
 * Paul Nussbaum, "Bunning's Mental Health Questioned," Philadelphia Inquirer, October 17, 2004. (No active link found.)
 * Holly Martins, "America's Dumbest Congressmen. Radar ranks the 10 biggest fools on the Hill," Radar, October 13, 2006.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * ConservaChick