Lynn Westmoreland

Lynn A. Westmoreland, a Republican, has represented the 3rd Congressional district of Georgia in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2004.

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

Auto-industry Talking Points
In 2005, Westmoreland recieved criticism for spreading a memo to fellow House members which consisted of auto-industry talking points, verbatim, even using the same font as the auto-industry document. An aid defended him, saying, "such behavior is standard practice." 

Ten Commandments
In a February 19, 2004, editorial, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution commented that the "sponsor of Georgia's Ten Commandments law, Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-Sharpsburg), claims a law is needed to rebuff the 'judicial activism' that is attempting to erase God from U.S. history. But what Westmoreland is trying to do is rewrite U.S. history in hopes of riling voters and increasing his name recognition in the crowded political race for the 8th District U.S. congressional seat."

In 2005, Westmoreland, now the holder of that seat, co-sponsored "at least four pieces of legislation pushing the Ten Commandments" in Congress&mdash;H.Con.Res 11 (introduced 1/4/2005), [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HC00012:@@@P H.Con.Res. 12] (introduced 1/4/2005), H.RES.214 (introduced 4/14/2005), [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HJ00057:@@@P H.J.Res. 57] (introduced 6/30/2005)," AMERICAblog reported.

On a June 15, 2006, televised interview with Stephen Colbert of Comedy Centrals faux news show Colbert Report, Westmoreland said "I can't name them all."' "when asked to name the Ten Commandments." (Crooks and Liars has the video.)

Bio
Westmoreland was born April 2, 1950 in Atlanta, Georgia, but calls Grantville, Georgia his home. Prior to his election to Congress, Westmoreland owned a construction company and worked as a real estate developer. He also served in the Georgia House of Representatives beginning in 1993 and began serving as the House Republican Leader in 2001, until he resigned from that position to pursue his Congressional campaign in late 2003.

Westmoreland continued to serve in the Georgia House until his election to the U.S. House in 2004.

Westmoreland was the top vote-getter in his Republican primary election in 2004, but faced fellow Republican Dylan Glenn in a runoff. Westmoreland received 55.5% of the vote in the runoff, before going on to receive 75.6% of the vote in the general election against Democrat Silvia Delamar.

Westmoreland is a fiscal hawk concerned with taxes and government regulation. During his time as the Republican Leader in the Georgia House, he led the fight against redistricting by the Democratic majority in 2001, and then was instrumental in the re-redistricting that took place in Georgia in 2005 after Republicans won control of the Georgia legislature in the 2004 elections.

2006 elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated Michael Edward McGraw to face Westmoreland in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006)  Westmoreland retained his seat.

Money in politics
cid=N00026163&cycle=2008

Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

 * House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcomitee on National Security and International Relations
 * House Committee on Small Business
 * Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
 * House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
 * Subcommittee on Aviation
 * Subcommittee on Railroads

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

 * House Committee on Small Business
 * House Committee on Government Reform
 * House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Boards and other Affiliations

 * Fayette Board of Realtors
 * Fayette County Safe Kids Council
 * Georgia Homebuilders
 * National Board of Realtors
 * National Rifle Association
 * Member, Southcrest Baptist Church

Resources

 * Official Website.
 * Campaign Website.
 * Political Consultants: Stonebridge Group and Capitol Strategy Group.
 * Technorati Search: Lynn Westmoreland
 * Google News Search: Lynn Westmoreland
 * Yahoo! News Search: Lynn Westmoreland
 * Power Trips: How much did Lynn Westmoreland's office travel?
 * GovTrack Speeches: Lynn Westmoreland
 * Lynn Westmoreland’s Colbert Report interview. (Other Colbert Report interviews with members of Congress)
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database

Articles

 * "GOP Auction House: What will Lynn Westmoreland put on the Auction Block next?" Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, undated.
 * Lynn Westmoreland, Op-Ed: "Bill Recognizes Religious Values' Influence," Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life), February 19, 2004.
 * "Editorial: Ten Commandments Bill Pays No Heed to History," Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life), February 19, 2004.
 * "Westmoreland to vote to save Terri Schiavo," Congressman Westmoreland's official website, March 20, 2005 (posted on Rep. Mike Pence's official website). re Terri Schiavo
 * Elana Schor, "Freshman’s clash with Barton turns ugly," The Hill, December 14, 2005: Westmoreland's "verbatim use of auto-industry talking points in two letters to colleagues has sparked a conflict with House Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), sponsor of an auto-repair disclosure bill that Westmoreland is fighting."
 * McQ, "I guess we’re on Roy Blunt’s email list now," The QandO Blog, January 26, 2006. List from Jessica Boulanger, Press Secretary, Office of House Majority Whip Roy Blunt.
 * Andrew Roth, "The RSC Budget Primer," The Club for Growth Blog, March 9, 2006: "From the same pro-growth lawmakers who launched 'Operation Offset' comes the 'Contract with America Renewed' proposal. This is a lean, mean budget bill offered by the Republican Study Committee (the fiscally conservative wing of the House GOP)." Posted with comments by Free Republic.
 * Rick Lyman, "Extension of Voting Act Is Likely Despite Criticism," New York Times, March 29, 2006.
 * "Lynn Westmoreland: Disgrace," Article of Faith Blogspot, March 29, 2006: "this is the same Lynn Westmoreland (a dude) who pushed for the Georgia Voter ID Act to be passed (and which has since been struck down by a Federal District Court as a 'guised poll tax against black voters') because of 'voter fraud' amongst 'vast segments' of the Georgia voting population."
 * "Lynn Westmoreland: RedState Hero of the Week," RedState, March 31, 2006: "Seventeen hours after being named a deputy whip, Congressman Lynn Westmoreland of Georgia was kicked off the team."
 * Jason Pye, "Q & A with Lynn Westmoreland," Peach Pundit Blog, April 21, 2006.
 * Jeff Dufour, "When legislating doesn’t require legislation," The Hill, April 25, 2006: "Two-thirds of the 109th Congress is in the books already, and two members have yet to introduce any legislation. ... According to a tally kept by the Library of Congress’s Thomas website, Reps. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) are the only two House members who are the original sponsors of exactly zero bills."
 * Bob Kemper, "Changes to voter rights law sought," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 13, 2006.
 * Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, "Congress Overdue for a Fiscal Spring-cleaning," Georgia Public Policy Foundation, May 19, 2006.
 * "Lynn Westmoreland is the new Jean Schmidt," So Far, So Left Blogspot, May 24, 2006: "Now it's freshman Republican Lynn Westmoreland who gets to spearhead an attack on" the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which is up for renewal in 2007. ref Jean Schmidt
 * Tyrone Brooks and Charles Steele, "Safeguards Should Not Be Eliminated," Atlanta Journal-Constitution (CivilRights.org), May 31, 2006.
 * Rep. Lynn Westmoreland, "Georgia has changed for the better, and the Voting Rights Act should too," The Hill, June 7, 2006.
 * Jim Wooten, "Feeding off disasters," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, June 15, 2006.
 * "Only on The Colbert Report: Westmoreland co-sponsors bill on the Ten Commandments and can't even name them," Crooks and Liars, June 15, 2006.
 * Bill Simon, "Lynn Westmoreland Should Try Out For The Role Of 'Gomer Pyle' In The Movie Version," Political Vine, June 15, 2006.
 * "Lynn Westmoreland: Not A Georgia Peach," Wonkette!, June 16, 2006.
 * Jennifer Yachnin, "VRA Pulled From House Calendar," Roll Call, June 21, 2006.
 * Patrick O’Connor and David Mikhail, "Voting rights bill pulled," The Hill, June 21, 2006.
 * Laurie Kellman, "Republicans cancel renewal of Voting Rights Act, for now," Associated Press, June 21, 2006.
 * Carl Hulse, "Rebellion Stalls Extension of Voting Rights Act," New York Times, June 21, 2006.
 * Clarence Page, "Tinkering with voting rights," Chicago Tribune, June 25, 2006.

Articles by Westmoreland

 * Lynn Westmoreland, "Punitive approach no longer needed," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May 29, 2006.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Georgia Unfiltered