Trent Franks

Trent Franks, a Republican, has represented the 2nd District of Arizona in the U. S. House of Representatives since 2003. The district takes in the entire northwestern corner of the state, including Kingman and Lake Havasu City, but most of its vote is cast in the Phoenix suburbs.

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

Unwavering support of Tom DeLay
In March 2006, Franks gave $4,200 to the reelection campaign of Tom DeLay, nearly six months after the former House majority leader was indicted in connection to the Texas redistricting scandal. When asked about the contributions in August 2006, Sydney Hay, a spokewoman for Franks, said, "Congressman Trent Franks isn't going to cut and run from a friend when the going gets tough...If Tom Delay at some point is proven to have violated the law, Congressman Franks would be the first to acknowledge it. At this point, that is not the case." According to Hay, Franks believes the charges against DeLay are politically motivated and without merit. 

Bio
Franks was born June 19, 1957 in Uravan, Colorado, a company town and now a Superfund site. He was educated at Ottawa university (Ottawa, Kansas). Trent is a former member of the Arizona House of Representatives. While in the House, he served as Vice-Chairman of the House Commerce Committee and Chairman of the House Sub-Committee on Child Protection and Family Preservation.

In January of 1987, Trent was appointed by the Governor to head the Arizona Governor's Office for Children, which is a Cabinet level division of the Governor's office responsible for overseeing and coordinating state policy and programs for Arizona's children.

Trent founded and served four and a half years as the Executive Director of the Arizona Family Research Institute, a non-profit organization associated with Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family for the purpose of advocating public policy to protect children and "family values" in Arizona. In that capacity, he authored a bill to give a state income tax credit to help pay for private school tuition.

He was also president of Liberty Petroleum Corporation, a small oil exploration company.

When 3rd District Congressman Bob Stump decided to retire after 13 terms, Franks entered the race to succeed him. The district had been renumbered the 2nd after redistricting gave Arizona two additional seats. He defeated Stump's chief of staff, Lisa Atkins, whom Stump had endorsed as his successor.

A self-described "conservative Reagan Republican", Franks was voted by the National Journal as "the most conservative member of the Arizona Congressional Delegation...and overall, he was ranked the fifth most conservative Representative in the House."

Protecting children is a legislative priority, and "He is passionate in his commitment to protecting innocent life, including that of unborn children."

2006 elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated John Thrasher to face Franks in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006)  Franks retained his seat.

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

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Readiness
 * Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
 * House Committee on the Judiciary
 * Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, Ranking Member
 * Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law

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

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Readiness
 * Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
 * House Committee on the Judiciary
 * Subcommittee on Task Force on Antirust
 * Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
 * Subcommittee on the Constitution

Coalitions and Caucuses

 * Republican Study Committee
 * House Working Group on Judicial Accountability
 * House Working Group on Waste, Fraud and Abuse
 * Congressional Hispanic Conference
 * Liberty Caucus
 * DUI Caucus
 * Human Rights Caucus
 * India Caucus
 * Refugee Caucus
 * Education Freedom Caucus

Boards and Other Affiliations

 * Chairman of the Children's Hope Scholarship Foundation
 * Former Executive Director of the Arizona Family Research Institute
 * Former president, Liberty Petroleum Corporation

More Background Data

 * 2006 Arizona CD 2 Candidate List from VIS

External resources

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

External articles

 * Scott Wong, "Franks steadfast in funding and defending embattled DeLay," The Arizona Republic, August 24, 2006.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * AZ Congress Watch
 * Western Democrat
 * Blog for Arizona