Dick Armey
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Richard Keith "Dick" Armey (born July 7, 1940 in Cando, North Dakota) is a former U.S. Representative and House Majority Leader from Texas. He was one of the architects of the conservative revolution of the 1990s, in which conservative Republicans seized control of both houses of Congress.
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From academia to Congress
Armey, a member of the United States Republican Party and former economics professor at North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas) in Denton, Texas, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1984.
During his time in Congress, he conceived the independent nonpolitical commission that became responsible for identifying those military bases to be closed as a cost-cutting measure. Armey, an ally of Newt Gingrich, has been one of Congress's fervent supporters of privatization of Social Security and phasing-out of farm subsidies.
In 1994, Dick Armey, then House Republican Conference Chairman, joined Minority Whip Newt Gingrich in drafting the Contract with America. Republican members credited this election platform with the Republican takeover of Congress, rewarding Gingrich with the position of Speaker and Armey with the number two position of House Majority Leader. Gingrich delegated to Armey an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling legislation on the House floor, a power traditionally reserved to the Speaker. However, some charge that Armey was involved in a 1997 attempt to oust Gingrich as Speaker [1] (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/gingrich/gingrich.htm), something Armey has strongly denied.
In 1995 Armey also wrote a book, Freedom Revolution.
In 1998, during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, a reporter asked him what he would do if he were in President Bill Clinton's position. He replied "If I were in the President's place I would not have gotten a chance to resign. I would be laying in a pool of my own blood, hearing Mrs. Armey standing over me saying, 'How do I reload this damn thing?'" [2] (http://snopes.com/quotes/armey.htm)
Armey announced his retirement in 2002 and did not run for re-election that year. On May 1, 2002, during an interview on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews (transcript) (http://www.smolanim.com/articles/armey.html), Rep. Armey got into hot water when he called for a homeland for the Palestinians outside of Israel. He also got into controversy when he called openly homosexual Congressman Barney Frank, 'Barney Fag', although he said it was a slip of the tongue. But Armey appeared to oppose the Iraq War: on August 8, 2002, he claimed that an "unprovoked" American attack would be illegal. Fellow Texan and Republican Tom DeLay, then House Majority Whip, was elevated to hold Armey's Majority Leader position.
After Congress
Recently, Armey joined the Washington office of the law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary (formerly Piper Rudnick) as a senior policy advisor. [3] (http://slate.msn.com/id/2076510/) Armey is also the firm's co-chairman of its Homeland Security Task Force. [4] (http://www.dlapiper.com/us/people/biodetail.aspx?id=9343)
Armey is also co-chairman of Freedom Works (http://www.freedomworks.org/), a group formed by the combination of the grassroots anti-tax organization Citizens for a Sound Economy and Empower America.
Quotes
- "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape."
- "I've been to Europe once, and I don't need to go again."
- "Yes, I am Dick Armey. And if there is a 'dick army,' Barney Frank would want to join up."
External links
- Christian Science Monitor, December 13, 2001, "Armey's Exit Triggers Fight for GOP Direction" (http://www.csmonitor.com/2001/1213/p1s3-uspo.html)
- Salon.com, May 24, 2004, "House Divided: GOP Enforcer Tom DeLay and His Former Partner Dick Armey Are Locked in a Nasty Dispute Over the Future of the Republican Party" (http://archive.salon.com/news/feature/2004/05/24/armey/index_np.html)