Claire McCaskill
United States Senator from Missouri
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2007 Serving with Roy Blunt
Preceded by	Jim Talent
34th State Auditor of Missouri
In office 1999–2007
Governor	Mel Carnahan (1999-2000) Roger B. Wilson (2000-2001) Bob Holden (2001-2005) Matt Blunt (2005-2007)
Preceded by	Margaret B. Kelly
Succeeded by	Susan Montee
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives
In office 1982–1988
Personal details
Born	Claire Conner McCaskill (1953-07-24) July 24, 1953 (age 58) Rolla, Missouri
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	David Exposito (div.) Joseph Shepard
Children	Austin Maddie Lily
Residence	St. Louis, Missouri
Alma mater	University of Missouri (B.A., J.D.)
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Roman Catholic (converted)[1]
Website	www.mccaskill.senate.gov

Claire Conner McCaskill (pronounced /məˈkæskəl/; born July 24, 1953) is the senior United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Democratic Party. She defeated Republican incumbent Jim Talent in the 2006 United States Senate election, by a margin of 49.6% to 47.3%.^[2] She is the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Missouri in her own right. She became the state's senior U.S. Senator upon the retirement of Kit Bond in 2011.^[3]

Before her election to the U.S. Senate, McCaskill was State Auditor of Missouri from 1999 to 2007. She previously served as Jackson County Prosecutor (1993–1998) and a member of the Missouri House of Representatives (1983–1988). She was an unsuccessful candidate for Governor of Missouri in the 2004 gubernatorial election. She is a native of Rolla and graduate of the University of Missouri.

In the U.S. Senate, McCaskill serves as a member of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, and Special Committee on Aging. She is chairperson of the Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight.

Early life, education, and early law career[link]

McCaskill was born in Rolla, Missouri. McCaskill's father, William Young McCaskill, served as a state Insurance Commissioner during the administration of Governor Warren E. Hearnes.^[4] Her mother, Betty Anne (née Ward), was the first woman elected to the City Council of Columbia, Missouri. Betty Anne McCaskill lost a race for a seat in the state House of Representatives to Leroy Blunt, former Governor Matt Blunt's grandfather. McCaskill spent her early childhood in the small Missouri town of Houston, later moving to Lebanon, and eventually Columbia. McCaskill attended David H. Hickman High School in Columbia, where she was a cheerleader, Pep Club president, a member of the debate club, performed in school musicals, and was elected homecoming queen. While attending the University of Missouri, McCaskill joined Kappa Alpha Theta sorority,^[5] graduating in 1975 with a B.A. in political science. She received her Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Missouri Law School in 1978.

Except for three years spent in private practice as an attorney at the firm of a Kansas City trial lawyer (1989 to 1991), McCaskill has worked in the public sector continuously since graduating from law school in 1978. Claire, following her graduation from law school, spent one year as a law clerk on the Missouri Court of Appeals for the Western District, which sits in Kansas City. Thereafter, McCaskill joined the Jackson County prosecutor's office where she specialized in arson cases.

Early political career[link]

State legislature[link]

In 1982, McCaskill was elected to represent the Brookside neighborhood of Kansas City in the Missouri House of Representatives, where she became the first female attorney to serve in that body in approximately 40 years. During her time in the House, McCaskill became the first Missouri state lawmaker to give birth while in office. McCaskill left the state House to contemplate running for Jackson County Prosecutor in 1988, but did not pursue the position when fellow Democrat and incumbent Prosecutor Albert Riederer decided to seek another term.

County politics[link]

In 1990, McCaskill was elected to the Jackson County Legislature (the equivalent of a county commission or county council). In 1991, McCaskill made a bold announcement when she expressed her intention to run for County Prosecutor. The announcement was significant in that the elected Democratic Prosecutor Riederer had not announced that he wasn't going to seek re-election. McCaskill then went on to an impressive victory in capturing the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office in 1992.

McCaskill was the first woman to serve as Jackson County Prosecutor, and was re-elected to that office in 1996.

State Auditor[link]

In 1998 McCaskill was elected to the position of State Auditor, and was the second woman State Auditor after her predecessor, Margaret B. Kelly.

2004 gubernatorial campaign[link]

On August 3, 2004, McCaskill defeated Governor Bob Holden in the Democratic primary race, becoming the first person to defeat an incumbent governor in a primary election in state history.^[6] McCaskill also was the first primary challenger to defeat an incumbent Governor in the United States since 1994,^[7] when Bill Janklow defeated Walter Dale Miller in South Dakota, and Myrth York defeated Bruce Sundlun in Rhode Island. Despite McCaskill's victory, however, she was criticized by some Democrats for accepting campaign contributions from Anheuser-Busch, who had pulled their support for Holden after he vetoed a concealed weapons bill passed by the state legislature. On November 2, 2004, McCaskill lost to then-Secretary of State Matt Blunt in the general election by a margin of 51% to 48%. McCaskill's loss to Blunt was the first defeat in her 20-year political career.^[8]

U.S. Senate[link]

Elections[link]

2006

Both Talent and McCaskill easily defeated their opponents in their respective primaries on August 8, 2006. McCaskill and Talent debated each other on Meet the Press on October 8, 2006.^[9] On November 8, 2006, McCaskill defeated Talent by a margin of 49.6% to 47.3%.

2012

McCaskill is running for re-election.

Tenure[link]

McCaskill entered the U.S. Senate promising to raise the minimum wage and to work with her counterpart from Missouri, Republican Senator Kit Bond.

McCaskill speaking during a Senate hearing, January 12, 2007.

Armed services

She introduced legislation with then-Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) after the Walter Reed Army Medical Center neglect scandal erupted which demanded the full accountability of wounded veterans and agencies that would ensure physical and mental health conditions being addressed. "Those who have fought this war and felt its effects most personally, our servicemen and women, deserve to have a real researched plan for dealing with the aftermath of their sacrifice, so that the mistakes made by the administration in war planning are not repeated in planning for the readjustment needs of these heroes," McCaskill noted on the Senate floor after Obama made comments about the same issue. McCaskill also took Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson to task over the "irresponsibility" regarding overlooking the Department of Veterans Affairs.^[10]

In the Senate Armed Services Committee, McCaskill has made herself known for being aggressive by questioning officials in the Department of Defense and their "loose" spending habits. McCaskill grilled top officials of the military's auditing agencies for rewarding KBR for their Logistics Civil Augmentation Program (LOGCAP) contract, a contract now valued at over $20 billion, despite audit reports indicating extreme contractor mismanagement and expansive overcharging of the U.S. government.^[11] She has also been critical of DoD's auditors, the Defense Contract Audit Agency, based on a recent GAO report which alleges that audits were not properly supported or supervised, and in some cases been changed by managers in order to appease the procurement community and/or the audited contractor.^[12]

On December 18, 2010, McCaskill voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010.^[13][14]

Earmarks

She's against the use of earmarks and pork barrel spending, and with Russ Feingold she is one of only two Democratic senators that have sworn not to use earmarks.^[15]

Disaster recovery

As a member of the Senate ad hoc subcommittee on disaster recovery, McCaskill supported Republican U.S. Representative Anh Joseph Cao and Democratic fellow U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu in their insistence on corrections of mismanagement of the New Orleans office of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).^[16]

2008 Presidential campaign

McCaskill speaks during the first night of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.

In January 2008, Claire McCaskill decided to endorse Senator Barack Obama in his campaign for the Democratic nomination for the presidential elections of 2008, making her one of the first senators to do so. She has been one of the most visible faces for his campaign.^[17] McCaskill's support was crucial to Obama's narrow victory in the Missouri primary in February 2008. She has credited her daughter as the one who made her publicly endorse Obama.^[18] She had been frequently mentioned as a possible vice presidential choice of Senator Obama in the 2008 run for the White House, but was never seriously considered. She spoke on the opening day of the Democratic National Convention in August 2008.^[19]

Health care reform

McCaskill supported health reform legislation; she voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009,^[20] and she voted for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.^[21] She was critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which would have placed limits on private funding of abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act.^[22]

McCaskill regularly writes about her daily activities and opinions on the micro-blogging site Twitter. Her tweets often attract coverage by traditional press.^[23] McCaskill is currently the second-most followed member of congress on Twitter.^[24]

Airplane Property Tax Scandal

On March 16, 2011, McCaskill told reporters that she was "embarrassed" about revelations that her office had used taxpayer money for the senator's use of a private airplane she co-owned with her husband and friends. According to a government audit, the plane was used for 90 flights taken between Washington D.C. and her home in suburban St. Louis, as well as to numerous sites around the state of Missouri. According to McCaskill's Senate office, all but 1 of the 90 flights in question were within Senate rules. As soon as the story broke, Senator McCaskill sent a check for $88,000 to the U.S. Treasury as reimbursement for the flights.^[25] The Missouri Republican Party filed a formal complaint with the Senate Ethics Committee on March 16. In response McCaskill said, “The Missouri Republican Party is going to try to ride this horse as long as they can. They’re going to try to make this as big a deal as they can. Them filing the ethics complaint is about as surprising as the sun coming up.” ^[26] On March 21, 2011 Politico reported that McCaskill had failed to pay more than $280,000 in property taxes on the plane and was planning to sell it. “I have convinced my husband to sell the damn plane,” McCaskill said on a conference call with reporters. “I will never set foot on the plane again.” The Senate Ethics Committee has yet to comment on the matter.

The plane, a 2001 Pilatus PC-12, is stored at Spirit of St. Louis Airport, McCaskill confirmed. It is owned by Timesaver LLC, a Delaware-based corporation. McCaskill noted that she had paid $38,800 in sales taxes on the plane, and she only recently became aware that Missouri also imposed a property tax on private aircraft. She said she was “disappointed” in herself for not ensuring that Timesaver LLC paid the property taxes.

“Frankly, having the plane owned in Delaware would not negate the necessity of paying the personal property tax in Missouri” she said. “This is a mistake. It should have been reported in Missouri. It was owed in Missouri. It will be paid in Missouri today.”

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Airland
  • Subcommittee on Personnel
  • Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
• Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
  • Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs, Insurance, and Automotive Safety
  • Subcommittee on Interstate Commerce, Trade, and Tourism
  • Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Innovation
• Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information and International Security
  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
  • Ad Hoc Subcommittee on State, Local, and Private Sector Preparedness and Integration
  • Ad Hoc Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight (Chairwoman)
• Special Committee on Aging
• Impeachment Trial Committee on the Articles against Judge G. Thomas Porteous, Jr. (Chairwoman)^[27]

Senator McCaskill also served as the Chairwoman of the Select Committee for the Impeachment of Samuel B. Kent, which was disbanded July 22, 2009, after Judge Kent resigned.^[28]

Notes[link]

• McCaskill is the first elected woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. Senate. Jean Carnahan was appointed to the Senate following her husband's death and posthumous election, but was defeated in a close election by Jim Talent.

• McCaskill has been selected by the DNC to lead a commission alongside Jim Clyburn that will investigate the rules and structure of the 2012 primary season.^[29]

Electoral history[link]

Personal life[link]

McCaskill was married to David Exposito, with whom she had three children. The couple divorced in 1995, after 11 years of marriage, while McCaskill was Jackson County Prosecutor. David Exposito was found murdered in Kansas City, Kansas on December 12, 2005^[30]

On the October 3, 2009 episode of NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, McCaskill spoke about a vacation early in her career as a lawyer, where she was a contestant on High Rollers. McCaskill would reign as champion for four days, and later sold several of her prizes to pay off her student loan debt.^[31]

In April 2002, McCaskill married St. Louis businessman Joseph Shepard. Shepard loaned $1.6 million to McCaskill's 2004 gubernatorial campaign and also had business interests in the nursing home industry. Because as state auditor McCaskill was responsible for auditing the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, which regulates the state's nursing home system, Shepard's financial interests in the industry became an issue during the 2004 gubernatorial campaign.^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Claire McCaskill

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Claire McCaskill

• United States Senator Claire McCaskill official Senate site
• ClaireOnline.com official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs

v t e United States Senators from Missouri Class 1 Benton Geyer Polk Henderson Schurz Cockrell Warner Reed Patterson Truman Briggs Kem Symington Danforth Ashcroft Carnahan Talent McCaskill Class 3 Barton Buckner Linn Atchison Green Johnson Wilson Brown Drake Jewett Blair Bogy Armstrong Shields Vest Stone Wilfley Spencer Williams Hawes Clark Donnell Hennings Long Eagleton Bond Blunt

Jerry Schmidt (born September 19, 1962) is the Director of Sports Enhancement for the University of Oklahoma Sooners' football team.

High School and College[link]

Schmidt was a 1980 graduate of Harvard High School in Harvard, Nebraska. He then attended the University of Nebraska, where he graduated in 1986.

Coaching career[link]

Schmidt has coached at Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Florida, and Oklahoma as an assistant, director, coordinator, and director of sports enhancement. In his career with those teams, he has coached in five national title games. He owns championship rings from Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Florida. Schmidt was the 1991 Strength Coach of the Year by USAFitness, and he has worked with five Heisman winners. He has also worked with 20 NFL first-round draft picks. He is known for his discipline, intense workouts, and his advanced and innovative knowledge of his profession. His slogan, which is painted across a wall in Oklahoma's weight room, is "Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard!"

External links[link]

• Official biography at SoonerSports.com

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Todd Akin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2001
Preceded by	Jim Talent
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives from the 86th district
In office 1993–2001
Preceded by	John Hancock
Succeeded by	Jane Cunningham
Member of the Missouri House of Representatives from the 85th district
In office 1989–1993
Preceded by	Franc Flotron
Succeeded by	Chris Liese
Personal details
Born	William Todd Akin (1947-07-05) July 5, 1947 (age 64) New York City, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lulli Akin
Residence	Wildwood, St. Louis County, Missouri
Alma mater	Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Covenant Theological Seminary
Occupation	Engineer, plant manager
Religion	Presbyterian Church in America
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army National Guard
Years of service	1972-1980
Unit	Missouri

William Todd Akin (born July 5, 1947) is the U.S. Representative for Missouri's 2nd congressional district, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Republican Party.

The district includes the western St. Louis suburbs of Ballwin, Kirkwood, Chesterfield, Wildwood, Town and Country, and Des Peres located along Interstate 270 in West County and the northwestern exurbs of St. Charles and St. Peters in St. Charles County.

Early life, education, and business career[link]

Akin was born in New York City, the son of Nancy Perry (née Bigelow) and Rev. Paul Bigelow Akin.^[1] He moved to St. Louis and attended John Burroughs School. After graduating, he attended the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts where he earned a degree in management engineering, and in 1984 he earned a Master of Divinity degree at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. During college he was member of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

From 1972 to 1980, Akin served in the Missouri National Guard.^[2] After his military career, he took up work at IBM as an engineer and later became a manager at Laclede Steel Company.

Missouri House of Representatives[link]

Elections[link]

Akin was elected to the Missouri House of Representatives representing western St. Louis County (West County) in 1988. He won re-election in 1990 (59%),^[3] 1992 (100%),^[4] 1994 (70%),^[5] 1996 (67%),^[6] and 1998 (66%).^[7]

Tenure[link]

As a State Representative, Akin earned a reputation as one of the most conservative members of the Republican caucus. He voted for carrying concealed weapons, voted against the parks and soils sales tax, voted against the 1993 tax increase and education spending increase.^[8] Akin sponsored legislation to prohibit casino companies from contributing to Missouri state lawmakers.^[9] In 1995, he fought Democrat Governor Mel Carnahan on state-funding for abortion, which Akin opposed.^[10]

Committee assignments[link]

He was a member of the Ways and Means House Committee.^[11]

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Akin is listed in the House roll as "R-St. Louis". The likely reason is that many areas in the St. Louis County portion of the district, including one of his district offices, have St. Louis addresses, even though the district does not include any part of the city of St. Louis itself.

Elections[link]

In 2000, Republican U.S. Representative Jim Talent vacated the seat in his unsuccessful run for Governor of Missouri. Akin won a closely contested Republican primary election to replace Talent, defeating former St. Louis County Executive Gene McNary and State Senator Franc Flotron.^[12] He defeated Democratic State Senator Ted House in the general election, winning 55 percent of the vote.^[13] In 2010, Akin won re-election with 67.9% of the vote.^[14] He had been challenged for the seat by Democratic nominee Arthur Lieber, Libertarian nominee Steve Mosbacher, and write-in candidate Patrick M. Cannon.

Tenure[link]

Akin was an outspoken opponent of abortion and embryonic stem cell research, a supporter of the right to keep and bear arms, and is generally opposed to increases in taxation and spending. As a U.S. Representative, he has continued to support these views, earning a 96% rating from the American Conservative Union in 2008, and 100% in 2007.^[15]

Akin is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he co-sponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act,^[16] and H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.^[17]

Home of record

In May 2011, questions were raised about Akin's official address for voting. According to the Associated Press and St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Akin has continued to list his family home in the Town and Country section of St. Louis County as his home of record, despite having lived in the suburb of Wildwood since at least 2009, and perhaps as early as 2007, when he and his wife purchased a home there. As recently as April 2011, Akin signed a polling place logbook attesting to his living in Town and Country. According to the Missouri Secretary of State's office, anyone knowingly giving false information to election workers is guilty of a felony violation of state election laws.^[18][19]

Liberalism and God

In late June 2011, Akin was discussing NBC's recent removal of the words "under God" from a video clip of the Pledge of Allegiance. Akin told radio host Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council that:

Well, I think NBC has a long record of being very liberal, and at the heart of liberalism really is a hatred for God and a belief that government should replace God.... This is a systematic effort to try to separate our faith and God, which is a source in our belief in individual liberties, from our country. And when you do that you tear the heart out of our country.^[20]

Two days later, Akin said in a radio interview there he would not apologize, since he meant that not all liberals hate God, only that liberals have "a hatred for public references for God." The next day, he said:

People who know me and my family know that we take our faith and beliefs very seriously. As Christians, we would never question the sincerity of anyone's personal relationship with God. My statement during my radio interview was directed at the political movement, Liberalism, not at any specific individual. If my statement gave a different impression, I offer my apologies.^[21]

In August 2011, a group of local pastors was still trying to arrange a meeting with Akin to discuss his statement and apology.^[22]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Seapower and Expeditionary Forces (Chairman)
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Science, Space and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Environment

Caucus memberships[link]

• Republican Study Committee
• Tea Party Caucus

2012 U.S. Senate election[link]

In mid-May 2011, Akin announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2012 to unseat first-term Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.^[23] Other candidates in the August 2012 Republican primary include businessman John Brunner,^[24] author and business executive Mark Memoly,^[25] and former Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman,.^[26]

Electoral history[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Congressman Todd Akin official U.S. House site
• Todd Akin for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at WhoRunsGov.com at The Washington Post
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at the National Institute for Money in State Politics
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Profile at SourceWatch