For other uses of the word, or the acronym, see AIS.

At the time of First Contact.

Approximate territory of the Ais tribe in the late 17th Century

The Ais, or Ays were a tribe of Native Americans who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of Florida. They ranged from present day Cape Canaveral to the St. Lucie Inlet^[1], in the present day counties of Brevard^[1], Indian River, St. Lucie and northernmost Martin. They lived in villages and towns along the shores of the great lagoon called Rio de Ais by the Spanish, and now called the Indian River. The name Ais is derived from a great Indian Cacique (Chief).^[2]

Little is known of the origins of the Ais, or of the affinities of their language. The Ais language has been tentatively assigned by some authors to the Muskogean language family , and by others to the Arawakan language family.

Observations on the appearance, diet and customs of the Ais at the end of the 17th Century are found in Jonathan Dickinson's Journal. Dickinson and his party were shipwrecked, and spent several weeks among the Ais in 1696. By Dickinson's account, the chief of the town of Jece, near present day Vero Beach, was paramount to all of the coastal towns from the Jaega town of Jobe (at Jupiter Inlet) in the south to approximately Cape Canaveral in the north (that is, the length of the River of Ais).^[3]

The Ais had considerable contact with Europeans by this time. The Spanish became acquainted with the Ais in middle of the 16th century. In 1566 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, founder of St. Augustine, Florida, established a fort and mission at an Ais town, which the Spanish called Santa Lucía.^[4] After the Ais attacked the fort, killing 23 of the Spanish soldiers, the fort and mission were abandoned.^[5] Spain had eventually established some control over the coast, with the Ais regarding the Spanish as friends (comerradoes) and non-Spanish Europeans as enemies. A number of Ais men knew a little Spanish, and a patrol of Spanish soldiers from St. Augustine arrived in Jece while the Dickinson party was there. There was one man in Jece who had been taken away on an English ship to work as a diver on a wreck east of Cuba. He got away when the ship put in for water in Cuba, and had made his way back to his home via Havana and St. Augustine.

Pedro's Bluff[link]

In December of 1571, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was sailing from Florida to Havana with two frigates when, as he tells it, "I was wrecked at Cape Canaveral because of a storm which came upon me, and the other boat was lost fifteen leagues further on in the Bahama Channel, in a river they call the Ais, because the cacique is so called. I, by a miracle reached the fort of St. Augustine with seventeen persons I was taking with me. Three times the Indians gave the order to attack me, and the way I escaped them was by ingenuity and arousing fear in them, telling them that behind me many Spaniards were coming who would slay them if they found them." ^[6]

Province of Ais[link]

In the year of 1601 the Spanish King commissioned a map of Florida indicating his desires for a fort to be built in Miami. On the map he indicated the land we know as Brevard county as the Province of Ais, as it was typical in those days to designate a region of specific tribal domination and generally took its name from the ruling cacique. ^[6]

Period of Friendship[link]

In 1605, the Governor, Pedro de Ibarra sent a soldier by the name of Alvaro_Mexia on a diplomatic mission to the Ais Indian Nation. The mission was a success, not only did they firm up an agreement for receiving shipwrecked sailors for a ransom to the Ais but a map of the Indian River area was made.^[7] The Ais had many European artifacts from ship wrecks. As there was a group from another English shipwreck in Jece when the Dickinson party reached the town, it may be presumed that European and African survivors of shipwrecks were fairly common along the coast. There was also some trade with St. Augustine. Dickinson reports that one man of Jece had approximately five pounds of ambergris, and that he "boasted that when he went for Augustine with that, he would purchase of the Spaniards a looking-glass, an axe, a knife or two, and three or four mannocoes (which is about five or six pounds) of tobacco."^[8]

The Ais did not survive long after Dickinson's sojourn with them. Shortly after 1700 settlers in the Province of Carolina and their Indian allies started raiding the Ais, killing them and carrying captives to Charles Town to be sold as slaves. In 1743 the Spanish established a short-lived mission on Biscayne Bay (in the area of present-day Miami). The priests assigned to that mission reported the presence of people they called "Santa Luces", perhaps a name for the Ais derived from "Santa Lucia", somewhere to the north of Biscayne Bay.^[9] The Ais were gone from the area by 1760.

Diet[link]

Dickinson stated that the Ais "neither sow nor plant any manner of thing whatsoever",^[10] but fished and gathered palmetto, cocoplum and seagrape berries. Dickinson described the fishing technique of the neighboring Jaega people of Jobe thus:

[T]he Casseekey [of Jobe] ... sent his son with his striking staff to the inlet to strike fish for us; which was performed with great dexterity; for some of us walked down with him, and though we looked very earnestly when he threw his staff from him could not see a fish at which time he saw it, and brought it onshore on the end of his staff. Sometimes he would run swiftly pursuing a fish, and seldom missed when he darted at him. In two hours time he got as many fish as would serve twenty men[.]^[11]

The Ais boiled their fish, and ate them from 'platters' of palmetto leaf:

About noon was some fish brought us on small palmetto leaves, being boiled with scales, head and gills, and nothing taken from then but the gut[.]^[12]

Dickinson also recorded a gift of clams to his wife:

This day the Cassekey [of Jece] ... made presents to some of us, especially to my wife; he gave her a parcel of shellfish, which are known by the name of clams; one or two he roasted and gave her, showing that she must serve the rest so, and eat them.^[13]

The Ais dried some of the berries they gathered for future use:

This week we observed that great baskets of dried berries were brought in from divers towns and delivered to the king or Young Caseekey [of Jece.]^[14]

Dickinson does not say anything about the Ais hunting, but they did use deer skins, and the neighboring Jaega people of Jobe gave the Dickinson party a hog they had killed.^[15]

Clothing[link]

The Ais men wore a "loincloth" of woven palm leaves. Dickinson describes this as:

being a piece of platwork of straws wrought of divers colors and of a triangular figure, with a belt of four fingers broad of the same wrought together, which goeth about the waist and the angle of the other having a thing to it, coming between the legs, and strings to the end of the belt; all three meeting together are fastened behind by a horsetail, or a bunch of silkgrass exactly resembling it, of a flaxen color, this being all of the apparel or covering that the men wear.^[16]

He has little to say on how the women dressed, recording only that his wife and female slaves were given "raw deer skins" with which to cover themselves after their European clothing had been taken away.^[17] Women of the Tequesta tribe, to the south of the Ais, were reported to wear "shawls" made of woven palm leaves, and "skirts” made from draped fibers from the Spanish dagger (Yucca), similar to the "grass" skirts of Hawai'i.

Housing[link]

Dickinson states that the town of Jece "stood about half a mile from the seashore within the land on the sound, being surrounded with a swamp, in which grew white mangrove trees, which hid the town from the sea."^[18]

Dickinson describes the Cacique's house in Santa Lucea as "about forty foot long and twenty-five foot wide, covered with palmetto leaves both top and sides. There was a range of cabins, or a barbecue on one side and two ends. At the entering on one side of the house a passage was made of benches on each side leading to the cabins."^[19]

Subject and related tribes[link]

The Mayaca, who lived along the upper St. Johns River south of Lake George, appear to have spoken a language related to that of the Ais. The Surruque to the north and the Jaega to the south were politically subordinate to the Ais.

Ais Island naming[link]

At the time of this writing there is a proposal put forward to the USGS to name the barrier island of Brevard , Ais Island in honor of the Ais Indians that lived there. Many consider this a more historically accurate name than the alternative, Ponce de Leon Island. The Ais Island naming proposal has much public support including organizations such as the AIA.

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Let us alone. (1983). William R. Ervin. ISBN 0-915447-00-2
• Melbourne and Eau Gallie. (2002). Karen Raley and Ann Raley Flotte. Arcadia Publishing.
• Andrews, Charles Mclean and Andrews, Evangeline Walker (1945). Jonathan Dickinson's Journal or, God's Protecting Providence. Being the Narrative of a Journey from Port Royal in Jamaica to Philadelphia between August 23, 1696 to April 1, 1697. Yale University Press. Reprinted (1981) Florida Classics Library.
• Austin, Daniel W. (1997). "The Glades Indians and the Plants They Used: Ethnobotany of an Extinct Culture." The Palmetto, 17(2):7 -11. (14 September, 2002). Accessed 27 November 2005
• Bullen, Adelaide K. (1965). Chapter XXIV Florida Indians of Past and Present, in Tebeau, Carson. Florida from Indian Trail to Space Age. (pp. 317-350). Southern Publishing Company.
• Gannon, Michael V. (1965). The Cross in the Sand. University Presses of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-0776-3
• Milanich, Jerald T. (1995) Florida Indians and the Invasion from Europe. University Press of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-1360-7
• Sturtevant, William C. (1978). "The Last of the South Florida Aborigines". In Jeral Milanich & Samuel Proctor (Eds.). Tacachale: Essays on the Indians of Florida and Southeastern Georgia during the Historic Period. Gainesville, Florida: The University Presses of Florida. ISBN 0-8130-0535-3

External links[link]

• Article on Ais Indians

AIS, Ais, or ais may refer to:

As a word[link]

• Ais people, a Native American tribe living on the Treasure coast of Florida, United States which had completely disappeared by the mid-18th Century.
• Plural of:
  • ai (disambiguation)
  • AI (Artificial Intelligence)

As an abbreviation[link]

Medicine[link]

• Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, a group of disorders of sex development in humans
• Abbreviated Injury Scale

Organizations[link]

• Advanced Info Service, Thailand's largest GSM mobile phone operator
• Akademio Internacia de la Sciencoj San Marino, a scientific association/university in San Marino, San Marino
• American International School (disambiguation), a name common to several schools in a variety of countries
• American Internet Services, a colocation and ISP based in San Diego, California, United States
• Armée islamique du salut (Islamic Salvation Army), the former military wing of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria
• Association for Information Systems, an international professional organization
• Atlanta International School, a private school located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States
• Australian Information Service, a former Australian governmental organization, disbanded in 1986
• Australian Institute of Sport, an Australian educational institution headquartered in Canberra
• Australian International School (disambiguation), a name common to several schools in a variety of countries
• Aviatsionnaya Ispitatelnaya Stantsiya, a Russian naval aviation station which produced aircraft during World War I

Software and technology[link]

• Accounting information system, a (usually computerized) system for recording, managing, and reporting accounting data
• Aeronautical Information Service, a service providing information necessary for international air navigation, e.g. Aeronautical Information Publication (AIP), NOTAM, etc.
• Alarm indication signal, a signal transmitted by a system that is part of a communications link to let the receiver know that some part of the link has failed. Some types of AIS signals are:
  • alarm indication signal line (AIS-L)
  • alarm indication signal path (AIS-P)
• Application Interface Specification, a technical specification defined by the Service Availability Forum
• Artificial immune system, a computational system inspired by the principles and processes of the vertebrate immune system's characteristics of learning and memory
• Automatic Identification System, a navigation system for locating, identifying and tracking marine vessels (ships)
• Automated information system, a system which is capable of providing information automatically, usually using computer hardware, software, firmware, or any combination of these
• Automotive Industry Standards, automotive technical regulations of India

Other[link]

• The Apples in Stereo, an American rock band
• Arorae Island Airport, Arorae, Kiribati (IATA code)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article is incomplete. Please help to improve the article, or discuss the issue on the talk page. (October 2010)

A tribe is viewed, historically or developmentally, as a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states. Many anthropologists used the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups (see clan and kinship).

Some theorists hold that tribes represent a stage in social evolution intermediate between bands and states. Other theorists argue that tribes developed after, and must be understood in terms of their relationship to, states.

It is important to note that the word 'tribe' is a contested term due to its roots in colonial anthropological foundations and the connotations that these hierarchical definitions have.^{[1] [2][3][4]}It is common practice to use alternative terms like 'ethnic group' , or nation.^[5][6][7][8]

Etymology[link]

The English word tribe occurs in 12th-century Middle English literature as referring to one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The word is from Old French tribu, in turn from Latin tribus, referring to the original tripartite ethnic division of the Roman state: Ramnes (Ramnenses), Tities (Titienses), and Luceres, corresponding, according to Varro, to the Latins, Sabines, and Etruscans respectively. The Ramnes were named after Romulus, leader of the Latins, Tities after Tatius, leader of the Sabines, and Luceres after Lucumo, leader of an Etruscan army that had assisted the Latins. According to Livy, the three tribes were in fact squadrons of knights, rather than ethnic divisions. The term's ultimate etymology is uncertain, perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European roots *tri- ("three") and *bhew- ("to be").^[9]

In 242–240 BC, the Tribal Assembly (comitia tributa) in the Roman Republic was organized in 35 Tribes (four "Urban Tribes" and 31 "Rural Tribes"). The Latin word as used in the Bible translates as Greek phyle "race, tribe, clan" and ultimately the Hebrew שבט ([ʃevæt]) or "sceptre". In the historical sense, "tribe," "race" and "clan" can be used interchangeably.

The term's origin might be found with the Latin word for three, tres. The dative and ablative case forms of this word are both tribus. The word tribus could therefore mean "from the three" or "for the three."^{[citation needed][dubious – discuss]}

Evolution[link]

Considerable debate takes place over how best to characterize tribes. This partly stems from perceived differences between pre-state tribes and contemporary tribes; some reflects more general controversy over cultural evolution and colonialism. In the popular imagination, tribes reflect a way of life that predates, and is more "natural", than that in modern states. Tribes also privilege primordial social ties, are clearly bounded, homogeneous, parochial, and stable. Thus, many believed^[who?] that tribes organize links between families (including clans and lineages), and provide them with a social and ideological basis for solidarity that is in some way more limited than that of an "ethnic group" or of a "nation". Anthropological and ethnohistorical research has challenged all of these notions.

Anthropologist Elman Service presented a system of classification for societies in all human cultures based on the evolution of social inequality and the role of the state. This system of classification contains four categories:

1. Gatherer-hunter bands, which are generally egalitarian.
2. Tribal societies in which there are some limited instances of social rank and prestige (see Chiefdom).
3. Stratified tribal societies led by chieftains.
4. Civilizations, with complex social hierarchies and organized, institutional governments.

In his 1975 study, The Notion of the Tribe, anthropologist Morton H. Fried provided numerous examples of tribes the members of which spoke different languages and practised different rituals, or that shared languages and rituals with members of other tribes. Similarly, he provided examples of tribes where people followed different political leaders, or followed the same leaders as members of other tribes. He concluded that tribes in general are characterized by fluid boundaries and heterogeneity, are not parochial, and are dynamic.^[10]

Fried, however, proposed that most contemporary tribes do not have their origin in pre-state tribes, but rather in pre-state bands. Such "secondary" tribes, he suggested, actually came about as modern products of state expansion. Bands comprise small, mobile, and fluid social formations with weak leadership, that do not generate surpluses, pay no taxes and support no standing army. Fried argued that secondary tribes develop in one of two ways. First, states could set them up as means to extend administrative and economic influence in their hinterland, where direct political control costs too much. States would encourage (or require) people on their frontiers to form more clearly bounded and centralized polities, because such polities could begin producing surpluses and taxes, and would have a leadership responsive to the needs of neighboring states (the so-called "scheduled" tribes of the United States or of British India provide good examples of this). Second, bands could form "secondary" tribes as a means to defend themselves against state expansion. Members of bands would form more clearly bounded and centralized polities, because such polities could begin producing surpluses that could support a standing army that could fight against states, and they would have a leadership that could co-ordinate economic production and military activities.

In some countries, such as the United States of America and India, tribes are polities that have been granted legal recognition and limited autonomy by the state.

Archeologists continue to explore the development of pre-state tribes. Current research suggests that tribal structures constituted one type of adaptation to situations providing plentiful yet unpredictable resources. Such structures proved flexible enough to coordinate production and distribution of food in times of scarcity, without limiting or constraining people during times of surplus.

See also[link]

• Nomad
• Pantribal sodalities
• Patriclan
• Social group
• Tribal sovereignty
• Tribal chief
• Tribal name
• Tribal warfare
• Tribalism
• Tribe (internet)
• Neocolonialism

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Benveniste, Émile
  • Indo-European Language and Society, translated by Elizabeth Palmer. London: Faber and Faber 1973. ISBN 0-87024-250-4.
  • Origines de la formation des noms en indo-européen, 1935.
• Fried, Morton H. The Notion of Tribe. Cummings Publishing Company, 1975. ISBN 0-8465-1548-2
• Helm, June, ed, 1968. Essays on the Problem of Tribe, Proceedings, American Ethnological Society, 1967 (Seattle: University of Washington Press).
• Nagy, Gregory, Greek Mythology and Poetics, Cornell University Press, 1990. In chapter 12, beginning on p. 276, Professor Nagy explores the meaning of the word origin and social context of a tribe in ancient Greece and beyond.
• Sutton,Imre, Indian Land Tenure: Bibliographical Essays and a Guide to the Literature (NY: Clearwater, 1975): tribe—pp. 101–02,180-82, 186-87, 191-93.

External links[link]

Look up tribe or tribal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Chiefdom: Precursor of the Tribe?
• Oldest organization in Asia protecting tribal culture
• Moroccan Tribes

Byron Dorgan
United States Senator from North Dakota
In office December 15, 1992 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Kent Conrad
Succeeded by	John Hoeven
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Dakota's At-Large district
In office January 3, 1981 – December 15, 1992
Preceded by	Mark Andrews
Succeeded by	Earl Pomeroy
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	John McCain
Succeeded by	Daniel Akaka
18th Tax Commissioner of North Dakota
In office 1969–1980
Governor	William L. Guy Arthur A. Link
Preceded by	Edwin O. Sjaasstad
Succeeded by	Kent Conrad
Personal details
Born	(1942-05-14) May 14, 1942 (age 70) Dickinson, North Dakota
Political party	Democratic-NPL
Spouse(s)	Kim Dorgan
Residence	Bismarck, North Dakota
Alma mater	University of North Dakota (B.S.) University of Denver (M.B.A.)
Occupation	Politician Author Aerospace Manager
Religion	Lutheran

Byron Leslie Dorgan (born May 14, 1942) is a former United States Senator from North Dakota and is now a senior policy advisor for a Washington, DC law firm. He is a member of the North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party, the North Dakota affiliate of the Democratic Party. In the Senate, he was Chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee and Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs. Dorgan announced on January 5, 2010 that he would not seek re-election in the 2010 North Dakota senate election, and he was succeeded by North Dakota Governor John Hoeven.^[1] Dorgan is now co-chair of Government Relations Practice for the Washington, DC law firm Arent Fox.^[2] He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he focuses on issues related to energy policy.^[3] Dorgan is also a co-chair of BPC's Energy Project.

Early life, education, and business career[link]

Dorgan was born in Dickinson, North Dakota, the son of Dorothy (née Bach) and Emmett Patrick Dorgan, and was raised in Regent, North Dakota.^[4] He graduated from Regent High School and earned a Bachelor of Science from the University of North Dakota in 1964 and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Denver in 1966. Dorgan worked in management for a Denver aerospace firm, eventually earning a position training others for high ranking company positions.

Early political career[link]

Dorgan's public service career began at age 26, when he was appointed North Dakota State Tax Commissioner. He was the youngest constitutional officer in North Dakota's history. He was re-elected to that office by large margins in 1972 and 1976, and was chosen one of "Ten Outstanding State Officials" in the United States by the left of center Washington Monthly magazine. Dorgan served as tax commissioner of North Dakota from 1969 until 1980. His future Senate colleague Kent Conrad worked in the same office before succeeding Dorgan at this post. Dorgan ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Congress in 1974. He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in his second bid in 1980. He was a member from 1981 until 1992, being re-elected five times.

U.S. Senate[link]

Elections[link]

In 1992, the Democratic incumbent, Kent Conrad opted not to run for re-election because of a campaign promise. Dorgan won the election for the seat. However, that September the state's other senator, Quentin Burdick, died and Conrad ran for the seat in the special election. Conrad took the new seat in 1992 and Dorgan assumed Conrad's old seat a few weeks early. Dorgan was re-elected in 1998 and 2004. Conrad later was elected for a full term from North Dakota's other Senate seat.

Tenure[link]

When Byron Dorgan was the chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, he was one of the most powerful Democrats in the Senate. He was considered "something of a liberal hero."^[2] In his later years of his senate career, he had been increasingly sought by the national media for comment on political issues. He was a strong opponent of U.S. policy toward Cuba. He has introduced, with varying levels of success, several amendments to end the U.S. prohibition on travel to Cuba, and to terminate funds for anti-Castro broadcasting. Dorgan has also opposed most bills "liberalizing" trade policies between the USA and other countries. He has a mixed record on tort reform issues, voting against the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and the Class Action Fairness Act, but voting in favor of the vetoed Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act and the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act.

In 1999, Dorgan was an early voice of concern over lack of regulation of derivatives, which would later be a central issue in the subprime mortgage crisis and subsequent 2007–2012 global financial crisis^[5]:

We are moving towards greater risk. We must do something to address the regulation of hedge funds and especially derivatives in this country, $33 trillion, a substantial amount of it held by the 25 largest banks in this country, a substantial amount being traded in proprietary accounts of those banks. That kind of risk overhanging the financial institutions of this country one day, with a thud, will wake everyone up.

In 2007 he was a major supporter of Net Neutrality legislation in the Senate. He sees this as essential to keeping the Internet open and democratic.^[6]

In 2007, he was a major opponent of the McCain-Kennedy Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 (S. 1639) saying that the legislation would continue the downward push of illegal aliens on the wages of American workers.^[7]

In 2008, he was one of the first politicians who spoke of the oncoming economic downturn in a speech to the Senate on January 23 which was in response to then President Bush's economic stimulus package.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, he voted against an amendment to the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. He joined all 39 voting Republican senators and 12 Senate Democrats.^[8]

Dorgan has three times^[9] introduced a bill forming a Truman Committee to oversee Government waste, fraud, and corruption in the giving of governmental contracts.^[10]

In 2009, Dorgan voted to approve the $838 billion dollar stimulus package. This vote passed 61-37 in the United States Senate.^[11]

In 2009, Dorgan sided with fellow Democrats to make funds available to modify or build facilities to allow Guantanamo detainees to be brought to the United States. This was a reversal from a previous vote to not allow federal funds to be used to transfer or incarcerate Guantanamo inmates.^[12]

Although Dorgan had indicated in early 2008 he would seek a fourth term in the Senate,^[13] on January 5, 2010, he issued a statement announcing he would not run for re-election. In it, he insisted that the "...decision [was] not a reflection of any dissatisfaction with my work in the Senate, nor [was] it connected to a potential election contest [in the fall of 2010] (frankly, I believe if I were to run for another term I would be reelected)."^{[citation needed]}

On September 26, 2008, against a backdrop of growing economic turmoil caused by the Credit Crunch, an article written by David Leonhardt of The New York Times singled out a quotation made by Dorgan in 1999^[14] during the US Senate's repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act. "I think we will look back in 10 years’ time and say we should not have done this, but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930s is true in 2010". Dorgan was one of only 8 senators who voted "No" on the deregulation bill (the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act) in 1999.^[14]

He is briefly featured in Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, in which he discusses the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks. He was not being interviewed by Moore.^{[citation needed]}

Committee assignments[link]

2009-2010

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
• Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
  • Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion
  • Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
  • Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety, and Security
• Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy
  • Subcommittee on National Parks
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power
• Committee on Indian Affairs (Chairman)

Personal life[link]

Dorgan is married to the former Kimberly Olson, an Executive Vice President and lobbyist for The American Council of Life Insurers. Together they have two children, Brendon and Haley. From his first marriage, Dorgan has a son Scott who has two children, Mason and Madison, and had a daughter Shelly, who is deceased.

Controversy[link]

This article's Criticism or Controversy section may compromise the article's neutral point of view of the subject. Please integrate the section's contents into the article as a whole, or rewrite the material. (January 2010)

In November 2005, Dorgan was accused of receiving campaign contributions from people who worked for companies connected to lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Because Dorgan is the top Democrat on the committee investigating Abramoff, questions were raised about a possible conflict of interest.

In a statement released on November 28, 2005,^[15] Dorgan responded by asserting that he has never personally met Jack Abramoff, nor has he ever received money from Abramoff. Dorgan did acknowledge receiving money from Abramoff's clients, but the donations began prior to their involvement with Abramoff. Dorgan's statement went on to say that he has supported the programs that benefited Abramoff's clients years prior to the contribution.

Dorgan's statement pointed out other errors in the news reports, such as correcting who made a call to the Department of the Interior and for what purpose. The news reports claimed that one of Dorgan's staff members made the call in order to express support for the program that benefited Abramoff's clients, whereas in reality it was a staff member for the Chairman of the Interior Subcommittee who made the call, and the call was made in opposition to the program.

On December 13, 2005 Dorgan announced that he was returning all donations from Abramoff's clients as a precaution that the contributions may have been directed or requested by Abramoff.^[16]

Writings[link]

• Dorgan, Byron Reckless!: How Debt, Deregulation, and Dark Money Nearly Bankrupted America (And How We Can Fix It!) Thomas Dunne Books (2009) ISBN 0-312-38303-7
• Dorgan, Byron Take This Job and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain-Dead Politics Are Selling Out America Thomas Dunne Books (July 25, 2006) ISBN 0-312-35522-X
• Dorgan, Byron (editor) Electric Transmission Infrastructure and Investment Needs: Hearing Before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, U.S. Senate Diane Pub Co (January 2003) ISBN 0-7567-2997-1
• Dorgan, Byron and David Hagberg Blowout Forge (2012) ISBN 978-0-7653-2737-6

Electoral history[link]

See also[link]

• North Dakota United States Senate election, 1986
• North Dakota United States Senate election, 1992
• North Dakota United States Senate election, 1998
• North Dakota United States Senate election, 2004

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Byron Dorgan

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Byron Dorgan

• 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
• Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Byron Dorgan at Metavid

v t e United States Senators from North Dakota Class 1 Casey Roach McCumber Frazier Langer Brunsdale Q. Burdick J. Burdick Conrad Class 3 Pierce Hansbrough Johnson Thompson Purcell Gronna Ladd Nye Moses Young Andrews Conrad Dorgan Hoeven