Doug Lamborn
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Joel Hefley
Member of the Colorado Senate from the 9th district
In office 1998–2007
Preceded by	Charles Duke[1]
Succeeded by	David Schultheis[2]
Member of the Colorado House of Representatives from the 20th district
In office 1995–1998
Preceded by	Charles Duke
Succeeded by	Lynn Hefley[3]
Personal details
Born	(1954-05-24) May 24, 1954 (age 58) Leavenworth, Kansas
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jeanie Lamborn
Residence	Colorado Springs, Colorado
Alma mater	University of Kansas
Occupation	attorney
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

Doug Lamborn (born May 24, 1954) is the U.S. Representative for Colorado's 5th congressional district, in office since 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district is based in Colorado Springs.

Colorado legislature[link]

Elections[link]

In 1994, Lamborn was elected to the Colorado House of Representatives. He successfully ran for a Colorado Senate seat in 1998.

He was elected Republican House Whip in 1997. He was elected Senate President Pro-tem in 1999. Lamborn served in the Colorado Senate until winning a seat in Congress.^[4]

Tenure[link]

While in the State Senate Lamborn sponsored the largest tax cut in Colorado State history,^[5] and was named the highest-ranking tax cutter in the Senate five times, by a conservative activist group called the Colorado Union of Taxpayers.^[4]

Committee assignments[link]

Lamborn was the ranking Republican on the Colorado State Military and Veterans Affairs, and Appropriations committees.

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Elections[link]

2006

On February 16, 2006, Joel Hefley announced he would retire after 10 terms in Congress.^[6] In the August 8, 2006 Republican primary, Lamborn defeated five other candidates to win the party nomination, includling one supported by Hefley.

Lamborn ran on conservative positions:^[7] opposing gun control, abortion except when the mother's life is threatened, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, providing public benefits to illegal immigrants, and new eminent domain rulings.^[8]

Lamborn earned the endorsement in the primary of numerous national organizations, including National Right to Life, National Pro-life Alliance,^[9] National Rifle Association, Gunowners of America,^[10] Club for Growth, National Right to Work, Eagle Forum, and Minuteman PAC.^[11] He ran against Jay Fawcett, the Democratic nominee for the open seat in Colorado's 5th congressional district. Lamborn won the election on November 7, 2006.

2008

Jeff Crank and Bentley Rayburn both challenged Lamborn in the 2008 Republican primary. Both lost to Lamborn in the 2006 primary. Lamborn won the primary election on August 12, 2008 with 45 percent^[12] of the 56,171 votes cast. Crank got 29 percent and Rayburn got 26 percent. Lamborn defeated Democratic challenger Hal Bidlack in the 2008 election.

2010

Lamborn was challenged by Democratic nominee Kevin Bradley, Libertarian nominee Jerell Klaver, and American Constitution Party nominee Brian "Barron X" Scott. He won re-election.

2012

Lamborn is currently being challenged in the Republican primary by businessman Robert Blaha.

Tenure[link]

An office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was established in Colorado Springs in Lamborn's district. The office opened in February 2009 and increased immigration enforcement agents in the area from two to ten. “The immediate need is to address those that have committed a crime and make sure they’re sent out of the country,” Lamborn said. However this would not place in jeopardy employers who hire illegal immigrants in the first place or who pay these workers without any withholding tax or below the minimum wage.^[13]

There has also been a Brigade Combat Team in his district since December 2007. The Brigade Combat Team consisting of almost 5,000 soldiers, their families, support personnel as well as increased military construction.^[14]

Congressional Quarterly said that through the first August recess, Lamborn had voted by strict partisan lines the most of any member in the U.S. House and more than any other Republican.^[7] Lamborn led an effort among conservative Republicans to force the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to discard proposed regulations that would have affected accessibility to small arms ammunition, which were opposed by Second Amendment groups.^[15] In February 2010, The National Journal named Lamborn the most conservative member of the U.S. House of Representatives.^[16]

Lamborn is one of the House Republicans leading the effort against public funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NPR (National Public Radio). "I have been seeking to push Big Bird out of the nest for over a year, based on the simple fact that we can no longer afford to spend taxpayer dollars on nonessential government programs. It's time for Big Bird to earn his wings and learn to fly on his own." ^[17]

On August 24, 2007, Jonathan Bartha, who works for Focus on the Family (headquartered in Colorado Springs), and his wife Anna wrote a letter to the editor in a community newspaper expressing concerns about Lamborn's opposition to more restrictions on dog fighting. They were also concerned that he'd taken several campaign contributions from the gaming industry. A few days later, Lamborn left two voice mails threatening "consequences" if they didn't renounce their "blatantly false" letter. He also said that he would be "forced to take other steps" if the matter wasn't resolved "on a Scriptural level." The Barthas were shocked by the messages, and Anna Bartha called Lamborn's behavior "not anything we would ever anticipate an elected official would pursue."^[18]

Taxes

Lamborn is a signer of Americans for Tax Reform’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.^[19]

"Tar Baby" Remark

On July 29, 2011, Lamborn appeared on a denver radio program to discuss the debt crisis and the failure of Democrats and Republicans to reach a compromise on the problem. Lamborn stated "Now, I don't even want to have to be associated with [President Obama]. It's like touching a tar baby and you get it, you're stuck, and you're a part of the problem now and you can't get away."^[20] The term tar baby is a known racial slur used towards African-Americans. Former Colorado House Speaker Terrance Carroll, himself an African-American, replied "“Looking beyond the fact that Congressman Lamborn’s entire comment is nonsensical, his use of the term ‘tar baby’ is unfortunate because [of] the historical connotation of that term when used in conjunction with African Americans."^[21]

On August 1, 2011, Lamborn apologized for his use of the slur, explaining ""When I said 'tar baby', I was talking economic quagmire that our country is finding ourselves in because of poor economic policy from the White House. I could have used a better term."^[22]

Refusal to attend 2012 State of the Union Address

On January 23, 2012, Lamborn announced he would not be attending the President's State of the Union address. According to his spokeswoman Catherine Mortenson, "Congressman Lamborn is doing this to send a clear message that he does not support the policies of Barack Obama, that they have hurt our country," and he believed Obama was “in full campaign mode and will use the address as an opportunity to bash his political opponents."^[23]

Committee assignments[link]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces
  • Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources (Chairman)
  • Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands
• Committee on Veterans’ Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
• Republican Study Committee

Caucus memberships[link]

• Congressional Constitution Caucus
• House Sovereignty Caucus (Co-Founder)
• International Conservation Caucus
• Republican Israel Caucus (Co-Chair)
• Tea Party Caucus
• United Kingdom Caucus

References[link]

External links[link]

• U.S. Representative Doug Lamborn official U.S. House site
• Doug Lamborn 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

Doug Bruce (born 1967) is the subject of Rupert Murray's 2005 documentary film Unknown White Male.

Bruce claims to suffer from an extremely rare, and possibly purely psychological, form of retrograde amnesia. In the film, Bruce alleges that suddenly one day, his entire episodic memory bank of his entire life went missing. According to Bruce, he first became aware that he "didn't know who [he] was," when he had "awakened" on a New York subway train, with no recollection of who he was, including his name, life experiences, family, friends, home and work. After the alleged incident that led to the alleged amnesia, he claims to have gone to the police station and since they didn't know what to do with him, he was admitted to a hospital psychiatric ward, where, with no name to use, 'Unknown White Male' was written on his hospital medical charts and records.

Hospital stay[link]

After a few days in the hospital, Bruce claims a phone number was suddenly found hidden inside a Spanish phrase book in the bag he had been carrying. Little else was found on him other than some dog medicine; he had no wallet, bank cards, or other identifying documents. The phone number was the mother of a girl, Nadine Abramson, whom he had tried to court. Abramson goes to the hospital to identify him as 'Doug Bruce', a prosperous Englishman who had formerly been a successful banker in Paris, and was studying for a degree in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Abramson characterized Bruce to a reporter from the Washington Post in this way: "He seemed like this typical kind of total Eurotrash banker dude. He was chasing models, had this big loft, 'let's go to Biarritz.' For a few seconds, it was appealing." ^[1] She told the reporter that she had stopped returning his calls because she was not interested. The Washington Post reporter writes that her friends thought the amnesia claim was suspicious, given the circumstances, although Abramson herself was persuaded of the veracity of his story.^[2] In the same article, Abramson is quoted as saying Bruce seemed to relish his new status as an "amnesiac," printing up business cards that said "Unknown White Male" and handing them to girls he met at bars.^[3]

Hoax suspicions[link]

Due of the extreme rarity of Bruce's form of amnesia, the length of it (Bruce has not regained his memory and therefore is a medical anomaly), as well as myriad inconsistencies in his story, there have been claims that the film is a hoax. The filmmakers and subject deny this. Various publications discussed the improbability of Bruce's story, which centers around being the only documented example of extended, full-blown amnesia in the world to date. Others concentrate on dissecting the various incongruent statements Bruce has made regarding his alleged trauma.^[4][5] Bruce reveals in an interview that, before his own bout with amnesia, a close friend suffered from short-term amnesia after a sporting accident; this experience inspired the friend to change his life completely and move to Bali to become "a healer".^[6] It has been speculated that this friend's experience with amnesia inspired Bruce's malingering.

According to filmmaker Rupert Murray, his documentary Unknown White Male is a uniquely filmed exploration into the phenomenon of amnesia from the perspective of an alleged amnesiac, and it includes video film footage which Bruce filmed himself beginning within a week of the start of his alleged amnesia.

External links[link]

• Doug Bruce at the Internet Movie Database
• Is it a hoax?
• A Trip Down Memory Lane (Washington Post)
• New Man (The New Yorker)

Notes[link]