David Vitter
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David Bruce Vitter (born May 3 1961) is an American politician, currently serving as the Junior Senator from Louisiana. He was formerly a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, first elected in 1999, to represent the suburban First Congressional District of Louisiana. He was born in New Orleans, was educated at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at Oxford University (Rhodes Scholar), and the law school of Tulane University. He was a lawyer and a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1991-1999, when he entered the U.S. House. He occupies the Senate seat formerly held by Democrat John B. Breaux.
Vitter won the Senate contest outright in the November 2, 2004, senatorial jungle primary, which coincided with the regular presidential election. He defeated outright a field of opponents, including two major Democrats, then Seventh Congressional District Congressman Christopher John and state Treasurer John Kennedy, no relation to the Massachusetts Kennedys.
While Vitter is widely believed to be the first Republican Senator elected in Louisiana, that title actually goes to John S. Harris who took his office as a senator in 1868. However, Vitter is the first to be elected by the general populace of Louisiana, while Harris was chosen by the state legislature before the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution made that procedure obsolete.
Vitter quarreled with former Governor Murphy J. "Mike" Foster, his fellow Republican, in regard to gambling on Indian reservations. The Louisiana Jena Band of Choctaws accused Vitter of being "in cahoots" with Jack Abramoff and his attempts to stymie the tribe's casino plans. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee, led by Republicans, found the allegations against Vitter had no factual basis.
Hurricane Katrina
In the wake of 2005's Hurricane Katrina, while New Orleans' flood levels were still rising in all areas, Vitter made an inaccurate statement that received notable media attention."In the metropolitan area in general, in the huge majority of areas, it's not rising at all. It's the same or it may be lowering slightly. In some parts of New Orleans, because of the 17th Street breach, it may be rising and that seemed to be the case in parts of downtown.
"I don't want to alarm everybody that, you know, New Orleans is filling up like a bowl. That's just not happening," said Vitter on August 30. [link]
In later days, Vitter gave the federal government's emergency response an "F grade" during an interview on Fox News's Hannity & Colmes, but avoided criticising President George W. Bush. [link]
Vitter's performance during Hurricane Katrina was later documented in historian Douglas Brinkley's book, The Deluge.
Same sex marriage views
In June 2006, in line with several of his Republican colleagues in the Senate, Vitter came out strongly in favor of amending the U.S. Constitution to ban same sex marriages. He said, "I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one...I think this debate is very healthy, and it's winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think we're going to show real progress".[link]Vitter won the Senate seat outright in the November 2, 2004 senatorial jungle primary, which coincided with the regular presidential election. He defeated a field of opponnets, including two major Democrats, then Seventh Congressional District Congressman Christopher John and state Treasurer John Kennedy, no relation to the Massachusetts Kennedys.
External links
- [David Vitter Online Office]
- [Political Biography (Washington Post)]
- [record maintained by the Washington Post]
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