Marilyn Musgrave

Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAR : Marilyn Musgrave

Musgrave (left) receives a pro-life Susan B. Anthony Award from Jane Abraham.

Marilyn Neoma Musgrave (born January 27, 1949), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing the 4th District of Colorado ([map]). The district takes up most of eastern Colorado outside the Denver and Colorado Springs-Pueblo metropolitan areas, but most of its vote is cast in Fort Collins and Greeley. She is best known nationally as the main sponsor of the Federal Marriage Amendment.

Musgrave is a member of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce, and the U.S. House Committee on Small Business.

Contents

1 Background and early political career
2 2002 election
3 2004 election
4 2006 election
5 Other
6 Violation of military code
7 External links

Background and early political career

Musgrave was born in Greeley and was educated at Colorado State University, graduating with a B.A. in 1972. Her career in elective office began in 1991, when she served one term on the school board of Fort Morgan. She served in the Colorado House of Representatives from 1993 to 1997 and in the Colorado Senate from 1997 until her election to Congress in 2002.

Musgrave was one of the most conservative members of the state legislature. She spent most of her time on social issues and her political career began in part because she wanted to change local sex education to abstinence only education.[link]. She also worked against allowing adoption by same-sex couples, Civil unions for them, and same-sex marriage. In another area she was active on small business and agricultural issues, particularly authoring bills to exempt farm equipment dealers from sales tax and lowering taxes on small business.

2002 election

In 2002, after Congressman Bob Schaffer retired, Musgrave ran for and won the Republican nomination to succeed him. She received a big boost in the primary when she gained the endorsements of Schaffer and former Senator William Armstrong. She was quickly labeled as far too conservative even for the 4th, which had not elected a Democrat since 1972. However, that label had been applied to her three most recent predecessors — Hank Brown, Wayne Allard and Schaffer — without much success. Several Republican strategists suggested that if Musgrave lost, it would have been a sign that the Republicans had lost everything in Colorado.

In November, due to the strong Republican lean of the district, a large campaign war chest, and the reelection bid of popular Republican Governor Bill Owens, Musgrave defeated Democratic State Senate President Stan Matsunaka 55% to 42%.

2004 election

In 2004, Musgrave faced Matsunaka again. Despite outspending him by over a million dollars, she only defeated him 51% to 45%. Musgrave lost in Larimer County, home to Fort Collins and the biggest whole county in the district. She also lost the district's share of Boulder County, including Longmont. However, she swamped Matsunaka in Weld County, home to Greeley, by a margin far larger than the actual margin of victory. Had it not been for Musgrave's victory in Weld County, and perhaps George W. Bush's huge win in the district, she would have been defeated.

Several reasons have been given for this unusually tight margin, at least compared to the district's previous history. One factor was Musgrave's singular focus on social issues, including the Federal Marriage Amendment. She also picked a fight with powerful Transportation Committee chairman Don Young that cost her district a large amount of funding for road repair. She was also criticized for allegedly poor constituent services.

Musgrave was the subject of negative ads during the 2004 election season funded by Colorado philanthropists such as Tim Gill. The ads featured an actress dressed up like Musgrave picking a corpse's pocket and stealing from a soldier.

After the 2004 elections, Musgrave was put on a National Republican Congressional Committee list of vulnerable incumbents, which is very unusual since the 4th has long been considered a safe Republican seat, or at least a seat where it would take a unique set of circumstances for a Democrat to win.

2006 election

In November, Musgave will face Democratic state representative Angie Paccione, who has received the backing of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In late 2005, former Reagan EPA appointee Eric Eidsness announced that he was considering a primary challenge to Musgrave, but in March 2006, Eidsness left the Republican Party and announced he was running for the seat on the Reform Party ticket.

Other

Musgrave is very conservative, even by Republican standards. She opposes abortion, even in cases of rape or to protect the mother's life. She strongly opposes gun control, and is the founder of the 2nd Amendment Caucus. According to her website, she believes that government intrudes too much on family affairs and instead favors empowering parents. She also advocates changing the laws to lend more support to families who home-school their children.

She is a Pentecostal, and is one of four Pentecostals serving in the 109th Congress. The others, all Republicans, are Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, Tim Johnson of Illinois and Todd Tiahrt of Kansas.

Musgrave received $30,000 in campaign contributions from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC. After DeLay was indicted on charges related to another political action committee, TRMPAC, Musgrave refused to return the money or donate it to charity. [link] Noting that the Congresswoman had not received any money from TRMPAC, Musgrave spokesman Guy Short said, "Every dollar she's received is legal". [link]

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington recently labeled Musgrave one of the "thirteen most corrupt members of Congress" [link]. She allegedly used her district office to run her campaign, and also reportedly used the franking privilege accorded to House members to send campaign material for a candidate she favored. Both allegations, if true, would violate House rules. Musgrave has denied these charges.

Violation of military code

On March 3, 2006, at Larimer County's Republican Lincoln Day Dinner, Musgrave, the mistress of ceremonies, had multiple uniformed Marines stand on stage with her. The incident has been pointed to as an example of trying to use "uniformed military personnel as props at Republican political rallies," something that is a violation of military regulations. The marines "were not there endorsing a candidate, and they were not speaking," said Nancy Hunter, chairwoman of the Larimer County Republicans and Musgrave staffer in her Loveland office, and therefore there was no violation. [link] [link]

The military code states: "A member on active duty may: ... [E3.2.9] Attend partisan and nonpartisan political meetings or rallies as a spectator when not in uniform." [link] [link]

External links

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.