Dean Heller (born May 10, 1960) is an American politician who represents Nevada's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He had previously served as Nevada's Secretary of State.
Biography
A long time resident of Carson City, and a graduate of Carson High School, Heller earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, specializing in finance and securities analysis, from the University of Southern California in 1985. He then worked as an institutional stockbroker and as a broker/trader on the Pacific Stock Exchange.Heller served as a deputy State Treasurer prior to his election to the Nevada Assembly. Heller served in the Nevada Assembly from 1990 to 1994. While in this legislature, he authored a bill to reform state retirement pensions. He was first elected Secretary of State in 1994, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002, serving in this capacity until 2006. As secretary, he instituted a requiement that all electronic voting machines leave a recordable paper trail.
Political positions
Heller is a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.Energy security
Heller has consistently voted for domestic exploration and the development of renewable energy.Minimum wage
Heller voted to increase the federal minimum wage and provide tax breaks for small businesses.Labor issues
Heller voted against legislation that would allow labor unions to use the card check method instead of employer run elections when voting to unionize at a place of business.Abortion
On 2007-07-19, Heller voted for an amendment that would have cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations.2006 congressional race
Heller announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in 2005. On August 15, 2006, he narrowly won the Republican primary for the congressional seat being vacated by gubernatorial candidate Jim Gibbons. Heller received 24,781 votes to Assemblywoman Sharron Angle's 24,353. Dawn Gibbons, a former State Assemblywoman and wife of the incumbent, finished third with 17,328 votes.Heller defeated University of Nevada Regent and Democratic candidate Jill Derby in the November general election by 5 percent 
Heller lost Washoe County. However, he won most of the rural areas of the district by margins of 2-to-1 or more, allowing him to win the district by 12,600 votes.
References
External links
- U.S. Congressman Dean Heller official site
- Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
- Dean Heller for Congress official campaign site
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday July 18, 2008 at 02:06:06 PDT (GMT -0700)
View this article at Wikipedia.org - Edit this article at Wikipedia.org - Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.