Phil Gramm

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William Philip "Phil" Gramm (born July 8 1942, in Fort Benning, Georgia, USA) is an American politician who served as a Democratic Congressman (1978–1983), a Republican Congressman (1983–1985) and a Republican Senator from Texas (1985–2002).

Early Life & University career

Gramm often noted in his political campaigns that he had repeated three grades in school but had overcome his academic deficiencies by hard work. In 1967, Gramm received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Georgia. While at UGA, he was a member of the Phi Kappa Literary Society. After earning his Ph.D., Gramm taught economics for 12 years at Texas A&M University (1967–1978). In addition to teaching, Gramm served as a partner in the economic consulting firm Gramm & Associates (1971–1978).

Works :

• Gramm, William P. "Laissez-Faire and the Optimum Quantity of Money." Economic Inquiry 12 (March 1974): 125-133.

Democratic politician

In 1976, Gramm unsuccessfully challenged Texas Democratic Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, in the party's senatorial primary. Nine years later, Gramm and Bentsen would begin what became an 8-year relationship as senatorial colleagues from Texas. During their Senate tenures, both attempted to run for President, but neither made a serious showing.

In 1978, Gramm successfully ran as a Democrat for Representative from Texas's 6th congressional district. He continued his service in the House, being reelected as a Democrat in 1980.

Republican politician

In 1981, Gramm attended Democratic Caucus budget meetings and then secretly shared their strategy with Republicans to help pass newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan's budget. In response, the House Democratic leadership stripped him of his seat on the committee. Following this action, Gramm resigned his House seat, forcing a mid-term special election. Gramm ran in that election to fill the vacancy that he had created, but as a Republican. Winning, he became the first Republican to represent the district since its creation. He won re-election to the seat again in 1982, and after he left the House, the seat was retained for the Republican party (by Joe Barton).

In 1984, Gramm was elected as a Republican to represent Texas in the U.S. Senate. He defeated Congressman Ron Paul in the primary election and liberal Democratic candidate Lloyd Doggett of Austin in the general election for the right to succeed retiring Republican Senator John G. Tower. Gramm polled 3,116,348 votes (58.5 percent) to Doggett's 2,207,557 (41.5 percent), though Doggett would go on to become a House member later. Gramm served on the Senate Budget Committee from 1989 until leaving office in 2003. Gramm and Senators Fritz Hollings and Warren Rudman devised a means of cutting the budget through indiscriminate, across-the-board spending cuts if deficit-reduction targets were not met. They were successful in making the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act law, but portions were ruled unconstitutional and other sections have largely been superseded by other budget-controlling mechanisms. Later in his Senate career, Gramm spearheaded efforts to pass banking reform laws, including the landmark Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999, which modernized Depression-era laws separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities. Between 1995 and 2000 Gramm, who was the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, received $1,000,914 in campaign contributions from the Securities & Investment industry

In 1990, Gramm won his second term with an easy victory over Democratic State Senator (and former Fort Worth Mayor) Hugh Parmer, even as fellow Republican Clayton Williams was narrowly losing the governorship to Ann Richards.

Gramm's East Texas and later statewide director was Phil Wilson, a native of Brownwood, who went on to serve another Republican politician, Governor Rick Perry. First, Wilson was Perry's deputy chief of staff. Then in 2007 Perry named Wilson as the new Texas secretary of state.

As a senator, Gramm often called for reductions in taxes and government spending. He employed his "Dickie Flatt Test" to determine if federal programs were worthwhile (Dickie Flatt was a printer in Mexia, Texas, and a longtime Gramm supporter). In Gramm's eyes, Flatt embodied the travails that a typical Texas independent small businessman faced in the realm of taxation and government spending.

Gramm ran unsuccessfully for the Republican Party nomination in the 1996 presidential election. Although he began the race with a full warchest (and tied for first place with Dole in the 1995 "non-binding" Iowa Straw Poll), it is generally agreed that Gramm ran a poor campaign in the Republican primary. He finished a dismal 5th in Iowa's caucuses and withdrew from the contest on the Sunday before the New Hampshire primary to support senatorial colleague Robert J. Dole of Kansas. Gramm, a proponent of free trade, also lashed out at temporary Republican frontrunner Patrick J. Buchanan, whom he mocked in derision as a "protectionist."

After exiting the presidential race, Gramm defeated school teacher Victor Morales of Dallas in November 1996 to win his third and final term in the Senate. Morales ran a low-budget campaign in an effort to make contact with the Democratic grass roots. Gramm left his Senate seat a few weeks before the expiration of his term in December 2002 so that his successor, fellow Republican John Cornyn, could gain seniority over other newly-elected senators.

Post-Senate career

Although there were rumors that Gramm was being considered to be Treasury Secretary in George W. Bush's second term, he was not offered the position. He was also thought to have been in the running for the presidency of Texas A&M University, but the position went to former Central Intelligence Agency Director Robert Gates instead. Gramm is a vice-chairman of UBS Investment Bank. After the November 8, 2006 nomination and subsequent confirmation of Dr. Gates to the position of Secretary of Defense, Gramm was briefly rumored to be a candidate for Texas A&M University presidency, despite statements from university officials that he would not be considered and denials from Gramm himself.

He has been an economic adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign since summer 2007.

Also, has been rumored to be a running mate to McCain for 2008.

Controversy

Gramm was partly caught up in the Enron scandal when it emerged that his wife Wendy had part written an exemption for Enron from federal oversight while she was serving on the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She then accepted a directorship at Enron. Gramm was personally involved further when it came to light that he had helped to turn the exemption into law as well as push through the deregulation of energy markets that led in part to the Enron scandal. During this period Enron was a major contributor to his campaigns

Personal

Gramm grew up in Columbus, Georgia. He is married to Dr. Wendy Lee Gramm, a native of Hawaii, who is associated with George Mason University's Mercatus Center in Virginia. They are the parents of two sons, one of whom, Marshall, is a professor of economics at Rhodes College. Gramm was one of several politicians who had cameo appearances in the movie Gods and Generals. He played a Virginia delegate in the scene where Robert E. Lee accepts his role as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia. On November 18, 1999, 12 students at Texas A&M died when the bonfire they were constructing collapsed. After hearing of this, Phil Gramm called the Pentagon to see if he was eligible for the fly-by missing man formation. When the Pentagon said yes, Phil Gramm offered the fly-by that was reserved for him to be for the 12 deceased students, known as "Aggies" during a memorial tribute instead and it was.

Quotes

• "Most people don't have the luxury of living to be 80 years old, so it's hard for me to feel sorry for them." — In response to a claim that a Social Security proposal would hurt people over 80.
• "Has anyone ever noticed that we live in the only country in the world where all the poor people are fat?" — During his first Senate Campaign against Democrat Lloyd Doggett.
• "We're going to keep on building the party (the Texas Republican Party) until we're hunting Democrats with dogs." — As quoted in Mother Jones, August 1995
• "If you are willing to tackle the tough issues, you don’t need to worry about stepping on anyone’s toes; they will stand aside and shove you to the front.” — As quoted by former Gramm staffer Wayne A. Abernathy September 12, 2002, before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
• "I have more guns than I need, and fewer guns than I want." — often part of his stump speech in the mid 1990s

References

External links

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