Ralph Hall
Encyclopedia
Ralph Moody Hall is a United States Representative from . First elected in 1980
, Hall is the chairman of the Science Committee and a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee
. He is the dean of the Texas congressional delegation
, as well as the oldest serving member of either House of Congress.
, near Dallas. He was born in Fate, Texas
. He graduated from Rockwall High School
in 1941. Hall joined the U.S. Navy
on December 10, 1942, serving as a lieutenant (senior grade) aircraft carrier pilot from 1942 to 1945, during World War II
.
Hall attended Texas Christian University
in Fort Worth during 1943. After the war, he attended the University of Texas
(1946–47), and received a law degree from Southern Methodist University
in Dallas in 1951. He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1951 and maintained a private law practice in Rockwall for many years.
As of 2006, Hall was serving as the unpaid chairman, president or director of Crowley Holding Co., Bank of Crowley, Lakeside National Bank, Lakeside Bancshares Inc., North & East Trading Co., and Linrock Inc.
In 1962, Hall was elected to the Texas State Senate after incumbent Ray Roberts
won a special election to replace Sam Rayburn
in Congress. He served two terms there before returning to private business in 1973.
In 1972, Hall ran for Texas Lieutenant Governor and lost the Democratic primary getting only 15% of the vote. Bill Hobby won the primary with a plurality of 33%, and won the general election.
of Texas' 4th congressional district decided to retire. Hall won the Democratic primary with 57% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Republican
business manager John Wright, with 52% of the vote, the closest race in the district's history and the lowest winning percentage in a general election in Hall's political career. Hall is only the fourth person to represent the 4th District since its creation in 1903. The district's second congressman, Rayburn (the longtime Speaker of the House
), represented the district for 48 years. Hall has never won re-election in a general election with less than 58% of the vote. He also never won re-election in a primary (Democrat or Republican) with less than 66% of the vote, except in 2010.
2004
In November 2004, Hall ran for his first full term as a Republican. He got heavy White House backing in the three-way GOP primary that year, defeating Mike Murphy and Mike Moshe. Republican leadership even tried to persuade at least one Republican candidate to get out of the race, which the candidate captured on tape. Hall won the primary with 78% of the vote, and the general election with 6% of the vote defeating Democrat Jim Nickerson. and Libertarian Kevin D. Anderson.
2006
Hall defeated Democrat Glenn Melancon and Libertarian Kurt Helm in the 2006 general election with 67% of the vote.
2008
Hall defeated fellow Republican Joshua Kowert
, an economics professor from Sherman
. In the general election, Hall again faced Democratic nominee Glenn Melancon and was re-elected with 69% of the vote.
2010
In the Republican primary, Hall won the nomination with just 57% of the vote, the worst performance in a primary election since Hall's first election in 1980. It was a six candidate race. His closest opponent was Steve Clark, who got just 30%. In the general election, Hall won re-election with 73% of the vote against Democrat VaLinda Hathcox and two other candidates.
Hall described himself as "an old-time conservative Democrat
." Indeed, he was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House for many years. He was an early supporter of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and also favored legislation requiring a super-majority on any tax increases. He frequently clashed with the Clinton administration
, and voted for three of the four articles of impeachment against Clinton. He endorsed George W. Bush
for President in 2000
, one of the first Democrats to do so; the two had been friends for many years.
While Hall was very conservative even by Texas Democratic standards, his conservatism can be attributed to the demographics of the 4th District. It had once been reliably Democratic, but became increasingly friendly to Republicans as Dallas' suburban growth spilled into the western portion of the district (for instance, Rockwall County includes a small portion of Dallas itself) and areas such as Tyler
broke away from their Democratic roots. The 4th has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964
. Despite this district's increasingly Republican tilt, Hall won 10 more terms as a Democrat with an average of 60 percent of the vote. In 1994, for instance, Hall was reelected by a convincing 19-point margin even as other conservative Democrats lost their seats. By the 1990s, Hall was the only elected Democrat above the county level in much of the district. In some areas, he was the only elected Democrat at any level. It was taken for granted that Hall would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.
As mentioned above, Hall's voting record has been largely conservative. However, like many Democrats, Hall voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement
. In 1999, he was one of six Democrats who supported a GOP tax cut plan. He has been an original cosponsor of bills to repeal the estate tax and the marriage tax penalty.
In late 2002, Hall voted for the resolution allowing the use of force in Iraq. In March 2003, Hall voted for a budget that included Bush's 10-year, $726 billion tax cut plan. The plan passed the House 215-212.
In May 2010, Hall introduced a motion to recommit H.R. 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, due to Republican opposition. The motion passed by a vote of 292 to 126. Hall's motion stated that Federal employees disciplined for viewing pornography could not be fired or barred from receiving their salaries. Representative Bart Gordon
, Chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology, responded negatively to Hall's motion, deeming the introduction of anti-pornography provisions to unrelated legislation "a cynical effort to undermine an important bill."
2004 party switch
Hall was frequently rumored as a candidate to switch parties
, especially after the Republicans took control of the House in 1995. Even as Democrats with far less conservative voting records (such as Greg Laughlin
, Jimmy Hayes
, Billy Tauzin
and Nathan Deal
) switched parties, Hall insisted he would remain a Democrat as long as it did not hurt his constituents. He said that he had an obligation to "pull my party back toward the middle." He was one of the co-founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate and conservative Democrats.
In 2003, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
engineered a controversial mid-decade redistricting
. Hall was the only Anglo Democrat not targeted by the remap. However, his district was shifted slightly to the north. Tyler, the heart of the 4th for a century, was shifted to the neighboring 1st District. It did, however, pick up most of Collin County
, which had been part of the district until the 1980s round of redistricting.
In January 2004, on the final day for candidates to file to get their names on the ballot for the March 9, 2004 primary, Hall switched parties and became a Republican. Hall said that Republicans refused to put money for his district into a spending bill, and when he asked why, "the only reason I was given was that I was a Democrat." He also cited concerns with his fellow Democrats' criticism of President Bush; he hadn't attended Democratic caucus meetings for some time due to the barbs thrown at his longtime friend. He told the press, "The country is at war. When the country is at war you need to support the president. Some of my fellow congressmen have not been doing that."
After the switch, the Republican Party allowed Hall to keep his seniority. He became chairman of the House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. He also joined the Republican Study Committee
, a caucus of conservative House Republicans.
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
The Northern Mariana Islands
are a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific with a large garment industry. Billing records of Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, an international law firm employed by the CNMI, the government of the islands, show numerous contacts between the law firm and Hall's office. Hall said his dealings with the law firm were with Lloyd Meeds, a partner with the firm, which at the time listed 36 attorneys on staff, not with Jack Abramoff
, the firm's representative for the CNMI contract. In 2006, Hall said of the Northern Marianas, "They were good allies, and I believed their government should handle their affairs and not have us impose labor laws on them."
In December 1996, Hall and E.K. Slaughter, a friend, and their wives visited the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The trip was arranged by the National Security Caucus Foundation (NSCF), which told Hall that the trip would be paid for by that group. Greg Hilton, the director of the now-defunct NCSF, had no funding for such trips; he only arranged them with CNMI officials. Hilton said he was led to believe by officials of Preston Gates that the CNMI would pay the expenses and be reimbursed by the private sector. In fact, Preston Gates paid the expenses for such trips and billed the CNMI for reimbursement. For the trip of Hall and Slaughter and their wives, Abramoff billed the CNMI $12,800.
In September 1997, Representative Neil Abercrombie
(D-HI) placed remarks in the Congressional Record
describing a teenager described as "Katrina", whose story had been widely publicized, stating that an "employer had lured her to the CNMI under false pretenses" and that "she was also forced into service as a prostitute."
Abramoff's staff contacted Hall's office fifteen times in the two months following Abercrombie's remarks. In November 1997, Hall entered into the Congressional Record a statement saying that upon reviewing those remarks, he had "felt that Congressman Abercrombie had relied on an erroneous and misleading article published by the Reader's Digest some months ago." The article, according to Hall, said that the teenager "was forced to perform lewd sex acts with customers before a video camera." Hall quoted a report by the (acting) attorney general of the CNMI in response: "in fact...she wanted to do nude dancing...to support her family." The remarks by Abercrombie did not cite that source, and the Reader’s Digest June 1997 story by Henry Hurt, "Shame on American Soil," does not refer to a child named Katrina.
In his remarks, Hall also said "I intend to seek further information on matters as reported by the Reader's Digest author — and I would hope that a fair minded person like Congressman Abercrombie would accompany me early next year if, and when, we can both work a visit into our schedule — a visit that would not involve the expenditure of any American tax dollars.
Asked in 2006 how the 1996 trip benefited the Texas Fourth Congressional District he represents, Hall said, "I think it benefits my constituents if you do anything that benefits the Peace Through Strength people, when you’re going out to bring information to them to help win the Cold War
. That’s a benefit to them, to their strategic interests." The last gasps of the Cold War ended in 1991.
Hall also said "the whole thing was about ... them setting their own minimum wage. They had told me they would waive their foreign aid in return for setting their own minimum wage." Hall’s comments in the Congressional Record in 1997 do not mention minimum wage and the CNMI receives no foreign aid.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cq.html
Some had thought that Hall would replace Sherwood Boehlert
of New York
as chairman of the Science Committee. Boehlert was a leading moderate Republican favored by environmental interests, while Hall has strong ties to the oil and gas industry. However, this did not happen either after his party switch in January 2004 or the November 2004 elections. With Democrats regaining control of Congress in the 2006 elections and with Boehlert's retirement the same year, Hall became the ranking minority member
of the committee. He had previously been the ranking minority member from 2001 to 2004 while he was a Democrat.
When the GOP regained the House majority after the 2010 election, Hall became Chairman of the Science Committee.
. They had three sons, Hampton, Brett, and Blakeley, and (as of 2002) had five grandchildren. She died on August 27, 2008.
In January 2004, regarding his switch of party, Hall said "I talked with some of my family. Some agreed, some did not. My wife didn't agree. She'd rather I quit than switch parties."
United States House elections, 1980
The U.S. House election, 1980 was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1980 which coincided with the election of Ronald Reagan as President. Reagan's victory also allowed many Republican House candidates to secure election, and the Republicans gained a net of 35 seats from...
, Hall is the chairman of the Science Committee and a senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee
United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce
The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than 200 years...
. He is the dean of the Texas congressional delegation
United States Congressional Delegations from Texas
These are tables of congressional delegations from Texas to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.-United States Senate:-United States House of Representatives:...
, as well as the oldest serving member of either House of Congress.
Early life, education, and legal career
Hall is a lifelong resident of Rockwall CountyRockwall County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 43,080 people, 14,530 households, and 11,972 families residing in the county. The population density was 334 people per square mile . There were 15,351 housing units at an average density of 119 per square mile...
, near Dallas. He was born in Fate, Texas
Fate, Texas
Fate is a city in Rockwall County, Texas, United States. The 2000 Census showed the city's population at 497. A census by the North Texas Central Council of Governments in 2006 showed the city's population at 3,300. Based on current water bills, the city's population is estimated at 5,139. The...
. He graduated from Rockwall High School
Rockwall High School
Rockwall High School is a high school that is part of the Rockwall Independent School District located in Rockwall, Texas. The mission statement of Rockwall High School is "Rockwall High School values quality education and strives to be an exemplary school by providing students with the tools...
in 1941. Hall joined the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
on December 10, 1942, serving as a lieutenant (senior grade) aircraft carrier pilot from 1942 to 1945, during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Hall attended Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...
in Fort Worth during 1943. After the war, he attended the University of Texas
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
(1946–47), and received a law degree from Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University
Southern Methodist University is a private university in Dallas, Texas, United States. Founded in 1911 by the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, SMU operates campuses in Dallas, Plano, and Taos, New Mexico. SMU is owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church...
in Dallas in 1951. He was admitted to the Texas Bar in 1951 and maintained a private law practice in Rockwall for many years.
Business career
Hall was the president/CEO of Texas Aluminum Corp. and general counsel of Texas Extrusion Co., Inc. He was founding member and chairman of Lakeside National Bank of Rockwall, and was chairman of the directors of Lakeside News, Inc. He was a counsel for the aircraft parts maker Howmet Corporation from 1970 to 1974.As of 2006, Hall was serving as the unpaid chairman, president or director of Crowley Holding Co., Bank of Crowley, Lakeside National Bank, Lakeside Bancshares Inc., North & East Trading Co., and Linrock Inc.
Early political career
Hall was elected county judge of Rockwall County in November 1950; he held that position until 1962.In 1962, Hall was elected to the Texas State Senate after incumbent Ray Roberts
Ray Roberts
Herbert Ray Roberts represented Texas's 4th congressional district from 1962 to 1981. Roberts was a Democrat.-Early life and education:...
won a special election to replace Sam Rayburn
Sam Rayburn
Samuel Taliaferro Rayburn , often called "Mr. Sam," or "Mr. Democrat," was a Democratic lawmaker from Bonham, Texas, who served as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for seventeen years, the longest tenure in U.S. history.- Background :Rayburn was born in Roane County, Tennessee, and...
in Congress. He served two terms there before returning to private business in 1973.
In 1972, Hall ran for Texas Lieutenant Governor and lost the Democratic primary getting only 15% of the vote. Bill Hobby won the primary with a plurality of 33%, and won the general election.
Elections
In 1980, incumbent Democrat U.S. Congressman Ray RobertsRay Roberts
Herbert Ray Roberts represented Texas's 4th congressional district from 1962 to 1981. Roberts was a Democrat.-Early life and education:...
of Texas' 4th congressional district decided to retire. Hall won the Democratic primary with 57% of the vote. In the general election, he defeated Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
business manager John Wright, with 52% of the vote, the closest race in the district's history and the lowest winning percentage in a general election in Hall's political career. Hall is only the fourth person to represent the 4th District since its creation in 1903. The district's second congressman, Rayburn (the longtime Speaker of the House
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, or Speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives...
), represented the district for 48 years. Hall has never won re-election in a general election with less than 58% of the vote. He also never won re-election in a primary (Democrat or Republican) with less than 66% of the vote, except in 2010.
2004
In November 2004, Hall ran for his first full term as a Republican. He got heavy White House backing in the three-way GOP primary that year, defeating Mike Murphy and Mike Moshe. Republican leadership even tried to persuade at least one Republican candidate to get out of the race, which the candidate captured on tape. Hall won the primary with 78% of the vote, and the general election with 6% of the vote defeating Democrat Jim Nickerson. and Libertarian Kevin D. Anderson.
2006
Hall defeated Democrat Glenn Melancon and Libertarian Kurt Helm in the 2006 general election with 67% of the vote.
2008
Hall defeated fellow Republican Joshua Kowert
Joshua Kowert
Joshua Kowert is a Republican political activist from Sherman, Texas, who has in 2008 and 2010 unsuccessfully opposed the veteran Democrat-turned-Republican U.S. Representative Ralph Hall of Rockwall in the race for Texas's 4th congressional district.-Early life and education:Kowert was born in...
, an economics professor from Sherman
Sherman, Texas
Sherman is a city in and the county seat of Grayson County, Texas, United States. The city's estimated population as of 2009 was 38,407. It is also one of two principal cities in the Sherman-Denison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
. In the general election, Hall again faced Democratic nominee Glenn Melancon and was re-elected with 69% of the vote.
2010
In the Republican primary, Hall won the nomination with just 57% of the vote, the worst performance in a primary election since Hall's first election in 1980. It was a six candidate race. His closest opponent was Steve Clark, who got just 30%. In the general election, Hall won re-election with 73% of the vote against Democrat VaLinda Hathcox and two other candidates.
Tenure
Conservative DemocratHall described himself as "an old-time conservative Democrat
Conservative Democrat
In American politics, a conservative Democrat is a Democratic Party member with conservative political views, or with views relatively conservative with respect to those of the national party...
." Indeed, he was one of the most conservative Democrats in the House for many years. He was an early supporter of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget and also favored legislation requiring a super-majority on any tax increases. He frequently clashed with the Clinton administration
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
, and voted for three of the four articles of impeachment against Clinton. He endorsed George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
for President in 2000
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, one of the first Democrats to do so; the two had been friends for many years.
While Hall was very conservative even by Texas Democratic standards, his conservatism can be attributed to the demographics of the 4th District. It had once been reliably Democratic, but became increasingly friendly to Republicans as Dallas' suburban growth spilled into the western portion of the district (for instance, Rockwall County includes a small portion of Dallas itself) and areas such as Tyler
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
broke away from their Democratic roots. The 4th has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964
United States presidential election, 1964
The United States presidential election of 1964 was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson had come to office less than a year earlier following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. Johnson, who had successfully associated himself with Kennedy's...
. Despite this district's increasingly Republican tilt, Hall won 10 more terms as a Democrat with an average of 60 percent of the vote. In 1994, for instance, Hall was reelected by a convincing 19-point margin even as other conservative Democrats lost their seats. By the 1990s, Hall was the only elected Democrat above the county level in much of the district. In some areas, he was the only elected Democrat at any level. It was taken for granted that Hall would be succeeded by a Republican once he retired.
As mentioned above, Hall's voting record has been largely conservative. However, like many Democrats, Hall voted against the North American Free Trade Agreement
North American Free Trade Agreement
The North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA is an agreement signed by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The agreement came into force on January 1, 1994. It superseded the Canada – United States Free Trade Agreement...
. In 1999, he was one of six Democrats who supported a GOP tax cut plan. He has been an original cosponsor of bills to repeal the estate tax and the marriage tax penalty.
In late 2002, Hall voted for the resolution allowing the use of force in Iraq. In March 2003, Hall voted for a budget that included Bush's 10-year, $726 billion tax cut plan. The plan passed the House 215-212.
In May 2010, Hall introduced a motion to recommit H.R. 5116, the America COMPETES Reauthorization Act, due to Republican opposition. The motion passed by a vote of 292 to 126. Hall's motion stated that Federal employees disciplined for viewing pornography could not be fired or barred from receiving their salaries. Representative Bart Gordon
Bart Gordon
Barton Jennings "Bart" Gordon, is a lawyer and former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1985 until 2011. The district includes several rural areas and fast-growing suburbs east of Nashville. He was Chairman of the House Committee on Science and Technology from 2007 until 2011. He is a member...
, Chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology, responded negatively to Hall's motion, deeming the introduction of anti-pornography provisions to unrelated legislation "a cynical effort to undermine an important bill."
2004 party switch
Hall was frequently rumored as a candidate to switch parties
Party switching in the United States
In the United States politics, party switching is any change in party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one who is currently holding elected office...
, especially after the Republicans took control of the House in 1995. Even as Democrats with far less conservative voting records (such as Greg Laughlin
Greg Laughlin
Gregory H. "Greg" Laughlin is a politician from the state of Texas. He is a former member of the United States House of Representatives....
, Jimmy Hayes
Jimmy Hayes
James Allison "Jimmy" Hayes is a Republican politician from the state of Louisiana.Born in Lafayette, Hayes graduated from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette . He served in the Louisiana Air National Guard from 1968 to 1974...
, Billy Tauzin
Billy Tauzin
Wilbert Joseph Tauzin II , usually known as Billy Tauzin, American lobbyist and politician of Cajun descent, was President and CEO of PhRMA, a pharmaceutical company lobby group...
and Nathan Deal
Nathan Deal
John Nathan Deal is a United States politician, the 82nd and current Governor of Georgia. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1992 but switched to the Republican Party in 1995...
) switched parties, Hall insisted he would remain a Democrat as long as it did not hurt his constituents. He said that he had an obligation to "pull my party back toward the middle." He was one of the co-founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate and conservative Democrats.
In 2003, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay
Tom DeLay
Thomas Dale "Tom" DeLay is a former member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Texas's 22nd congressional district from 1984 until 2006. He was Republican Party House Majority Leader from 2003 to 2005, when he resigned because of criminal money laundering charges in...
engineered a controversial mid-decade redistricting
2003 Texas redistricting
The 2003 Texas redistricting refers to a controversial mid-decade congressional redistricting plan appealed to the United States Supreme Court in League of United Latin American Citizens v. Perry...
. Hall was the only Anglo Democrat not targeted by the remap. However, his district was shifted slightly to the north. Tyler, the heart of the 4th for a century, was shifted to the neighboring 1st District. It did, however, pick up most of Collin County
Collin County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 491,675 people, 181,970 households, and 132,292 families residing in the county. The population density was 580 people per square mile . There were 194,892 housing units at an average density of 230 per square mile...
, which had been part of the district until the 1980s round of redistricting.
In January 2004, on the final day for candidates to file to get their names on the ballot for the March 9, 2004 primary, Hall switched parties and became a Republican. Hall said that Republicans refused to put money for his district into a spending bill, and when he asked why, "the only reason I was given was that I was a Democrat." He also cited concerns with his fellow Democrats' criticism of President Bush; he hadn't attended Democratic caucus meetings for some time due to the barbs thrown at his longtime friend. He told the press, "The country is at war. When the country is at war you need to support the president. Some of my fellow congressmen have not been doing that."
After the switch, the Republican Party allowed Hall to keep his seniority. He became chairman of the House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality. He also joined the Republican Study Committee
Republican Study Committee
The Republican Study Committee [RSC] is a caucus of over 170 conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives...
, a caucus of conservative House Republicans.
Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)
The Northern Mariana Islands
Northern Mariana Islands
The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , is a commonwealth in political union with the United States, occupying a strategic region of the western Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines...
are a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific with a large garment industry. Billing records of Preston Gates Ellis and Rouvelas Meeds, an international law firm employed by the CNMI, the government of the islands, show numerous contacts between the law firm and Hall's office. Hall said his dealings with the law firm were with Lloyd Meeds, a partner with the firm, which at the time listed 36 attorneys on staff, not with Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff
Jack Abramoff is an American former lobbyist and businessman. Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, he was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to the conviction of White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine...
, the firm's representative for the CNMI contract. In 2006, Hall said of the Northern Marianas, "They were good allies, and I believed their government should handle their affairs and not have us impose labor laws on them."
In December 1996, Hall and E.K. Slaughter, a friend, and their wives visited the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. The trip was arranged by the National Security Caucus Foundation (NSCF), which told Hall that the trip would be paid for by that group. Greg Hilton, the director of the now-defunct NCSF, had no funding for such trips; he only arranged them with CNMI officials. Hilton said he was led to believe by officials of Preston Gates that the CNMI would pay the expenses and be reimbursed by the private sector. In fact, Preston Gates paid the expenses for such trips and billed the CNMI for reimbursement. For the trip of Hall and Slaughter and their wives, Abramoff billed the CNMI $12,800.
In September 1997, Representative Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie
Neil Abercrombie is the 7th and current Governor of Hawaii. He was the Democratic U.S. Representative of the First Congressional District of Hawaii which comprises urban Honolulu. He served in Congress from 1986 to 1987 and from 1991 to 2010 when he resigned to successfully run for governor...
(D-HI) placed remarks in the Congressional Record
Congressional Record
The Congressional Record is the official record of the proceedings and debates of the United States Congress. It is published by the United States Government Printing Office, and is issued daily when the United States Congress is in session. Indexes are issued approximately every two weeks...
describing a teenager described as "Katrina", whose story had been widely publicized, stating that an "employer had lured her to the CNMI under false pretenses" and that "she was also forced into service as a prostitute."
Abramoff's staff contacted Hall's office fifteen times in the two months following Abercrombie's remarks. In November 1997, Hall entered into the Congressional Record a statement saying that upon reviewing those remarks, he had "felt that Congressman Abercrombie had relied on an erroneous and misleading article published by the Reader's Digest some months ago." The article, according to Hall, said that the teenager "was forced to perform lewd sex acts with customers before a video camera." Hall quoted a report by the (acting) attorney general of the CNMI in response: "in fact...she wanted to do nude dancing...to support her family." The remarks by Abercrombie did not cite that source, and the Reader’s Digest June 1997 story by Henry Hurt, "Shame on American Soil," does not refer to a child named Katrina.
In his remarks, Hall also said "I intend to seek further information on matters as reported by the Reader's Digest author — and I would hope that a fair minded person like Congressman Abercrombie would accompany me early next year if, and when, we can both work a visit into our schedule — a visit that would not involve the expenditure of any American tax dollars.
Asked in 2006 how the 1996 trip benefited the Texas Fourth Congressional District he represents, Hall said, "I think it benefits my constituents if you do anything that benefits the Peace Through Strength people, when you’re going out to bring information to them to help win the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. That’s a benefit to them, to their strategic interests." The last gasps of the Cold War ended in 1991.
Hall also said "the whole thing was about ... them setting their own minimum wage. They had told me they would waive their foreign aid in return for setting their own minimum wage." Hall’s comments in the Congressional Record in 1997 do not mention minimum wage and the CNMI receives no foreign aid.https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/cq.html
Committee assignments
- Committee on Energy and CommerceUnited States House Committee on Energy and CommerceThe Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than 200 years...
- Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
- Subcommittee on Health
- Committee on Science and Technology (Chairman)
- As chairman of the full committee, Hall may serve as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
- Republican Study CommitteeRepublican Study CommitteeThe Republican Study Committee [RSC] is a caucus of over 170 conservative members of the Republican Party in the United States House of Representatives...
Some had thought that Hall would replace Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood "Sherry" Louis Boehlert is a retired American politician from New York. He represented upstate New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republican, was considered to be a member of the party's moderate wing. In 2003, Utica Union Station was...
of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
as chairman of the Science Committee. Boehlert was a leading moderate Republican favored by environmental interests, while Hall has strong ties to the oil and gas industry. However, this did not happen either after his party switch in January 2004 or the November 2004 elections. With Democrats regaining control of Congress in the 2006 elections and with Boehlert's retirement the same year, Hall became the ranking minority member
Ranking minority member
In United States politics, the term ranking minority member refers to the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. This position is sometimes referred to as ranking member. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the chairman,...
of the committee. He had previously been the ranking minority member from 2001 to 2004 while he was a Democrat.
When the GOP regained the House majority after the 2010 election, Hall became Chairman of the Science Committee.
Caucus memberships
- International Conservation CaucusUnited States Congressional International Conservation CaucusThe U.S. Congressional International Conservation Caucus is a bipartisan congressional organization that was founded in September 2003 with the conviction that “the United States of America has the opportunity, the obligation and the interests to advance the conservation of natural resources for...
- Sportsmen's Caucus
- Tea Party CaucusTea Party CaucusThe Tea Party Caucus is a caucus of the United States House of Representatives and Senate launched and chaired by Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann on July 16, 2010. The caucus is dedicated to promoting what it considers fiscal responsibility, adherence to the movement's interpretation of...
Personal life
Hall married the former Mary Ellen Murphy on November 14, 1944, while he was serving in the Navy in Pensacola, FloridaPensacola, Florida
Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
. They had three sons, Hampton, Brett, and Blakeley, and (as of 2002) had five grandchildren. She died on August 27, 2008.
In January 2004, regarding his switch of party, Hall said "I talked with some of my family. Some agreed, some did not. My wife didn't agree. She'd rather I quit than switch parties."
External links
- Campaign website
- U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall official U.S. House site
- Profile at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...