Jon Tester

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U.S. Senator

Jon Tester

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D-MT

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Positions
Leadership: No leadership position
Committees: Senate Committee on Appropriations, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
(subcommittees and past assignments)

Candidates for the MT-Senate Class I Seat:
(Next election: 6 November 2012)

Confirmed: None so far
Considering: None so far
Rumored: None so far
Potential: None so far
Dropped-out: None so far
(more info and editing for the MT-Senate Class I Seat)
On the Web
Official website

Jon Tester (born August 21, 1956), a Democrat, has been the Junior Senator from the state of Montana since 2007. He is the first member of the Senate to post his daily schedule online.

Jon Tester posts daily schedule information online.

Contents

Record and controversies

Congressional scorecards

Click through the score to see the records of other members of Congress and full descriptions of the individual votes.

Want to see someone else's scorecard added to the list? You can do it!

Organization 2007 Scorecard
Score - Agree ratio 		2008 Scorecard
Score - Agree ratio
American Civil Liberties Union not avail. not avail.
American Conservative Union 16 - 4/25 not avail.
AFSCME 100 - 7/7 not avail.
Americans for Democratic Action 95 - 19/20 85 - 17/20
Club for Growth not avail. not avail.
Drum Major Institute not avail. not avail.
Family Research Council 0 - 0/9 0 - 0/9
Information Technology Industry Council 60 - 3/5 60 - 3/5
League of Conservation Voters not avail. 100 - 11/11
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People not avail. not avail.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce 30 - 3/11 not avail.


Iraq War

For more information see the chart of U.S. Senate votes on the Iraq War.

Environmental record

For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Tester posts daily schedule online

With his inauguration in 2007, Tester became the first member of the Senate to post his daily schedule online.[1] It can be found here.

Calls for acting Attorney General to step down

On May 3rd the Washington Post reported that Sen. Tester called for Montana's acting Attorney General William W. Mercer to resign; after a federal judge found that he was "violating a federal law that requires him to live in Montana". Mercer, advocated for the law to be changed. Tester was quoted as saying "Mr. Mercer was operating outside federal law, so he had the law changed. That might work in Alberto Gonzales's Justice Department, but it's not how we do business in Montana."[1]

Main article: Bush administration U.S. attorney firings controversy

Biography

Born in 1956 near the town of Big Sandy, MT, where he now lives, Tester graduated from the University of Great Falls with a degree in music. He worked as a music teacher after graduation. Tester, a third generation farmer, runs an organic farm; he and wife went organic in the 1980s after they realized they could make more money while avoiding the sicknesses that they got from the pesticides.[2] As a boy Tester lost parts of three fingers on his left hand in a meat grinding accident.

In 1998, he successfully ran for Montana State Senate, and in 2005 was named Senate President. In Montana, State Senators are term-limited after two four-year terms. In 2005, at the end of his second term, Tester decided to run for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by Sen. Conrad Burns. He and his wife Sharla have two children. [3]

2006 Senate race

In the Democratic primary Tester faced State Auditor John Morrison, a well-financed candidate backed by the National Democratic Party. Morrison, with a huge fund raising advantage, was expected to defeat Tester. Tester's popularity and grassroots approach led him to a large margin of victory in the June 6th primary.

Tester has focused his campaign against incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns as one between a Montana farmer and a Senator who has become to tied to the political structure in Washington. Allegations of impropriety in Burns' ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff have helped Tester make this argument. Tester is also a vocal opponent of the Iraq War and "wants Bush to draft a planned exit strategy that would lead to a shift in which Iraqis would be trained to take over their own country."[4]

In a debate Burns attacked Tester for wanting to "weaken the Patriot Act". Tester clarified his position by stating, "I don't want to weaken the Patriot Act, I want to repeal it. What it does, it takes away your freedom ... and when you take away our freedoms, the terrorists have won."[5]

Tester has sounded a populist note on economic issues in the campaign. He has called for fair trade policies and assailed free trade agreements as destructive to Montana farms, agriculture, and quality U.S. jobs. Tester stated that free trade policies "have been hurting Montana workers and Montana farmers, and resulting in the outsourcing of jobs."[6]

Tester defeated Burns by less than 3000 votes, a victory that was instrumental in winning Democrats control of the Senate. [7]

2008 elections

2008 superdelegate

Sdtp-banner.jpg
 This information was gathered by volunteer researchers as part of the Superdelegate Transparency Project on the superdelegates for the 2008 Democratic presidential primary. For more info see the Montana superdelegate tracker or visit the STP homepage.

Before Hillary Clinton conceded the race, Jon Tester, as a superdelegate, had not endorsed a candidate for President.


  • Dem Con Watch
  • Obama's campaign gave $5,000 to Tester.[2]

    • Money in politics

    This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases. For specific controversies, see this article's record and controversies section.

    Top Contributors to during the 2008 Election Cycle
    DonorAmount (US Dollars)
    League of Conservation Voters$ 144,261
    Blackstone Group$ 61,000
    JPMorgan Chase & Co$ 53,000
    Visa Inc$ 47,400
    Thornton & Naumes$ 46,600
    WPP Group$ 45,600
    Council for a Livable World$ 43,146
    Voices for Progress$ 34,000
    Girardi & Keese$ 31,500
    Comcast Corp$ 31,000
    Source: The Center for Responsive Politics' www.OpenSecrets.org site.
    Note: Contributions are not from the organizations themselves, but are rather from
    the organization's PAC, employees or owners. Totals include subsidiaries and affiliates.
    Links to more campaign contribution information for Jon Tester
    from the Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org site.
    Fundraising profile: 2008 election cycle Career totals
    Top contributors by organization/corporation: 2008 election cycle Career totals
    Top contributors by industry: 2008 election cycle Career totals


    Committees and Affiliations

    Committees

    Committees in the 110th Congress (2007-2008)

    More Background Data

    Background information on Conrad Burns, whom Jon Tester challenged in the 2006 congressional elections:

    Contact

    DC office
    • 724 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
      Ph: 202-224-2644 Fax: 202-224-8594
      Webform email
    District offices
    • Granite Tower 222 N 32nd St, Suite 101 Billings, MT 59101
      Ph: 406-252-0550 Fax: (none entered)
    • Capital One Center 208 N Montana Ave, Suite 208 Helena, MT 59601
      Ph: 406-449-5401 Fax: (none entered)
    • 211 Haggerty Lane Bozeman, MT 59715
      Ph: 406-586-4450 Fax: (none entered)
    • 1845 Highway 93 South, Suite 210 Kalispell, MT 59901
      Ph: 406-257-3360 Fax: (none entered)
    • Silver Bow Center 125 W Granite, Suite 200 Butte, MT 59701
      Ph: 406-723-3277 Fax: (none entered)
    • 116 W Front Street Missoula, MT 59802
      Ph: 406-728-3003 Fax: (none entered)
    • 321 First Ave N Great Falls, MT 59401
      Ph: 406-452-9585 Fax: (none entered)
    On the Web
    Campaign office
    • No campaign website entered.
    • No campaign webform email entered.
    • No campaign office information entered.

    Articles and Resources

    Resources

    Local blogs and discussion sites

    Articles


    Semantic data (Edit data)

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