Kent Conrad

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U.S. Senator

Kent Conrad

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D-ND

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Positions
Leadership: No leadership position
Committees: Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Senate Committee on Finance, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and Senate Committee on the Budget
(subcommittees and past assignments)

Candidates for the ND-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 ND-Senate Class I Seat)
On the Web
Official website


Kent Conrad, a Democrat, has represented the state of North Dakota in the Senate since 1992.

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 12 - 3/25 not avail.
AFSCME 86 - 6/7 not avail.
Americans for Democratic Action 80 - 16/20 90 - 18/20
Club for Growth not avail. not avail.
Drum Major Institute not avail. not avail.
Family Research Council 33 - 3/9 33 - 3/9
Information Technology Industry Council 80 - 4/5 80 - 4/5
League of Conservation Voters not avail. 91 - 10/11
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People not avail. not avail.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce 45 - 5/11 not avail.


Countrywide mortgage scandal

Senator Conrad was among the prominent politicians who may have received favorable mortgage deals from Countrywide, a mortgage lender at the heart of the current mortgage crises. According to an investigation conducted by Conde Nast's Portfolio, Countrywide's V.I.P program may have bent rules to offer Senator Conrad a better deal on a mortgage for a 8-unit apartment building in Bismarck, North Dakota he was seeking to purchase.

Conrad is currently being investigated by The Senate Ethics Committee for allegedly receiving a preferential mortgage rate from Countrywide Financial. Conrad admitted to talking to Angelo Mozillo, Countrywide's CEO, but has denied knowing that he was receiving special treatment from the company. Conrad has not paid any legal fees as of early 2009. [1]

Iraq War

Conrad voted against the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq in Oct. 2002.

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

Bio

Background

Conrad was born on March 12, 1948 in Bismarck, North Dakota to German-American parents, but was orphaned and raised by his grandparents. He lived much of his early life in Bismarck, but also lived in Tripoli, Libya. He attended Roosevelt Elementary and Hughes Junior High and was a 1966 graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy. He went to college at Stanford University and received an MBA from George Washington University.

After graduating college, he became an assistant to the North Dakota tax commissioner, Byron Dorgan, who later became his colleague in the Senate. In 1980, Conrad succeeded Dorgan as tax commissioner from 1980 until 1986, when he ran for Senate.

Senate Career

In the 1986 election, Conrad defeated the Republican incumbent, Mark Andrews. During the campaign he gave a pledge that he would not run for re-election if the Federal Budget deficit had not fallen by the end of his term. By 1992 it became obvious that this would not be the case, and although polls showed that the electors would have welcomed him going back on his pledge, Conrad considered it binding and stood down. Byron Dorgan won the primary election to succeed him as Democratic candidate.

Conrad got an unusual opportunity to retain his senate position when the other North Dakota senator, long-serving Democrat Quentin N. Burdick, died on September 8, 1992. Burdick's widow Jocelyn Birch Burdick was appointed to that seat temporarily, but a special election was needed to fill the rest of the term. Conrad ran for and secured the Democratic nomination. He won the election and was sworn in December 5, 1992, resigning his other seat the same day. (The first seat was then filled by Dorgan, who was appointed by the governor to fill the seat for the brief interim until he would have been sworn in under normal circumstances.) [1]

Conrad was elected to another full term in 1994 and reelected in 2000. Conrad has been very vocal in his opposition to the tax and spending policies of the Bush Administration. He contends that they have worsened the problems of national debt.[2] Conrad is more moderate than many in his own party on the issues of abortion, gun control, and gay rights. He is one of the few members of the Democratic Party to have voted consistently in favor of banning the procedure commonly referred to as "partial-birth" abortion. He also opposes public funding of abortion.[3]

On January 31, 2006, Conrad was one of only four Democrats to vote in favor of confirming Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. [4]

He is opposed to most free-trade measures and is a strong supporter of farming subsidies. Conrad voted against approving use of military force in Iraq in 1991 and was one of only 23 senators to vote against the war resolution of 2002.[5]

2006 elections

In 2006, the Republicans nominated Dwight Grotberg to face Conrad in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) [6] Conrad retained his seat.

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)
DaVita Inc$ 65,900
Amgen Inc$ 47,000
Citigroup Inc$ 42,582
Law Office of Peter Angelos$ 42,300
Robins, Kaplan et al$ 41,800
Clark Consulting$ 40,400
Baron & Budd$ 40,330
Goldman Sachs$ 30,600
Waters & Kraus$ 27,900
Todd Organization$ 27,200
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 Kent Conrad
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)

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

More Background Data

Wikipedia also has an article on Kent Conrad. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.

Contact

DC office
  • 530 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
    Ph: 202-224-2043 Fax: 202-224-7776
    Webform email
District offices
  • United States Federal Building, Room 228, 220 East Rosser Avenue, Bismarck, ND 58501
    Ph: 701-258-4648 Fax: (none entered)
  • United States Federal Building, Room 306, 657 Second Avenue North, Fargo, ND 58102
    Ph: 701-232-8030 Fax: (none entered)
  • United States Federal Building, Room 104, 102 North Fourth Street, Grand Forks, ND 58203
    Ph: 701-775-9601 Fax: (none entered)
  • United States Federal Building, Room 105, 100 First Street Southwest, Minot, ND 58701
    Ph: 701-852-0703 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)


Latitude: 46°48′33.624″N
Longitude: 100°47′18.092″W Latitude: 46°52′43.266″N
Longitude: 96°47′24.349″W Latitude: 47°55′32.03″N
Longitude: 97°1′57.99″W Latitude: 48°14′7.421″N
Longitude: 101°17′40.264″W

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