Jerry Weller
Encyclopedia
Gerald C. "Jerry" Weller (born July 7, 1957, Streator, Illinois
) is an American
politician who was a Republican
member of the U.S. House of Representatives
, representing .
to LaVern and Marilyn Weller, and raised on his family's hog farm in Dwight, Illinois
. Weller is a 1979 graduate of the University of Illinois
where he received his degree in agriculture. Weller has been married twice.
In 1988, Weller was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives
where he served until 1994.
in 1994 following the retirement of Democrat
George Sangmeister. Weller defeated New Lenox
attorney Robert T. Herbolsheimer in the Republican primary, and Democrat
Frank Giglio in the general election.
Weller served as Deputy Minority Whip
. http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/News/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=10 Weller did not seek reelection after his seventh term.
On September 21, 2007, Weller announced that he would not seek another term, citing the need to spend more time with his family.
Weller made efforts to eliminate the marriage penalty
tax. He supported the use of tax incentives to help redevelop brownfield
formal industrial land, developing a proposal with Democrats, such as Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
, to do so.
Weller championed the creation of the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
, the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
and other redevelopment efforts at the former Joliet arsenal
. Redevelopment of the site included the Deer Run Industrial Park, which contains the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, a new intermodal freight transport
center.
In 1995, Weller received an Environmental Protector Award from the Chicago Audubon Society for his political service. After a release of tritium
from Exelon's
Braidwood
and Dresden Nuclear Power Plant
Weller sent a letter to Exelon Corp expressing his concern and recommended that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
investigate the power plants in question.
Weller supported plans for the Illiana Expressway
.
Weller voted again to raise the minimum wage in the 110th Congress.
Weller sponsored a bill to expand concurrent receipt for wounded military veterans, but it did not pass.
Weller promised prior to his marriage to Guatemala
n Congresswoman
Zury Ríos Montt
that he would not vote on any legislation involving solely the U.S. and Guatemala. Yet, his advocacy and vote for CAFTA caused controversy, despite it being a multi-nation agreement. Weller has long supported free-trade agreements. As a FRG
party leader, his wife is also a supporter of CAFTA.
Weller accepted money from two convicted associates of former congressman Duke Cunningham
. Weller's spokesman said that the donations probably originated from his support of the research and development tax credit and the money was donated to a charity in Oregon. Weller is currently fighting a subpoena to testify in Cunningham's trial.
In 2002, a Federal Election Commission audit found a fund used by Weller for his re-election in 2000 received almost $110,000 that appeared to have violated federal campaign rules on the size and source of donations. Weller's fund returned all of the questioned contributions but did not admit deliberately violating any laws.
Weller was the only member of the House of Representatives to abstain in the vote for the proposed bailout of U.S. financial system (2008).
n Congresswoman
Zury Ríos Montt
, daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt
. On November 20, 2004, the two married at her father's home in Antigua Guatemala
, his second marriage and her fourth. (Zury Ríos has also used the combined parental surname
Ríos Sosa, but in Guatemala she is nowadays best known by her father's name, Ríos Montt; her personal website uses the hybrid married form "Ríos-Montt de Weller". http://www.zuryrios.com)
In August 2006, a daughter, Marizú Catherine, was born in a hospital in Guatemala City
.
on his financial disclosure forms: one purchased in 2002, one purchased in April 2004, and one purchased in December 2005. The newspaper also reported that it had obtained notarized bills of sale for three more lots owned by Weller that had never been listed on his forms: a lot sold in February 2005, a lot purchased in March 2005, and lot purchased in April 2005. The failure to properly disclosure property ownership is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act and the False Statements Accountability Act of 1996.
Weller's lawyer said that he couldn’t comment because of the attorney-client privilege. Weller's campaign manager said Weller "does not own three more parcels in Nicaragua. He does not own six parcels in Nicaragua. He has filed his disclosure for everything that he owns."
On September 7, 2007, the Chicago Tribune
disclosed the results of their own investigation into his land deals, including discrepancies on declared prices and numbers of transactions, centered in the Playa Coco resort area. For example, Weller listed only one Nicaraguan property purchase on his 2005 disclosure form, but property records in Nicaragua showed that he bought or sold at least eight pieces of land.
Streator, Illinois
Streator is a city in LaSalle and partially in Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago, Illinois in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. It is the center of the geographic region known as...
) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
politician who was a 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...
member of the U.S. House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
, representing .
Early life
Weller was born in Streator, IllinoisStreator, Illinois
Streator is a city in LaSalle and partially in Livingston counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The city is situated on the Vermilion River approximately southwest of Chicago, Illinois in the prairie and farm land of north-central Illinois. It is the center of the geographic region known as...
to LaVern and Marilyn Weller, and raised on his family's hog farm in Dwight, Illinois
Dwight, Illinois
Dwight is a village in located mainly in Livingston County, Illinois, with a small portion in Grundy County, Illinois. The population was 4,260 at the 2010 census. Dwight contains an original stretch of the famous U.S. Route 66, and uses a railroad station designed in 1891 by Henry Ives Cobb. It is...
. Weller is a 1979 graduate of the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
where he received his degree in agriculture. Weller has been married twice.
Early political career
Weller was a staff member for Congressman Tom Corcoran from 1980 to 1981, assistant to the director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture, and an aide to Secretary of Agriculture John R. Block from 1981 to 1985.In 1988, Weller was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives
Illinois House of Representatives
The Illinois House of Representatives is the lower house of the Illinois General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Illinois. The body was created by the first Illinois Constitution adopted in 1818. The state House of Representatives is made of 118 representatives elected from...
where he served until 1994.
Tenure
Weller was elected to the U.S. House of RepresentativesUnited States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 1994 following the retirement of Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
George Sangmeister. Weller defeated New Lenox
New Lenox, Illinois
New Lenox is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The village population is estimated to be 24,938 as of 2006. The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning forecasts New Lenox will have a population of 90,652 in 2030.-Geography:...
attorney Robert T. Herbolsheimer in the Republican primary, and Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Frank Giglio in the general election.
Weller served as Deputy Minority Whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
. http://republicans.waysandmeans.house.gov/News/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=10 Weller did not seek reelection after his seventh term.
On September 21, 2007, Weller announced that he would not seek another term, citing the need to spend more time with his family.
Committees
- Committee on Ways & Means
- Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on Trade
Political positions
Weller supported free trade when serving in Congress and traveled throughout Latin America and the Caribbean to build better relationships with public sector and business leaders. He was the number one supporter for the Panama trade agreement with the United States.http://www.thepanamanews.com/pn/v_13/issue_13/opinion_12.htmlWeller made efforts to eliminate the marriage penalty
Marriage penalty
The marriage penalty in the United States refers to the higher taxes required from some married couples, where spouses are making approximately the same taxable income, filing one tax return than for the same two people filing two separate tax returns if they were unmarried...
tax. He supported the use of tax incentives to help redevelop brownfield
Brownfield land
Brownfield sites are abandoned or underused industrial and commercial facilities available for re-use. Expansion or redevelopment of such a facility may be complicated by real or perceived environmental contaminations. Cf. Waste...
formal industrial land, developing a proposal with Democrats, such as Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Richard M. Daley
Richard Michael Daley is a United States politician, member of the national and local Democratic Party, and former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. He was elected mayor in 1989 and reelected in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. He was the longest serving Chicago mayor, surpassing the tenure of his...
, to do so.
Weller championed the creation of the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery
The Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery covers in Elwood, Illinois. It is located approximately southwest of Chicago, Illinois. When fully completed, it will provide 400,000 burial spaces....
, the Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie
The Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie is a prairie reserve operated by the United States Forest Service. It is in the Central forest-grasslands transition ecoregion. It is located on the site of the former Joliet Army Ammunition Plant near Elwood, Illinois, and was established by federal law in 1996...
and other redevelopment efforts at the former Joliet arsenal
Joliet Army Ammunition Plant
Joliet Army Ammunition Plant formerly known as the Joliet Arsenal was a United States Army arsenal located in Will County, Illinois, near Elwood, Illinois, south of Joliet, Illinois. Opened in 1940 during World War II, the facility consisted of the Elwood Ordnance Plant and the Kankakee Ordnance...
. Redevelopment of the site included the Deer Run Industrial Park, which contains the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, a new intermodal freight transport
Intermodal freight transport
Intermodal freight transport involves the transportation of freight in an intermodal container or vehicle, using multiple modes of transportation , without any handling of the freight itself when changing modes. The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damages and...
center.
In 1995, Weller received an Environmental Protector Award from the Chicago Audubon Society for his political service. After a release of tritium
Tritium
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
from Exelon's
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an electricity generating and distributing company headquartered in the Chase Tower in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago. It was created in October, 2000 by the merger of PECO Energy Company and Unicom, of Philadelphia and Chicago respectively. Unicom owned Commonwealth Edison...
Braidwood
Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station
Braidwood Generating Station is located in Will County in northeastern Illinois, USA. The nuclear power plant serves Chicago and northern Illinois with electricity. The plant was originally built by Commonwealth Edison company, and subsequently transferred to Com Ed's parent company, Exelon...
and Dresden Nuclear Power Plant
Dresden Nuclear Power Plant
Dresden Generating Station is the first privately financed nuclear power plant built in the United States. Dresden 1 was activated in 1960 and retired in 1978. Operating since 1970 are Dresden units 2 and 3, two General Electric boiling water reactors...
Weller sent a letter to Exelon Corp expressing his concern and recommended that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
investigate the power plants in question.
Weller supported plans for the Illiana Expressway
Illiana Expressway
The Illiana Corridor is a proposed transportation corridor between northern portions of the U.S. states of Illinois and Indiana. Formal Environmental Impact Statement studies were begun in April 2011 and are being led jointly by the Illinois Department of Transportation and Indiana Department of...
.
Weller voted again to raise the minimum wage in the 110th Congress.
Weller sponsored a bill to expand concurrent receipt for wounded military veterans, but it did not pass.
Weller promised prior to his marriage to Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n Congresswoman
Congress of Guatemala
The Congress of the Republic is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Guatemala.It comprises 158 deputies, who are elected by direct universal suffrage to serve four-year terms . Twenty-nine of these are elected from nationwide lists, with the rest on a district list basis...
Zury Ríos Montt
Zury Ríos Montt
−Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa de Weller is a Guatemalan politician, affiliated with the Guatemalan Republican Front political party. She is currently serving her fourth term in Congress, where she serves as Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee...
that he would not vote on any legislation involving solely the U.S. and Guatemala. Yet, his advocacy and vote for CAFTA caused controversy, despite it being a multi-nation agreement. Weller has long supported free-trade agreements. As a FRG
Guatemalan Republican Front
The Guatemalan Republican Front is a right-wing political party in Guatemala.It was created in 1989 by former president and dictator Efraín Ríos Montt, and formally registered in 1990...
party leader, his wife is also a supporter of CAFTA.
Weller accepted money from two convicted associates of former congressman Duke Cunningham
Duke Cunningham
Randall Harold Cunningham , usually known as Randy or Duke, is United States Navy veteran, convicted felon, and former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California's 50th Congressional District from 1991 to 2005.Cunningham resigned from the House on November 28,...
. Weller's spokesman said that the donations probably originated from his support of the research and development tax credit and the money was donated to a charity in Oregon. Weller is currently fighting a subpoena to testify in Cunningham's trial.
In 2002, a Federal Election Commission audit found a fund used by Weller for his re-election in 2000 received almost $110,000 that appeared to have violated federal campaign rules on the size and source of donations. Weller's fund returned all of the questioned contributions but did not admit deliberately violating any laws.
Weller was the only member of the House of Representatives to abstain in the vote for the proposed bailout of U.S. financial system (2008).
Personal life
In July 2004, Weller announced that he was engaged to three-term GuatemalaGuatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n Congresswoman
Congress of Guatemala
The Congress of the Republic is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Guatemala.It comprises 158 deputies, who are elected by direct universal suffrage to serve four-year terms . Twenty-nine of these are elected from nationwide lists, with the rest on a district list basis...
Zury Ríos Montt
Zury Ríos Montt
−Zury Mayté Ríos Sosa de Weller is a Guatemalan politician, affiliated with the Guatemalan Republican Front political party. She is currently serving her fourth term in Congress, where she serves as Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee...
, daughter of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt
Efraín Ríos Montt
José Efraín Ríos Montt is a former de facto President of Guatemala, dictator, army general, and former president of Congress. In the 2003 presidential elections, he unsuccessfully ran as the candidate of the ruling Guatemalan Republican Front .Huehuetenango-born Ríos Montt remains one of the most...
. On November 20, 2004, the two married at her father's home in Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala is a city in the central highlands of Guatemala famous for its well-preserved Spanish Mudéjar-influenced Baroque architecture as well as a number of spectacular ruins of colonial churches...
, his second marriage and her fourth. (Zury Ríos has also used the combined parental surname
Iberian naming customs
Spanish naming customs denotes the personal appellation practiced in Spain, consisting of a given name followed by two family names . The first surname was traditionally the father's first surname, and the second the mother's first surname...
Ríos Sosa, but in Guatemala she is nowadays best known by her father's name, Ríos Montt; her personal website uses the hybrid married form "Ríos-Montt de Weller". http://www.zuryrios.com)
In August 2006, a daughter, Marizú Catherine, was born in a hospital in Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
.
Properties in Nicaragua
On October 25, 2006, the Chicago Reader reported that Weller had disclosed three parcels of land he owned in NicaraguaNicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
on his financial disclosure forms: one purchased in 2002, one purchased in April 2004, and one purchased in December 2005. The newspaper also reported that it had obtained notarized bills of sale for three more lots owned by Weller that had never been listed on his forms: a lot sold in February 2005, a lot purchased in March 2005, and lot purchased in April 2005. The failure to properly disclosure property ownership is a violation of the Ethics in Government Act and the False Statements Accountability Act of 1996.
Weller's lawyer said that he couldn’t comment because of the attorney-client privilege. Weller's campaign manager said Weller "does not own three more parcels in Nicaragua. He does not own six parcels in Nicaragua. He has filed his disclosure for everything that he owns."
On September 7, 2007, the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
disclosed the results of their own investigation into his land deals, including discrepancies on declared prices and numbers of transactions, centered in the Playa Coco resort area. For example, Weller listed only one Nicaraguan property purchase on his 2005 disclosure form, but property records in Nicaragua showed that he bought or sold at least eight pieces of land.