John S. Tanner
Encyclopedia
John S. Tanner is the former U.S. Representative
for , serving from 1989 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party
.
, and grew up in Union City, Tennessee
. Following graduation from the University of Tennessee
, he served in the United States Navy
from 1968 to 1972.
As a Congressman, Tanner has sponsored a bill to repeal the inheritance tax
(which was veto
ed by President
Clinton
) and he is in favor of a balanced budget. It is reported that Tanner could have been appointed to the United States Senate
by governor of Tennessee Ned McWherter
in 1992 to replace Al Gore
but he declined the offer, and Harlan Mathews
was appointed as a caretaker instead. Tanner became nationally known briefly when it was alleged that President Clinton was on the telephone with him in 1995 during one of Clinton's sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky
. Tanner was a founder of the Blue Dog Democrats and has denied rumors that he might switch parties, and has an earned reputation as a moderate
.
Tanner is strongly in favor of balancing the budget and paying down the national debt. He has been a strong opponent of the fiscal policies of President George W. Bush
, voting against many of the tax cuts passed during his terms; yet, he was one of 43 Democrats to vote to repeal the estate tax in 2006. Tanner was one of the few Democrats in the House to vote in favor of CAFTA and has long distanced himself from the majority of his party on issues such as bankruptcy law and lawsuit reform. He voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, the ban on "partial-birth" abortions, limiting death penalty appeals, and has voted against most gun control measures. On other issues he is more liberal: he often votes with his party on separation of church and states issues, and has consistently voted against the Flag Desecration Amendment. Tanner voted with the majority of his party to expand stem cell research and against renewing the controversial portions of the Patriot Act. He also supports affirmative action
and public education
. Tanner was firmly opposed to Bush's attempt to reform Social Security
.
Tanner received much of his knowledge of politics as a youth from his father E.B. "Buzz" Tanner who was successful in the finiancial and insurance business. He became a member of a highly political and influential law firm out of law school in his home town community and soon ran for office as a state legislator in the House of Representatives. He was also a relative of then House Speaker Ned McWherter, who later was elected governor twice and was an extremely powerful political force in the state, having friends on both sides of the political aisle.
In 2004, Congressman Tanner made a brief but unintended cameo appearance alongside Michael Moore
in Fahrenheit 9/11
, where Moore was trying to get Congressmen to have their children enlist in the Military to go to Iraq.
He recently drafted a bill that would require special bipartisan commissions rather than state legislatures to redraw congressional districts when necessary due to U.S. Census count changes. It is generally believed that this bill is a response to Republican-inspired mid-decade redistricting in Texas
and recent similar efforts in Colorado
and Georgia
.
After both his district and state chose the former first lady, Congressman Tanner endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
's presidential campaign in April 2008.
as a Democrat in 1976, replacing Larry Bates, who mounted an unsuccessful primary
challenge against Congressman Ed Jones
. When Jones retired in 1988, Tanner won the Democratic nomination for the seat and handily defeated Republican nominee Ed Bryant
, who went on to represent the neighboring 7th District from 1995 to 2003. Tanner was reelected in 1990 with no major-party opposition, a feat he repeated in 1992. In 1998, he was completely unopposed. He handily defeated Republican opponents in 1994 (the only time besides his initial election that he faced a serious or well-funded challenger), 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. In 2004 and 2008, he faced James L. Hart
, an avowed eugenicist
. On both occasions, Hart was disavowed by the state Republican Party.
Tanner announced on December 1, 2009 that he would not seek reelection in 2010 and would retire after 11 terms in Congress. He currently works for Nashville law firm Miller & Martin and the Prime Policy Group, a lobbying firm. He became chairman of the International Conservation Caucus Foundation
, a non-profit group that advocates U.S. leadership in conservation programs globally, in fall of 2011.
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...
for , serving from 1989 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party
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...
.
Early life, education and career
Tanner was born in Halls, TennesseeHalls, Tennessee
Halls is a town in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,311 at the 2000 census.The town was founded in 1882. It is named after Hansford R. Hall, one of the founders...
, and grew up in Union City, Tennessee
Union City, Tennessee
Union City is a city in Obion County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 10,876 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Obion County. The name comes from its location at the union of two railroads, one running roughly east-west and the other roughly north-south...
. Following graduation from the University of Tennessee
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, he served in the United States 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...
from 1968 to 1972.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Subcommittee on Europe
- Subcommittee on the Western HemisphereUnited States House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western HemisphereThe House Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere is a subcommittee within the House Foreign Affairs Committee.-Jurisdiction:The subcommittee is one of five with what the committees calls "regional jurisdiction" over a specific area of the globe...
- Committee on Ways and MeansUnited States House Committee on Ways and MeansThe Committee of Ways and Means is the chief tax-writing committee of the United States House of Representatives. Members of the Ways and Means Committee are not allowed to serve on any other House Committees unless they apply for a waiver from their party's congressional leadership...
- Subcommittee on TradeUnited States House Ways and Means Subcommittee on TradeThe House Way and Means Subcommittee on Trade is one of the six subcommittees within the House Ways and Means Committee-Jurisdiction:From the House Rules:...
(Chairman) - Subcommittee on Social SecurityUnited States House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social SecurityThe Subcommittee on Social Security is a subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means in the United States House of Representatives.-Jurisdiction:From the House rules...
- Subcommittee on Trade
As a Congressman, Tanner has sponsored a bill to repeal the inheritance tax
Inheritance tax
An inheritance tax or estate tax is a levy paid by a person who inherits money or property or a tax on the estate of a person who has died...
(which was veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
ed by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Clinton
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 he is in favor of a balanced budget. It is reported that Tanner could have been appointed to the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
by governor of Tennessee Ned McWherter
Ned McWherter
Ned Ray McWherter was an American politician who served as the 46th Governor of Tennessee from 1987 to 1995. He was a Democrat.McWherter was born in Palmersville, Weakley County, Tennessee...
in 1992 to replace Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
but he declined the offer, and Harlan Mathews
Harlan Mathews
Harlan Mathews was a Democratic United States Senator from Tennessee from 1993 to 1994.-Biography:Mathews is a native of Walker County, Alabama. He graduated from Jacksonville State College with a B.A...
was appointed as a caretaker instead. Tanner became nationally known briefly when it was alleged that President Clinton was on the telephone with him in 1995 during one of Clinton's sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky
Monica Lewinsky
Monica Samille Lewinsky is an American woman with whom United States President Bill Clinton admitted to having had an "improper relationship" while she worked at the White House in 1995 and 1996...
. Tanner was a founder of the Blue Dog Democrats and has denied rumors that he might switch parties, and has an earned reputation as a moderate
Moderate
In politics and religion, a moderate is an individual who is not extreme, partisan or radical. In recent years, political moderates has gained traction as a buzzword....
.
Tanner is strongly in favor of balancing the budget and paying down the national debt. He has been a strong opponent of the fiscal policies of President 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....
, voting against many of the tax cuts passed during his terms; yet, he was one of 43 Democrats to vote to repeal the estate tax in 2006. Tanner was one of the few Democrats in the House to vote in favor of CAFTA and has long distanced himself from the majority of his party on issues such as bankruptcy law and lawsuit reform. He voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment, the ban on "partial-birth" abortions, limiting death penalty appeals, and has voted against most gun control measures. On other issues he is more liberal: he often votes with his party on separation of church and states issues, and has consistently voted against the Flag Desecration Amendment. Tanner voted with the majority of his party to expand stem cell research and against renewing the controversial portions of the Patriot Act. He also supports affirmative action
Affirmative action
Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
and public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
. Tanner was firmly opposed to Bush's attempt to reform Social Security
Social Security (United States)
In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...
.
Tanner received much of his knowledge of politics as a youth from his father E.B. "Buzz" Tanner who was successful in the finiancial and insurance business. He became a member of a highly political and influential law firm out of law school in his home town community and soon ran for office as a state legislator in the House of Representatives. He was also a relative of then House Speaker Ned McWherter, who later was elected governor twice and was an extremely powerful political force in the state, having friends on both sides of the political aisle.
In 2004, Congressman Tanner made a brief but unintended cameo appearance alongside Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
in Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11
Fahrenheit 9/11 is a 2004 documentary film by American filmmaker and political commentator Michael Moore. The film takes a critical look at the presidency of George W. Bush, the War on Terror, and its coverage in the news media...
, where Moore was trying to get Congressmen to have their children enlist in the Military to go to Iraq.
He recently drafted a bill that would require special bipartisan commissions rather than state legislatures to redraw congressional districts when necessary due to U.S. Census count changes. It is generally believed that this bill is a response to Republican-inspired mid-decade redistricting in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
and recent similar efforts in Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
and Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)
Georgia is a state located in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1732, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies. The state is named after King George II of Great Britain. Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2, 1788...
.
After both his district and state chose the former first lady, Congressman Tanner endorsed Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
's presidential campaign in April 2008.
Political campaigns and post-congressional career
He was elected to the Tennessee House of RepresentativesTennessee House of Representatives
The Tennessee House of Representatives is the lower house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee.-Constitutional requirements:...
as a Democrat in 1976, replacing Larry Bates, who mounted an unsuccessful primary
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
challenge against Congressman Ed Jones
Ed Jones (US politician)
Edward "Ed" Jones was a Democratic Congressman from the state of Tennessee from 1969 to 1989.-Biography:...
. When Jones retired in 1988, Tanner won the Democratic nomination for the seat and handily defeated Republican nominee Ed Bryant
Ed Bryant
Edward Glenn Bryant, usually known as Ed Bryant, , American politician, is a former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee . Born in Jackson, Tennessee, he earned his B.A. in 1970 and J.D. in 1972, both from the University of Mississippi. As a student he was...
, who went on to represent the neighboring 7th District from 1995 to 2003. Tanner was reelected in 1990 with no major-party opposition, a feat he repeated in 1992. In 1998, he was completely unopposed. He handily defeated Republican opponents in 1994 (the only time besides his initial election that he faced a serious or well-funded challenger), 1996, 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. In 2004 and 2008, he faced James L. Hart
James L. Hart
James L. Hart is an American political activist.-Biography:Hart ran as a Republican for the House of Representatives for Tennessee's Eighth District in 2004. His campaign was unconventional in part in listing for itself an out-of-state address, in Kentucky...
, an avowed eugenicist
Eugenics
Eugenics is the "applied science or the bio-social movement which advocates the use of practices aimed at improving the genetic composition of a population", usually referring to human populations. The origins of the concept of eugenics began with certain interpretations of Mendelian inheritance,...
. On both occasions, Hart was disavowed by the state Republican Party.
Tanner announced on December 1, 2009 that he would not seek reelection in 2010 and would retire after 11 terms in Congress. He currently works for Nashville law firm Miller & Martin and the Prime Policy Group, a lobbying firm. He became chairman of the International Conservation Caucus Foundation
International Conservation Caucus Foundation
The International Conservation Caucus Foundation is a non-partisan 501 educational foundation based in Washington, D.C. which works with corporations and NGOs committed to achieving market-oriented solutions in conservation and sustainability, to educate U.S...
, a non-profit group that advocates U.S. leadership in conservation programs globally, in fall of 2011.
External links
- Profile at SourceWatchSourceWatchSourceWatch is an internet wiki site that is a collaborative project of the liberal Center for Media and Democracy...