John S. Tanner

John Sumners Tanner (born September 22, 1944) is a former American politician who served as the U.S. Representative for Tennessee's 8th congressional district, serving from 1989 until 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Since his retirement, Tanner has served as the Vice Chairman of Prime Policy Group.

John Tanner
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 8th district
In office
January 3, 1989  January 3, 2011
Preceded byEd Jones
Succeeded byStephen Fincher
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
In office
November 18, 2008  November 16, 2010
Preceded byJosé Lello
Succeeded byKarl A. Lamers
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives
from the 77th district
In office
January 4, 1977  January 13, 1987
Preceded byLarry Bates
Succeeded byPhillip E. Pinion
Personal details
Born
John Sumners Tanner

(1944-09-22) September 22, 1944
Halls, Tennessee, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse(s)Betty Ann Tanner
EducationUniversity of Tennessee, Knoxville (B.S., J.D.)
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/service United States Navy
 United States Army
Years of service1968–1972 (Active)
1974–2000 (Reserve)
RankColonel
UnitArmy National Guard

Early life, education, and early political career

Tanner was born in Halls, Tennessee, the son of Edith Adell (Sumners) and Emerson Beck "Buzz" Tanner.[1] He grew up in Union City, Tennessee. Following graduation from the University of Tennessee, he served in the United States Navy from 1968 to 1972. He was elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1976, replacing Larry Bates, who mounted an unsuccessful primary challenge against U.S. Congressman Ed Jones.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

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 re-election in 2010 and would retire after 11 terms in Congress. State Senator Roy Herron gave up his gubernatorial bid and ran for Tanner's congressional seat.[2] However, he only tallied 39.8 percent of the vote against Republican farmer Stephen Fincher. Indeed, no Democrat running in the district has cracked the 40 percent mark since Tanner left office.

Tenure

As a Congressman, Tanner has sponsored a bill to repeal the inheritance tax (which was vetoed 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 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 gained notoriety during the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal when it was revealed in the Starr Report that President Clinton was receiving fellatio from Monica Lewinsky while on the phone with Tanner on November 15, 1995 between 9:31pm and 9:35pm. [3]

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 financial 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,[4] Congressman Tanner endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in April 2008.[5]

Committee assignments

Post-congressional career

He currently works for Nashville law firm Miller & Martin and the Prime Policy Group, a lobbying firm.[6] 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.

Tanner is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.[7] He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.[8]

References

  1. "RootsWeb.com Home Page". freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 19 January 2015. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  2. Baker, Jackson (December 1, 2009). "Rep. Tanner Makes Stunning Announcement: He Won't Run for Reelection". Memphis Flyer.
  3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/icreport/srprintable.htm
  4. Welna, David (April 25, 2008). "Hundreds of Superdelegates Remain Undecided". NPR.
  5. Espo, David (April 24, 2008). "Clinton's donations surge after Pennsylvania victory". Worcester Telegram.
  6. NashvillePost.com (2011). Tanner joins Nashville law firm. Retrieved May 16, 2011.
  7. "ReFormers Caucus". Issue One. Retrieved 2017-06-02.
  8. "Board Members". Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Ed Jones
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 8th congressional district

1989–2011
Succeeded by
Stephen Fincher
Party political offices
New office Chair of the Blue Dog Coalition for Communications
1995–1999
Served alongside: Gary Condit (Administration), Nathan Deal, Collin Peterson (Policy)
Succeeded by
Chris John
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
José Lello
President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly
2008–2010
Succeeded by
Karl A. Lamers
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.