Zach Wamp
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Tennessee's 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 4, 1995–
Preceded by	Marilyn Lloyd
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	October 28, 1957 Fort Benning, Georgia
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Kimberly Wamp
Religion	Baptist

Zachary Paul "Zach" Wamp (born October 28, 1957) is a conservative Republican politician representing the 3rd Congressional district of Tennessee (map) since 1995. The district is based in Chattanooga and includes large parts of East Tennessee, including Oak Ridge. Image File history File linksMetadata Zach_Wamp. ... Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives (or simply the House) is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Senate. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... The current boundaries of Tennessees 3rd District The 3rd Congressional District of Tennessee is a congressional district in Tennessee. ... The incumbent, in politics, is the current holder of a political office. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Rachel Marilyn Laird Lloyd (born January 3, 1929), also briefly known as Marilyn Lloyd Boquard due to a short second marriage, is a Tennessee businesswoman and 10-term former member of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1975 to 1995. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Fort Benning is a base facility of the United States military outside Columbus, Georgia. ... The Republican Party is a one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Democratic Party. ... Baptist is a term describing a tradition within Christianity and may also refer to individuals belonging to a Baptist church or a Baptist denomination. ... October 28 is the 301st day of the year (302nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 64 days remaining. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Conservatism is a political philosophy that usually favors traditional values and strong foreign defense. ... The Republican Party is a one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States; the other being the Democratic Party. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Chattanooga is a city located in United States of America. ... East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the state of Tennessee. ... Oak Ridge is an incorporated city in Anderson and Roane Counties in East Tennessee, about 25 miles northwest of Knoxville. ...

Early life, education, and early career

Wamp was born in Fort Benning, Georgia. He attended the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, a prestigious boarding school for boys, beginning at age 11,^[1], graduating in 1977. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1977-78 and 1979-80, studying industrial relations. He also attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in between (1978-79). He did not get a degree from either. Fort Benning is a base facility of the United States military outside Columbus, Georgia. ... The McCallie School is an all-male college preparatory school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. ... The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public, coeducational, research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. ... The University of Tennessee (UT), sometimes called the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT Knoxville or UTK), is the flagship institution of the statewide land-grant University of Tennessee public university system. ...

After college, Wamp was a sales representative for Olan Mills, a photography company in Chattanooga.^[1] He then became a commercial and industrial real estate broker. In 1989, he became vice president of Charter Real Estate Corp., where he sold more than $7 million in real estate during his first full year. Real estate is a legal term that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings. ...

Wamp began in politics as precinct vice chairman for the 1983 Chattanooga mayoral campaign of Gene Roberts. He was later elected chairman of the Hamilton County, Tennessee Republican Party, then regional director for the state GOP. Wamp organized, directed, recruited, managed or chaired dozens of political campaigns. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Hamilton County is a county located in the state of Tennessee. ...

Congressional career

Wamp ran for the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1992 against nine-term Democrat Marilyn Lloyd. He lost by only one percentage point of the vote. Seal of the House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives (or simply the House) is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the Senate. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... Rachel Marilyn Laird Lloyd (born January 3, 1929), also briefly known as Marilyn Lloyd Boquard due to a short second marriage, is a Tennessee businesswoman and 10-term former member of the United States House of Representatives, serving from 1975 to 1995. ...

Lloyd did not run for reelection in 1994, and Wamp ran again. During the race, Wamp signed the Contract with America. He proposed a plan to pay Congressmen the same as Lieutenant Colonels, and linked his Democratic opponent to Bill Clinton. Wamp won with 52% of the vote, defeating Democrat Randy Button. He was re-elected in 1996 with 56% of the vote, defeating Democrat Charles Jolly. In his next four re-election campaigns, he got 64% or more of the vote. The Contract with America was a document released by the Republican Party of the United States during the 1994 Congressional election campaign. ... In the U.S. Army, Air Force and Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a commissioned officer superior to a major and inferior to a colonel. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III[1] on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ...

Wamp explored seeking a seat in the United States Senate to succeed Bill Frist, who had promised to serve no more than two terms. However, he decided against running for that seat in October 2004. A major factor was that Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker was also running for the seat (he was Frist's principal 1994 primary opponent and the eventual 2006 winner); the Chattanooga area is generally considered to have too small a population and contributor base to provide adequate support to more than one major contender for a statewide office; and Corker had already raised considerable funds for his Senate campaign. Seal of the U.S. Senate Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties State & Local government Governors Legislatures State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      Senate composition following 2006 elections The United States Senate is... William Harrison Bill Frist, Sr. ... A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning larger, greater) is the modern title of the highest ranking municipal officer. ... Bob Corker Robert Phillips Bob Corker, Jr. ... A primary election is an election in which voters in a jurisdiction select candidates for a subsequent election (nominating primary). ...

Political positions

Wamp is a member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, a post he has used to direct funding for his district's decaying Chickamauga Lock. He also secured in the 2006 budget a $4 million appropriation for a methamphetamine task force that has expanded to all regions of Tennessee. Methamphetamine (Refers to a mixture of dextro/levo,-N-α-dimethyl-phenethylamine or desoxyephedrine and popularly shortened to crystal meth or ice [2] or simply meth) is an N-methylated analog of amphetamine. ...

Wamp has vigorously supported the Tennessee Valley Authority, one of the largest government-owned firms in the United States. The introduction to this article is too long. ...

Wamp has proposed legislation to allow the posting of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. This 1768 parchment (612x502 mm) by Jekuthiel Sofer emulated the 1675 Decalogue at Amsterdam Esnoga synagogue. ...

2005-2006 campaign for Majority Whip

In the wake of Tom DeLay's indictment in September 2005, Wamp campaigned among his fellow Republican House members to become the majority whip, the number three position in the Republican House leadership. ^[2] Representatives Ray LaHood and Gil Gutknecht agreed to co-chair his campaign for the position. ^[3] But the incumbent, Roy Blunt, remained the majority whip when he failed to move up to the position of GOP majority leader (the position was won by John Boehner in February 2006).^[4] Thomas Dale DeLay (born April 8, 1947) is a former member of the United States House of Representatives from Sugar Land, Texas. ... Ray LaHood Ray H. LaHood (born December 6, 1945), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 1995, representing the downstate 18th District of Illinois (map). ... Gilbert William Gil Gutknecht, Jr. ... Roy D. Blunt (born January 10, 1950) is a Republican politician from Missouri, currently representing that states 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. ... John Andrew Boehner (IPA pronunciation: ) (born November 17, 1949), is an American politician of the Republican Party who serves as House Majority Leader, and a U.S. Representative from Ohios 8th congressional district, which includes parts of the city Dayton as well as several southwestern counties along the Indiana...

Personal

During his 1994 election campaign, Wamp admitted that he had had a problem with cocaine but said that he had stopped using it years ago. After abusing alcohol and cocaine for several years in college and while holding a photography job based in Chattanooga, he checked himself into a drug rehabilitation clinic in 1984. In the clinic, he pledged to his family to turn his life around. As part of his experience at the clinic, he is now devoutly religious Southern Baptist. ^[1] In the Congress, he has fought to make it easier for drug addicts enter drug rehabilitation as well as other measures to help addicts seek help. ^[5] Cocaine (or crack in its impure freebase form) is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... Functional group of an alcohol molecule. ... Cocaine (or crack in its impure freebase form) is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

In April 2003, the Associated Press reported that Wamp was one of six Congressman living in a Capitol Hill townhouse subsidized by The Family, a secretive religious organization.^[6] This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

2006 Campaign

When he was elected to the House in 1994, Wamp pledged to serve just twelve years (six terms) in the House, meaning that he would leave the House in 2007. However, shortly after winning reelection to a sixth term in 2004, Wamp announced he would run again in 2006 after all, citing his status as Tennessee's only member of the powerful Appropriations Committee. The pledge was "a mistake," he told the Associated Press in 2004.^[7]

Wamp faced Brent Benedict, a computer programmer and consultant. During the campaign, Benedict made an issue of Wamp's breaking his term limit pledge saying that he would hold himself to six terms if elected.^[8] Despite this, Wamp was easily reelected.

Following the loss of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate in the 2006 midterm elections, Wamp reflected on the defeat saying, "For the first six years of the 12 years, we were focused on policy and principles, and politics was secondary. The second six years, politics became primary: raising money, going negative, consolidating power." ^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Betsy Rothstein, "It was twenty years ago today ...: Lawmaker free of drugs and alcohol for two decades"
2. ^ "A Scramble To Fill Vacuum Left by DeLay: Hastert Assures Texan He Will Play a Key Role", Washington Post, September 30, 2005
3. ^ "Wamp Names Campaign Leaders for Whip Race", posting on Wamp's personal website, undated
4. ^ "Wamp Happy with Boehner Appointment, Though Whip Race Ends", posting on Wamp's personal website, undated
5. ^ Richard Powelson, "Rehabilitation is Cheaper than Prison", Knoxville News-Sentinel, May 7, 2000
6. ^ Lara Jakes Jordan, "Fellowship finances townhouse where 6 congressmen live", Associated Press, April 20, 2003
7. ^ Andrea Stone, "Term-limit pledges get left behind", USA Today, April 12, 2006
8. ^ Herman Wang, "Benedict criticizes Wamp for violating term limit pledge", Chattanooga Times Free Press, September 21, 2006
9. ^ http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061208/a_gopintro08.art.htm

External links

• Offical House website
• Campaign website
• Associated Press profile
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post