Steve Stockman

Early life, education, and business career

Stockman was born in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, outside Detroit. He graduated from Dondero High School in Royal Oak, Michigan. From 1985 to 1986, he attended San Jacinto College but dropped out because he suffered from what he called "partying syndrome". In 1977, when Stockman was twenty, police officers found valium in his possession. He was charged with felony possession of a controlled substance, but the charge was later dropped. He later became a born-again Christian. In 1990, he earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Houston–Clear Lake. He worked as a computer salesman in Friendswood, Texas.

Criminal case

In March 2017, Stockman was arrested for allegedly conspiring to use contributions designated for a charity to fund his campaign and for personal use, a felony, under 18 U.S.C. § 371. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in January 2013, Stockman requested and received $350,000 in donations from an unidentified businessman. Stockman allegedly solicited the money by using the name of Life Without Limits, a Las Vegas-based nonprofit intended to help people who have experienced traumatic events. The donation was allegedly intended to be used to renovate the Freedom House in Washington D.C. Stockman has also been charged with conspiracy to falsify statements when reporting contributions to try launder the money. The FBI alleges that at the time of the events in question, Stockman had no formal control of the Life Without Limits organization, but that he had opened multiple bank accounts under the name "Stephen E Stockman dba Life Without Limits." The FBI also alleges that financial records indicate that Stockman "made no significant expenditures toward the purchase, renovation, or operation of the 'Freedom House,' which was never opened." Federal prosecutors allege that Stockman conspired with Thomas Dodd, a former campaign worker and congressional special assistant. According to the Houston Chronicle, the alleged conspiracy involved attempts “to bilk conservative foundations out of at least $775,000 in donations meant for charitable purposes or voter education”. Dodd was indicted by a Federal grand jury in Houston and, on March 20, 2017, he pleaded guilty. Sentencing for Dodd is set for August 3, 2017.

On March 28, 2017, a federal grand jury issued a 28-count indictment of Stockman. He was accused of obtaining $1.25 million under false pretenses and using the funds for his political campaigns. Also indicted was Jason Posey, the former director of special projects in Stockman’s congressional office. Stockman was charged with eleven counts of money laundering, eight counts of mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to make "conduit contributions" and false statements (conspiracy to conceal the real source of the contributions by false attribution), two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, one count of making excessive contributions, and one count of willfully filing a false 2013 Federal income tax return by not reporting some of his income. Posey was charged with six counts of money laundering, four counts of mail and wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to make conduit contributions and false statements, two counts of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, one count of making excessive contributions, and one count of falsification of records. Due to its complexity and the need for time to review 142,378 pages of documents disclosed by the prosecution, a motion for postponement of Stockman's trail by his court-appointed attorney was granted. It is now scheduled to begin on January 29, 2018.

Elections

Stockman's first run for Congress was in March 1990 in Texas's 9th congressional district. The district, anchored by Beaumont and Galveston, had been represented by Democratic Representative Jack Brooks since 1953. His primary challenger was Mayor Maury Meyers of Beaumont. Oliver North made appearances at two of Stockman's fundraisers.

Meyers got 44.3% of the primary vote; Stockman, 41%. Since no candidate had a majority, there was a runoff election and, with the support of third-place finisher Steve Clifford, Meyers beat Stockman to win the Republican nomination.

Stockman ran again in 1992 for the House in District 9. This time he was unopposed in the primary. The 1992 Republican National Convention was held in Houston in August of that year. Stockman organized a "congressional cruise" on the Houston Ship Channel as a fundraising opportunity, but no members of Congress attended. Democrat Brooks defeated him 56% to 44%.

Stockman ran again for House District 9 in 1994. He had two challengers in the Republican primary: John LeCour and James Milburn. Stockman finished the primary with a landslide 74%.

His Democratic opponent in the general election was, as before, incumbent Jack Brooks. Initially the National Rifle Association (NRA) endorsed Brooks and even donated $5,000 to his cause, while the Gun Owners of America endorsed Stockman. However, a number of NRA members threatened to resign from the organization over the issue and the NRA withdrew their support for Brooks, remaining neutral in the race. In a major upset, Stockman beat Brooks, who, had he won, would have become Dean of the United States House of Representatives, by 51% to 49%.

Stockman ran unopposed in the 1996 Republican primary. In July a federal court ordered the boundaries of 13 Texas House districts to be redrawn because of racial gerrymandering, although Stockman's district was barely affected. Stockman won a plurality in the November election with 46%, forcing a runoff against Democratic Jefferson County assessor Nick Lampson in the runoff election. Lampson won the runoff election with 53% of the vote

Tenure

During his 1995 term, Stockman opposed the U.S. bailout of the Mexican peso

In 1995, Stockman wrote an article for Guns & Ammo claiming that the Waco siege had been orchestrated by the Clinton administration in order "to prove the need for a ban on so-called 'assault weapons.'" He wrote further that "[h]ad Bill Clinton really been unhappy with what Attorney General Janet Reno ordered, he would not only have fired her, he would have had Reno indicted for premeditated murder." After the article was published, Stockman's office denied that he believed in Waco "conspiracy theories."

In 1995, Stockman called for a Congressional investigation into Alfred Kinsey's 1948 study Sexual Behavior in the Human Male after learning that Kinsey had used data from the diary of a pedophile. Stockman believed that the allegations discredited current theories of sexual education in the United States, writing to his congressional colleagues that"[o]ur children have been taught that . . . any type of sex is a valid outlet for their emotions. They are taught that the problem with sex is not that it is wrong to engage in homosexual, bestial, underage, or premarital sex, but that it is wrong to do so without protection."

Committee assignments

Inter-congressional career (1997–2013)

In 1998, Stockman ran unsuccessfully in the Republican primary for the Texas Railroad Commission.

Between 2005 and 2007, Stockman worked with the conservative Leadership Institute as director of its Campus Leadership Program.

In 2006, he attempted to run as an Independent candidate for Texas's 22nd congressional district, Tom DeLay's former seat, and even though he had enough signatures to qualify for ballot access, the Texas Secretary of State invalidated enough signatures to make him ineligible. Stockman registered for the special election to fill out the remainder of DeLay's term; he was one of five candidates. He finished third, with 10.75% of the vote.

During his time away from Congress, Stockman also cared for his father, who had Alzheimer's disease. The cost of caring for him drove Stockman to declare bankruptcy and, when his father's disease became too severe, Stockman moved him to a veteran's home. When his father died, Stockman decided to run for Congress in the 2012 elections.

Election

In 2011 Stockman formed an exploratory committee, Friends of Steve Stockman, to consider a run for the 14th district seat being vacated by unsuccessful presidential candidate Ron Paul. Stockman instead ran in 2012 in the newly created 36th District. This includes the Harris County portion of Friendswood, where Stockman's home was located. It was drawn to be heavily Republican, and it was understood that whoever won the Republican primary would be the district's first congressman. In the May 29 primary, Stockman finished second in the first round, behind Stephen Vincent Takach, a financial planner. Takach finished with 22 percent of the vote, far short of the 50 percent threshold required to win. Stockman defeated Takach in the July 31 runoff 55%–45%, all but assuring his return to Congress after a 16-year absence.

In the November general election, Stockman defeated Democrat Max Owen Martin, a retired pilot from Clear Lake City, Texas, with 71% of the vote.

Tenure

In 2013, Stockman was one of ten Republicans who did not vote for John Boehner (R-OH) for Speaker of the House; he was the only representative to vote "Present" as his protest vote.

Stockman opposes the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In 2013, Stockman supported a government shutdown caused by Republican members of Congress who sought to block a continuing resolution that includes funding for the Affordable Care Act. Stockman's last-minute decision to challenge Cornyn in the Republican primary for Senate was "sparked in part by Cornyn's role in helping end" the federal shutdown.

In January 2013, Stockman introduced the "Safe Schools Act," a bill that would repeal the Gun-Free School Zones Act of 1990. Stockman introduced the bill following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. He asserted that "By disarming qualified citizens and officials in schools we have created a dangerous situation for our children." The same month, Stockman issued a press release condemning gun control executive orders issued by President Barack Obama post-Sandy Hook, stating, "I will seek to thwart this action by any means necessary, including but not limited to eliminating funding for implementation, defunding the White House, and even filing articles of impeachment."

In February 2013, Stockman voted against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, objecting to provisions in the bill that expanded protections for transgender victims of domestic violence. Stockman said, "This is helping the liberals, this is horrible. Unbelievable. What really bothers—it's called a women's act, but then they have men dressed up as women, they count that. Change-gender, or whatever. How is that—how is that a woman?"

On April 25, 2014, Stockman stated that the House Ethics Committee was investigating a campaign finance reporting error made by a former campaign worker. Stockman stated that the mistake was corrected soon after he learned of it, and that the worker had been removed from the campaign organization.

Committee assignments

2014 U.S. Senate election

On December 9, 2013, Stockman filed for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate for Texas against incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn.

On March 4, 2014, Stockman polled 250,759 votes (19.2 percent) in his bid for the Republican nomination for the Senate. He placed second in a field of eight candidates on the ballot. Cornyn received 778,967 votes (59.44 percent). On election night, Stockman quickly conceded and called upon Texas Republicans to vote the straight party ticket on November 4, 2014.

Meanwhile, Brian Babin won the seat for District 36 as Stockman did not contest this seat.

Political future

Stockman was a potential candidate for the Constitution Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election.

Energy Independence

Congressman Stockman is a supporter of American Energy Independence and used his position during his tenure on the technology committee to question the EPA's technological criteria for evaluating applications on hydraulic fracking. He has worked on improving the current technologies being used on shale oil and gas production. He was a member of the carbon caucus, supports the keystone pipeline, use of coal, opening up federal lands for drilling as well as hydraulic fracking for shale oil and gas production.

Economy and jobs

Stockman has spoken out about the need to dredge and secure the Texas Ports like Houston, Cedar Bayou, Beaumont and Orange from which many of the Gulf Coast petrochemicals are shipped, providing a considerable number of jobs, as these ports are important to the Texan economy. The district includes Baytown, Pasadena, Deer Park, Mount Bellvieu and is the largest petrochemical industrial district in the United States. With the advent of production of shale gas, over 100 billion dollars are expected to be invested in the U.S. petrochemical sector over the next few years (most of it in Texas), and over 40 billion dollars in Stockman’s district, potentially creating numerous new jobs. These plants include ethylene crackers, PDH plants, methanol manufacturing facilities and others. Stockman has repeatedly appealed to the EPA to expedite permits for new plant construction. He has also called on Vice President Joe Biden to obtain a lifting of what he argues is an EPA blockade on American jobs.

Fiscal

Stockman cosponsored the 2013 Energy Freedom Prosperity Act that would have eliminated all energy-related tax subsidies. He sponsored the bill to defund "Obamacare". Stockman advocates abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and replacing the federal income tax with a flat tax.