Jim McCrery

Jim McCrery
U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana
In office April 16, 1988 – January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Buddy Roemer
Succeeded by	John Fleming
Constituency	4th district (1988–1993) 5th district (1993–1997) 4th district (1997–2009)
Personal details
Born	James Otis McCrery III (1949-09-18) September 18, 1949 (age 74) Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (Before 1988) Republican (1988–present)
Spouse(s)	Mary Johnette Hawkins (Divorced)
Children	2
Education	Louisiana Tech University, Ruston (BA) Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge (JD)

James Otis McCrery III (born September 18, 1949) is an American lawyer, politician and lobbyist who served as a

, based in the northwestern quadrant of the state.

McCrery was a ranking member on the

Moderate Republicans

.

McCrery did not seek reelection in 2008

John C. Fleming

, a fellow Republican.

Early life and career

McCrery was born in Shreveport and reared in

. McCrery joined the law firm of Jackson, Smith & Ford in Leesville, where he worked from 1975 to 1978.

From January through August 1979, he was a staff member of U.S. Representative

, a forest products company. He remained there until his election to Congress four years later.

Congressional career

After Roemer resigned from Congress to become governor, McCrery ran for his former boss's seat as a Republican.

In 1992, Louisiana lost a district as a result of sluggish population growth during the 1980s. Also, the state was ordered, temporarily, to draw a second black-majority district by the

; the old 5th was 30 percent black. McCrery was thus such a heavy favorite that national Democratic leaders wrote off the seat as a loss and urged Huckaby to retire. Huckaby chose to stay in the race and was heavily defeated, carrying only one parish in the district. McCrery thus became the first Louisiana Republican to unseat a Democratic incumbent at the federal level.

McCrery was reelected seven more times with no substantive opposition and was completely unopposed in 1996, 1998, and 2004. His district was renumbered as the 4th again in 1997, after the

.

In the

From 2007 to 2009, McCrery was the ranking Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee.

In 2007, in the early stages of the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination for 2008, McCrery announced his endorsement of candidate Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts for the party's nomination, a designation Romney won in 2012, not 2008.^[3]

On December 7, 2007, McCrery announced his decision not to seek reelection in 2008.

attorney.

Subcommittees and laws

Congressman McCrery sat on the following

House Ways and Means

subcommittees:

• Health Select Revenue Measures (Chairman)
• Human Resources
• Social Security (chairman)

McCrery sponsored or cosponsored six public bills in the 109th Congress that have been signed into law by the president, all of which involved disaster mitigation and assistance in response to 2005 hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma.

Post-Congressional career

In January 2009, McCrery joined a top lobbying firm, Capitol Counsel in Washington, D.C.^[4] He is the lead Republican in the company.^[5] Among his clients is General Electric.

Family and personal life

On August 3, 1991, McCrery married the former Mary Johnette Hawkins (born December 1966), a Republican,^[6] a former television newswoman and communications specialist from Shreveport.^[7] The couple has two sons, Scott and Otis McCrery.^[8] The McCrerys subsequently divorced.

McCrery is a United Methodist.^[9]

In August 2014, Governor Bobby Jindal, who once worked as a summer intern on McCrery's congressional staff, appointed McCrery to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of John George, a Shreveport physician, to the influential Louisiana State University Board of Supervisors.^[10]

Political controversies

Chinese vice-premier gaffe

During the China–U.S trade talks of March 2007, McCrery and New York Democrat Charles Rangel committed a gaffe when they accidentally insulted Chinese Vice Premier

References

External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Profile at
  SourceWatch
• Election Central Guide to 2008

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Buddy Roemer	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 4th congressional district 1988–1993	Succeeded by Cleo Fields
Preceded by Jerry Huckaby	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 5th congressional district 1993–1997	Succeeded by John Cooksey
Preceded by Cleo Fields	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Louisiana's 4th congressional district 1997–2009	Succeeded by John Fleming
Preceded by Charlie Rangel	Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee 2007–2009	Succeeded by Dave Camp
U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial)
Preceded by Richard Baker as Former US Representative	Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative	Succeeded by Philip Sharp as Former US Representative