The Incredible Life Of John Boehner, The Newly Re-Elected Speaker Of The House

Walt Hickey

2013-01-03T22:08:00Z

House Speaker John Boehner is once again front and center today, holding on to his speakership in the 113th Congress despite some Republican Party infighting that led up to the vote.

The spotlight is a familiar role for Boehner, the Ohio congressman who has spent more than two decades in the House of Representatives and currently leads one of the most divided caucuses in recent memory.

But Boehner is more than just your average Beltway political hack. Here's a look at the path that got him to the top of Capitol Hill.

He got his start working at his father's bar in Ohio.

Boehner's parents were Democrats and owned a bar in Reading, Ohio, where the future congressman worked with his 12 siblings.

In high school, Boehner played linebacker under future Notre Dame University coach Gerry Faust. After graduating, he enlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War, but was discharged eight weeks later because of a bad back.

Boehner spent seven years at Xavier College before graduating, because he had to pay his own way through school. While he was working one of his multiple jobs — as a night shift janitor at a chemical plant — he met his future wife Debbie, who worked in customer service at the company.

Boehner graduated with a degree in business administration. He earned a sales job at Nucite Sales, a plastics distribution company, and went on to run the company after the owner died.

He made his first foray into politics during the early 1980s, as a trustee for Union Township in southeastern Ohio. He was first elected to the Ohio state legislature in 1985.

Source: Biography.com, New York Times

In 1990, he picked off a vulnerable incumbent and was elected to Congress.

In his first congressional election in 1990, Boehner beat Democratic incumbent Donald Lukens handily, after Lukens was accused of paying an underage girl for sex.

Boehner and six other freshman congressman — including future Pennsylvania Senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum — formed The Gang Of Seven, which rallied against corruption in the House.

The group exposed the House banking scandal, uncovering several House members who had welshed on money owed to the House Bank.

Source: Biography.com

Boehner was a key ally of Newt Gingrich.

Boehner served as a pivotal ally to Gingrich during Gingrich's rocky tenure as Speaker, and was involved in the authoring of Gingrich's Contract with America.

Specifically, Boehner helped author the Congressional Accountability Act, an aspect of Gingrich's Contract with America. It forced Congress to comply with several specific laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act, and other laws.

Source: Official Bio, Office of Compliance

When Republicans took control of the House in 1994, Boehner was elected as the House GOP Conference Chairman.

From 1995 to 1999, Boehner served in a top leadership spot as the Republican Conference Chairman, the fourth most powerful GOP position in the House.

In 1997, Boehner was affiliated with a coup against Gingrich. From Roll Call:

The worst days in the Gingrich-Boehner relationship came in 1997, when a band of frustrated conservatives eager for more rapid changes launched a coup to depose Gingrich, who had been weakened by a House reprimand over ethical issues. Boehner's role in the failed uprising remains hotly disputed, but in the tumult that followed, Boehner lost his leadership position.

Source: Speaker Bio, Roll Call

He was demoted in 1998 — but he kept at it.

Boehner lost his leadership position after the 1998 election, when his party lost seats. Boehner followed this exile by devoting himself to committee work.

According to the New York Times, when he walked out of the room after being told of his demotion, Boehner told a top aide:

“We are going to smile, we are going to work hard, and earn our way back.”

He went on to serve as vice chair of the House Administration Committee and was involved in forcing the first independent audit of the House.

He later served as chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce from 2001 to 2006.

Source: New York Times

He was a crucial ally to George W. Bush throughout his presidency.

Boehner was one of the four key members of Congress — along with the late Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Republican Sen. Judd Gregg and Democratic Rep. George Miller — to craft the bipartisan No Child Left Behind legislation that was signed into law in 2002.

Source: Congressional Research Service

Boehner is a powerhouse fundraiser for his Republican colleagues.

Boehner is an incredibly savvy fundraiser. During every election cycle since 1998, Boehner has raised upwards of $1 million for his House Republican colleagues through his Leadership PAC, Freedom Project. In 2006, he raised more than $2 million for Republicans, and during the 2010 cycle he raised more than $3 million.

In the 2012 cycle, he raised $3.6 million through Freedom Project, all of which went to Republican House candidates.

Source: Center for Responsive Politics

Boehner worked his way back into the House leadership in 2006.

When Democrats took back the House of Representatives in 2006, Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert announced that he would not seek the Minority Leader position. The No. 2 Republican, Tom Delay, also stepped down due to legal issues.

Boehner ran for the Minority Leader role, beating Indiana Rep. Mike Pence in the second round of voting.

Boehner was instrumental in getting Congress to pass the TARP bailout.

In addition to building GOP support for the Troubled Assets Relief Program, Boehner gave a passionate speech on the floor of the House, describing the vote as one which separated "the men from the boys and the girls from the women."

But he was a fierce opponent of Obama's stimulus bill.

Boehner managed to unite the entire House Republican caucus against the stimulus bill put forth by newly inaugurated President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats in 2009.

Boehner, as the default leader of the opposition, said:

"The president made clear when we started this process that this was about jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. And what it’s turned into is nothing more than spending, spending and more spending."

He also theatrically dropped the thousand-page bill on the floor of the House while accusing Democrats of not reading the bill.

Source: New York Times

Boehner also was a thorn in Obama's side as the most prominent opponent of the 2010 health care law.

When the Affordable Care Act passed, the Minority Leader said:

"This is a somber day for the American people. By signing this bill, President Obama is abandoning our founding principle that government governs best when it governs closest to the people."

Once Boehner took over as Speaker in 2010, the Republican majority in the House voted 33 times to overturn the bill.

Source: New York Times

But Boehner's influence hit a rocky patch during the fiscal cliff negotiations.

Boehner and Obama failed to come again to a so-called "Grand Bargain" budget solution to avert the fiscal cliff, and Boehner's "Plan B" failed to earn enough support from his Republican colleagues. It even made some conservatives gripe and propose replacing him as Speaker. In the end, a large portion of the negotiations were completed by his Republican colleague in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

In his free time, Boehner is an avid golfer.

Boehner's golf game is legendary in Washington. He plays frequently with donors and colleagues, and is rated No. 9 in Golf Digest's 2011 ranking of congressional golfers.

Boehner's golf game even got him into trouble in September 2011. Boehner was unknowingly caught by a hot microphone right before President Obama's jobs speech bragging to Vice President Joe Biden about playing "the round of the decade" at Sand Hills Golf Club in Nebraska during the recess.

Source: New York Daily News, Golf Digest