Subsequent Careers
Six of the seven are no longer in Congress; one successfully ran for higher office, one was defeated for re-election, and four retired.
Rick Santorum was once considered a rising star in the Republican Party. He was the first of the Gang of Seven to run for higher office, and the only one who was successful, becoming the Junior US Senator from Pennsylvania in the Republican landslide of 1994. Santorum served two terms in the Senate and rose to the level of Senate Republican Conference Chairman before being defeated by State Treasurer Bob Casey in 2006. He ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.
Charles Taylor remained in the House for eight terms. He was defeated in 2006 losing to former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler.
Two retired from the House to run for higher office. Frank Riggs left his House seat after three terms in 1998 to run unsuccessfully for the US Senate seat held by Barbara Boxer. Jim Nussle retired in 2006 after eight terms to run for the open Iowa governor's seat but lost to Democratic candidate Chet Culver. Nussle having served previously as the Chairman of the House Budget Committee was then selected to serve as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President George W. Bush.
The latter two retired to return to private life. Scott Klug chose to keep his initial campaign promise of only serving four terms and to refocus on his business. John Doolittle was tainted by involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal and retired at the end of his ninth term in 2008.
Only Boehner currently remains in the House of Representatives. He served as House Republican Conference Chairman from 1995 to 1999, but he was ousted after the party lost five seats in the 1998 midterm elections, though the Republicans retained a majority. He was later Chairman of the Education and Labor Committee from 2001 to 2006. In February 2006, Boehner scored an upset victory over Roy Blunt to become House Majority Leader, campaigning as a reformer in the wake of several political scandals among Republican House members. After the November 2006 election, when the Republicans lost control of the House, he became the House Minority Leader. He remained in office and in 2011 was elected Speaker of the House for the 112th Congress. Looking back on his involvement with the Gang of Seven, he has said "I think showing the American people that there are people willing to take a principled stand in Washington is a very good thing."
Read more about this topic: Gang Of Seven
Famous quotes containing the words subsequent and/or careers:
“Children of the same family, the same blood, with the same first associations and habits, have some means of enjoyment in their power, which no subsequent connections can supply; and it must be by a long and unnatural estrangement, by a divorce which no subsequent connection can justify, if such precious remains of the earliest attachments are ever entirely outlived.”
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“So much of the trouble is because I am a woman. To me it seems a very terrible thing to be a woman. There is one crown which perhaps is worth it all—a great love, a quiet home, and children. We all know that is all that is worthwhile, and yet we must peg away, showing off our wares on the market if we have money, or manufacturing careers for ourselves if we haven’t.”
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