Bob Stump

For an unrelated Arizona politician, seeBob Stump (Arizona politician, born 1971).

Bob Stump
Chair of theHouse Armed Services Committee
In office January 4, 2001 – January 3, 2003
Speaker	Dennis Hastert
Preceded by	Floyd Spence
Succeeded by	Duncan Hunter
Chair of theHouse Veterans' Affairs Committee
In office January 4, 1995 – January 4, 2001
Speaker	Newt Gingrich Dennis Hastert
Preceded by	Sonny Montgomery
Succeeded by	Chris Smith
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromArizona's3rddistrict
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Sam Steiger
Succeeded by	Trent Franks(Redistricting)
Personal details
Born	Robert Lee Stump April 4, 1927 Phoenix, Arizona,U.S.
Died	June 20, 2003(2003-06-20)(aged 76) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.
Resting place	Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery (Phoenix, Arizona)
Political party	Democratic(1958–1982) Republican(1982–2003)
Spouse	Nancy Stump
Children	3
Alma mater	Arizona State University
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Branch/service	United States Navy
Years of service	1943–1946
Battles/wars	World War II

Robert Lee Stump(April 4, 1927 – June 20, 2003) was an American politician who served as aU.S. CongressmanfromArizona.He served as a member from theDemocratic Partyfrom 1977 to 1983 and then later a member of theRepublican Partyuntil the end of his tenure as congressman.

Early life and career

Stump was born inPhoenix,and was aU.S. NavyWorld War IIcombat veteran, where he served on theUSSTulagifrom 1943 to 1946. He graduated fromTolleson Union High Schoolin 1947, andArizona State Universityin 1951 where he was a member of theDelta Chifraternity. He owned a cotton and grain farm in the Phoenix suburb ofTollesonfor many years.

He served four terms in theArizona House of Representativesfrom 1959 to 1967, and five terms in theArizona State Senate,from 1967 to 1976. He served as President of the Arizona State Senate from 1975 to 1976.

Member of Congress

He was first elected to the95thCongresson November 2, 1976, originally as aDemocratfrom the3rd Congressional District,a vast district stretching from western Phoenix throughPrescotttoLake Havasu Cityand theGrand Canyon.He defeated state senate minority leader Fred Koory with 47 percent of the vote.

Stump wore his party ties very loosely. He considered himself a "Pinto Democrat," the popular name for conservative Democrats from rural Arizona, and his voting record was strongly conservative. His profile was similar to those of conservative Democrats from the South. He voted forRonald Reagan's tax cuts in 1981. Shortly after that vote, he announced he would become aRepublicanwhen Congress reconvened in January 1982. Regardless of his party affiliation, he never faced serious competition at the ballot box. After his initial run for Congress, he only dropped below 60 percent of the vote once, in 1990. He only faced an independent in 1978, and was completely unopposed in 1986.

He briefly considered running for theSenatein 1986 afterBarry Goldwaterdecided to retire.

Described as "quiet" and "assiduously private",Stump kept a fairly low profile for most of his tenure. He had only a skeleton staff; he was known to answer the phone himself at hisWashington, D.C.office, and to open his own mail.Stump usually returned home to work his farm in Tolleson on weekends.

In November 1997, Stump was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsora resolutionbyBob Barrthat sought to launch animpeachment inquiryagainst PresidentBill Clinton.The resolution did not specify any charges or allegations.This was an early effort toimpeachClinton, predating the eruption of theClinton–Lewinsky scandal.The eruption of that scandal would ultimately lead to a more serious effort to impeach Clinton in 1998.On October 8, 1998, Stump voted in favor of legislation that was passed to openan impeachment inquiry.On December 19, 1998,Stump voted in favor of all four proposedarticles of impeachmentagainst Clinton (only two of which received the majority of votes needed to be adopted).

In his 26 years in the House he became a noted member of theHouse Armed Services Committee,serving as chairman from 2001 to 2003. He'd chaired theHouse Veterans' Affairs Committeefrom 1995 to 2001, when he was forced to give that post up due to caucus-imposed term limits. He is one of the few members of the House to chair both committees.He consistently supported increased spending on the military and veterans.The 2003 military appropriations authorization act was named after him in recognition of his commitment to the military as the Bob Stump National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003.

Stump sponsored bills to makeEnglishthe official language for government business and to alter laws so that children born on US soil to non-citizen parents would not automatically be citizens.According to Amy Silverson, he was "best known in Congress as a perpetual naysayer, casting votes against almost all spending programs."

Between 1976 and 2002, he accumulated a lifetime score of 97 (out of 100) from theAmerican Conservative Union.He received very low scores from theNational Council of Senior Citizens,theAmerican Civil Liberties Union,theAFL–CIO,theNAACP,and theLeague of Conservation Voters.

Although his district included the entire northwestern portion of Arizona, the great majority of its residents lived in the West Valley. Stump was often accused of addressing himself mainly to the West Valley and ignoring the other portions of his sprawling district, even though the district's center of gravity had moved to the West Valley as early as the 1970s. Indeed, many of his constituents rarely saw him. He maintained his district office in downtown Phoenix, outside his own district, for many years.Although he claimed his farm in Tolleson as his residence in the district, his main residence was in another portion of Phoenix outside the district. However, Stump toldThe Arizona Republicthat he saw the farm as "my place of business," and knew that "nobody ever thought I resided there." He believed that "you declare your residency wherever you want.

Bob Hope announcement

After theAssociated PressmistakenlyplacedBob Hope's obituary on its web site in June 1998, Stump announced on the floor of the House that the entertainer had died.This was quickly denied by his daughter and publicist; Hope outlived Stump by five weeks, dying in 2003 at the age of 100.

Death and legacy

Grave site of Robert Lee Stump and Nancy Stump

He decided not to run for re-election in 2002 due to declining health. He endorsed his longtime chief of staff, Lisa Jackson Atkins, as his successor in what was then numbered as the 2nd District. Atkins had been very visible in the district, to the point that many thoughtsheactually represented it rather than Stump. However, Atkins was defeated in a seven way Republican primary byTrent Franks,who held the seat until December 2017. Stump died June 20, 2003, ofmyelodysplasia,a blood disorder and was buried atGreenwood/Memory Lawn Mortuary & Cemeteryin Phoenix withfull military honors.

In 2004, the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center inPrescott, Arizona,was renamed the Bob Stump Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Stump is no relation to the member of theArizona Corporation Commissionof the same name. In 2006, SR 303L was renamed theBob Stump Memorial Highway.

In 2018, Stump's widow issued a letter, criticizing an Arizona state government politicianof the same namefor allegedly capitalizing on her late husband's name. The letter was met with a sharp rebuke by the state government politician's mother.

See also

• List of American politicians who switched parties in office
• List of United States representatives who switched parties

External links

• United States Congress."Bob Stump (id: S001044)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• AppearancesonC-SPAN
• "Bob Stump, 76, Ex-Congressman of Arizona, Dies".The New York Times.June 24, 2003.