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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bailled 2019</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">JOK resolution praise vs ACORN, kiboshed by LA break-in</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/fueling-dissent/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://apps.publicintegrity.org/united-states-of-petroleum/fueling-dissent/</a></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx many? twt</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FUELING DISSENT</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">How the oil industry set out to undercut clean air</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After casting doubt on climate change for decades, industry consultants have turned their attention to air pollution</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Illustration by Robert Fresson</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">by Jie Jenny Zou</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tom Dart of Guardian US contributed reporting</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>December 12, 2017</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">SAN ANTONIO, Texas ― On sunny days, when his classmates at St. John Bosco Elementary School run out to play, Gabriel Rosales heads to the school nurse for a dose of Albuterol. The fine mist opens his airways, relaxing the muscles in his chest. Without it, recess could leave the 9-year-old gasping for breath. He gets a second dose at the end of the day before heading home.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Over the past year, Gabriel’s asthma has worsened. Visits to the emergency room, shortened trips to the park, and reliance on inhalers have become his new norm. “It got to the point where I couldn’t even leave him with anybody,” said his father, Gabe, who works as a consultant to the National Association of Public Employees, a workers’ advocacy group, and a seasonal field director of the Bexar County Democratic Party. “One time he almost looked blue.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Gabriel’s health is deteriorating alongside air quality in San Antonio, where oil and gas development, a hotter climate and a growing population have combined to spell misery for a city that once boasted clean air compared to other Texas metropolitan areas. Part of the problem lies southeast of the city in the Eagle Ford Shale, a 400-mile-long hub of hydraulic fracturing that unleashes microscopic particles and smog-causing, ground-level ozone.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);"><b>The state’s environmental regulator — the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality — hasn’t made things better.&nbsp;</b>In fact, it’s followed in the footsteps of Big Oil’s biggest lobby, the American Petroleum Institute, which has forestalled progress on ozone for decades. Using consultants also hired by<b>&nbsp;API,&nbsp;</b>the commission has spent millions of taxpayer dollars in an effort to undercut scientific evidence linking particulate matter and ozone with bronchitis, asthma and premature death.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">Read more about API's history of climate denial and its ties to the White House ]</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Air quality is the new frontier for climate-change skeptics long tied to API. The institute has fueled uncertainty on climate by producing what critics call misleading scientific and economic studies. Now, by attempting to discredit established research on ozone and fine particles, API and its cadre of doubters are trying to undermine the Clean Air Act — the landmark U.S. law credited with saving millions of lives. Working in concert with other free-market groups, they’re taking their message to Capitol Hill. API officials did not grant interview requests from the Center for Public Integrity.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Residents of San Antonio’s low-income, mostly Latino neighborhoods — like Hillcrest, where Gabriel Rosales lives — bear the brunt of poor air quality even if they aren’t in ozone hot spots, said Mario Bravo, an outreach specialist with the Environmental Defense Fund. “They have less access to health care,” Bravo said. “They have less access to transportation to get to the health-care providers.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">‘A lot like climate’</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In June, two peer-reviewed studies trumpeted a conclusion at odds with years of solid science: fine-particle pollution long linked to premature death and chronic illness isn’t as dangerous as health advocates contend. If true, the findings would call into question health benefits claimed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has set ever-tightening air-quality standards.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There was a catch, however. The articles — which were published within a week of one another — appeared in Critical Reviews in Toxicology and Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, two journals favored by industry consultants alleged to promote pay-for-play science. And both studies were funded by API, a trade group that has spent $40 million since 2013 to lobby Congress on topics ranging from taxes to global warming.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Twitter</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>“Our study is published...air quality does not kill. $600 million of EPA junk science up in smoke,” climate-change skeptic and Donald Trump acolyte Steve Milloy tweeted in June, linking to the Regulatory Toxicology article</b>. During a congressional luncheon a month later, the former coal executive took credit for conceiving the study before turning it over to friend,&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">S. Stanley Young, and two other statisticians</span>, who authored the final article. No mention of Milloy’s involvement is made in the publication.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Read more about how Big Oil is trying to sow skepticism of science among judges ]</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Some of the same data were used in the Critical Reviews article published by Louis Anthony “Tony” Cox Jr</b>., which also disputed the link between fine particles and mortality. Cox, a biostatistician from Colorado,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">&nbsp;started consulting for API in 1988.&nbsp;</span>Cox disclosed that his paper “benefitted from close proofreading and copy-editing suggestions from API” but denied in an interview that his findings were influenced.<b>&nbsp;In November, he was named the next chair of the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, drawing criticism from groups like the Union of Concerned Scientists.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The science on particle pollution, much like the science on global warming, is exhaustive and widely accepted, with thousands of studies pointing to serious health implications. The World Health Organization notes that particulate matter “affects more people than any other pollutant,” with effects observed at even “very low concentrations.” The particles — found in automotive and industrial exhaust and smaller than one-fifth of the width of a strand of hair — form a toxic mix with ozone that lodges deep in the lungs<b>. Unlike Cox, most researchers are no longer fixated on whether this form of pollution is fundamentally dangerous; they worry instead about whether it can cause — not just exacerbate — chronic illness.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Attacking the science is one way of undermining the Clean Air Act, said John Walke of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which advocates for more protective air-quality standards. The Clean Air Act is routinely hailed as one of the most cost-effective federal laws, even by business groups. In 2015, the EPA estimated that the law will have saved the U.S. economy $2 trillion by 2020 while costing $65 billion to implement. About 85 percent of the act’s benefits come from reducing fine-particle pollution, which raises the risk of early death. Opponents of the law “deny that air pollution is deadly … or even harmful in order to try to pretend that no benefits are delivered,” Walke said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
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</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Steve Milloy</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Milloy’s July luncheon at the Rayburn House Office Building — billed as a “congressional staff and media briefing” — was little more than a plug for his latest book, “Scare Pollution: Why and How to Fix the EPA,”</b>&nbsp;which condemns the “echo chamber of deceptive science” on ozone and fine particles. The event was hosted by Myron Ebell, who chairs the Cooler Heads Coalition, a climate-skeptics’ group that began as an alliance of free-market think tanks. “It’s a lot like climate,” Milloy told the audience. “This stuff is pulled out of thin air.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“It’s a lot like climate... This stuff is pulled out of thin air.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Reached for comment, Milloy said the study is not an attack on the Clean Air Act but part of his 20-year effort to expose the EPA’s “garbage-in, garbage-out” air pollution research</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. He denied having any formal ties to API.&nbsp;</span>“I am very, very disappointed in the American Petroleum Institute and all the oil companies for not defending their products, for leaving the science to people like me,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Young, who authored the study, stood behind its findings and disputed the idea that industry funding presents ethical conflicts. His study data are publicly available, he said, but the EPA isn’t as transparent. Ebell agreed, accusing the agency of using “junk science” to justify air-quality and greenhouse-gas regulation.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Despite their misgivings about the EPA, all three men have become tethered to the agency. Earlier this year, Ebell oversaw the EPA transition for Trump, leading a group that included Milloy. Young was named to the EPA’s Science Advisory Board in October</b>.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., co-founder of the Senate Climate Action Task Force, complained that such appointments have become all too common.&nbsp; “These people were fringe fanatics and industry stooges fighting on behalf of the industry a propaganda war against science,” he said.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Milloy and Ebell were listed among the authors of a $2 million plan to amplify uncertainty in climate science — as revealed in a 1998 API memo leaked to The New York Times. Both say the memo grew out of an API brainstorming session that never resulted in concrete action, with Milloy calling it “just a big joke.”</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Years before, API had refuted the very concept of global warming under President Charles DiBona</b>, who joined the institute shortly after a stint as energy policy advisor to Richard&nbsp;<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">Nixon in the 1970s. White House communications show that DiBona regularly met with then-API President Frank Ikard, a close friend of Nixon’s</span>, before becoming Ikard’s deputy in 1974.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">“You heard that a scientific consensus now exists,” DiBona said during API’s annual meeting in 1996. “This claim is beyond misleading; it is dead wrong.”</span>&nbsp;He borrowed an analogy from MIT physicist Richard Lindzen, who likened climate models to Ouija boards. By 2003, a group of scientists funded by API had turned out the first of several studies characterizing the warming trend as a natural phenomenon.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The same year, however, the United Nations was holding its ninth conference on climate change —&nbsp; focusing on how to mitigate warming. In 2001, an international consortium of scientists had delivered its third report on the trend, reaffirming findings that climate change was real and manmade.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Reached by phone recently, DiBona declined to answer any questions about the organization he led for 18 years. Months after retiring from API in 1997, DiBona joined the board of Halliburton</b>, an oilfield-service company then headed by future vice president Dick Cheney. DiBona is now an API honorary lifetime director and an<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;advisory chairman for a mining investment company based in the Cayman Islands.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>In recent years, fringe views espoused by API have found a receptive audience in U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas</b>), whose climate-denial credentials rival those of Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma. Since Smith became chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology in 2013, the panel has handed out dozens of subpoenas — many to scientists at regulatory agencies and environmental groups — aiming to debunk climate research.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Smith — whose district includes San Antonio — has opened the committee’s hearing rooms to Cooler Heads Coalition events such as Milloy’s book promotion and briefings that urged the United States to drop out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement. In February, he reissued a controversial subpoena to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is investigating ExxonMobil’s historical knowledge on climate change. Since he joined Congress in 1989, Smith’s top campaign donors have been from the oil and gas sector, which gave him at least $764,000, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Smith did not respond to requests for comment.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">
</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 102);">In 2016, Influence Map, a nonprofit environmental research group, estimated that ExxonMobil had spent about $27 million on “climate obstruction” lobbying and advertising campaigns. That amount was dwarfed by the $65 million API spent on similar efforts, the group found. ExxonMobil is one of the oldest and largest API members.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>‘Tired, old industry argument’</b></div><div style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In July, the House passed a bill targeting what its proponents called “job-killing regulations” — namely, bedrock air-quality standards. Its lead author was</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 102, 0);">&nbsp;Rep. Pete Olson</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">,&nbsp;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">a Republican from the ozone-plagued Houston area. All but four of the 229 “aye” votes were cast by Republicans, Lamar Smith among them.</span></b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under Olson’s bill, states would have until 2025 to meet the EPA’s latest ozone limit, which was supposed to take effect in October</span>. The agency, which is legally required to update air standards to keep pace with evolving science, would be obligated to review rules for pollutants once a decade, as opposed to once every five years.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The 2017 bill is the latest iteration of a proposal Olson first floated in 2015, seeking to delay regulation of ozone</b>. The same day his bill passed, 144 trade groups, including regional offshoots of API, pledged their support in a letter to Congress. Oil and gas interests have been Olson’s top political contributors, donating more than $1 million to his campaigns since 2007. A Senate version of the bill has not come up for a vote.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>In an email, Olson’s office wrote that the congressman “believes the Clean Air Act is critically important” but has “fundamental concerns” about Texas’ ability to meet tighter standards. Pollution control, the email said, “can be done rationally and with an eye on our economy.”</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>By law, the EPA is not allowed to consider cost when setting ozone standards, but that hasn’t stopped API and other industry groups from injecting economics into the policy debate</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;Much like scientists for hire, economists have provided API with grist to challenge regulations</span>. Armed with seemingly authoritative studies from firms such as&nbsp;<b>NERA Economic Consulting,</b>&nbsp;t<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">he institute has recast issues such as action on climate change as reckless moves that could tank the U.S. economy. NERA, whose clients include API collaborators such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Chemistry Council, was co-founded by Irwin Stelzer, an economist who works at the Hudson Institute, a free-market think tank.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Such studies, like the NERA report Trump cited when he announced the U.S. exit from the Paris climate agreement earlier this year, can be “extremely misleading,” often tallying every conceivable cost and ignoring every possible benefit, said<b>&nbsp;Ben Franta</b>, a Stanford University researcher investigating API’s climate activities. Because data underlying these reports are proprietary, Franta said, in many cases they can neither be verified or debunked. What’s left are unsupported arguments: “New ozone rules could be the most expensive ever,” reads an API webpage linking to dozens of NERA findings.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has taken a tack similar to API’<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">s.&nbsp;</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Since 2013, the TCEQ has paid NERA more than $870,000 f</span>or economic research on ozone — a topic the firm studied earlier for API. More than $2.2 million in taxpayer funds have also been spent on contracts with Gradient — a consultancy previously hired by API to question the benefits of a stricter ozone limit. The TCEQ declined to comment on this story but on its website describes its mission as protecting the “state’s public health and natural resources consistent with sustainable economic development.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Anne E. Smith, a managing director at NERA,&nbsp; did not respond to emails and phone calls seeking comment. She was among several industry-friendly voices at a 2015 TCEQ ozone workshop in Austin led by Michael Honeycutt,&nbsp; the agency’s director of toxicology. Other speakers included Gradient scientists, the editor of Critical Reviews in Toxicology, industry toxicologist Michael Dourson and air researcher Robert Phalen, known for saying the air “is a little too clean for optimum health.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>The group’s findings were later referenced by Honeycutt at a House Science Committee&nbsp;</b>hearing, where he argued against a tighter EPA ozone standard. Honeycutt said the risks posed by the pollutant were “small” and any change could discourage people from “outdoor exercise.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Speakers at the Austin workshop have risen to prominence in the Trump administration. This fall, Honeycutt, Anne Smith, Dourson and Phalen were all named to key EPA science positions as either advisers or staff. Their fringe views on ozone — championed by API — have alarmed public-health advocates and run counter to the EPA’s own findings. The agency strengthened its ozone standard in 2015 after reviewing more than 1,000 new studies.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Economics has long figured into API’s strategy to derail ozone rule</b>s. In 1971, the newly formed EPA set the ozone standard at 80 parts per billion, but in 1979 took an unexpected U-turn and weakened it to 120 ppb — angering industry and environmentalists alike. The latter called the reversal scientifically indefensible and accused the EPA of prioritizing economics over health. API promptly sued the EPA, with President DiBona claiming the relaxed standards would still cost “billions of dollars without significantly improving the quality of the environment or the health of the public.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Spurred by lawsuits from the American Lung Association that compelled it to update air standards based on the latest science, the EPA reverted to its original 80 ppb ozone limit in 1997. The cap is now at 70 ppb, though even that number may not be protective enough, as some research has found health effects at 60 ppb.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Nonetheless, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt — a former Oklahoma attorney general with deep ties to oil and gas — tried to keep the 70 ppb standard from taking effec</b>t<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. He backed off on the delay after 16 state attorneys&nbsp; [teAm BLUE] general sued the agency in August. In a lawsuit filed this month, however, environmental groups accused the EPA of failing to enforce the rule.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pruitt had put forth what Dr. Greg Diette — a lung specialist at Johns Hopkins University who has testified in favor of tighter ozone standards — calls “a tired, old industry argument. They say, ‘It’s going to put us out of business,’ and it doesn’t,” Diette said. “All this stuff always comes down to who has to pay.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">But not all costs are economic. High ozone days are the hardest for Diette’s patients. “It can be terrifying — it’s the sensation of not being able to breathe,” he said. “Some feel as if they're going to pass out. Some feel as if they're going to die.”</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Asthmatics can do little more than hide indoors in an air-conditioned environment. The only other option, Diette said, is to move.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Relocating isn’t possible for the Rosales family of San Antonio, who are uninsured and struggling to keep up with the cost of Gabriel’s medications. The air he breathes is expected to degrade further as oil prices rebound and drilling picks up in the Eagle Ford.</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">new</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2010/01/texas-republicans-back-away-from-arrested-activist-who-had-targeted-acorn/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://blog.chron.com/txpotomac/2010/01/texas-republicans-back-away-from-arrested-activist-who-had-targeted-acorn/</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ACORN KILLED 2009?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Texas Republicans back away from arrested activist who had targeted ACORN</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By Stewart Powell on&nbsp;<b>January 28, 2010</b>&nbsp;at 4:45 PM</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rep. Pete Olson</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That was then.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And this is now.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A proposed resolution introduced in October by a Houston-area congressman and supported by seven fellow Texas Republicans called for the House to honor investigative videographer and conservative activist James O’Keefe III and girlfriend Hannah Giles for “fact-finding reporting” that brought to light allegedly “fraudulent and illegal practices” by ACORN, a community action organization that had received federal funding.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The young couple, posing as a pimp and a prostitute, made a hidden-camera video of ACORN employees allegedly counseling them on how to win tax breaks for a hypothetical brothel.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The secret video provoked a political firestorm last summer among critics of ACORN, whose full name is the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ACORN often recruits new inner-city and minority voters — many of whom sign up as Democrats.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The resolution submitted to the House on Oct. 7 by Rep. Pete Olson, R-Sugar Land, had support from <b>31 Republican co-sponsors. Those included Texans Joe Barton, Louie Gohmert, Ralph Hall, John Carter, John Culberson, Kay Granger and Kenny Marchant.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The O’Keefe-Giles video “resulted in the potential annual savings of millions of taxpayer dollars” by prompting the House to vote to defund the organization, the resolution said.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The couple “displayed exemplary actions as government watchdogs and young journalists uncovering wasteful government spending,” the resolution continued.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">On Monday, O’Keefe and three colleagues were arrested in New Orleans, accused of taking part in a conspiracy to wiretap the New Orleans office phone of Sen. Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The four young men were charged by the FBI with a plot to allegedly “interfere with a telephone system” in Landrieu’s office.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If convicted, the four could face up to 10 years in prison and up to a $250,000 fine.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O’Keefe’s attorney, Michael Madigan, said his client did not engage in any illegal activity.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson, who sponsored the House resolution praising O’Keefe for his ACORN disclosure, said “individuals who lawfully expose wrongful activities by an entity like ACORN receiving federal tax dollars should be praised.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But Olson said “if recent events conclude that any laws were broken in the incident in Senator Landrieu’s office, that is not something I condone. ”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Citizens have an important role in helping to expose waste and/or fraud when their tax dollars are being spent, but it must be done in a lawful manner,” Olson added.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Megan Mitchell, spokeswoman for Culberson, responded to the charges against O’Keefe on behalf of her boss, a Houston Republican who co-sponsored Olson’s resolution.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Culberson “does not condone this behavior nor does he condone ACORN’s abuse of millions of taxpayer dollars,” Mitchell said.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In response to critics’ suggestions that sponsors withdraw the proposed House resolution, the sponsors checked with the House Parliamentarian.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to the House Parliamentarian, once a resolution has been offered to the House, it can only be amended if it reaches committee action.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It cannot be withdrawn.</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a href="https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/pete-olson"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/pete-olson</font></a></p><p><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">OMFG lcv 0/1%</font></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">agree w/ djt 96% (predict 73?)</font></p><p><a href="https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/pete-olson/">https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/congress-trump-score/pete-olson/</a></p><p>tho denounce racist tweet (after bail?)</p><p>support pull out iran deal</p><p><a href="https://olson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/olson-statement-on-trump-withdrawal-from-iran-deal">https://olson.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/olson-statement-on-trump-withdrawal-from-iran-deal</a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Over the past few days, several prominent House Republicans have announced they <b>will not seek re-election in 2020:</b> Reps. Paul Mitchell (R-MI), Martha Roby (R-AL), Rob Bishop (R-UT) and <b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Pete Olson</span> and Mike Conaway (R-TX).</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In some ways, this is deja vu — 2018 also saw a massive flood of Republicans retiring. But there is a key difference. A lot of the representatives who ran for the exits in 2018 were in competitive suburban seats that they likely would have lost if they had run for again. With the exception of Olson, all the Republicans above represent safe red districts — Conaway’s West Texas seat voted for President Donald Trump by 59 points. There is virtually no question that any of these Republicans could have another term if they wanted.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So why don’t they want another term? Writing for MSNBC, Steve Benen offered three key reasons.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">First of all, while these Republicans don’t expect they would lose their seats, they also don’t expect their party to take back the House. Control of the House has not flipped in a presidential year since 1952, and has not flipped in two consecutive elections since 1954. Moreover, Democrats have made gains in the House in five of the last six presidential elections. All of this, combined with the fact that the National Republican Congressional Committee’s leadership team is widely viewed as incompetent, mean these Republicans expect they’ll be stuck in the House minority for at least another cycle — and being in the House minority is impotent, thankless, and frustrating in the best of times.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Second, Benen noted, Republicans are getting tired of having to defend Trump’s constant lies and racist behavior on social media. Whenever the President makes a controversial rant, Republicans on Capitol Hill are dogged with questions from reporters that — for the sake of partisanship — they just can’t answer. This, too, is a degrading routine, to say nothing of how it might affect their prospects in a post-Trump political landscape.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson</font></a></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Peter Graham Olson</b>&nbsp;(born December 9, 1962) is the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">U.S. Representative</a>&nbsp;for&nbsp;<span data-sort-value="Texas22&nbsp;!"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27s_22nd_congressional_district" title="Texas's 22nd congressional district" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Texas's 22nd congressional district</a></span>, serving since 2009. He is a member of the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republican Party</a>. The district includes much of southern&nbsp;<b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston,Texas" class="mw-redirect" title="Houston, Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Houston</a>, NASA $]</b> as well as most of the city's southwestern suburbs such as&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katy,Texas" title="Katy, Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Katy</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearland" class="mw-redirect" title="Pearland" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Pearland</a>, and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Land" class="mw-redirect" title="Sugar Land" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Sugar Land</a>.</font></p><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><input type="checkbox" role="button" id="toctogglecheckbox" class="toctogglecheckbox" style="direction: ltr; position: absolute; opacity: 0; z-index: -1; display: none;" /><div class="toctitle" lang="en" dir="ltr" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;">
</div><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Early_life,education,and_military_service" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Early life, education, and military service</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Early_political_career" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Early political career</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#U.S.House_of_Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">U.S. House of Representatives</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Elections</span></font></a><ul style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none; list-style-type: none;"><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#2008" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.1.1</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">2008</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-6" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Election_of_2010" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.1.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Election of 2010</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-7" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Election_of_2014" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.1.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Election of 2014</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-3 tocsection-8" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Election_of_2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.1.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Election of 2016</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Election_of_2018" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.2</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Election of 2018</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#House_tenure" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.3</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">House tenure</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-11" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Committee_assignments" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Committee assignments</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Caucus_memberships" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Caucus memberships</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-13" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Civil_Rights_Uniformity_Act" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">3.6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Civil Rights Uniformity Act</span></font></a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-14" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Electoral_history" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">4</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Electoral history</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#Personal_life" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">5</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">Personal life</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-16" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">6</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">References</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-17" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="tocnumber" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);">7</span><span class="toctext" style="display: table-cell; text-decoration: inherit;">External links</span></font></a></li></ul></div><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span id="Early_life.2C_education.2C_and_military_service"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_life,education,and_military_service">Early life, education, and military service</span></span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Peter Graham Olson was born in 1962 in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Lewis,Washington" class="mw-redirect" title="Fort Lewis, Washington" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Fort Lewis, Washington</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. In 1972, Olson moved with his family to&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seabrook,Texas" title="Seabrook, Texas" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Seabrook, Texas</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, a suburb of&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston" title="Houston" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Houston</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, where he attended public schools, graduating from&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_Lake_High_School(Houston,Texas)" class="mw-redirect" title="Clear Lake High School (Houston, Texas)" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Clear Lake High School</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in 1981. Olson attended college at&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_University" title="Rice University" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Rice University</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, where he played college basketball his freshman year; he earned a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Bachelor of Arts</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;degree in&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science" title="Computer science" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">computer science</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;in 1985. He subsequently attended&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_School_of_Law" title="University of Texas School of Law" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">law school</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;at the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Texas_at_Austin" title="University of Texas at Austin" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">University of Texas at Austin</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, receiving his&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor" title="Juris Doctor" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">J.D.</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;and being admitted to the State Bar of Texas in 1988.</span><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[1]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;He joined the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy" title="United States Navy" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">United States Navy</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;after graduating from law school and earned his&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Aviator" class="mw-redirect" title="Naval Aviator" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Naval Aviator</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;wings in March 1991. After earning his wings as a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-3C_Orion" class="mw-redirect" title="P-3C Orion" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">P-3C Orion</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">&nbsp;pilot, post-<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_War" title="Gulf War" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Gulf War</a>, he flew missions over the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf" title="Persian Gulf" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Persian Gulf</a>, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Ocean" title="Indian Ocean" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Indian Ocean</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Ocean" title="Pacific Ocean" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Pacific</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. In 1994, he was assigned as a Naval liaison to the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">United States Senate</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, during which time he assisted Republican U.S. Senator&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm" title="Phil Gramm" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Phil Gramm</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;on several overseas trips.</span><sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (January 2017)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;He served in the U.S. Navy for nine years.</span></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Early_political_career">Early political career</span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">After leaving active military duty, he joined<b> Senator Gramm's staff in 1998. </b>After Gramm's retirement from the Senate in 2002, Olson served as chief of staff to Gramm's successor, U.S. Senator and former&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attorney_General_of_Texas" class="mw-redirect" title="Attorney General of Texas" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Texas Attorney General</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cornyn" title="John Cornyn" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">John Cornyn</a>, from December 2002 until May 2007.</span><sup id="cite_ref-WSJ_Eaton_20080721a_2-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-WSJ_Eaton_20080721a-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[2]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="U.S.House_of_Representatives">U.S. House of Representatives</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: U.S. House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h2><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Elections">Elections</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Elections" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="2008">2008</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: 2008" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><div role="note" class="hatnote navigation-not-searchable" style="padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Main article:&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Texas%27s_22nd_congressional_district_election" title="2008 Texas's 22nd congressional district election" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2008 Texas's 22nd congressional district election</a></font></div><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson defeated&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incumbent" title="Incumbent" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">incumbent</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Democratic</a>&nbsp;Representative&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Lampson" title="Nick Lampson" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Nick Lampson</a>&nbsp;in the general election on November 4, 2008. Olson received 53% of the vote and Lampson received 45%.<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[3]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[4]</a></sup>&nbsp;Olson won the Republican nomination by defeating former Congresswoman&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelley_Sekula-Gibbs" title="Shelley Sekula-Gibbs" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Shelley Sekula-Gibbs</a>&nbsp;in the April 8, 2008, run-off election.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[5]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-CQ_4-09_6-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-CQ_4-09-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[6]</a></sup>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Party(United_States)" title="Democratic Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Democratic</a>&nbsp;candidate&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Lampson" title="Nick Lampson" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Nick Lampson</a>&nbsp;won in 2006 when the 11-term Republican incumbent, former&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_leaders_of_the_United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">House Majority Leader</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_DeLay" title="Tom DeLay" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tom DeLay</a>, was&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indicted" class="mw-redirect" title="Indicted" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">indicted</a>. DeLay's resignation came too late for another Republican to replace him on the ballot, so Lampson defeated a Republican running as a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write-in_candidate" title="Write-in candidate" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">write-in candidate</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An October 22, 2008, poll by&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Zogby" title="John Zogby" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">John Zogby</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Houston_Chronicle" class="mw-redirect" title="The Houston Chronicle" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Houston Chronicle</a></i>&nbsp;stated that Olson had a 17-point lead over Lampson.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[7]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[8]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-9" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-9" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[9]</a></sup>&nbsp;On October 30, 2008,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Sabato" title="Larry Sabato" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Larry Sabato</a>predicted in the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabato%27s_Crystal_Ball" title="Sabato's Crystal Ball" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Crystal Ball</a>&nbsp;that Olson's congressional race would be a race that would be a "Republican Pick Up."<sup id="cite_ref-10" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-10" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[10]</a></sup>&nbsp;Lampson was considered the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent in the House because of the heavily Republican tilt of the district. With a&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cook_Partisan_Voting_Index" title="Cook Partisan Voting Index" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Cook Partisan Voting Index</a>&nbsp;of R+15, it was the fourth most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democratic representative. U.S. President&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George W. Bush</a>&nbsp;carried the 22nd with 64% of the vote in 2004.<sup class="noprint Inline-Template Template-Fact" style="line-height: 1; white-space: nowrap;">[<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span title="This claim needs references to reliable sources. (October 2013)">citation needed</span></a></i>]</sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Due to the unusual circumstances in District 22, the race attracted national attention. In 2007,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Rothenberg" title="Stuart Rothenberg" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Stuart Rothenberg</a>&nbsp;called the district "arguably the best Republican takeover opportunity in the country</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">".</span><sup id="cite_ref-Rothenberg_20070622_11-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-Rothenberg_20070622-11" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[11]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;After Olson was nominated, the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral-vote.com" title="Electoral-vote.com" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Electoral-vote.com</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;website identified his campaign as "probably the GOP's best pickup opportunity for 2008."</span><sup id="cite_ref-Hot_House_Races_in_2008_12-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-Hot_House_Races_in_2008-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[12]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hill(newspaper)" title="The Hill (newspaper)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Hill</a></i>, a leading&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Washington, D.C.</a>&nbsp;political newspaper, opined that Olson's victory over Sekula Gibbs has set "up one of the top House races in the country in a conservative&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston,Texas" class="mw-redirect" title="Houston, Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Houston</a>&nbsp;district."<sup id="cite_ref-TheHill_Blake_20080408a_13-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-TheHill_Blake_20080408a-13" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[13]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-DallasMorningNews_Gilman_20080511_14-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-DallasMorningNews_Gilman_20080511-14" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[14]</a></sup></font></p><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dt style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican primary race</font></dt></dl><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In 2007, Olson announced he would run for the Republican nomination in the 22nd District.</b> He was one of 10 Republicans in the field. Also running were Sekula-Gibbs, former&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasadena,Texas" title="Pasadena, Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Pasadena, Texas</a>&nbsp;mayor John Manlove, former&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_Land" class="mw-redirect" title="Sugar Land" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Sugar Land</a>&nbsp;mayor&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dean_Hrbacek" class="mw-redirect" title="Dean Hrbacek" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dean Hrbacek</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_House_of_Representatives" title="Texas House of Representatives" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">State Representative</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Talton" title="Robert Talton" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Robert Talton</a>, Senior District Judge&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_D.Squier&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="James D. Squier (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Jim Squier</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_State_Board_of_Education" class="mw-redirect" title="Texas State Board of Education" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Texas State Board of Education</a>&nbsp;member Cynthia Dunbar, and three minor candidates. Sekula-Gibbs won the first round with 30%. Olson finished second, with 21%. As Sekula-Gibbs finished well short of the majority needed to win the nomination outright, Olson and Sekula-Gibbs advanced to a runoff in April.<sup id="cite_ref-TSS_Rep_15-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-TSS_Rep-15" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[15]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-HoustonChronicle_Bernstein_20080305_16-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-HoustonChronicle_Bernstein_20080305-16" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[16]</a></sup>&nbsp;Sekula-Gibbs criticized Olson as "a Washington insider ... [who] moved here just six months ago to run."<sup id="cite_ref-KRIV_20080408_17-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-KRIV_20080408-17" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[17]</a></sup>&nbsp;Nevertheless, 12 of Texas' 19 Republican congressmen endorsed Olson in the primary.<sup id="cite_ref-HoustonChronicle_Bernstein_20080306_18-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-HoustonChronicle_Bernstein_20080306-18" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[18]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson won the April 8 runoff in a rout with 69 percent of the vote to Sekula-Gibbs' 31 percent.<sup id="cite_ref-TheHill_Blake_20080408_19-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-TheHill_Blake_20080408-19" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[19]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-CBSNews_Kraushaar_20080408b_20-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-CBSNews_Kraushaar_20080408b-20" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[20]</a></sup></font></p><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dt style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">General election race</font></dt></dl><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson faced Lampson in the general election, and John Wieder, the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party(United_States)" title="Libertarian Party (United States)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Libertarian Party</a>&nbsp;candidate. Many election experts considered the race one of the best opportunities for the Republicans to pick up a Democratic seat.&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings_Wyman" title="Hastings Wyman" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Hastings Wyman</a>'s&nbsp;<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Southern_Political_Report&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Southern Political Report (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">Southern Political Report</a></i>&nbsp;placed the race on its watch list because the roots of the district are solidly Republican, and Lampson won the seat with only 52 percent against a write-in candidate.<sup id="cite_ref-SouthernPoliticalReport_Wyman_20080526_21-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-SouthernPoliticalReport_Wyman_20080526-21" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[21]</a></sup>&nbsp;On June 20, 2008, the&nbsp;<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Post" class="mw-redirect" title="Washington Post" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Washington Post</a>'</i>s "The Fix" commented on the congressional race: "it's hard to see Rep. Nick Lampson (D) winning reelection. Lampson's slim hopes got even slimmer" with the nomination of Olson.<sup id="cite_ref-WashingtonPost_Cillizza_20080620_22-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-WashingtonPost_Cillizza_20080620-22" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[22]</a></sup>&nbsp;Olson and Lampson agreed to a debate of the issues on October 20, 2008 in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenberg,Texas" title="Rosenberg, Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Rosenberg, Texas</a>.</font></p><dl style="margin-top: 0.2em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><dt style="font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundraising efforts</font></dt></dl><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the end of March 2008, Olson's campaign was technically in debt, with almost $128,000 on hand and a debt to the candidate, who provided a personal loan of $175,000.<sup id="cite_ref-HoustonChronicle_Bernstein_20080605_23-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-HoustonChronicle_Bernstein_20080605-23" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[23]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On June 5, 2008, outgoing&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President" class="mw-redirect" title="Vice President" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Vice President</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney" title="Dick Cheney" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Dick Cheney</a>&nbsp;visited Houston to raise money for Olson's congressional campaign</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-DallasNews_Gillman_20080601_24-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-DallasNews_Gillman_20080601-24" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[24]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-RealClearPolitics_Wilson_20080607_25-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-RealClearPolitics_Wilson_20080607-25" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[25]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;The event took place at the home of Houston billionaire&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Duncan" title="Dan Duncan" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Dan Duncan</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. From July 1 to September 30, 2008, Olson raised more money than Lampson, $312,700 to $149,000. In the November 2008 election, Olson defeated Lampson with 53 percent of the vote to Lampson's 45%. He won four of the district's five counties.</span><sup id="cite_ref-26" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-26" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[26]</a></sup></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Election_of_2010">Election of 2010</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Election of 2010" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Olson won re-election in 2010 </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">with 67 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kesha_Rogers" title="Kesha Rogers" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Kesha Rogers</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-27" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-27" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[27]</a></sup></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Election_of_2014">Election of 2014</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=7&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Election of 2014" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the November 4 general election, Olson defeated Democratic nominee Frank Briscoe.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the prior Democratic primary, Briscoe polled 3,377 votes (53.2 percent) to defeat his intraparty rival, Mark Gibson, who received 2,967 votes (46.8 percent). Briscoe is a son of the late Harris County&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Attorney" class="mw-redirect" title="District Attorney" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">District Attorney</a>Frank Briscoe, who was twice defeated in a bid for mayor of Houston and lost the 1966 race in&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas%27_7th_congressional_district" class="mw-redirect" title="Texas' 7th congressional district" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Texas' 7th congressional district</a>&nbsp;to future President&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Herbert_Walker_Bush" class="mw-redirect" title="George Herbert Walker Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George Herbert Walker Bush</a>. He is a cousin of the late&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Governor_of_Texas" title="Governor of Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Governor</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolph_Briscoe" title="Dolph Briscoe" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dolph Briscoe</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-28" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-28" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[28]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-29" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-29" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[29]</a></sup></font></p><h4 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Election_of_2016">Election of 2016</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=8&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Election of 2016" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h4><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson won his fifth term in the House in the general election held on November 8, 2016. He polled 181,864 votes (59.2 percent) to 123,670 (40.5 percent) for his Democratic opponent, Democrat Mark Gibson.<sup id="cite_ref-30" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-30" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[30]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Election_of_2018">Election of 2018</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=9&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Election of 2018" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Olson is campaigning against Democrat&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Preston_Kulkarni" title="Sri Preston Kulkarni" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Sri Preston Kulkarni</a>, a former diplomat raised in Houston whose mother's family traces their ancestry back to Sam Houston, one of the founders of Texas</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Olson refused to respond to a constituent's question on why he had called Kulkarni an "Indo-American who's a carpetbagger." Olson's untrue claim that Pakistani's attacked the US on 9/11 has been interpreted as an effort to exploit anti-Pakistani sentiment in his district.</span><sup id="cite_ref-31" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-31" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[31]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="House_tenure">House tenure</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=10&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: House tenure" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the 2008 campaign, Olson claimed he was a better fit for the district than Lampson. Olson told&nbsp;<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wall_Street_Journal" class="mw-redirect" title="Wall Street Journal" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Wall Street Journal</a></i>&nbsp;reporter Leslie Eaton that "I have conservative values, and he (Lampson) doesn't."&nbsp;<sup id="cite_ref-WSJ_Eaton_20080721_32-0" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-WSJ_Eaton_20080721-32" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[32]</a></sup>&nbsp;Indeed, not long after being sworn in, Olson joined the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Study_Committee" title="Republican Study Committee" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republican Study Committee</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-33" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-33" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[33]</a></sup>&nbsp;a caucus of conservative House Republicans. Olson opposes the current incarnation of Interstate 69, which since 2002 has been part of Governor&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Perry" title="Rick Perry" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Rick Perry</a>'s controversial&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Texas_Corridor" title="Trans-Texas Corridor" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Trans-Texas Corridor</a>, a project&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm" title="Phil Gramm" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Phil Gramm</a>&nbsp;did not provide funding for as a U.S. Senator. The previous incarnation of I-69 (which Gramm did fund) was slated to go through the current U.S. Highway 59 which passes through Houston and outlying suburbs such as Sugar Land and&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humble,Texas" title="Humble, Texas" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Humble</a>. On July 24, 2013, Olson voted to continue funding&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Security_Agency" title="National Security Agency" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">NSA</a>&nbsp;surveillance.<sup id="cite_ref-34" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-34" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[34]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In mid-November 2013, Olson led a group of 19 other Republican congressmen in an effort to impeach Attorney General&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Holder" title="Eric Holder" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Eric Holder</a>,</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">charging that Holder had refused to comply with a subpoena issued by the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Oversight_and_Government_Reform" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform</a>&nbsp;in 2011 and that he had failed to enforce laws defending the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Marriage_Act" title="Defense of Marriage Act" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Defense of Marriage Act</a>&nbsp;(which had been declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court)<sup id="cite_ref-35" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-35" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[35]</a></sup>&nbsp;or mandatory minimum sentencing for low-level drug offenders. Olson also charged that Holder had failed to enforce the&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled_Substances_Act" title="Controlled Substances Act" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Controlled Substances Act</a>&nbsp;by not suing Washington and Colorado for deciding to regulate rather than criminalize marijuana.<sup id="cite_ref-36" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-36" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">[36]</a></sup></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On June 9, 2017, Olson stated during a radio broadcast that former President Bill Clinton had admitted to the murder of White House aide Vincent Foster and had threatened former Attorney General Loretta Lynch with similar violence </b>if she did not drop an investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. When subsequently asked for evidence to support his claims, Olson said: "In my discussion about Loretta Lynch and Vince Foster, I took the accusations a step too far. I regret my choice of words."&nbsp;<sup id="cite_ref-37" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-37" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[37]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On August 15, 2018, Olson incorrectly claimed in a speech that "[on] September 11th, 2001, 3000 innocent Americans were killed by terrorists from Pakistan." In fact, none of the 9/11 hijackers were of Pakistani origin. Congressman Olson later told a reporter that he had misspoken when he made the claim.<sup id="cite_ref-38" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-38" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[38]</a></sup>&nbsp;Critics maintain he did so on purpose to exploit anti-Pakistani sentiment in his district.</span><sup id="cite_ref-39" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-39" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[39]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On July 25, 2019, Olson announced that he would retire at the end of his term.<sup id="cite_ref-40" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-40" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[40]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Committee_assignments">Committee assignments</span></font></h3><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><b><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Energy_and_Commerce" title="United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committee on Energy and Commerce</font></a></b><ul style="margin: 0.3em 0px 0px 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" csvg="Csvg" width="%225%22" height="%2213%22%3E" ccircle="Ccircle" cx="%222.5%22" cy="%229%22" r="%222.5%22" fill="%22%23222%22/%3E" c="C" e="E" xmlns="%22http://www.w3.org/2000/svg%22" xmlns:data="data"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Energy_Subcommittee_on_Commerce,_Manufacturing_and_Trade" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Energy Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade</font></a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Energy_Subcommittee_on_Energy_and_Power" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Power" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Subcommittee on Energy and Power</font></a></li></ul></li></ul><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Caucus_memberships">Caucus memberships</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">[</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pete_Olson&action=edit&section=12&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Caucus memberships" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-left: 0.25em; color: rgb(84, 89, 93);">]</span></span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Constitution_Caucus" title="Congressional Constitution Caucus" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Congressional Constitution Caucus</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-41" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-41" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[41]</a></sup>&nbsp;Aerospace Caucus, General Aviation Caucus, Coal Caucus, Balanced Budget Amendment Caucus, Natural Gas Caucus, National Guard and Reserve Caucus, Beef Caucus, Gulf Coast Caucus, Cystic Fibrosis Caucus, Taiwan Caucus, Ports to Plains Caucus, Diabetes Caucus, Rice Caucus, Johnson Caucus,&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Arts_Caucus" title="Congressional Arts Caucus" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Congressional Arts Caucus</a>,<sup id="cite_ref-42" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-42" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[42]</a></sup>&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Western_Caucus" title="Congressional Western Caucus" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Congressional Western Caucus</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-43" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-43" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[43]</a></sup></font></p><h3 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom: 0px; line-height: 1.6;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Civil_Rights_Uniformity_Act">Civil Rights Uniformity Act</span></font></h3><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Olson sponsored the Civil Rights Uniformity Act of 2016 (HR 5812) which would strictly limit the definition of gender to the person's biological gender assigned at birth for the purposes of interpreting federal civil rights laws</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, federal administrative agency regulations, and other federal guidance. The proposed legislation would effectively remove those people whose gender identity does not match their biological gender as a protected class, but the bill died in committee.</span><sup id="cite_ref-44" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-44" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[44]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;In 2017, Olson reintroduced the bill as the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Uniformity_Act_of_2017" title="Civil Rights Uniformity Act of 2017" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Civil Rights Uniformity Act of 2017</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;(HR 2796) with language identical to HR 5812, including a reference to "President Barack Obama's administration" which had, in the bill's language, "attempted to replace the word 'sex' with the phrase 'gender identity' for purposes of Federal antidiscrimination law and policy through a series of unilateral executive actions" and further, that "the Obama administration's actions are an affront to the rule of law, the separation of powers, the will of the people, language, history, safety, privacy, and biological realities."</span><sup id="cite_ref-115HR2796_45-0" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-115HR2796-45" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[45]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Olson argued that "only Congress has the constitutional authority to change laws" and that interpreting "sex" to include "gender identity" was not the original or explicit intent of the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964" title="Civil Rights Act of 1964" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128);">Civil Rights Act of 1964</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-46" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-46" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[46]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">&nbsp;Critics noted the effect of stripping federal protections from transgender people would only exacerbate existing discrimination and could lead to "a declaration of an open season for discrimination against transgender people."</span><sup id="cite_ref-47" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-47" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[47]</a></sup></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a press release following the introduction of HR 2796, Olson stated that gender identity should not be treated as a protected class unless explicitly established by Congress. "The Obama Administration strongly overreached by unilaterally redefining the definition of 'sex' with respect to the Civil Rights Act outside of the lawmaking process. We must reject the notion of false power stolen from Congress by a White House seeking to impose social policy on America. The Founding Fathers never intended unelected bureaucrats in federal agencies to make sweeping changes to the definition of gender."<sup id="cite_ref-48" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-48" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[48]</a></sup>&nbsp;The arguments were consistent with Olson's prior statements following the introduction of HR 5812, which stated it "will ensure that gender identity is not treated as a protected class in Federal Law or Policy without the affirmative approval of the people's representatives in Congress."<sup id="cite_ref-49" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-49" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[49]</a></sup><sup id="cite_ref-50" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson#cite_note-50" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">[50]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); line-height: 1.3;"><span class="mw-headline" id="Electoral_history"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Electoral history</font></span></h2><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) introduced the resolution to honor the "exemplary actions" of the young conservatives, who dressed up as a prostitute and a pimp and secretly filmed ACORN workers</b> giving them advice on how to commit fraud. Giles and James "are owed a debt of gratitude by the people of the United States," the resolution reads.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

The videos led to a vote in the House to de-fund ACORN, a large community organization that advocates for the poor (and a favorite target of conservatives). Because of that, reads the resolution, the sting videos "resulted in the potential annual savings of millions of taxpayer dollars."

Olson's managed to get just two co-sponsors for his resolution. The 9/12 resolution, introduced by Rep. Tom Price (R-GA), on the other hand, has 75 co-sponsors.
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a name="Candidates" /><a name="Energy+Oil" /><a name="Energy+Oil">

    </a></font><table align="middle" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" width="100%"><tbody><tr align="center"><td align="center" bgcolor="#cc0000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img src="http://www.ontheissues.org/images/bluestar.gif" border="0" /> 

Pete Olson on Energy & Oil

<img src="http://www.ontheissues.org/images/bluestar.gif" border="0" />

</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

    Click here for <a>10 full quotes on Energy & Oil</a>

OR <a>background on Energy & Oil</a>.

    </font><ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More production of America's oil, natural gas, and coal. (Nov 2008)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted YES on opening Outer Continental Shelf to oil drilling. (May 2011)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Voted YES on barring EPA from regulating greenhouse gases. (</span>Apr 2011)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on enforcing limits on CO2 global warming pollution. (Jun 2009)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bar greenhouse gases from Clean Air Act rules. (Jan 2009)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Signed the <b>No Climate Tax Pledge by <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Note-AFP.asp">AFP</a>. </b>(Nov 2010)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Cap-and-trade</b> has no impact on global temperatures. (Jul 2010)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Explore proven energy reserves & keep energy prices low. (Jul 2010)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Member of<b> House Committee on Energy and Commerce</b>. (Mar 2011)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">No EPA regulation of greenhouse gases. (Jan 2011)

</font></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

<a name="Environment"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

</font></a></p><center><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a name="Environment" /><a name="Environment">

    </a></font><table align="middle" border="0" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" width="100%"><tbody><tr align="center"><td align="center" bgcolor="#000099">

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img src="http://www.ontheissues.org/images/red_star.gif" border="0" />

Pete Olson on Environment

<img src="http://www.ontheissues.org/images/red_star.gif" border="0" />

</font></td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">

    Click here for <a>4 full quotes on Environment</a>

OR <a>background on Environment</a>.

    </font><ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on $2 billion more for Cash for Clunkers program. (Jul 2009)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Voted NO on protecting free-roaming horses and burros. (Jul 2009)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Make tax deduction permanent for conservation easements. (Mar 2009)
    </font></li><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rated 0% by <a href="http://www.ontheissues.org/Note-HSLH.asp">HSLF</a>, indicating an anti-animal welfare voting record. (Jan 2012)

</font></li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table></center><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===
</font></p><p><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">P<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson"><b>ete Olson</b> has been a </a><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_Republican_Party" title="United States Republican Party" class="mw-redirect">Republican</a> member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" class="mw-redirect">United States House of Representatives</a>, representing the 22nd district of the State of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Members_of_the_U.S._Congress_from_Texas" title="Category:Members of the U.S. Congress from Texas">Texas</a>, since 2009 (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/images/preview/congdist/tx22_110.gif">map</a>).

</font></p>

<table id="toc" class="toc"><tbody><tr><td>

<div id="toctitle">

<h2><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></h2></div>

<ul><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Positions.2C_record_and_controversies"><span class="tocnumber">1</span> <span class="toctext">Positions, record and controversies</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#War_on_Terror"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.1</span> <span class="toctext">War on Terror</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Energy"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.2</span> <span class="toctext">Energy</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Immigration"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.3</span> <span class="toctext">Immigration</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Taxes"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.4</span> <span class="toctext">Taxes</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Healthcare"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.5</span> <span class="toctext">Healthcare</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-7"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Government_Spending"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.6</span> <span class="toctext">Government Spending</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-8"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Space_Exploration"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.7</span> <span class="toctext">Space Exploration</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-9"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Social_Issues"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.8</span> <span class="toctext">Social Issues</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-10"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Second_Amendment"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">1.9</span> <span class="toctext">Second Amendment</span></font></a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-11"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Bio"><span class="tocnumber">2</span> <span class="toctext">Bio</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-12"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#2008_elections"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">2.1</span> <span class="toctext">2008 elections</span></font></a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-13"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Money_in_politics"><span class="tocnumber">3</span> <span class="toctext">Money in politics</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-14"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Campaign_contributions"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">3.1</span> <span class="toctext">Campaign contributions</span></font></a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-15"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Committees_and_affiliations"><span class="tocnumber">4</span> <span class="toctext">Committees and affiliations</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-16"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Committees"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.1</span> <span class="toctext">Committees</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-17"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Affiliations"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">4.2</span> <span class="toctext">Affiliations</span></font></a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-18"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#More_background_data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">5</span> <span class="toctext">More background data</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-19"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Contact"><span class="tocnumber">6</span> <span class="toctext">Contact</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-20"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Campaign_Contact_Info"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">6.1</span> <span class="toctext">Campaign Contact Info</span></font></a></li></ul>

</li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-21"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Articles_and_resources"><span class="tocnumber">7</span> <span class="toctext">Articles and resources</span></a>

</font><ul><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-22"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Related_SourceWatch_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">7.1</span> <span class="toctext">Related SourceWatch articles</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-23"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#Sources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">7.2</span> <span class="toctext">Sources</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-24"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#External_resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">7.3</span> <span class="toctext">External resources</span></font></a></li><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-25"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#External_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="tocnumber">7.4</span> <span class="toctext">External articles</span></font></a></li></ul>

</li></ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Positions.2C_record_and_controversies"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Positions, record and controversies</font></span></h2>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="War_on_Terror"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">War on Terror</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Olson supports continuing the war in Iraq, </span>and he supported the Iraq

troop surge. He says that a proper defense beings with "good

intelligence and surveillance – we must use every tactic available to

intercept terrorist communications, disrupt their funding, infiltrate

their ranks, and keep them from carrying out their dreams of destruction

on American soil." Olson also says he will work for more Port security

and first responders. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Energy"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Energy</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Olson supports exploring and producing more oil, natural gas and coal

domestically. He also supports expanding incentives for nuclear power,

wind, solar, geothermal, hydrogen fuel cells and other types of

renewable energies.</span> <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-1" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Immigration"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Immigration</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Olson does not support amnesty for illegal immigrants, or providing

government benefits to illegal immigrants. He does, however, support

increasing border fences, surveillance, detention facilities and border

agents. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-2" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Taxes"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Taxes</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">To ease the burden on middle class families, Olson says he will

support expanding child tax credits and tax breaks for stay at home

parents. He also wants to create a stay at home parent GI Bill, that

allows stay at home parents to earn credits for continuing education

once their children are grown up or in school. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-3" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Healthcare"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Healthcare</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Olson supports allowing small businesses to work together to get

affordable healthcare plans for their employees at the discounted prices

given to big businesses and unions. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-4" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Government_Spending"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Government Spending</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Olson says he will vote for legislation that requires federal

agencies to prove themselves worthy of their funding. He also says he

will work to eliminate excessive spending, earmarking and taxation. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-5" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Space_Exploration"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Space Exploration</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Olson supports fully funding NASA.</span>&nbsp;[houston?]He believes that relying on other

nations for new information on space is not in American national

interests <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-6" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Social_Issues"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Social Issues</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Olson does not support abortion, except when the mother's life is in danger. He does not support same sex marriage. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-7" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Second_Amendment"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Second Amendment</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Olson says he will vote to protect Second Amendment rights. <sup id="cite_ref-issues_0-8" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-issues-0">[1]</a></sup></font></p>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Bio"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bio</font></span></h2>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="2008_elections"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2008 elections</font></span></h3>

<p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">He was seeking the Republican nomination to challenge incumbent Rep. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nick_Lampson" title="Nick Lampson">Nick Lampson</a> (D-Tex.). The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/2008_U.S._congressional_election_dates" title="2008 U.S. congressional election dates" class="mw-redirect">primary</a> took place on March 4, 2008. Olson received 20.72%, qualifying for a runoff election in April 2008. He faced <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Shelley_Sekula-Gibbs" title="Shelley Sekula-Gibbs">Shelley Sekula-Gibbs</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-TSS_Rep_1-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-TSS_Rep-1">[2]</a></sup> Olson won the primary runoff and went on to defeat <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Nick_Lampson" title="Nick Lampson">Nick Lampson</a> in the November general election.<sup id="cite_ref-CQ_4-09_2-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-CQ_4-09-2">[3]</a></sup> <sup id="cite_ref-greenpapers_3-0" class="reference"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_note-greenpapers-3">[4]</a></sup></font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p>

<table style="width: 100%; border: 1px solid #AAAAAA; border-collapse:collapse; background-color: #f9f9f9; margin: 0;" cellpadding="10"><tbody><tr><td>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Money_in_politics"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Money in politics</font></span></h2>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This section contains links to – and feeds from – money in politics databases.</font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Campaign_contributions"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Campaign contributions</font></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The following is drawn from government records of campaign

contributions to Pete Olson. Campaign contributions are one of the most

direct conduits for influencing members of Congress. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SouceWatch:Using_congressional_campaign_contribution_information" title="SouceWatch:Using congressional campaign contribution information" class="mw-redirect">How to use this information.</a> <crpcontribdata>cid=N00029285&cycle=2008</crpcontribdata></font></p>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Committees_and_affiliations"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committees and affiliations</font></span></h2>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Committees"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Committees</font></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson has yet to be assigned a committee.</font></p>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Affiliations"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Affiliations</font></span></h3>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="More_background_data"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">More background data</font></span></h2>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Contact"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Contact</font></span></h2>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Campaign_Contact_Info"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Campaign Contact Info</font></span></h3>

<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Olson for Congress Committee

13515 Southwest Freeway, Suite 207

Sugar Land, TX 77478

281-342-7383

Luke Marchant
</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p>

<h2> <span class="mw-headline" id="Articles_and_resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Articles and resources</font></span></h2>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Related_SourceWatch_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Related SourceWatch articles</font></span></h3>

<ul><li><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/2008_U.S._congressional_elections" title="2008 U.S. congressional elections">2008 U.S. congressional elections</a>

</font><ul><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/2008_U.S._congressional_election_dates" title="2008 U.S. congressional election dates" class="mw-redirect"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">2008 U.S. congressional election dates</font></a></li></ul>

</li><li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Portal:Texas_and_the_U.S._Congress" title="Portal:Texas and the U.S. Congress"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Portal:Texas and the U.S. Congress</font></a></li></ul>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="Sources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sources</font></span></h3>

<ol class="references"><li id="cite_note-issues-0"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">↑ ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-0">1.0</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-1">1.1</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-2">1.2</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-3">1.3</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-4">1.4</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-5">1.5</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-6">1.6</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-7">1.7</a>} ^{<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-issues_0-8">1.8</a>} <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.olsonforcongress.com/issues.aspx">Pete Olson for Congress--Issues</a></span></font></li><li id="cite_note-TSS_Rep-1"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-TSS_Rep_1-0">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://enr.sos.state.tx.us/enr/mar04_135_state.htm">2008 Republican Party Primary Election Returns</a>, Texas Secretary of State's Office, retrieved March 6, 2008</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-CQ_4-09-2"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-CQ_4-09_2-0">↑</a> <span class="reference-text">Greg Giroux, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000002699618">"Texas GOP Runoff Goes to Ex-Senate Aide in Race for DeLay’s Old Seat"</a>, <i>CQ Politics</i>, April 9, 2008</span></font></li><li id="cite_note-greenpapers-3"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Pete_Olson#cite_ref-greenpapers_3-0">↑</a> <span class="reference-text"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G08/TX.phtml">"Texas 2008 General Election"</a>, TheGreenPapers.com, November 4, 2008</span></font></li></ol>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="External_resources"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External resources</font></span></h3>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.2008racetracker.com/page/tx-22"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">2008 Race Tracker page on Texas’s 22nd Congressional District</font></a></li><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.olsonforcongress.com/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Pete Olson for Congress</font></a></li></ul>

<h3> <span class="mw-headline" id="External_articles"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">External articles</font></span></h3>

<p><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Corresponding article on <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Olson">Wikipedia</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.causecaller.com/wiki/Pete_Olson">Cause Caller</a>. (If Cause Caller link does not work, pick from its list of <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.causecaller.com/wiki/Senator">senators</a> and <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.causecaller.com/wiki/Representative">representatives</a>.)</font></b></p><p>
</p>