Dick Armey
Richard Keith Armey is an American economist and politician. He was a U.S. Representative from Texas's and House Majority Leader. He was one of the engineers of the "Republican Revolution" of the 1990s, in which Republicans were elected to majorities of both houses of Congress for the first time in four decades. Armey was one of the chief authors of the Contract with America. Armey is also an author and former economics professor. After his retirement from Congress, he has worked as a consultant, advisor, and lobbyist.
Early life, education and career
Armey was born on July 7, 1940, in the farming town of Cando, North Dakota, the son of Marion and Glenn Armey. He grew up in a rural area. He graduated from Jamestown College with a Bachelor of Arts and then received a Master of Arts from the University of North Dakota and a PhD in economics from the University of Oklahoma. Armey is a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.Armey served on the economics faculty at the University of Montana from 1964 to 1965. He was an assistant professor of economics at West Texas State from 1967 to 1968, at Austin College from 1968 to 1972, and at North Texas State from 1972 to 1977. He served as chairman of the economics department at North Texas State University from 1977 to 1983.
Armey has been married twice. His first marriage resulted in three children; it ended in divorce. He married his second wife, Susan Armey, who already had two children, even though she called off the marriage three times.
U.S. House of Representatives
Armey was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1984 in Texas's 26th congressional district, narrowly defeating freshman congressman Tom Vandergriff. Armey was one of six freshmen Republican Party congressmen elected from Texas in 1984 who were known as the Texas Six Pack. He would never face another contest anywhere near that close, and was reelected eight more times, never dropping below 68 percent of the vote. His strongest performance was in 1998, when the Democrats didn't field a candidate and Armey defeated a Libertarian with 88 percent of the vote. This mirrored the growing Republican trend in his district.In his early years in Congress, Armey was influenced by Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises.
The Republican Revolution and party leadership
In 1994, Armey, then House Republican Conference Chairman, joined Minority Whip Newt Gingrich in drafting the Contract with America. Republican members credited this election platform with the Republican takeover of Congress. Gingrich became Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and Armey became Gingrich's second-in-command as House Majority Leader. Gingrich delegated to Armey an unprecedented level of authority over scheduling legislation on the House floor, a power traditionally reserved to the Speaker.In 1995, Armey referred to openly gay Congressman Barney Frank as "Barney Fag". Armey said it was a slip of the tongue. Frank did not accept Armey's explanation, saying, "I turned to my own expert, my mother, who reports that in 59 years of marriage, no one ever introduced her as Elsie Fag."
Leadership challenges
In the summer of 1997, several House Republicans attempted to replace Gingrich as Speaker. The attempted "coup" began on July 9 with a meeting between Republican conference chairman John Boehner of Ohio and Republican leadership chairman Bill Paxon of New York. According to their plan, House Majority Leader Armey, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Boehner, and Paxon were to present Gingrich with an ultimatum: resign, or be voted out. Under the new plan, Paxon was to replace Gingrich as Speaker. However, Armey balked at the proposal, and told his chief of staff to warn Gingrich about the coup. On July 11, Gingrich met with senior Republican leadership to assess the situation. He explained that under no circumstance would he step down. If he were voted out, there would be a new election for Speaker, which would allow for the possibility that Democrats and dissenting Republicans would vote in Dick Gephardt as Speaker. Paxon resigned his post, feeling that he had not handled the situation correctly. Paxon later considered, then rejected, a challenge to Armey's post as majority leader, and did not run for re-election in 1998.Republicans suffered heavy losses in the 1998 elections, but remained the majority party in the House. Armey had to defeat a challenge for his majority leader post from Steve Largent of Oklahoma, a member of the Republican class of 1994. Although Armey was not popular in the Republican caucus, Largent was thought to be too conservative for some moderate Republicans, and Armey won on the third ballot.
Gingrich had already resigned as Speaker in the aftermath of the 1998 election, with Bob Livingston of Louisiana chosen by the party to serve as his replacement. Before the new Congress convened in January, however, Livingston announced he would not serve as Speaker, following the revelation of an extramarital affair. Armey initially seemed to have the inside track to become Speaker; as majority leader, he was the number-two Republican in the chamber. However, he was still badly wounded from Largent's challenge, and opted not to run. The post eventually went to Chief Deputy Whip Dennis Hastert of Illinois.
Later congressional career
Armey served another four years before announcing his retirement in 2002.In his later terms in office, Armey feuded with Focus on the Family leader James Dobson. Armey wrote, "As Majority Leader, I remember vividly a meeting with the House leadership where Dobson scolded us for having failed to 'deliver' for Christian conservatives, that we owed our majority to him, and that he had the power to take our jobs back. This offended me, and I told him so." Armey states that Focus on the Family targeted him politically after the incident, writing, "Focus on the Family deliberately perpetuates the lie that I am a consultant to the ACLU." Armey has also said that "Dobson and his gang of thieves are real nasty bullies."
In Armey's final term, he was named chairman of the United States House Committee on Homeland Security and was the primary sponsor of the legislation that created the Department of Homeland Security. After Armey's retirement, fellow Texan Tom DeLay was elevated to Armey's Majority Leader position. Armey's son, Scott, ran for his father's seat in the 2002 election, but lost in the Republican Party runoff to Michael C. Burgess, who would go on to hold the strongly Republican 26th District for the GOP in November.
One of Armey's former Congressional staff members, Dade Phelan, was elected in 2014 to the Texas House of Representatives as a Republican, representing the Beaumont area in House District 21. In January 2021, Phelan was elected the 76th Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
Advisor and lobbyist
DLA Piper
After leaving office, Armey joined the Washington office of the law firm DLA Piper as a senior policy advisor. Armey was also the firm's co-chairman of its Homeland Security Task Force. In 2009, Armey's FreedomWorks group launched a campaign against health care reform proposals, accusing the Obama administration of attempting to "socialize medicine". DLA Piper was concerned about the conflict of interest, particularly since their clients were spending millions in advertising and lobbying money to support the passage of health care reform, and FreedomWorks was linked to demonstrations at town hall forums where health care reform was being discussed. Amid what Politico called "the health care flap", DLA Piper asked Armey to resign in August 2009, and he left the firm.FreedomWorks
In 2003, Armey became co-chairman of Citizens for a Sound Economy, which in 2004 merged with Empower America to become FreedomWorks. The group's name was derived from a common Armey saying: "Freedom works. Freedom is good policy and good politics." FreedomWorks is a conservative non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. In his role as chairman, Armey was a national political figure. He traveled widely, meeting with activists and legislators. In 2005, he testified before the President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform and debated Governor of Colorado Bill Owens on a tax increase ballot measure. The Center for Public Integrity reported that Armey was paid $500,000 per year and flew first class, along with other FreedomWorks employees, for work travel.On December 3, 2012 Mother Jones reported that Armey, in an email on November 30 to Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks Inc., resigned his positions as chairman and trustee of FreedomWorks and severed all his ties to that organization, effective immediately. Mother Jones reported that Armey's reasons for resigning were "matters of principle. It's how you do business as opposed to what you do. But I don't want to be the guy to create problems." The Associated Press reported that in September 2012, Armey agreed to resign by November 2012 in exchange for $8 million in consulting fees paid in annual $400,000 installments.
On December 25, 2012, The Washington Post reported that Armey had escorted Matt Kibbe and FreedomWorks' Vice President Adam Brandon out of the FreedomWorks offices with the help of an armed guard on September 4, 2012. Armey reportedly wanted FreedomWorks to support Todd Akin after his controversial "legitimate rape" comments.