Joseph Linus Barton (born September 15, 1949) is an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019. The district included Arlington, part of Fort Worth, and several small towns and rural areas south of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. He was also a member of the Tea Party Caucus. In 2014, Barton became the longest-serving member of the Texas congressional delegation.
Barton described himself as "a constant defender of conservative ideals and values". He advocated for deregulation of the electricity and natural gas industries, and served as vice-chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committees. He denied that manmade carbon emissions had contributed to global warming, was a proponent of the use of fossil fuels, voted in favor of the May 2017 GOP plan to replace Obamacare, supported President Donald Trump's ban on immigration from certain predominantly Muslim nations, and supported the death penalty for people caught spying. His environmental record of defending industries against tighter pollution controls earned him the nickname "Smokey Joe."
Barton came to national prominence after telling a citizen at a town hall meeting to "shut up." He came to national attention again when sexually explicit photos that he had consensually shared with women were leaked without his consent in 2017. In November 2017, Barton announced that he would not seek re-election in 2018 following this specific sex scandal.
Early life, education, and early career
Barton was born in Waco, Texas, the son of Bess Wynell (née Buice) and Larry Linus Barton. He graduated from Waco High School. He attended Texas A&M University in College Station on a Gifford-Hill Opportunity Award scholarship, and received a B.S. in industrial engineering in 1972. An M.Sc. in industrial administration from Purdue University followed in 1973.
Following college, Barton entered private industry until 1981, when he became a White House Fellow and served under United States Secretary of Energy James B. Edwards. Later, he began consulting for Atlantic Richfield Oil and Gas Co., before being elected to the United States Congress in 1984.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
1984–86
thumb|Barton meets President [[Ronald Reagan in 1984]]
Barton made his first run for elected office in 1984, when he entered the Republican primary for Texas's 6th congressional district after three-term incumbent Phil Gramm left his seat to run for the United States Senate that year. He finished first in the five-candidate field with 42%, and very narrowly defeated Max Hoyt in the runoff with 50%. He then defeated Democratic nominee and former State Representative Dan Kubiak 57%–43%. Barton was one of six freshmen Republican U.S. congressmen elected from Texas in 1984, known as the Texas Six Pack.
In 1986, Barton won re-election against Democratic candidate Pete Geren, who was later elected to Congress from a neighboring district. Barton defeated Geren 56%–44%.
1988–2010
thumb|Barton meets President [[George H. W. Bush in 1989]]
thumb|Barton with President [[George W. Bush]]
During this period, Barton won each re-election with 60% of the vote or more. His worst general election performance was in 2006, when he defeated Democratic candidate David Harris 60%–37%, a 23-point margin. The 2008 election was his second-worst performance, defeating Democratic candidate Ludwig Otto by a 26-point margin, 62%–36%.
He was only challenged in the primary twice in this time period: in 1992 and 1994. In 1992, he defeated Mike McGinn 79 to 21%. In 1994, he defeated Jerry Goode 89%–11%.
2012
Because of increasing controversy surrounding his record in office, election battles became increasingly contentious. In 2011, a Super PAC was formed by Texas conservative groups to remove him and several other long-time incumbents from office.
The Democratic National Committee used Barton's comments in political ads, shown nationally against all Republican candidates. Several websites were created and dedicated to simply removing Barton from office. DefeatJoeBarton.com/ was created by Democratic challengers. All content was later removed, though the site is still owned.
Barton drew three primary challengers: Joe Chow, Mayor of Addison; Itamar Gelbman, a security consultant; and Frank C. Kuchar, a Dallas businessman and former preacher. Chow is Texas' first Asian-American mayor. He called Barton "the most corrupt congressman in the State of Texas." At the end of March 2012, Barton had $1.3 million in cash on hand, compared with $28,800 for Chow, $178,000 for Gelbman, and $463 for Kuchar.
2014
In the Republican primary on March 4, Barton won re-nomination to a 16th term in the U.S. House. He polled 32,579 (72.7%); his 2012 primary opponent, Frank Kuchar, trailed with 12,260 votes (27.3%). On November 4, Barton handily won re-election over Democratic opponent David Cozad.
2016
Barton polled 55,197 votes (68.7%) in a three-candidate field for the Republican House nomination in the March 1 primary election. The runner-up, Steven Fowler, received 17,927 votes (22.3%). To win his 17th consecutive term in the House, Barton then defeated in the November 8 general election the Democrat Ruby Faye Woolridge (born 1948) of Arlington, who had polled 22,954 votes (69.7%) in her earlier three-candidate Democratic primary. Barton finished with 159,444 votes (58.3%) to Woolridge's 106,667 (39%); the most any Democrat had received against Barton in his three-decade career. The remaining 7,185 votes (2.6%) went to the Green Party candidate, Darrel Smith, Jr.
2018
Texas's filing deadline for the House seat held by Barton was December 11, 2017.
If Barton resigned from his seat (as predicted by Austin Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak), there would be a special, open primary election in 2018, in which candidates from all parties would appear on a single ballot; if no candidate received more than 50% of the vote, then the top two vote-getters (regardless of party) will advance to a runoff.
Democrat former educator Ruby Faye Woolridge had indicated she would run for the seat, as did Democrats Jana Lynne Sanchez (endorsed by the New Democrat Coalition and the environmental group Climate Hawks Vote), party activist Justin Snider, Levii R. Shocklee of Arlington, and lawyer John Duncan. Republicans Jake Ellzey (a retired U.S. Navy fighter pilot and commissioner on the Texas Veterans Commission) and Dr. Monte Mark Mitchell (a Fort Worth physician, attorney, and custom home builder) filed to oppose Barton, and other Republican candidates for Barton's seat may include State Representative Tony Tinderholt, State Senators Brian Birdwell and Konni Burton, Ellis County Commissioner Paul Perry, and former Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector Ron Wright (Barton's former chief of staff and district director).
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram urged that Barton not seek re-election. Tim O'Hare, the Chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, called on Barton "to not seek re-election and to retire from Congress by the end of [2017]," saying he is guilty of "sexual immorality." Brian Mayes, a Dallas political consultant, said Barton was vulnerable in his upcoming election battle "if he gets a motivated opponent", and that he risked getting lumped in "fairly or unfairly" with sexual misconduct allegations in Congress. Barton announced on November 30, 2017, that he would not seek reelection.
In March 2011, Barton sponsored the Better Use of Light Bulbs Act, which would repeal the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, signed by President George W. Bush. The 2007 law set energy efficiency standards for light bulbs, effectively eliminating most or all incandescent light bulbs. Barton said "People don't want Congress dictating what light fixtures they can use."
Barton was a member of the Freedom Caucus and the United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus. In the first session of the 115th United States Congress, Barton was ranked the 42nd most bipartisan member of the House by the Bipartisan Index, a metric published by The Lugar Center and Georgetown's McCourt School of Public Policy to assess congressional bipartisanship.
;Congressional action
- Former Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, House sponsor of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, and chairman of the House–Senate energy conference committee. On his website he speaks of his diligent work to promote a conservative agenda, and how "in his first legislative victory as Chairman, the House overwhelmingly passed legislation to limit indecency on the public airwaves."
- Both initiated and eliminated "safe harbor" provision for MTBE (in Energy Policy Act of 2005).
- Co-founded the Congressional Privacy Caucus, cosponsor of the anti-spyware SPY ACT, initiated National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006.
- Opposed the extension of the Voting Rights Act in 2006
- Barton was a leading voice in Congress for forcing the switch from analog to digital TV.
- Barton has supported the auctioning off the public airwaves to private companies.
Global warming
Prompted by a February 2005 Wall Street Journal article, Barton launched an investigation that year into two climate change studies from 1998 and 1999. The Washington Post condemned Barton's investigation as a "witch-hunt". During former Vice President Al Gore's testimony to the Energy and Commerce Committee in March 2007, Barton asserted to Gore that "You're not just off a little, you're totally wrong" (climate scientists have refuted Barton's assertion), stating that "Global warming science is uneven and evolving."
Upset with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's passage of global warming legislation in 2009, he said: "You can't regulate God." At the same time, Barton implied in 2009 that wind is a "finite resource," and there was a claim made that Barton was suggesting that greater use of wind turbines would "slow the winds down," which would "cause the temperature to go up," although a report in Snopes suggested that Barton was merely quoting an academic study which suggested that increased use of wind turbines might have unintended consequences for the environment, and that the claim about the linkage between increased use of wind turbines and slowing down the winds was incorrect. In 2013, when discussing the Keystone XL pipeline, he referred to the Genesis flood narrative in the Bible to argue that current climate change isn't man-made. Barton rejects the scientific consensus on climate change that climate change is real and that human activity is the primary cause.
Barton has "mocked human-caused climate change" according to The New York Times, and is "a long-time denier of global warming" according to Time magazine, "Barton has made a reputation for his outspoken rejection of man-made climate change, and for his support for the oil industry," according to Suzanne Goldenberg in The Guardian.
Autism bills controversy
Barton tried to block the bipartisan Combating Autism Act of 2006. He said that the money steered toward environmental causes of autism was not the reason he blocked passage of the bill.
The controversy stemmed from the conflict between two bills in the House and Senate. Barton introduced the National Institutes of Health Reform Act of 2006, while Senator Rick Santorum introduced the Autism bill. Santorum said in a CNN interview that the Senate bill was intended to be "fit into" Barton's bill in the House bill. He stated that "I was in constant conversation with him [Barton] and many House members all last week in an attempt to help the NIH bill come through the Senate, as well as try to move the Combating Autism bill through the Senate." Santorum stated that the Senate bill would investigate possible environmental causes, while the House bill would prevent that.
Barton let the bill die in committee, which upset many people who were vocal about saying Barton had sacrificed the interests of autistic children in the interests of the oil and gas companies that donate heavily to his campaign.
BP oil spill controversy
In June 2010, Barton accused the Obama administration of a "$20 billion shakedown" of oil giant BP after the company reached an agreement with the administration to establish an escrow account to pay the claims of people harmed by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He made the accusation at the outset of a House hearing where BP's chief executive officer, Tony Hayward, appeared for the first time before Congress. Facing Hayward at the witness table, Barton said, "I apologize. I do not want to live in a country where any time a citizen or a corporation does something that is legitimately wrong, is subject to some sort of political pressure that is, again, in my words — amounts to a shakedown, so I apologize." Prior to the establishment of the agreement, the Obama administration had been public in their criticism of BP for the oil spill. GOP congressional leadership as well as by Barton's fellow Republicans, some of whom called on him to relinquish his leadership role in the House Energy Subcommittee.
Barton later said that his earlier remarks had been "misconstrued" and that he believed BP was responsible for the accident. Later that day, he issued a statement apologizing for using the term "shakedown" and fully retracted his apology to BP.
Sodomy and abortion
In 2010, Barton backed a policy platform that called for re-criminalizing sodomy in Texas. He has 100% ratings from socially conservative groups such as the Family Research Council and the Christian Coalition of America for his opposition to abortion and LGBTQ rights.
CREW report
The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) put Barton on its "CREW's Most Corrupt Report 2011". The article stated that on Barton's 2008 financial disclosure statement, he inaccurately reported on the source of a natural gas interest that he bought into. The share was purchased through a longtime donor and supporter, who later died. This was discovered by the Dallas Morning News in 2010. According to the Dallas Morning News article, Barton made over $100,000 on the investment. The article and CREW Report both pointed out how Barton buying this undervalued asset from an "advisor" on energy issues could be a conflict of interest to the Congressman's position as the Chair of the House's Energy Subcommittee. It quoted James Thurber, a Distinguished Professor of Government at American University, as saying: "If you are elected as a public servant to try to do what is right for the public generally and then you use that position to help bring in material wealth, I think it's unethical." A spokesman said that Terri served as the campaign's outreach director and planned fund raising and special events.
Online poker
Barton has sought to permit online poker, and regulate it on a federal level. To that end, he has introduced the Online Poker Act of 2011, the Internet Poker Freedom Act of 2013, and the Internet Poker Freedom Act of 2015. Explaining why the American Health Care Act (the House Republicans' bill to repeal and replace for the Affordable Care Act) failed in March 2017, Barton said, "Sometimes you're playing fantasy football and sometimes you're in the real game. We knew the president, if we could get a repeal bill to his desk, would almost certainly veto it. This time we knew if it got to the president's desk it would be signed."
Hurricane Harvey relief
Barton voted against Hurricane Harvey relief in 2017. Barton said that he could not support an increase in the debt ceiling.
In November 2017, Barton called on the House leadership to pass naturalization legislation for children who came across the border illegally with their parents.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Energy and Commerce (Chair emeritus)
- Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade
- Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
- Subcommittee on Energy and Power
- Subcommittee on Environment and Economy
- Subcommittee on Health
- Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
1993 U.S. Senate election
In 1993, Barton ran in the special election for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Lloyd Bentsen, who became United States Secretary of the Treasury in the Clinton administration. Barton finished third in the contest, behind state treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison and Senator Bob Krueger, thus missing a runoff slot. He divided the more conservative vote in that election with House colleague Jack Fields of Houston.
Barton Family Foundation
The Barton Family Foundation was established in 2005 to support charities within the congressman's district. His daughter-in-law, Amy Barton, is the Foundation's Executive Director. Major energy corporations, such as the Chicago-based nuclear energy producer, Exelon Corporation, make major gifts to the Foundation. In June 2008, at a time when Barton had introduced legislation to assist corporations with the recycling of spent nuclear fuel, the corporation donated $25,000 to the Foundation. Exelon has also donated $80,000 to Barton's campaign funds. The Foundation gave $90,000 to the local Boys and Girls Club, this is the only recorded donation made by the Foundation in its seven-year history.
Sex scandal
In November 2017, nude selfie pictures of Barton surfaced online, which he acknowledged were authentic, and which he apologized for to his constituents. An anonymous Twitter user posted the photo of Barton, who had pointed his camera upward from below his genitals, next to a text message reading, "I want you soo bad. Right now. Deep and hard." On the taped phone call, Barton said "... I ... met you twice while married and had sex with you on two different occasions"; the woman said that they had slept together in 2012 in Washington, DC, and in 2014 in Texas, and that the Congressman had reimbursed her for her airfare in cash on both occasions. She described to the newspaper encounters and contact with Barton spanning a five-year period, beginning in 2011. She said she came forward because: "It's not normal for a member of Congress who runs on a GOP platform of family values and conservatism to be scouring the Internet looking for a new sexual liaison."
A week later a second woman, Kelly Canon, a board member of the Arlington Republican Club and a member of the Republican Women of Arlington who is a constituent of Barton's, shared a series of messages—some with sexual overtones—that Barton had sent to her. Barton sent the messages in 2012 and 2013, while Barton was married to his second wife.
His second ex-wife said: "Of course I wasn't surprised. I guess I was more surprised that some of these ladies finally came forward." She said she found it ironic that Barton was one of President Bill Clinton's loudest critics during the Monica Lewinsky scandal.
While Barton had no plans to resign immediately, according to a spokeswoman, Outlets including Slate, NBC and CNN opined that Barton might be a victim of revenge porn, which—though not a federal crime—is a class A misdemeanor in Texas, punishable by up to one year in county jail and up to a $4,000 fine.
Randy Bellomy, Chairman of the Ellis County Republican Party, said "His lifestyle is inconsistent with Republican ideals, and he has brought disgrace not only to Ellis County and the 6th Congressional District, but also to the people of Texas and this great nation." Brian Mayes, a Dallas political consultant, said that the sexting "is something you'd expect from a young, immature college kid, not a grandfather." It opined that it was not appropriate for Barton – who "can no longer be taken seriously" – to continue to represent the 6th Congressional District for another year, until January 2019. In 2017 he was again engaged.
Electoral history
|+ : Results 1984–2016
! Year
!
! Republican
! Votes
! %
!
! Democratic
! Votes
! %
!
! Third Party
! Party
! Votes
! %
!
! Third Party
! Party
! Votes
! %
!
! Third Party
! Party
! Votes
! %
!
|-
|1984
||
| |Joe Barton
| |131,482
| |57%
|
| |Dan Kubiak
| |100,799
| |43%
|
|
|
|
|
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|
|
|
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|-
|1986
||
| |Joe Barton
| |86,190
| |56%
|
| |Pete Geren
| |68,270
| |44%
|
|
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|
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|
|
|
|
|-
|1988
||
| |Joe Barton
| |164,692
| |68%
|
| |Pat Kendrick
| |78,786
| |32%
|
|
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|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1990
||
| |Joe Barton
| |125,049
| |66%
|
| |John Welch
| |62,344
| |33%
|<!--Peter Worsham, write-in, got 737 votes-->
|
|
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|
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|
|
|
|
|-
|1992
||
| |Joe Barton
| |189,140
| |72%
|
| |John Dietrich
| |73,933
| |28%
|
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|-
|1994
||
| |Joe Barton
| |152,038
| |76%
|
| |Terry Jesmore
| |44,286
| |22%
|
| |Bill Baird
| |Libertarian
| |4,688
| |2%
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1996
||
| |Joe Barton
| |152,024
| |76%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
| |Skeet Richardson
| |Independent
| |28,187
| |14%
|
| |Catherine Anderson
| |Libertarian
| |14,456
| |7%
|
| |Doug Williams
| |U.S.T.
| |6,547
| |3%
|
|-
|1998
||
| |Joe Barton
| |112,957
| |73%
|
| |Ben Boothe
| |40,112
| |26%
|
| |Richard Bandlow
| |Libertarian
| |1,817
| |1%
|
|
|
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|
|
|
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|
|
|
|-
|2000
||
| |Joe Barton
| |222,685
| |88%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
| |Frank Brady
| |Libertarian
| |30,056
| |12%
|
|
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|-
|2002
||
| |Joe Barton
| |115,396
| |70%
|
| |Felix Alvarado
| |45,404
| |28%
|
| |Frank Brady
| |Libertarian
| |1,992
| |1%
|
| |B. J. Armstrong
| |Green
| |1,245
| |1%
|
|
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|
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|-
|2004
||
| |Joe Barton
| |168,767
| |66%
|
| |Morris Meyer
| |83,609
| |33%
|
| |Stephen Schrader
| |Libertarian
| |3,251
| |1%
|
|
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|-
|2006
||
| |Joe Barton
| |91,927
| |60%
|
| |David Harris
| |56,369
| |37%
|
| |Carl Nulsen
| |Libertarian
| |3,740
| |2%
|
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|-
|2008
||
| |Joe Barton
| |174,008
| |62%
|
| |Ludwig Otto
| |99,919
| |36%
|
| |Max Koch
| |Libertarian
| |6,655
| |2%
|
|
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|-
|2010
||
| |Joe Barton
| |107,140
| |66%
|
| |David Cozad
| |50,717
| |31%
|
| |Byron Severns
| |Libertarian
| |4,700
| |3%
|
|
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|-
|2012
||
| |Joe Barton
| |145,019
| |58%
|
| |Kenneth Sanders
| |98,053
| |39%
|
| |Hugh Chauvin
| |Libertarian
| |4,847
| |2%
|
| |Brandon Parmer
| |Green
| |2,017
| |1%
|-
|2014
||
| |Joe Barton
| |92,334
| |61%
|
| |David Cozad
| |55,027
| |36%
|
| |Hugh Chauvin
| |Libertarian
| |3,635
| |2%
|-
|2016
|
| |Joe Barton
| |159,444
| |58%
|
| |Ruby Faye Woolridge
| |106,667
| |39%
|
| |Darrel Smith Jr.
| |Green
| |7,185
| |3%
References
External links
- <!--
Links formerly displayed via the CongLinks template:
- Biography at Ballotpedia
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Congressional profile at Roll Call
- Fact-checking at PolitiFact.com
- Financial information (federal office) at OpenSecrets.org
- Financial investments (personal) at The Washington Post
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Works by or about Joe Barton in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Appearances at the Internet Movie Database
- Collected news and commentary at Bloomberg News
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Collected news and commentary at The Washington Post
- -->
- Campaign contributors at Newsmeat
;Articles
- How the Wall Street Journal and Rep. Barton celebrated a global-warming skeptic: The untold story of how a front-page article and powerful U.S. politicians morphed former mining executive Stephen McIntyre into a scientific superstar Environmental Science & Technology, August 31, 2005
- "Big Oil Looking for a Government Handout, Courtesy of Joe Barton" World Internet News, April 2006,
- "Activists Putting Heat on Barton" Dallas Morning News, October 2006
- "Eight More Deep Thoughts from Rep. Joe Barton" Time, June 2010
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