Rob Bishop

Robert William Bishop (born July 13, 1951) is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Utah's 1st congressional district from 2003 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, he became the dean of Utah's congressional delegation after the retirement of Orrin Hatch from the U.S. Senate in 2019.

This article is about the politician. For the baseball coach, see Rob Bishop (baseball).
Rob Bishop
Ranking Member of the House Natural Resources Committee
In office
January 3, 2019 – January 3, 2021
Preceded byRaúl Grijalva
Succeeded byBruce Westerman
Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee
In office
January 3, 2015 – January 3, 2019
Preceded byDoc Hastings
Succeeded byRaúl Grijalva
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Utah's 1st district
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2021
Preceded byJames V. Hansen
Succeeded byBlake Moore
Chair of the Utah Republican Party
In office
May 10, 1997 – August 25, 2001
Preceded byFrank Suitter[1]
Succeeded byJoe Cannon[2]
Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives
In office
1992–1994
Preceded byCraig Moody[3]
Succeeded byMelvin R. Brown[4]
Member of the
Utah House of Representatives
In office
1978–1994
Preceded byWillis Hansen (61st)
Stephen Holbrook (2nd)
Succeeded byRichard Ellertson (61st)
Peter C. Knudson (2nd)
Constituency61st district (1978–1982)
2nd district (1982–1994)
Personal details
Born
Robert William Bishop

(1951-07-13) July 13, 1951
Kaysville, Utah, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJeralynn Hansen
Children5
EducationUniversity of Utah (BA)

Prior to his congressional tenure, Bishop was a Utah State Representative (1978–1994), including two final years as Speaker of the Utah House of Representatives, as well as Chair of the Utah Republican Party (1997–2001). He was a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Utah as Thomas Wright's running mate in the 2020 election.

Early life and education

Bishop was born in Kaysville, Utah, and graduated from Davis High School.[5] He served as a Mormon missionary in Germany from 1970 until 1972. Bishop received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in 1974.

Career

He taught civics classes at Brigham City's Box Elder High School from 1974 to 1980; he next taught German in Ogden, Utah at Ben Lomond High School; then he returned to teaching government and history classes at Box Elder High School until his retirement from teaching in 2002.[6] While a teacher at Box Elder, Bishop partnered with the Close Up Foundation to help students participate in Close Up's Washington, D.C. based civic education programs.

Utah politics

Bishop was a member of the Utah House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994. He was House Majority Leader and later served as Speaker of the House from 1992 until 1994.

In 1997, he was elected chairman of the Utah Republican Party, and served for two terms in this position. He has also worked as a legislative lobbyist in Washington.

U.S. House of Representatives

In 2002, Bishop returned to politics when he ran for the Republican nomination in the 1st District. 22-year incumbent Jim Hansen had recently announced his retirement. At the state Republican convention, he finished first in the seven-candidate field and went on to face State Representative Kevin Garn in a primary.[7] He defeated Garn in that primary with 59.8 percent of the vote, all but assuring him of being the next congressman from this heavily Republican district.[8] As expected, he won the general election with 61% of the vote. He has won re-election in 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, and 2012 with even larger margins. In 2014, he was reelected with 64% of the vote.[9]

In the 2016 election cycle, 92.6% of contributions to Bishop's political campaign came from outside Utah, the highest out-of-state percentage of any member of the House, with much of the contributions coming from the energy and agribusiness sectors, according to an analysis by OpenSecrets.[10][11]

Federalism

In 2010 Bishop introduced to the House an amendment to the United States Constitution, known as the "repeal amendment," which would allow a majority vote of the states to overturn any act of the United States Congress.[12]

Land use and the environment

Bishop supports repeal of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, saying it has been "hijacked" to control land and block economic development, and that he "would love to invalidate" the law.[13][14] Bishop is among those most critical of the Antiquities Act.[10] Bishop opposed the designation of the Bears Ears National Monument and supports repealing or shrinking the designation.[10][15] Bishop supports transferring federal public lands to the states.[16] Despite this, Bishop sponsored a successful amendment to the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act to create the Cedar Mountain Wilderness, specifically to block transportation access to the Private Fuel Storage nuclear storage facility on Goshute's Skull Valley Indian Reservation land in Tooele County.[17][18]

In February 2011, Bishop introduced a budget amendment[19] that would have defunded the National Landscape Conservation System, which manages 27 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land, including the National Monument, National Conservation Area, National Wilderness Preservation, National Wild and Scenic Rivers, National Scenic Trail, National Historic Trail systems and other systems. After coming under fire for introducing this amendment,[20] Bishop withdrew it.

On April 10, 2013, Bishop introduced the Ensuring Public Involvement in the Creation of National Monuments Act. The bill would amend the Antiquities Act of 1906 to subject national monument declarations by the President to the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA).[21] At present, the President of the United States can unilaterally designate areas of federally-owned land as a national monument, whereas national parks and other areas are required to be enacted into law by the United States Congress.[22] Bishop argued that "the American people deserve the opportunity to participate in land-use decisions regardless of whether they are made in Congress or by the President". He claims his new bill would ensure "that new national monuments are created openly with consideration of public input".[22]

In March 2019, Bishop said that "the ideas behind the Green New Deal are tantamount to genocide".[23] Asked to elaborate how this was similar to genocide, Bishop answered, "I’m an ethnic. I’m a westerner."[24] Asked whether he believed that the Green New Deal would kill him, Bishop said, "If you actually implement everything they want to. Killing would be positive if you implement everything the Green New Deal actually wants to. That’s why the Green New Deal is not ready for prime time."[24]

Utah GOP closed primary

Bishop was chairman of the Utah Republican Party when the decision was made to close primaries to nonparty members in the late 1990s. The Utah Democratic party holds open primaries. When asked about Democrats changing their party affiliation to vote in the 2020 Republican primary, he replied "“instead of piddling around with the Republican primary. Doing it this way ... the best you can call it is dishonorable. It really is a slimy way of doing things.” He said the only reason Democrats are attempting to “pervert the process” is to help advance a candidate. “That’s inherently wrong,” Bishop said.[25] In a recent editorial, Bishop restated his view: "A leading Democrat wants to create havoc in the system. For what aim? Maybe to elect the “correct” candidates? Maybe to help Democrats have a bigger voice in the elections?"[26]

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Electoral history
Utah's 1st congressional district: Results 2002–2008[32]
Year Democratic Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2002 Dave Thomas 66,104 37% Rob Bishop 109,265 61% Craig Axford Green 4,027 2% *
2004 Steven Thompson 85,630 29% Rob Bishop 199,615 68% Charles Johnston Constitution 4,510 2% Richard W. Soderberg Personal Choice 4,206 1%
2006 Steven Olsen 57,922 32% Rob Bishop 112,546 63% Mark Hudson Constitution 5,539 3% Lynn Badler Libertarian 2,467 1%
2008 Morgan Bowen 87,139 30.4% Rob Bishop 186,031 65.0% Kirk D. Pearson Constitution 6,861 2.4% Joseph G. Buchman Libertarian 6,287 2.2%

Lieutenant gubernatorial candidacy

Bishop announced in July 2019 that he would not seek reelection to the House in 2020.[33] He mentioned the same year that he was considering running for governor, but considered himself a "horrible" candidate.[34]

He joined Thomas Wright's ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor in the 2020 Utah gubernatorial election but later lost the primary.[35][36]

Personal life

Bishop is married to Jeralynn Hansen, a former Miss Peach Queen for Brigham City, Utah. He and his family reside in Brigham City.[37] The Bishops have four sons and one daughter.

Well known for his three-piece suits, Bishop was named the third-best-dressed congressmen in 2012 according to the Washingtonian.[38]

References
  1. "11 May 1997, 5 - The Daily Spectrum at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  2. "26 Aug 2001, 2 - The Daily Herald at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  3. Brown, Adam R. (August 2018). Utah Politics and Government: American Democracy Among a Unique Electorate. ISBN 9781496207838.
  4. "The Daily Spectrum from Saint George, Utah on November 13, 1994 · 1". 13 November 1994. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  5. "Home - Davis High School". dhs.davis.k12.ut.us. Archived from the original on 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-06-24.
  6. "Rob Bishop Congressional Bio". Archived from the original on 2007-05-30.
  7. "Our Campaigns - UT District 1 - R Convention Race". Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  8. "Our Campaigns - UT District 1 - R Primary Race". Archived from the original on 14 September 2018. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
  9. Fahys, Judy (5 November 2014). "Replican Bishop Returns to Congress in 1st District". NPR. KUER 90.1. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  10. Siegler, Kirk (February 5, 2017). "Utah Representative Wants Bears Ears Gone And He Wants Trump To Do It". Weekend Edition. NPR. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  11. Baccellieri, Emma (July 8, 2016). "For campaign cash, many lawmakers use a big map; Rob Bishop nears 93 percent out-of-state". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on February 3, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  12. Zernike, Kate (December 20, 2010). "Proposed Amendment would Enable States to Repeal Federal Law". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 20, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  13. Brown, Matthew; Daly, Matthew (January 17, 2017). "GOP Wants to Change Endangered Species Act". U.S. News & World Report. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 4, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  14. "GOP targets landmark Endangered Species Act for big changes". The Big Story. Archived from the original on 2017-02-09. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  15. Davenport, Coral (December 29, 2016). "Obama Designates Monuments in Nevada and Utah". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 9, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  16. Hansman, Heather (January 19, 2017). "Congress moves to give away national lands, discounting billions in revenue". The Guardian. Archived from the original on February 5, 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2017.
  17. Judy Fahys, Utah N-waste site backers call it quits Archived 2020-10-01 at the Wayback Machine, Salt Lake Tribune (December 21, 2012).
  18. "Policy Issue Notation Vote SECY-06-0020" (PDF). nrc.gov. 1 February 2006. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  19. "Bishop Introduces Amendment to Defund National Landscape Conservation System". 16 February 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
  20. O'Donoghue, Amy Joi (February 16, 2011). "Groups blast Bishop over 'gutting' landscape conservation". Deseret News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  21. "H.R. 1459 – Summary". United States Congress. Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  22. Johanson, Mark (24 March 2014). "GOP Bill Could Mean 'No More National Parks,' Public Land Advocates Warn". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  23. Elizabeth Landers (14 March 2019). "Republican lawmaker: Green New Deal 'tantamount to genocide'". CNN. Archived from the original on 2019-03-14. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  24. "GOP lawmaker: Green New Deal is like genocide". Axios. Archived from the original on 2019-03-15. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  25. "Utah GOP voter registrations up, Democrats and other parties down for primary". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  26. Bishop, Rob (2020-05-05). "Rep. Rob Bishop: How I intend to fix Utah's broken election system". Deseret News. Archived from the original on 2020-05-17. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  27. "Bishop Returns to House Natural Resources Committee". Archived from the original on 2013-02-16. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
  28. "Members". House Baltic Caucus. Archived from the original on 19 June 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  29. "Members". Congressional Constitution Caucus. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
  30. "Members". Congressional Western Caucus. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  31. "Our Members". U.S. House of Representatives International Conservation Caucus. Archived from the original on 1 August 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  32. "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 2007-07-25. Retrieved 2008-01-10.
  33. O'Donoghue, Amy Joi (July 29, 2019). "Utah Republican Rep. Rob Bishop confirms he's leaving Congress, undecided about governor's race". Deseret News. Archived from the original on July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  34. "Bishop says he won't decide on run for Utah governor until fall - Utah Policy". 24 September 2019. Archived from the original on 25 September 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2019.
  35. Wood, Benjamin (January 16, 2020). "Congressman Rob Bishop will be Thomas Wright's running mate in 2020 governor's race". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  36. "Thomas Wright adds US Rep. Rob Bishop to his governor ticket". Cache Valley Daily. Associated Press. January 17, 2020. Archived from the original on April 6, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  37. "Meet Rob". Rob Bishop for Congress. Archived from the original on 17 November 2014. Retrieved 1 December 2014.
  38. Burr, Thomas (November 29, 2012). "News roundup: Bishop third-best dressed in Congress". Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on 2013-01-10. Retrieved 2012-12-27.
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