Dean Heller
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Nevada's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Jim Gibbons
Born	May 10, 1960 (1960-05-10) (age 49) Castro Valley, California
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Lynne Heller
Children	Hilary Heller Harris Heller Drew Heller Emmy Heller
Residence	Carson City, Nevada
Alma mater	University of Southern California
Occupation	Stock broker
Religion	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Dean Heller (born May 10, 1960) is an American politician who represents Nevada's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. He had previously served as Nevada's Secretary of State.

[edit] Early life, education and early career

Heller is long time resident of Carson City -- moving there from his birthplace of Castro Valley, CA, at the age of 9 months -- and a graduate of Carson High School. He earned a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration, specializing in finance and securities analysis, from the University of Southern California in 1985.^[1]

Heller was a founding board member of the Boys and Girls Club of Western Nevada and the Western Nevada Community College Foundation.^[2] He is an advisory board member for Nevada's Foster Grandparent program.^[3]

Prior to entering politics, Heller worked as an institutional stockbroker and as a broker/trader on the Pacific Stock Exchange. ^[4]

Heller served as the Chief Deputy State Treasurer prior to his election to the Nevada Assembly. He served two terms in the Nevada Assembly from 1990 to 1994.^[5] While in this legislature, Heller authored a bill to reform state retirement pensions.

Heller and his wife, Lynne, have four children.^[6] Heller is the son of famed stock car driver Jack "Blackjack" Heller.^[7]

[edit] Secretary of State of Nevada

Heller was elected Secretary of State of Nevada in 1994, and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002, served in this capacity from 1995 to 2006 -- when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.

As secretary, Heller made Nevada the first state in the nation to implement an auditable paper trail to electronic voting machines.^[8]

The Secretary of State of Nevada is the third highest-ranking constitutional officer in the State -- serving as the state's chief elections officer.^[9] The office includes the elections division, commercial recordings division, securities fraud division and the notary division. The Secretary is also is an ex-officio member of Nevada's Board of Examiners (which includes the governor and attorney general), State Prison Board, and Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.

[edit] U.S. House

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Ways and Means
  • Subcommittee on Income Security and Family Support
  • Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures

[edit] Political positions

Heller is a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.^[10]

[edit] Abortion

On 2007-07-19, Heller voted for an amendment that would have cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations.^[11]

[edit] Card check

Heller opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, proposed legislation that would effectively eliminate secret ballots in union organizing elections and subject employers and employees to mandatory arbitration when negotiating union contracts.^[12] In stating his objection to this proposed legislation, Heller said that it could cause the loss of 600,000 jobs within two years of enactment:

"This legislation at its core will threaten American jobs and harm small and large businesses alike that are already struggling to make ends meet. In fact, a recent economic study found that if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, 600,000 jobs could be lost by the end of 2010. Our country and Nevada cannot afford this. Any further job losses created by the Employee Free Choice Act would be devastating to Nevada workers who in some communities are facing unemployment rates as high as 15.1%."

[edit] Energy security

Heller has voted in support of the development of domestic oil, gas and coal. (Nevada has no in-state reserves of any of these fuels.^{[citation needed]}) He has repeatedly voted against the tax policies needed for development of renewable energy.^{[citation needed]}

Although huge solar power projects are being planned for southern Nevada, Heller voted against on establishing federal tax policy needed to build them.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Government bailouts

Heller opposed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 that created the Troubled Asset Relief Program (also known as TARP) to bailout the financial industry.^[13] Heller stated the reason he opposed this bill was:

"The core of this legislation is still flawed and puts Nevada's taxpayers on the hook to pay for a massive bailout of Wall Street. There are solutions to this problem that do not place current taxpayers and future generations at risk or push our country further in debt."

Heller also opposed the Auto Industry Financing and Restructuring Act of 2008, also known as the auto bailout.^[14] Heller stated the reason he opposed this bill was:

"Another month, another bailout. Congress is asking the American people again to bailout another industry in these tough economic times. Congress should focus on real economic reforms that generate jobs instead of continuing to bailout individual industries with taxpayer dollars. This is nothing more than a band aid that does not fix the much larger economic problems we have in our country."

[edit] Minimum wage

Heller voted to increase the federal minimum wage and provide tax breaks for small businesses.

[edit] Western issues

Heller is Policy Chair of the Western Caucus, playing a leading role in advocating for issues that impact western U.S. states.^[15]

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] 2006 congressional race

Heller announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in 2005. On August 15, 2006, he narrowly won the Republican primary for the congressional seat being vacated by 10-year incumbent Jim Gibbons, who was running for governor. Heller received 24,781 votes to Assemblywoman Sharron Angle's 24,353. Dawn Gibbons, a former State Assemblywoman and wife of the incumbent, finished third with 17,328 votes.

Heller defeated University of Nevada Regent and Democratic candidate Jill Derby in the November general election by 5 percent [1]. Heller lost Washoe County, home to Reno and by far the largest county in the district (it casts more than 70 percent of the district's vote). However, he won most of the rural areas of the district by margins of 2-to-1 or more, allowing him to win the district by 12,600 votes. Heller was almost certainly helped by the presence of Gibbons atop the ballot; Gibbons carried the 2nd by a landslide margin in his successful gubernatorial bid.

[edit] 2008 congressional race

See: United States House of Representatives elections in Nevada, 2008

[edit] 2010 election

In 2009, Heller has been rumored to be a candidate to challenge embattled Republican incumbent Governor Jim Gibbons or Democratic United States Senator Harry Reid in 2010.^[16]

However, Congressman Heller has denied such claims and instead has decided to focus on his 2010 reelection campaign.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congressman Dean Heller official site
• Dean Heller for Congress official campaign site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia

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