Deal has lengthy political résumé

时间：2023-04-02 09:04:12 resume 我要投稿

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Top grades. Student body president. Debate champion. Law school. Military record. Nearly three decades in the state Legislature and Congress.

Deal, 68, faces Democratic opponent and former governor Roy Barnes. Recently, his poltical record has been overshadowed by financial problems, including a need to repay a $2 million debt from a failed store run by his daughter and son-in-law.

The former lawmaker hails from one of the more conservative districts in the country, and it shows. Last year, he called on President Obama to produce his birth certificate, although he said that he now believes the matter is settled. Deal also pushed for an end to automatic citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants born in this country, and he has advocated eliminating the federal income tax in favor of a consumption tax, or so-called fair tax.

Deal and his wife face a Feb. 1 deadline to repay $2.3 million in loans that they guaranteed for their daughter and son-in-law's failed store. Deal has tried to sell his Gainesville home along with other property and recently said he will liquidate a retirement account to help repay his debts.

He also amended his financial disclosure forms after facing questions about why he did not disclose $2.85 million in business loans. Deal called the omission an oversight.

He tries to strike an everyman tone when talking about money woes.

"I am real. I'm like other Georgians. I face these same challenges. Like other Georgians, we're going to be responsible," Deal said.

Elected to the U.S. House as a Democrat in 1992, Deal has a long record on Capitol Hill. In 2005, he helped slash some $20 billion from the federal budget as part of the deficit reduction act. It's a figure, aides note, larger than the current budget of Georgia.

Deal's decision to become a Republican in 1995 helped Republicans expand their power in Congress. It earned Deal the loyalty of then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has endorsed Deal in the governor's race as "a solid conservative with a solid record."

Tough proposals to crack down on illegal immigration have been the centerpiece of his tenure. He has backed using soldiers at the border to enforce drug and immigration laws. He also supported a federal database meant to keep illegal immigrants out of the work force, and he supports an Arizona-style law in Georgia against illegal immigration.

Earlier this year, the Office of Congressional Ethics found that Deal might have violated House ethics rules by using his position to lobby state officials on behalf of his Gainesville auto salvage company, which at the time had a lucrative state contract.

The office recommended that the House Committee on Standards investigate. Before the panel could decide, Deal resigned from Congress to run for governor.

While attending Mercer University in the 1960s, Deal completed his undergraduate and law degrees in six years. He signed up for ROTC and quickly became a cadet commander. Serious and studious, Deal won honors and was student body president.

Deal was commissioned captain in the Army and, as a member of the JAG Corps, taught law to military police. With the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Deal's mission changed, and he began training National Guard troops who were being tapped to keep order at home.

By the 1970s, Deal was working in a small Gainesville law office, handling real estate closings, wills, estates and criminal cases. He married his wife, Sandra -- a teacher he met on a blind date -- and they went on to have three daughters and a son.

In 1980, he won a state Senate seat and rose to speaker pro tempore.

He served in elected office until he stepped down from Congress in March -- just after voting against the Democratic-backed health reform law.

Deal once pledged to serve six terms and retire in 2004 but changed his mind, arguing the district would benefit from his experience -- a theme he frequently returns to on the campaign trail.

"Life experiences are what people look at," said Deal, who quickly ticked off his résumé as a prosecutor, parent, judge, deacon and lawmaker. "I think all of those coupled together, I think, reach the one conclusion -- that is, I'm qualified."

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