Editing Ed Whitfield

{{Short description|American politician (born 1943)}}
{{redirect|Edward Whitfield|the English cricketer|Edward Whitfield (cricketer)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Ed Whitfield
| image name          = Ed Whitfield, 113th Congress, Official Photo.jpg
| birth_name          = Wayne Edward Whitfield
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|1943|05|25}}
| birth_place         = [[Hopkinsville, Kentucky]], U.S.
| state2              = [[Kentucky]]
| district2           = [[Kentucky's 1st congressional district|1st]]
| term_start2         = January 3, 1995
| term_end2           = September 6, 2016
| preceded2           = [[Thomas Barlow (Kentucky politician)|Tom Barlow]]
| succeeded2          = [[James Comer]]
| state_house3        = Kentucky
| district3           = 8th
| term_start3         = January 1, 1974
| term_end3           = January 1, 1976
| predecessor3        = John Hardin
| successor3          = [[Ramsey Morris]]
| party               = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (1994–present)
| otherparty          = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (before 1994)
| spouse              = {{marriage|Constance Whitfield|1990}}
| children            = 1
| residence           = Hopkinsville, Kentucky, U.S.
| occupation          = Attorney, railroad executive
| education           = [[University of Kentucky]] ([[Bachelor of Science|BS]], [[Juris Doctor|JD]])
| allegiance          = {{flag|United States}}
| branch              = [[United States Army Reserve]]<ref name="AUSA2011">{{cite web |url=http://www.ausa.org/legislation/congressionalinfo/Documents/OAS%20112th%20Congress.pdf |title=Once a Soldier... Always a Soldier |year=2011 |work=Legislative Agenda |publisher=[[Association of the United States Army]] |access-date=28 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131021200011/http://www.ausa.org/legislation/congressionalinfo/Documents/OAS%20112th%20Congress.pdf |archive-date=21 October 2013 }}</ref>
| serviceyears        = 1967–1973<ref name="AUSA2011"/>
| rank                = [[File:US-O2 insignia.svg|20x20px]] [[First Lieutenant#United States|First
Lieutenant]]<ref name="AUSA2011" />
| unit                = [[100th Infantry Division (United States)|100th Division]]<ref name="AUSA2011" />
}}

'''Wayne Edward Whitfield''' (born May 25, 1943) is an American politician and attorney who served as the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representative]] of {{ushr|KY|1}} from January 1995, until his resignation in September 2016. He is a member of the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]], and the first to represent the district. His district covered much of the western part of the state, including [[Hopkinsville, Kentucky|Hopkinsville]], [[Paducah, Kentucky|Paducah]], [[Henderson, Kentucky|Henderson]] and Kentucky's share of [[Fort Campbell, Kentucky|Fort Campbell]].

==Early life, education and career==
Whitfield was born in [[Hopkinsville, Kentucky]]; his family later moved to [[Madisonville, Kentucky]], where he graduated from [[Madisonville North Hopkins High School|Madisonville High School]]. He attended the [[University of Kentucky]] for both undergraduate and [[University of Kentucky College of Law|law school]], where he was a member of [[Delta Tau Delta]] fraternity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.delts.org/about/famousdelts.html |title=Delta Tau Delta &#124; About Us: Subpage |publisher=Delts.org |access-date=2010-08-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100515135404/http://delts.org/about/famousdelts.html |archive-date=2010-05-15 }}</ref> He also attended the [[Wesley Theological Seminary]]. He served in the [[United States Army Reserve]] and reached the rank of First Lieutenant. He served as legal counsel to executives at [[Seaboard System Railroad]] of Washington. He served as a Vice President for the later [[CSX Corporation]] in two different capacities and was the Legal Counsel to the Chairman of the [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] from 1991 to 1993. this was a time when the Commission was deregulating the railroad and trucking industries. He was elected to the United States Congress in November 1994 and began his term in January, 1995, as a member of the 104th Congress. During his 21 plus years in the congress, Whitfield served on the Energy and Commerce Committee and served as Chairman of the Oversight and Investigation, Energy and Power Subcommittees.

==Kentucky House of Representatives==
Whitfield first became interested in politics as a high school student and attended his first political event at a rally for former [[United States Senate|United States Senator]] [[Walter Dee Huddleston|Dee Huddleston]]. As a student at the University of Kentucky, Whitfield was elected President of the University Young Democrat's Club and in 1962 became involved in [[Ned Breathitt|Edward T. Breathitt's]] successful campaign for [[Governor of Kentucky]]. As a student, Whitfield worked in the [[Kentucky State Treasurer|State Treasurer's]] office and after graduating from U.K. Law School he was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1973. He represented Hopkinsville and parts of Trigg County and was a member of the Democratic Party. After serving one term he decided not to seek re-election in 1975 or challenge freshman U.S. representative [[Carroll Hubbard]] in the 1976 primary. He focused on his family's oil distributorship until he went to work with Seaboard System Railroad as legal counsel in 1979.

==U.S. Representative==

===Committee assignments===
* [[United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce|Committee on Energy and Commerce]]
** [[United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy and Power|Subcommittee on Energy and Power]] (Chair)
** [[United States House Energy Subcommittee on Environment and Economy|Subcommittee on Environment and Economy]]
** [[United States House Energy Subcommittee on Health|Subcommittee on Health]]

Whitfield was a member of the moderate [[Republican Main Street Partnership]]. On his official website, he represented himself as a conservative who has consistently voted [[anti-abortion]] and "supports allowing students to engage in voluntary school prayer." He also lists military issues and encouraging the continued use of coal and nuclear as an anchor for baseload power to insure the use of an abundant, affordable and reliable source of electricity in the United States. The [[Sunlight Foundation]] reported in 2008 that among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Whitfield had the seventh-highest amount of investment in oil stocks.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Sunlight Foundation Blog – Oil Industry Influence: Personal Finances' |date=August 8, 2008 |url=http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2008/08/08/oil-industry-influence-personal-finances/ |publisher=Sunlight Foundation |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080812021937/http://blog.sunlightfoundation.com/2008/08/08/oil-industry-influence-personal-finances/ |archive-date=2008-08-12 }} Retrieved on August 8, 2008</ref> Whitfield was co-founder of the United States Turkish Caucus in the United States Congress. Recognizing the important role Turkey plays as the only Muslim Nation in NATO and having had many conversations with commanding generals of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Whitfield thought it was important to form a Congressional entity to provide support for Turkey in its role as a NATO Member.

He was one of three Republicans who voted for the [[Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll009.xml#Y |format=PDF |title=YEAS 247 |publisher=Clerk.house.gov |access-date=2015-04-01}}</ref>

When chairman of the [[United States House Energy Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations|Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations]] within the [[United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce|Committee on Energy and Commerce]], Whitfield held hearings on child pornography and during his tenure as Chairman of Energy and Power has chaired over 40 hearings on energy issues.  He has focused significant time and resources to inform the American people about President Obama's Clean Power Plan which was initiated by regulation through the EPA. President Obama and EPA did not consult or make any effort to work with Congress before issuing the Clean Power Plan to dictate the way electricity would be generated in the future. Chairman Whitfield referred to the Clean Power Plan as "extreme" and an "unprecedented power grab". At one of his hearings, Professor Lawrence Tribe, who teaches constitutional law at Harvard University, said the Clean Power Plan if implemented would be like tearing up the Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court, in considering a petition filed by 27 states opposed to the Clean Power Plan, issued an injunction to stop implementation of the plan. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is currently preparing to hear oral arguments on the Clean Power Plan.

===Legislation sponsored===
Whitfield introduced the [[Electricity Security and Affordability Act (H.R. 3826; 113th Congress)]] into the House on January 9, 2014.<ref name=3826sum>{{cite web|title=H.R. 3826 – Summary|url=http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/3826|publisher=United States Congress|access-date=6 March 2014}}</ref> The bill would repeal a pending rule published by the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA) on January 8, 2014.<ref name=cbo3826>{{cite web|title=CBO – H.R. 3826|date=12 February 2014 |url=http://www.cbo.gov/publication/45112|publisher=Congressional Budget Office|access-date=28 February 2014}}</ref> The proposed rule would establish uniform national limits on  [[greenhouse gas emissions|greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions]] from new [[Power station|electricity-generating facilities]] that use [[coal]] or [[natural gas]].<ref name="cbo3826"/><ref name=HousevotesBlock>{{cite news|last=Kasperowicz|first=Pete|title=House votes to block EPA regs on coal-fired electricity plants|url=https://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/200096-house-votes-to-block-epa-regs-on-electricity-plants/|access-date=6 March 2014|newspaper=The Hill|date=6 March 2014}}</ref> The rule also sets new standards of performance for those power plants, including the requirement to install [[Carbon capture and storage|carbon capture]] and [[Carbon sequestration|sequestration]] technology.<ref name="cbo3826"/> Whitfield said that, if finalized, the EPA's rule would "make it impossible to build a new coal-powered plant in American... That is hard to believe that that will can be the situation in our great country, particularly since 40 percent of our electricity comes from coal."<ref name="HousevotesBlock"/> Whitfield argued that the legislation was needed because the EPA refused to respond to criticism or complaints about their proposed rule.<ref name="HousevotesBlock"/> He also introduced and managed the floor debate on two Congressional{{clarify|date=March 2016}} Review Acts that had passed the United States Senate to stop the Clean Energy Plan Regulations adopted by EPA. He was successful in passing both measures on the House floor.

Whitfield's major legislative accomplishments are creating the 170,000 acre of National Recreation Area at the Land between the Lakes. He also introduced and helped pass a health compensation program at the [[Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant]], which  paid over $315,000,000 to the 3,139 employees and victims of toxic contamination. He also helped create the first Medicare Prescription Drug benefit plan for seniors.

Whitfield has introduced, sponsored and helped pass several bills to strengthen and insure the humane treatment of animals in the United States. He is a recognized leader regarding the humane treatment of animals.<ref>{{cite web|title=Congressman Ed Whitfield|url=http://whitfield.house.gov/about/biography|publisher=Whitfield.house.gov|access-date=February 2, 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150109054446/http://whitfield.house.gov/about/biography|archive-date=January 9, 2015}}</ref> His major national accomplishment may have been the banning of U.S. horse slaughter for human consumption, with an amendment that barred the U.S. Department of Agriculture from spending money on inspections of horse slaughterhouses, which fed demand for horsemeat in some European and Asian countries. The ban is no longer in place, but it had the effect of killing the horse-slaughter industry in the U.S.

Whitfield's legislation to prohibit the [[soring]] of Tennessee Walking Horses garnered the support of 311 House members and 57 Members of the United States Senate but was not brought to the floor of the House of Representatives because of an ethics complaint filed by individuals who sored horses . The individuals who filed the complaint had a total of 52 violations of the 1970 Horse Protection Act. In July 2016, the House Ethics Committee reproved him for failing to prohibit lobbying contacts between his staff and Connie Harriman Whitfield, a lobbyist for the Humane Society of the United States. The bill was introduced by Congressman Whitfield and had been a concern of his for many years; the Humane Society of the United States supported the legislation and was a part of a coalition of over 75 entities working to adopt it. The Ethics Committee issued a report stating that Whitfield's breach was unintentional.  Whitfield said the individuals who filed the complaint had accomplished their goal of stopping his legislation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://irjci.blogspot.com/2016/07/ethics-panel-rebukes-congressman.html|title=The Rural Blog: Ethics panel rebukes congressman fighting horse abuse for allowing Humane Society lobbyist wife to contact his staff; he says issue killed his bill|last=Cross|first=Al|date=2016-07-15|website=The Rural Blog|access-date=2018-08-13}}</ref>

Whitfield was ranked as the 43rd most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the [[114th United States Congress]] (and the most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky) in the Bipartisan Index created by [[Richard Lugar#The Lugar Center|The Lugar Center]] and the [[McCourt School of Public Policy]] that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).<ref>{{Citation|url=http://www.thelugarcenter.org/assets/htmldocuments/The%20Lugar%20Center%20-%20McCourt%20School%20Bipartisan%20Index%20114th%20Congress%20House%20Scores.pdf|title=The Lugar Center - McCourt School Bipartisan Index|publisher=[[Richard Lugar#The Lugar Center|The Lugar Center]]|date=March 7, 2016|access-date=April 30, 2017}}</ref>

==Political campaigns==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=May 2017}}
{{See also|2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Kentucky#District 1}}
Whitfield had been a Democrat for most of his life, but in 1994 filed to run in the 1st District as a Republican. He defeated the 1992 Republican nominee, Steve Hamrick, in the primary, and then defeated freshman Democratic Congressman [[Thomas Barlow (Kentucky politician)|Tom Barlow]] by 2,500 votes. He defeated Dennis Null in 1996 even as [[Bill Clinton]] carried the district, and never faced a close race afterwards. On September 29, 2015, Whitfield announced that he would not seek re-election in 2016. Critics said he did not seek re-election because of an ethics complaint filed against him by a group opposed to his legislation to stop the [[soring]] of Tennessee walking horses. That complaint was filed in 2013, and despite publicity throughout his district, Whitfield was re-elected overwhelmingly. He won every county in his district with the exception of Marion. On August 31, 2016, Whitfield announced that he would resign, effective September 6, prompting a special election that would allow his successor to serve in the [[lame duck (politics)|lame duck]] session of Congress after the Nov. 8 election.

==Personal life==
{{BLP unreferenced section|date=July 2018}}
Connie Whitfield is the Congressman's second wife. She was a former Justice Department attorney as well as Assistant Secretary of Interior for Fish, Wildlife and National Parks in the George H.W. Bush Presidency. She was also a Director of the Export-Import Bank of the United States and was appointed Vice Chair of the [[Kentucky Horse Racing Commission]] by Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher. On November 14, 2016, Whitfield was presented the Distinguished Rural Kentuckian Award by the Kentucky Association of Electric Cooperatives at a ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Commons}}
* {{C-SPAN|36978}}
* {{CongLinks | congbio=w000413 | votesmart=21873 | fec=H4KY01040 | congress=edward-whitfield/1222 }}<!--
Links formerly displayed via the CongLinks template:
* [http://ballotpedia.org/Ed_Whitfield Biography] at [[Ballotpedia]]
* [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/400431 Congressional profile] at [[GovTrack]]
* [http://www.opencongress.org/people/show/400431 Congressional profile] at [[Participatory Politics Foundation|OpenCongress]]
* [http://www.rollcall.com/members/196.html Congressional profile] at ''[[Roll Call]]''
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00003467 Financial information (federal office)] at [[Center for Responsive Politics|OpenSecrets.org]]
* [http://apps.washingtonpost.com/politics/capitol-assets/member/edward-whitfield/ Financial investments (personal)] at ''[[The Washington Post]]''
* [http://www.legistorm.com/member/532/Rep_Wayne_Edward_Whitfield.html Staff salaries, trips and personal finance] at LegiStorm.com
* [http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Ed_Whitfield.htm Issue positions and quotes] at [[On the Issues]]
* [http://www.worldcat.org/identities/np-whitfield,%20edward%241943 Works by or about Ed Whitfield] in libraries ([[WorldCat]] catalog)
* [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/person/36978 Appearances] on [[C-SPAN]] programs
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4349962 Appearances] at the [[Internet Movie Database]]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gIQAhbJcKP_topic.html Collected news and commentary] at ''[[The Washington Post]]''
* -->

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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:University of Kentucky alumni]]
[[Category:University of Kentucky College of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Wesley Theological Seminary alumni]]
[[Category:Kentucky lawyers]]
[[Category:Democratic Party members of the Kentucky House of Representatives]]
[[Category:People from Hopkinsville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:People from Madisonville, Kentucky]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky]]
[[Category:American United Methodists]]
[[Category:Members of Congress who became lobbyists]]
[[Category:21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the Kentucky General Assembly]]