Michael Avery “Mike” Ross (born August 2, 1961) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives representing the fourth district of Arkansas. In the 2000 election, he was the only Democrat outside of California to defeat a Republican incumbent. In the 2004 election and the 2008 election, the Republican Party did not run a challenger against him, though in 2008 he did face a Green Party candidate.
Personal and professional life
Ross was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, the son of two teachers, and he attended high school in Hope, Arkansas. He was educated at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, working his way through college as a local radio announcer. Together with his wife, Ross owned a pharmacy in Prescott, Arkansas, which they sold in May 2007. The Ross family has two children and attend the First United Methodist Church of Prescott.
Before entering the House, Ross served as Chief of staff to then Lieutenant Governor Winston Bryant from 1985 to 1989. In 1990, Ross was elected to the Arkansas State Senate becoming the legislature's youngest member at that time; he served for ten years until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000.
Congressional career
Ross is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, and he considers himself a social moderate and fiscal conservative. Ross supports stem cell research but opposes abortion. He also is against gun control, and is one of the few Democratic members of Congress to earn an A+ rating from the National Rife Association's Political Victory Fund.
Ross won a narrow victory against incumbent Jay Dickey in 2000 by portraying himself as a moderate, as is in line with the political tendencies of his district. In contrast, Dickey was seen as a controversial conservative because of his comments on stem cell research and homosexuality. Ross easily defeated Dickey in a 2002 rematch, then ran unopposed in 2004. He picked up an easy victory in the 2006 election, defeating the similarly named Republican, real estate executive Joe Ross, 75 percent-25 percent. In the 2008 election, Ross had no Republican opponent but did face Hot Springs lawyer and Green Party candidate Joshua Drake, who he beat with a decisive 87% of the vote.
Ross considered running for the position of Democratic Caucus Vice Chairman for the 110th Congress; however, he deferred to incumbent John Larson after Rahm Emanuel chose to run for caucus chair, which is the position for which Larson had been running..
Committee assignments
- Committee on Energy and Commerce
- Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
- Subcommittee on Health
- Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment
- Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
- NATO Parliamentary Assembly
The Blue Dogs and health care
On June 19, 2009, Ross made clear that he and a group of other fiscally conservative, moderate Democrats, known as Blue Dog Democrats, were increasingly unhappy with the direction that health-care legislation was taking in the House. They claimed the health care reform bill was being written behind closed doors without their input and that the proposals being consider fall short in reducing costs and increasing efficiency, outlining only a fraction of what will be required to achieve a product that does not add to the deficit. Ross cited, among other things, provisions that major health-care companies also strongly oppose. Ross was the guest of honor at a special "health-care industry reception," one of at least seven fundraisers for the Arkansas lawmaker held by health-care companies or their lobbyists this year, according to publicly available invitations. According to Ross's Federal Election Commission Disclosure Report, which every candidate must file quarterly, eight percent (8%) of his total campaign contributions have come from the health care industry in the last election cycle (2007-8).
Ross was thrust into the national spotlight on July 21 when he and a group of seven Blue Dog Democrats on Energy & Commerce bucked their party's leaders and brought the committee mark up process of H.R. 3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009, to a halt. House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman postponed meeting publicly to discuss the health-care legislation to negotiate with the Blue Dogs, meeting privately with Ross and other members of the so-called Blue Dog Coalition, conservative Democrats who sit on the committee and could join Republicans and vote down a bill they don't like since the panel has 36 Democrats and 23. Republicans.
After days of back-to-back meetings and intense negotiations into the night, four of the seven Blue Dog Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, led by Ross, said they resolved their differences with Chairman Henry Waxman of California and were able to force House leadership to agree on several provisions, namely that the full House would not vote on the legislation until at least September so lawmakers would have time to read the bill and listen to constituents.
Other concessions won by Blue Dogs, which drew immediate opposition from liberals in the chamber, would shave about 10 percent from the health care overhaul's $1 trillion, 10-year price tag, in part by limiting subsidies to people who are not insured. The exemption for small businesses would be doubled so that only businesses with payrolls greater than $500,000 a year would be required to offer insurance or pay a tax equivalent to 8 percent of their payroll.
In addition, the government would negotiate rates with health care providers instead of using Medicare rates in the government or "public option" available to those who do not get health insurance through their employers or a government plan. According to the Congressional Budget Office, this change would add approximately $85 billion to the cost of the bill leading some to question whether the Blue Dogs actually were trying to lower cost as they claimed.
President Obama praised the efforts of the Blue Dog Coalition in a statement issued after the agreement was announced: “I'm especially grateful that so many members, including some Blue Dogs on the Energy and Commerce Committee, are working so hard to find common ground. Those efforts are extraordinarily constructive in strengthening this legislation and bringing down its cost,” the President said in a statement. However, some of the concessions to Ross set off a revolt among members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who said they feared that the public insurance plan was being weakened. “We do not support this,” said Representative Lynn Woolsey, Democrat of California, co-chairwoman of the progressive caucus. "It’s a nonstarter."
After Congress' August recess, Ross announced that he could not support a bill with a Public Option. In a letter to constituents, he claimed that "An overwhelming number of you oppose a government-run health insurance option, and it is your feedback that has led me to oppose the public option as well." However, a Research 2000 poll found that a majority of his district actually supported a Public Option. Ross ultimately voted against the Health Care Reform bill that passed the House on November 7, 2009
ProPublica investigation
On September 22, 2009, an investigative report co-published by public interest group ProPublica and the The Politico reported that in 2007, Ross was paid $420,000 for the building and lot of his family pharmacy in Prescott, Arkansas by USA Drug, a Pine Bluff, Arkansas-based pharmacy chain. The property had been assessed in 2007 by the county at $263,000; an independent appraiser hired by ProPublica put the 2009 value of the property at $198,000.
USA Drug also paid roughly $1.2 million for related assets of the property, such as stock, and paid roughly $100,000 for a non-compete agreement. As of the date of the report, Holly Ross remained the pharmacist at Holly's Health Mart under USA Drug.
Additionally, USA Drug owner Stephen L. LaFrance donated $2,300, the maximum contribution allowed, to Ross' campaign two weeks after the sale was made. In two previous elections, LaFrance had supported Ross' opponents.
According to ProPublica, Ross declined numerous requests for interviews over a two-month period to discuss the transaction in question. After the story was published, he denied that the substantial profit from the sale shaped his votes on health care issues in any way. In his response, he claimed that his office cooperated with the reporter, Marcus Stern, and derided ProPublica as a "leftist 'news' organization". He also retorted that it cost him $316,000 to build the pharmacy in 1998, so a $420,000 return more than a decade later was not substantial, in his opinion. ProPublica's editor-in-chief, Paul Steiger, pointed out that Ross's apparently low return-on-investment was irrelevant to what the property was actually assessed at in 2007, compared to how much USA Drug paid him.
The premise of the reporter’s allegations focuses on the discrepancy between the assessed value of the property and the value at which the property was sold. Ross responded by saying there is a major difference between an assessment and an appraisal and the two can never be compared on equal footing. Although ProPublica had the property appraised in August 2009, Ross pointed out that an appraisal can only be used for a lending decision up to a year after compl
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