Jon Kyl

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Jon Kyl (2018)

Jon Kyl Llewellyn [ kaɪl ] (* 25. April 1942 in Oakland , Burt County , Nebraska ) is an American politician of the Republican Party . From 1987 to 1995 the lawyer was a member of the House of Representatives , and from 1995 to 2013 the United States Senate for the state of Arizona . In the Senate he was whip his parliamentary group from December 2007 and was considered a conservative leader. From September to December 2018, Kyl was the interim successor to his late Senate colleague John McCain .

Family, education and work

Jon Kyl was born in 1942 to Arlene Pearl Griffith and John Henry Kyl , who would later become a US Congressman for the state of Iowa . In 1964 he received his bachelor's degree in political science and in 1966 with a degree in law from the University of Arizona . There he was editor-in-chief of the Arizona Law Review. From 1966 to 1986 he worked as a lawyer at the law firm Jennings, Strouss & Salmon in Phoenix and was considered one of the leading experts on water law , an important topic in the desert-rich state of Arizona. In 1984/85 he was Chairman of the Phoenix Metropolitan Area Chamber of Commerce .

Jon Kyl is married to Caryll Collins. They have a son and a daughter. A NASCAR fan since childhood , he has regularly commented on races on the radio. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church .

Political career

From January 3, 1987 to January 3, 1995, Kyl was a member of the United States House of Representatives for the fourth congressional constituency of Arizona. In 1992 he was one of the congressmen who made the misconduct of their colleagues in the banking scandal ( Rubbergate ) public.

Group picture of the senators serving since 1995, Kyl third from the top right

In the 1994 election he was elected to the United States Senate by defeating another member of the House of Representatives, Democrat Sam Coppersmith . Kyl was instrumental in the 1997 Kyl-Bingaman Amendment . In the 2000 election , it was confirmed with 79.3 percent of the vote, without the Democrats having put up an opponent. Kyl was under discussion as a possible running mate and vice-presidential candidate for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential election ; negotiations were well advanced, but failed because Dick Cheney , Bush's negotiator, claimed the post himself. For a long time, Kyl was a member of the influential Judicial Committee and is considered to be instrumental in preventing President Bush's nomination of his legal adviser Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court .

In the 2006 election , Kyl won against Democrat Jim Pederson with a share of 53.3 percent. On December 19, 2007 he succeeded Trent Lott as a whip of the minority group (minority whip). Time 100 counted him among the most influential people in 2010. In February 2011, Kyl announced that he would not apply again for his mandate in the 2012 Senate election . He resigned from the Senate on January 3, 2013. He was followed by the former Republican Congressman Jeff Flake .

Since then, Kyl has worked as a lobbyist for the major international law firm Covington & Burling.

Following the death of Senator John McCain in August 2018, Governor Doug Ducey appointed Kyl as his interim successor on September 4, 2018. Kyl agreed to fill out the mandate initially by the end of 2018, but left it open from the start whether he would be available until the by-election at the same time as the 2020 general election . At the time of announcement Kyl was the Sherpa that the Supreme Court candidates Brett Kavanaugh accompanied by hearing in the US Senate. He had the same role on the Senate endorsement of Jeff Sessions as United States Attorney General . Kyl was sworn in in the Senate on September 5, 2018. His assumption of office gave the Republicans, who only had a 50-49 majority during McCain's cancer treatment, a little more leeway. Kyl withdrew from the Senate at the end of 2018. He was followed by Martha McSally , who was also appointed by Governor Ducey .

Positions and Style

Kyl's political positions are classified as reliably conservative. He stands for a strict ban on abortions and has done little to protect the environment ; the League of Conservation Voters attested him an agreement of 8 percent for his lifelong voting behavior on environmental issues. In 2006, Kyl was named one of the ten best senators in the country by Time and referred to as "the operator" because he mastered the complex procedural rules of the Senate with virtuosity. He was increasingly seen as the senator to be approached about Arizona concerns because he was familiar with the detailed work of specific projects on site, while his state colleague John McCain sought the spotlight of the nationwide media. Like McCain, however, Kyl rejected the distribution of subsidies for local projects (pork barrel spending). Kyl voted for President Bill Clinton's impeachment in 1999 , voted to authorize the Iraq war in 2003 and against Obamacare health care reform in 2010 .

Kyl is considered to be of integrity and valued by politicians from both parties. He worked with Dianne Feinstein on the subject of victim protection and with Ted Kennedy on fundamental immigration reform in 2007 . As a specialist in questions of water law, he worked out several laws that pacified long-standing conflicts, including with Native Americans in his state.

Web links

Commons : Jon Kyl  - collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Jon Kyl in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
  • Kyl, Jon. In: OurCampaigns.com (English)
  • Jon Kyl in the PolitiFact Truth-O-Meter
  • Darrin Hostetler: Bland Ambition. In: Phoenix New Times , August 11, 1994 (English, detailed portrait)

Individual evidence

  1. a b Danielle Burton: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Jon Kyl. In: US News & World Report , November 27, 2007
  2. a b c d Ronald J. Hansen, Yvonne Wingett Sanchez: Who is Jon Kyl? John McCain liked him, but his conservative record is drawing fire. In: The Arizona Republic , September 5, 2018
  3. US Senator Jon Kyl. In: Senate.gov.
  4. Mitch McConnell : Leaders: Jon Kyl. In: Time , April 29, 2010.
  5. ^ David Catanese: Sen. Jon Kyl announces his retirement from Senate. In: Politico , February 10, 2011.
  6. ^ A b Jon Kyl sworn in as senator replacing McCain. In: Reuters , September 5, 2018.
  7. Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Maria Polletta: Former US Sen. Jon Kyl wants to be John McCain's successor in the US Senate. In: AZ Central , USA Today , September 4, 2018.
  8. Yvonne Wingett Sanchez: Jon Kyl sworn in as John McCain's successor in the US Senate. In: The Arizona Republic , USA Today , September 5, 2018
  9. Yvonne Wingett Sanchez: Jon Kyl wants to resign from the US Senate on Dec. 31, setting up another appointment by Ducey to John McCain's seat. In: Arizona Republic , December 14, 2018.