Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-At Large) Elected 1994, 5th term
Born:	Nov. 30, 1946, Salinas, CA
Home:	Casper
Education:	Creighton U., B.S. 1969
Religion:	Episcopalian
Marital Status:	married (Frederick)
Elected  Office:	WY House of Reps., 1986-92; WY Senate, 1992-94.
Professional Career:	Office Mgr., Dr. Frederick Cubin, 1975-94.
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Wyoming, the nation's least populous state, has elected one congressman-at-large since it was admitted to the Union in 1890. The current incumbent is Barbara Cubin, a Republican first elected in 1994. The great-great-granddaughter of one of Wyoming's original homesteaders, she grew up in Casper, where she worked as a teacher, social worker, chemist and realtor; for 19 years she managed her husband's medical practice. She was divorced after an early first marriage, worked as a single mother, was subjected to sexual harassment, but insists: "I am not a feminist. I am not gender sensitive." She notes that Susan B. Anthony and all the early advocates of women's rights were opposed to abortion. In 1986 she was elected to the state House and in 1992 to the state Senate; she was prime sponsor of a 1994 ballot measure authorizing life without parole sentences.

In 1994, when Congressman Craig Thomas ran for the Senate, Cubin was one of five Republicans and two Democrats to run for the House. She sharply attacked "the Clinton-Babbitt war on the West." In the Republican primary, she won with 39%. The Democratic nominee was Bob Schuster, a law partner of high-profile Wyoming trial lawyer Gerry Spence. He spent $2.4 million, most of it his own money, on what was the third-highest spending campaign in the country. Schuster's big issue was abortion; she called him a "a slick trial-lawyer Clinton Democrat." Cubin won 53%-41%.

In the House Cubin has a solidly conservative voting record and quickly became chairman of the Energy and Mineral Resources Subcommittee. She has opposed bills to fund federal purchases of private lands and wants to limit the federal government to no-net-gain. In 2000 a Cubin bill passed the House to stop the federal government from charging states for the administrative expenses on mineral leases; Wyoming's $7.5 million savings, she said, would go for education. She sponsored the successful bill to allow coal companies larger leases of federal lands. She decried the October 2000 decision to ban snowmobiling in national parks. She spearheaded the effort to obtain Medicare coverage for the breast cancer treatment Xeloda. In November 2000 she was elected Republican Conference Secretary, the number six position in the House leadership.

In April 2002 Cubin expressed interest in succeeding James Hansen, who had announced he was not running for reelection, as chairman of the Resources Committee. She was only the 12th Republican on the committee in seniority, but the most senior was James Saxton of New Jersey, who had voted against conservatives on many committee issues, and only one more senior committee Republican represented a district with large amounts of federally owned land. She suggested reviving the old Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, abolished by Republicans in 1995, and making Saxton its chairman. She admitted this would cause jurisdictional disputes, but asked, "Is there anything more aggravating than putting jurisdiction over good government?" She may have damaged her case in September 2002, when she sponsored a bill for $6 billion in drought relief; this was the position taken by Senate Democrats and opposed by the Bush administration and the House Republican leadership. The Republican Steering Committee interviewed Cubin and other candidates for the chairmanship in January 2003, and awarded it to Richard Pombo of California, who had been 11th in seniority. Cubin was a good sport. "The western states have a friend in the chair in Chairman Pombo."

Cubin endured personal difficulties in 2001 and 2002. Her husband had multiple surgeries for nonmalignant tumors and autoimmune disease; he and their two sons rallied to appear with her when she announced for reelection in Cheyenne, Casper and Evanston in April 2002. She considered not running again, but her husband persuaded her to do so. Her Democratic opponent in 2002 criticized her for missing votes; she had missed the vote on Resources Chairman James Hansen's proposal to allow the Mormon Church to buy Martin's Cove in Wyoming, the site of the death of Mormon pioneers in a blizzard in 1856, a proposal opposed by the Wyoming delegation, because she had been caught in traffic returning from a doctor's appointment. She was reelected 61%-36% and said afterwards, "It's actually the first time I've felt pleasure in defeating someone. My husband's very life was hanging in the balance, and they tried to capitalize on that. It was pretty low." She did not seek reelection to the Conference Secretary position. In February 2003 she was felled by a viral infection complicated by meningitis. In April 2003 Cubin drew sharp criticism for a disputed statement during a debate over restricting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. Cubin said, "My sons are 25 and 30. They are blond-haired and blue-eyed. One amendment today said we could not sell guns to anybody under drug treatment. So does that mean if you go into a black community, you cannot sell a gun to any black person, or does that mean because my--" at which point, Mel Watt demanded that her statement be "taken down" (a motion to limit her debate privileges for the day and strike her words from the Congressional Record) because he said it promoted stereotypes about drug abuse and black neighborhoods. By a largely party-line vote, the House refused to condemn her statement. Cubin later said Watt interrupted her before she could finish her point. "I don't believe in stereotyping anyone, anytime, ever, for anything," she said. "That's what I believe, and I believe that from the bottom of my heart."

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DC Office
1114 LHOB 20515, 202-225-2311; Fax: 202-225-3057; Web site: www.house.gov/cubin

State Offices
Casper, 307-261-6595; Cheyenne, 307-772-2595; Rock Springs, 307-362-4095.

Committees

• Energy & Commerce (13th of 31 R): Commerce, Trade & Consumer Protection; Health; Telecommunications & the Internet.
• Resources (10th of 28 R): Energy & Mineral Resources (Chmn.); National Parks, Recreation & Public Lands.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	0	0	0	13	82	50	61	88	100	93	100
2001	5	--	0	0	--	--	77	93	100	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	0%	--	94%		13%	--	85%
Social	0%	--	81%		0%	--	75%
Foreign	0%	--	97%		0%	--	85%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts * 2. Limit Patients' Bill of Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform * 4. Ban ANWR Development N 5. Faith-Based Charities Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  8. Arm Commercial Pilots Y  9. Trade Promotion Authority Y 10. Bar Funds for Intl. Court Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Deny Home. Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Barbara Cubin (R)	110,229	61%	$635,271
	Ron Akin (D)	65,961	36%	$19,154
	Other	5,962	3%
2002 primary	Barbara Cubin (R)	unopposed
2000 general	Barbara Cubin (R)	141,848	67%	$640,700
	Michael Allen Green (D)	60,638	29%
	Lewis Stock (Lib)	6,411	3%
	Other	3,415	1%
Prior winning percentages: 1998 (58%); 1996 (55%); 1994 (53%)