Sen. Craig Thomas (R) Elected 1994, 2d term up 2006
Born:	Feb. 17, 1933, Cody
Home:	Casper
Education:	U. of WY, B.S. 1954, LaSalle U.
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Susan)
Elected  Office:	WY House of Reps., 1984-89; U.S. House of Reps., 1989-94.
Military Career:	Marine Corps, 1955-59.
Professional Career:	V.P., WY Farm Bureau, 1959-66; Legis. staff, Amer. Farm Bureau, 1966-75; Gen. Mgr., WY Rural Electric Assn., 1975-89.
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Craig Thomas grew up in Cody, where he knew his later Senate colleague Alan Simpson. He graduated from the University of Wyoming and served in the Marine Corps. For years he worked for the Wyoming Farm Bureau and the Wyoming Rural Electric Association, organizations with conservative political leanings that kept him in touch with hundreds of people active in their communities. In 1984 he was elected to the Wyoming House. In March 1989, when Congressman-at-Large Dick Cheney was appointed secretary of Defense, Thomas ran for his seat. He had serious competition from veteran Democrat John Vinich, who had just run a close race against Senator Malcolm Wallop. Vinich noted that national Republicans were backing Thomas and said voters shouldn't let outsiders make decisions for Wyoming. Thomas rallied and won with 53%.

In the House Thomas concentrated on Wyoming issues and was reelected with 55% in 1990 and 58% in 1992. When Wallop retired in 1994, Thomas was the obvious Republican candidate and had no primary opposition. In the general, he faced Governor Mike Sullivan, personally popular and with a conservative record, but handicapped by his association with Bill Clinton; Clinton personally asked him to run for the Senate. Thomas relentlessly attacked Sullivan as a ''Friend of Bill'' and ally of locally unpopular Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt. Thomas won 59%-39%, losing only one southern tier county--by 6 votes.

Thomas is the chairman of the National Parks Subcommittee. In 1998, despite his disagreements with Babbitt, he steered to passage a national parks reauthorization bill which reformed the granting of park concessions, mandated that peer-reviewed scientific research should take primacy in park management, and set up a new process for studying potential park areas. He opposed Babbitt's higher grazing fees on federal lands and opposed the ban on snowmobiles in national parks, calling instead for stricter pollution and noise limitations. Since 1999 he has proposed changes in the Endangered Species Act, to require use of peer-reviewed scientific data open to the public; it would set minimum requirements for petitions rather than the current "postage stamp" petition, would give a more substantial role to states and local citizens and would make delisting species easier. "The critical listing decisions ought to be made with quality, peer-reviewed science and not by federal bureaucrats reacting only to the threat of environmental lawsuits." In 2000 he pushed to passage a law increasing the amount of federal land coal companies could lease. In 2002 he proposed using $4 million of Bureau of Land Management funds to purchase the Devil's Canyon Ranch in Big Horn County, an inholding that would give access to more public land. In October 2001 he got the Senate to pass a land swap, trading state-owned land in Grand Teton National Park for mineral-producing federal land of similar value elsewhere in Wyoming. But it was bottled up in the House after Thomas opposed House Resource Committee James Hansen's bill to allow the Mormon Church to buy from the government Martin's Cove, where nearly 150 Mormon pioneers died in a blizzard in 1856. Hansen eventually allowed the land swap before retiring in 2002, and it passed the House in September 2002. Thomas said he would work with Senator Orrin Hatch to get the BLM to cooperate with the Mormon Church on proper commemoration of Martin's Cove.

From his former seat on the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of Foreign Relations, Thomas strongly backed PNTR with China, noting that nearly half of Wyoming's products are sold abroad. Thomas played a key role in amending the electricity restructuring parts of the energy bill in March 2002. Over the opposition of Energy Chairman Jeff Bingaman, he got an amendment passed that would establish an industry-run organization, regulated by FERC, rather than run by FERC itself, to oversee power transmission access and conduct. And he got Bingaman to agree to a provision reducing FERC's authority to oversee mergers, regulate transmission construction and pass judgment on rates. Other Thomas causes include rural health: He wants higher Medicare reimbursement for rural areas, incentives to attract health care professionals and increased use of telemedicine. With Charles Grassley and two Democrats he moved to bar meatpackers from owning livestock; in December 2002 he and Conrad Burns and Pat Roberts called for $3.2 billion in drought aid. He takes an interest in special education; his wife teaches special needs children in Northern Virginia. Frustrated with air service to Wyoming, he has complained about United Airlines's near-monopoly in Denver.

Thomas had little trouble winning reelection in 2000. A backer of Lyndon LaRouche won the low-turnout Democratic primary, and Thomas, campaigning on rural health care, highway spending and expanding agricultural trade, won the general 74%-22%. In August 2001 he said he was thinking about running for governor, but in late September he said he would not do so. His seat comes up in 2006.

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DC Office
307 DSOB 20515, 202-224-6441; Fax: 202-224-1724; Web site: thomas.senate.gov

State Offices
Casper, 307-261-6413; Cheyenne,307-772-2451; Riverton,307-856-6642; Rock Springs,307-362-5012; Sheridan,307-672-6456.

Committees

• Energy & Natural Resources: Energy; National Parks (Chmn.); Water & Power.
• Environment & Public Works: Clean Air, Climate Change & Nuclear Safety; Fisheries, Wildlife & Water.
• Ethics (Select).
• Finance: Health Care; International Trade (Chmn.); Taxation & IRS Oversight.
• Indian Affairs.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	10	50	0	0	55	75	73	90	100	100	--
2001	5	--	8	0	--	--	83	100	96	--	80

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	24%	--	75%		0%	--	94%
Social	0%	--	79%		0%	--	62%
Foreign	29%	--	71%		0%	--	76%
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 Y 2. Expand Patients' Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Permit ANWR Development Y 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution N  8. Overseas Military Abortions *  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2000 general	Craig Thomas (R)	157,622	74%	$762,833
	Mel Logan (D)	47,087	22%	$4,187
	Margaret Dawson (Lib)	8,950	4%
2000 primary	Craig Thomas (R)	unopposed
1994 general	Craig Thomas (R)	118,754	59%	$1,068,335
	Mike Sullivan (D)	79,287	39%	$712,991
	Other	3,669	2%
Prior winning percentages: 1992 House (58%); 1990 House (55%); 1989 House (53%)