Alabama: Sixth District

Rep. Spencer Bachus (R)

Spencer Bachus (R) Elected 1992, 8th term up
Born:	12-28-1947, Birmingham
Home:	Birmingham
Education:	Auburn U., B.A. 1969, U. of AL, J.D. 1972
Religion:	Baptist
Marital Status:	married (Linda)
Elected  Office:	AL Senate, 1983–84; AL House of Reps., 1984–87.
Military Career:	Natl. Guard, 1969–71.
Professional Career:	Owner, Lumber Co.; Practicing atty., 1972–92; AL Repub. Party Chmn., 1991–92.
DC Office	2246 RHOB, 20515 202-225-4921 Fax: 202-225-2082 Website: www.house.gov/bachus
State Offices	Birmingham:205-969-2296; Clanton:205-280-0704;
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Birmingham, once one of America’s booming industrial cities, then the site of violence in the civil rights revolution, now has future prospects far more hopeful than seemed possible not long ago. This is a new city by southern standards: Before the Civil War there was nothing here but a few creeks running below Red Mountain. But Red Mountain is almost pure iron ore, and by 1890, Birmingham had the South’s largest steel mills. In the early 20th century, as the statue of Vulcan, Roman god of fire and metalworking, looked out over the smokestack-rich valley, Birmingham seemed the most up-to-date and progressive city in the South. But the worldwide overcapacity in steel and technological obsolescence at home sent the American steel industry into long-term decline starting in the 1950s. Meanwhile, industrial Birmingham’s political leaders plotted to avoid desegregation, and the city’s violent reaction to civil rights—Police Commissioner (and Democratic National Committeeman at the time) Bull Connor set dogs and fire hoses against peaceful demonstrators, and Ku Klux Klansmen bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, killing four young girls in 1963—made a vivid impression over the new medium of television news, spurring the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and created a reputation from which Birmingham still suffered a generation later.

But in recent years Birmingham has worked to improve race relations and has developed a new economic base to generate growth. Health care is one major industry: Birmingham has some of the largest and most advanced medical care centers in the South, and is especially renowned for its sports medicine facilities and specialists. Banking is the other: While Atlanta’s banks foundered and were acquired by outsiders, Birmingham became the largest southern banking center after Charlotte, North Carolina. But city leaders worry that downtown may become “irrelevant,” and white movement to newer suburbs has arguably increased racial polarization. The city’s population has declined by 100,000 since 1960 and was 74% black in 2000. Whites have been moving out of Birmingham’s Jefferson County southeast to Shelby County, which grew 44% in the 1990s—the fastest growth in the state. As a result, Jefferson County, once more Republican than most of Alabama, votes Democratic in close statewide elections, while Shelby County is one of the most Republican counties in the state.

The 6th Congressional District of Alabama, which once included all of Birmingham and most of Jefferson County, is now the suburban Birmingham-area district and strongly Republican. It includes parts of Jefferson County (such as prosperous Mountain Brook), and stretches southwest to Tuscaloosa and south along Interstate 65 halfway to Montgomery. In 2002, the Democratic line-drawers made it even more Republican, removing the last part of Birmingham and some black precincts in Tuscaloosa, and adding most of fast-growing St. Clair County north of Shelby County. Today, this is one of the most Republican districts in the nation: it voted 74% for George W. Bush in 2000—his second-best district outside of Texas. In 2004, it broke even harder for Bush, giving him 78% and ranking as his second-best district in the nation.

The congressman from the 6th District is Republican Spencer Bachus (pronounced BACK-us). A Birmingham native, he owned a sawmill company and practiced law. Elected to the state legislature in 1982, he was an activist—though one of very few Republicans. He was campaign manager when Guy Hunt was elected governor in 1986 and was the first Republican elected to the state school board in more than 100 years. After running unsuccessfully for attorney general in 1990, he became Republican state chairman. When the 6th District was radically redrawn in 1992, he won a Republican runoff and defeated incumbent Ben Erdreich, a moderate Democrat.

Bachus has a mostly conservative voting record and has been an aggressive lawmaker and investigator. As chairman of Banking’s oversight subcommittee, he discovered that the Community Development Financial Institute, which Bill Clinton established in 1994, directed $11 million in loans to four banks with ties to Hillary Rodham Clinton without proper documentation; the two top CDFI officials resigned as a consequence. With George W. Bush in the White House, Bachus had a less adversarial role as chairman of the Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit Subcommittee, although he was an early critic of then-Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Harvey Pitt. He helped to enact changes in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which provided consumers additional access to their credit reports and helped to cut back on identity theft, but also stripped away some state law privacy protections. In 2006, he helped to enact reforms of the federal deposit insurance system. Later that year, he pushed enactment of the controversial ban on Internet gambling, much of which is based overseas. He became something of a maverick on foreign policy, as an unlikely crusader for international debt relief for poor Third World nations. He criticized the Bush administration’s dealings with the genocidal regime in Sudan and was a prime backer of the Sudan Peace Act, which threatens diplomatic reprisals and supports rebel groups. Locally, he helped to expand the Cahaba River National Wildlife Refuge. 

For nearly two years, he competed with Richard Baker of Louisiana for what each hoped would the chairmanship of the Financial Services Committee after the 2006 election. It turned out that the prize was only the ranking minority position, but the competition remained fierce. Bachus contended that he worked better with colleagues, and interest groups, than the sometimes independent Baker. He benefited from his more generous campaign contributions to other Republicans (more than $800,000), and undoubtedly was helped by his early support for John Boehner for Majority Leader in early 2006; Baker had backed Roy Blunt. Bachus won on a 22–7 vote of the leadership-dominated Republican Steering Committee. “Barney Frank and I represent very different political philosophies, but when we disagree, we do so amicably,” Bachus said, referring to the new Democratic chairman. “I look forward to working with him.” Although the committee has had a recent history of bipartisanship, his willingness to cooperate likely will be tested frequently.

Bachus has not had a Democratic challenger since 1998. In 2004, he faced a primary challenge: Phillip Jauregui, the lawyer for ousted Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. This looked like a conflict between religious and business conservatives but Bachus emphasized his conservative credentials and proudly noted that he had the lowest ACLU rating in the Alabama delegation; he won 87%-13%. Although he has voiced interest in a statewide race, his new position on Financial Services might keep him in the House. 

Committees

• Financial Services (RMM of 33 R).
  

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R +25
• Area size: 4,649 square miles
• Urban Population: 62.1%
• Rural Population: 37.9%
• Population 2000: 635,300
• Population 2005 (est): 691,309
• Median Income: $46,946
• Poverty Status: 8.1%
• Military Veterans: 12.9%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 88.8% White; 7.7% Black; 0.9% Asian; 0.3% Native Am.; 0.0% Hawaiian; 0.7% Two+ races; 0.0% Other; 1.6% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 14.5% USA%; 10.1% English%; 8.1% Irish%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 22.1%; White collar 67.7%; Gray collar 10.2%;