Dan Lungren (R-CA-3)

Dan Lungren, Biography from House.gov

Biography of Congressman Dan Lungren

Dan Lungren represents California’s 3rd Congressional District, which includes parts of Sacramento and Solano County, as well as all of Alpine, Amador, and Calaveras Counties.

Dan Lungren graduated with honors in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1968. Shortly thereafter, he returned to California to chair “Youth for Nixon.” He began his law studies at the University of Southern California and later transferred to Georgetown University Law Center from which he earned his JD in 1971.

During his Georgetown years, Dan worked on the staff of U.S. Senators George Murphy (R-CA) and Bill Brock (R-TN).

Congressman Lungren worked as a special assistant to the Co-Chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1971-1972. Returning to his hometown of Long Beach, CA, he joined a local law firm specializing in a predominately civil trial practice.

Congressman Lungren first sought elective office in 1976, narrowly losing a bid for California’s 34th Congressional District. Two years later, at age 32, he re-challenged the two-term incumbent and won the Congressional seat in California’s historic 1978 “Prop 13″ election year.

For ten years, Dan served in the U.S. Congress where he was viewed as a Republican leader in criminal justice and immigration issues. In 1985, he was cited by the US News and World Report as one of a handful of members of Congress “likely to be a future national leader.” Dan left Congress in 1989 and returned to California when then-Governor George Deukmejian appointed him to serve out the State Treasurer’s term of the late Jesse Unruh. Democrats, however, spared no effort to block his confirmation. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Democrats “praised Lungren’s integrity, but said they were unwilling to vote for a Republican whose congressional voting record was so conservative.”

California voters disagreed, and the following year elected Dan Lungren Attorney General of California, a position he held for eight years. During his two-term service as California’s Attorney General (1991-1999), Dan helped author and later defended in court California’s landmark “Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out” law.

Dan’s sponsorship of legislation against sexual predators culminated in the state’s “Megan’s Law,” giving Californians the right to know if their children are at risk of predators in their own neighborhoods. He provided national leadership in the reform of the federal habeas corpus law. As Attorney General, Dan successfully argued a case before the United States Supreme Court.

From 1993 to 1998, crime plunged 30 percent to historic lows in California, in large part due to the tough-on-crime policies of Dan Lungren. Following an unsuccessful run for Governor against Gray Davis in 1998, Dan did a stint as a nationally syndicated radio talk show host and served as a fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics before returning to the private practice of law.

The events of 9-11 prompted Dan’s return to public service. Believing that each of us had to respond in the most effective way to the terrorist threat, he sought election to the Congress so that the lessons learned from his past governmental experience might be added to the national debate.

To prevail in the fight against global terrorism, Dan believes that we must develop and maintain unsurpassed training and equipment for our troops, provide the resources for our intelligence community to adapt to the changing world, provide adequate funding for forward looking defense programs, and create a homeland security strategy based on rational risk assessment rather than pork barrel politics.

Dan’s lifetime belief that America’s national defense is the number one responsibility and priority of the federal government was affirmed on 9/11. While he believes that America responded to 9/11 with resolve, determination and a ferocity born of our love for freedom, Dan asserts that we must continue to adapt to the changing tactics of our enemies and directly fight the transnational Islamic fascism of those who elect terrorism as their weapon of choice.

Dan is personally committed to enhancing the quality and depth of Congressional oversight of our government’s intelligence gathering and analysis and the provision of homeland security. As a member of the House Judiciary Committee and Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Lungren is in a unique position to make that a reality.

Dan and his wife, Bobbi, have three adult children: Jeff, Kelly and Kathleen and six grandchildren—Reagan, Julia, Jack, Alexandra, Andrew and Fiona.

Biography from Dan Lungren for Congress

He’s the guy who will literally stay up at night thinking of ways to keep you and your family safe.

He can’t rest easy until he knows he’s secured the funding necessary for regional flood control like the $1.5 billion to build a new spillway, flood control gates and a new top to the Folsom Dam itself. When completed, these measures will double the flood protection for the region.

This year he fought for new Emergency Operation Centers for the cities of Elk Grove and Folsom. The Galt Herald said: “Lungren lands $500,000 for Galt wastewater plant. City leaders thanked him, though they had come to expect it.”

A husband, father and grandfather, the same man who was once California’s “Top Cop” has a reputation for championing public safety.

It was Attorney General Dan Lungren who helped author and successfully defend in court California’s landmark “Three-Strikes-and-You’re-Out” law. Dan’s sponsorship of legislation against sexual predators culminated in the state’s “Megan’s Law,” giving Californians the right to know if their children are at risk of predators in their own neighborhoods.

When Sacramento County Sheriff John McGinness needed a voice in Washington to help him reapply for COPS funding following the loss of some 333 deputies and services to budget cuts, he turned to Dan Lungren.

“I will continue to fight for my constituents and the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department to see that their story is told here in Washington” Dan said, at the time submitting a new application to the office of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

And after 9-11, Dan understood immediately the world had changed forever.  That’s why he was a key leader in re-authorizing the Patriot Act, the law that law enforcement is using to protect us from terrorists here at home.

Throughout 2009 Dan Lungren was the man who fought the Pelosi and Reid majority party on their plans to bring the government between you and your health care.

Who’s Dan Lungren?  He’s our voice.  Our Advocate.  From the Sacramento Valley to Oak lined Sierra Foothills, he’s working hard for all of us.

Do you know where you still on the political spectrum? See “Political Beliefs, Where Are You” to find out where you stand.