Michael D. Crapo (R-Idaho)

U.S. Senator (since January 1999)

(Gerald Martineau/TWP)

Why He Matters

You may not hear about Crapo that often-judging by the headlines, the word "back-bencher" may even come to mind. But over a decade and a half of steady work in Congress, he's racked up a few signature achievements: one political observer calls him a "work horse" not a "show horse," one of those diligent lawmakers "who actually do the grinding committee and legislative work."

Since being elected to the House in 1992, Crapo has been an asset to the Republican Party. He was appointed the party's "strategic planning leader" in 1996, and has served as the Senate deputy Republican whip for the last four Congresses.He now enjoys one of the most secure seats in the Senate and maintains a political action committee that generates hundreds of thousands of dollars for other Republican candidates every election cycle.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: U.S. Representative (1992-1998); Idaho Senate (1984-1992); Practicing attorney, (1977-1992).
Birthday: May 20, 1951
Hometown: Idaho Falls, Idaho
Alma Mater: Brigham Young University, B.A. 1973, Harvard University, J.D. 1977
Spouse: Susan Crapo
Religion: Mormon
Committees: Budget; Finance ; Indian Affairs ; Environment and Public Works ; Banking, Housing and Urban Development

DC Office: 239 Dirksen Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510202-224-6142
State Office: Boise 208-334-1776
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Path to Power

Notwithstanding a detour to the East Coast for Harvard Law School, a clerkship at the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and a short stint practicing law in San Diego, Crapo is heartland born and bred. Raised a practicing Mormon in Idaho Falls, Id., educated at Brigham Young University, and ordained a bishop in the Church at the age of 31, the quiet senator enjoys hunting and returns home to his wife and five children in Idaho almost every weekend.

But the senator wasn't supposed to be the political success story of his family. Crapo's older brother Terry seemed to be the one headed for Washington D.C., rising as high as leader of Idaho state assembly. Soon after inviting Mike to join his law practice in 1981 in their hometown, Terry succumbed to cancer, which Crapo says prompted him to run for state Senate himself three years later.

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Over nine years as a state senator and then-state Senate leader, Crapo developed a reputation as an "amiable, low-key dealmaker. When he ran for the U.S. House in 1992, he campaigned on a platform of opposing all tax increases, cutting spending, passing a balanced budget amendment and the line-item veto - all of which endeared him to then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) - and after being elected, became president his freshman and then sophomore classes.

U.S. Senate

In 1997, the next opportunity for advancement arose: then-Sen. Dirk Kempthorne (R-Idaho) announced he would forego re-election in order to run for governor instead. Days later, Crapo declared his candidacy, and easily cleared the primary. The Democratic Party ran a former state party chair who only managed 28 percent of the vote in heavily Republican Idaho, and Crapo became the first Mormon senator in a state where one-quarter of residents belong to the church of Latter Day Saints.

In his 2004 reelection race, the Democratic candidate failed to even file on time, granting Crapo re-election in a walk-according to the Washington Times, over his time in Congress, Crapo has never been in a close race.

Crapo's relatively easy reelection races have allowed him to collect funds for his more vulnerable Republican colleagues. In 2003, he launched Freedom Fund, a political action committee that raises hundreds of thousands of dollars from a range of special interest groups to dispense to Republican candidates. Crapo has come under fire for using the PAC to pay his wife $78,514 over seven years for her campaign work - a spokesman for the Crapo campaign said she makes phone calls and handles event logistics - as well as for accepting $39,000 from individuals in the U.S. Virgin Islands, over which he has jurisdiction on the Finance Committee. Crapo has been named a supporter of the U.S. islands' campaign to re-open a tax loophole allowing an individual to establish residency there if they spent an average of 122 days in the islands over three years.

Since 2008, with the resignation of his Republican colleague, scandal-plagued Sen. Larry Craig - whom Crapo defended throughout Craig's ordeal - Crapo has emerged as a more assertive senior senator. Now doing his time as deputy whip, Crapo could be a prime candidate for greater leadership responsibilities down the line.

The Issues

Crapo has a long and reliably conservative record of favoring tax and spending cuts and opposing abortion rights and gun control.Crapo opposed the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1993, but has since voiced support for trade deals that would open markets for Idaho's agricultural products abroad. The Republican supported the war in Iraq and brushed aside allegations of mistreatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay.

He voted with his party 89.8 percent of the time in the 111th Congress.

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The Economy

Crapo is a classic fiscal conservative, favoring the elimination of the estate and capital gains taxes and less federal spending in almost every area of the economy. With Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), he sponsored the Stop Over-Spending bill of 2006, meant to rein in government waste; the bill made it out of committee but never came to a vote in the Senate.

Crapo opposed both the 2009 $787 stimulus and fall 2008 financial bailout proposals. "I really think that this bill shows that big government is back in a huge way, and that's a concern," he told the Idaho Statesman of the stimulus, arguing that the government should be focusing more on reforming tax policy than on spending.

Earlier in the process of drafting a stimulus measure, along with other Western legislators, Crapo proposed $1.52 billion in subsidies for the logging industry, which has a heavy presence in Idaho, as a way to stimulate the economy.

The Environment

Representing a Western agricultural state, Crapo must navigate the politics of land management, seeking to please preservationists, farmers and hunters alike (he is a member of the Potato Caucus, and co-chair of the Sportsmen's Caucus, which is more powerful than one might think).

He is adamant about the protection of individual property rights, skeptical that the science behind climate change merits urgent action, and has received between zero and 18 percent on the League of Conservation Voters' scorecard since he became a senator. But Crapo has also pushed reforms that appeal to both sides in the environmental debate, including a package of tax breaks and other incentives to help protect endangered species; the package became law with the passage of the farm bill in 2008.

And through his seat on the Environment and Public Works Committee, Crapo has pushed doggedly to preserve 517,000 acres of the Owyhee Canyonlands in Idaho as wilderness, requiring arduous negotiations with ranchers and preservationists, and even opposing the wishes of his then-Sen.Craig. The measure finally made it into the omnibus public lands bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama in March 2009.

Health Care

Quality health care is a personal issue for Crapo, who was first diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1999 and fought a relapse in 2005. His legislative attempts to change the U.S. health-care system, however, have not been particularly successful. Crapo proposed a bill in 2005 that would have allowed seniors to put their savings for health-care costs in a tax-exempt "lockbox" that could not be used for other priorities, which didn't make it out of committee;, a 2007 proposal to establish a national office of men's health was unsuccessful.

During the 2009 health care reform debate, McCain said he would oppose the public option.

The Network

Crapo has a close relationship with his now-junior colleague in the Senate, Jim Risch (R-Idaho), who mentored the Idaho delegation's senior member when they were both in the state legislature in the 1980s.

Crapo has also worked across the aisle with Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) on rural health-care issues, and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) on environment and health-care legislation.

Additional Resources

The Washington Post Votes Database
Bolstad, Erika. "Crapo among top 3 senators who pay family for campaigning." Idaho Statesman, March 9, 2008.
Popkey, Dan. "Idaho's delegation will work 'to pull the wagon together'" Idaho Statesman, Nov. 9, 2008.
Kirkpatrick, David. "Senators Laud Treatment Of Detainees In Guantanam" The New York Times, June 28, 2005.
Barker, Rocky. "Senators Support Logging as Stimulus," Idaho Statesman, January 26, 2009.
Bolstad, Erika. "Idaho senators: Stimulus will cost too much, won't deliver on promises." Idaho Statesman, February 7, 2009.
Ron Wyden Senate Web site. "Wyden, Crapo and Walden Introduce Legislation to Improve Patient Access to Hospitals in Rural, Under-Served Areas of Oregon and Nationally," January 22, 2009.
Mike Crapo Senate Website. "Committees and Caucuses."
Winter, Allison. "Long-sought tax incentives find home in farm bill," Greenwire. May 19, 2008.
Bolstad, Erika. "Crapo stepping out of Craig's shadow." Idaho Statesman. March 3, 2008.
Govtrack.us, S.640 (110th).
Blanche Lincoln Senate Web site. "Lincoln, Crapo Introduce Legislation to Allow More Choices for Patients, Respiratory Therapists" January 30, 2009.
"Frist, Reid talk potential court nominees". USA Today, June 28, 2005.
Mike Crapo Senate Website. "Climate Change."
THOMAS, Bill Status, S. 1302.
McMahon, Patrick. "The New Senators." USA Today, November 5, 1998.
"Freedom Fund," OpenSecrets.org, Accessed April 27, 2009
Clyne, Meghan, "The New York Sun, Virgin Island Donors Invest in Key Senators," March 8, 2006
Mike Crapo Senate Web site. "Caucuses and Committees."
Mike Crapo Senate Web site. "Prostate Cancer."
Almanac of American Politics, 2008 Edition
Project VoteSmart
Stand With Doctor Dean web site
League of Conservation Voters, National Environmental Scorecard
"Crapo got campaign funds from island firms," Idaho Statesman, March 19, 2006.
"The Nation's New Senators," Washington Times, November 8, 1998.
"The New Senate," Washington Post, November 5, 1998.
"Crapo Wants to Lock Up Social Security Surplus," Press release, June 22, 2005.
"Crapo pays homage to Craig in Senate speech," Idaho Statesman, October 3, 2008.
McMahon, Patrick. "The New Senators," USA Today, November 5, 1998.
"Stop Over-Spending Bill," Govtrack.org
Edsall, Thomas. "Sen. Kempthorne Eyes Boise," The Washington Post. October 18, 1997.
Barker, Rocky. "Unlikely partners savor victory, but the work's not done," Idaho Statesman. March 26, 2009.
Popkey, Dan. "It's time for Sen. Mike Crapo to spread his wings." Idaho Statesman, November 3, 2003.

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