Bill Posey (R-Fla.)

U.S. Representative

(Congressional Bio Directory)

Why He Matters

William "Bill" Posey made the leap to national politics in 2008 after a 16-year stint in the Florida legislature. A successful realtor whose political career has been defined by a take-charge attitude, Posey made national headlines in early 2009 when he introduced a controversial bill that would require all presidential candidates to file their birth certificates.

Posey's congressional district, Florida's 15th, is home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which makes the space program one of his central legislative concerns. Posey opposes NASA's plan to retire the shuttle fleet in late 2010 and has introduced legislation to keep the program running for at least five more years. The end of the shuttle program will likely cost Posey's district thousands of jobs.

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Background

At a Glance

Career History: Chairman, Rockledge, Fla., City Council (1976 to 1986); Florida House of Representatives (1992 to 2000); Florida Senate (2001 to 2008)
Birthday: December 18, 1947
Hometown: Rockledge, Fla.
Alma Mater: Brevard Community College, A.A., 1969
Spouse: Katie Posey
Religion: Methodist
Committees: Financial Services
DC Office: 132 Cannon HOB, 202-225-3671

State/District Office: Melbourne, 321-632-1776; Indian River County, 772-778-3534
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Path to Power

Posey is a Washingtonian by birth, though his first stay in the capital was brief. His father, Walt, worked in the aircraft industry, and the family moved often during Posey's early childhood. The family settled permanently in Brevard County, Fla., in 1956, when Bill was 9- years-old.

After high school Posey earned an associate of arts degree from Brevard County Community College. He worked his way through school with a day shift at NASA, where he labored on the Saturn 5 rockets used in the Apollo 11 program. His employment there ended shortly after the mission was completed. "As soon as we got a man on the moon, we got our pink slips," Posey recalled.

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Posey worked as an insurance adjuster for a few years before founding a real-estate company, Posey and Co. Realtors, in 1974. The business thrived and is still in operation today in Rockledge, Fla.

Posey has made his name in politics, but his true passion in life is stock-car racing, a hobby he's pursued since he was a teenager. The speedway vet sees many parallels between the worlds of racing and policymaking. "They are an awful lot alike. Some guys will always run you clean. Some guys will always run you dirty. Sometimes you crash and burn. You have to fear no man," he said.

The Florida lawmaker dialed back his racing activities after a serious accident at Orlando Speedway in 2004. The crash left him with painful spinal fractures that took months to heal.

Early Political Career

Posey got his start in politics on the Rockledge City Council, where he served from 1976 to 1986. In 1992 he decided to run for a newly-created seat in the Florida House. Posey won the House seat and would be re-elected three times before being forced out of the chamber by term-limits. Undeterred, Posey shifted gears and ran for the Florida Senate in 2000, winning a seat he would hold until 2008.

Election Reform

Florida's lawmakers launched a comprehensive effort to modernize the state's election systems after the national embarrassment of the 2000 presidential recount. Posey was tasked with leading the committee that would craft the statewide overhaul.

The resulting legislation outlawed the infamous punch-card and butterfly ballots that caused so much confusion and strife in 2000. The bill also simplified the rules for absentee voting, provided $24 million to replace outdated voting equipment and required the use of provisional ballots for voters whose eligibility is questioned at the polls

Autopsy Records Law

Posey attracted national attention in 2001 when he stepped into the fray over the autopsy photos of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt. After officials concluded an investigation of the racer's fatal crash, the Orlando Sentinel sought access to the autopsy records in hopes of conducting a separate, independent review of the accident.

At the behest of Earnhardt's widow, Teresa, Posey co-sponsored a bill in the legislature to exempt autopsy photographs and videos from the public domain without a judge's order or the consent of family members. Posey said the legislation was "a matter of decency and protecting family members."

The restriction on autopsy records was signed by then-Gov. Jeb Bush (R) and remains the law in Florida to this day, though it is regularly challenged in court. The autopsy photos of Earnhardt have never been released.

2008 House Campaign

Posey decided to run for Congress in 2008 after Rep. Dave Weldon, a seven-term Florida Republican, announced his retirement. Armed with Weldon's endorsement and a substantial war chest, Posey beat Democrat Stephen Blythe in the general election by some 40,000 votes.

The Issues

Posey traces his identity as a Republican back to his college days, when he says he heard a lecture on the virtues of deficit spending that he found preposterous. A committed fiscal conservative, Posey has made government accountability and transparency the primary themes of his political career.

Birth Certificate Legislation

Posey went from semi-anonymous freshman lawmaker to virtual enemy of the left when he introduced a House bill that would require all presidential candidates to file their birth certificates with the House Administration Committee. Posey said the bill was a common-sense measure simply intended to prevent future controversies, but he was immediately lumped in with the so-called "birther" movement after he told the Orlando Sentinel he couldn't "swear on a stack of Bibles" that President Obama is an American citizen.

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The Network

Current members of Posey's staff include legislative aide Nicole Ruth, legislative correspondent Nathanael Ferguson, press assistant Jennifer Stauffer and office manager Erin Houg.

Additional Resources