Political Start

In the early 1960s, he ran for a local school board in San Bernardino.

"As a young parent, I became concerned about the problems facing the San Bernardino School district, and so I ran for the board of education and won. These experiences left me with a lifelong dedication to service," he said.

In 1968, he was elected to represent his home district in the California Assembly. His key accomplishments in the state legislature were writing the legislation that created the Southern California South Coast Air Quality Management District, one of the leading regional air quality boards in the country, and the 1972 "Child Development Act," which created early child care programs.

Ten years later, in 1978, he ran successfully to fill a U.S. House seat vacated by Rep. Shirley Neil Pettis (R), who retired.

House Appropriations Committee

Lewis was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee in 1980. He rose steadily as a leader in his party, winning chairmanships of the House Republican Research Committee, the House Republican Policy Committee and the House Republican Conference between 1984 and 1988.

By the late 1980s, he was considered well on his way to becoming House minority leader. But Lewis faced opposition from a group of young conservatives led by future House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), who criticized the California Republican's cooperation with Democrats on the Appropriations panel. When the House minority whip position opened in 1989, Lewis decided not to run, paving the way for Gingrich. Lewis ran for re-election as House GOP Conference chair again in 1992, but lost to then-Rep. Dick Armey (R-Texas), who was backed by Gingrich.

Despite his leadership challenges, Lewis became chairman of the VA-HUD Appropriations subcommittee when the Republicans won the majority in 1994.

Defense Subcommittee

In 1999, he became chairman of the important Appropriations Defense subcommittee. Early on, Lewis faced what he describes as his most challenging legislative battle. Lewis led an effort to eliminate funding for the F-22 fighter jet because he felt the aircraft was not being sufficiently tested. Despite a barrage of resistance from lobbyists and contractors, Lewis was able to delay production to allow for more tests.

"Even the Air Force agrees that the result has been a much better product and expenditure of taxpayer dollars," he said.

As chairman of the subcommittee, Lewis successfully shepherded defense spending bills through the House, achieving smooth passage of defense appropriations in the years following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Lewis became chairman of the Appropriations Committee in 2004, when then-Chairman C.W. "Bill" Young (R-Fla.) stepped down due to term-limits. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) and then-Rep. Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) also sought the post, and the House Republican leadership encouraged the contenders to raise money for fellow Republicans. Lewis, who was third in seniority among Republican committee members, delivered $1.35 million to Republican candidates in the 2004 cycle and won the important chairmanship.

As chairman, Lewis reduced the number of subcommittees from 13 to 10 and aimed to reduce spending and avoid omnibus spending bills. But he failed in slashing the federal budget, partially because responses to Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq reconstruction effort added an additional $200 billion to the budget in 2005.

Lewis, who won re-election with 84 percent of the vote in 2004, held onto his seat in 2008, defeating Democrat Tim Prince with 63 percent of the vote.

Controversies

Rolling Stone magazine named Lewis one of its "10 Worst Congressman" and the "King of Payoffs" in its 2006 ranking. But Lewis maintains that he channels funding to local projects that will benefit the greater public, such as defense spending and cancer research. He has also championed many improvements in his home district, such as recreational facilities and natural disaster preparedness projects.

Copeland Lowery

Lewis is part of an ongoing criminal investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles into his ties to lobbyist and former Rep. Bill Lowery (R-Calif.). At issue in the investigation is whether Lewis, in his position as former Appropriations Committee chair and ex-Defense subcommittee head, steered millions of dollars in earmarks to clients of Lowery's former firm, Copeland Lowery Jaqcuez Denton & White, in exchange for donations to Lewis'campaign and political action committee.

Lowery and Lewis are longtime friends, and several of Lewis' former aides were employed by the firm.Simon, Richard and Additionally, the firm has been a substantial contributor to Lewis' campaign coffers; from 1998 to 2006, contributions from people associated with the firm accounted for one third of Lewis' total fundraising.The head of another one of the firm's clients, defense contractor Brent R. Wilkes, was identified as a "co-conspirator" in the bribery and corruption case against former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Calif.).

Lowery and Letitia White, who worked for Lewis for more than 20 years, now work together at Innovative Federal Strategies. Many former Copeland Lowery clients were retained by that firm and are expected to receive millions of dollars in earmarks requested by Lewis in the 2010 fiscal year.

The investigation does not appear to have progressed progress since 2008. Lewis has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the case and charges have not been filed against him. He has spent more than $1 million in campaign money on criminal defense attorneys.

Barracks Row

Controversies involving Lewis and earmarks are not limited to California. Lewis earmarked $2.75 million for improvements to the Barracks Row neighborhood on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., between 2004 and 2007. The earmarks came under fire from some good-government groups after it was reported that Lewis' wife, who is also his chief of staff, owns a property in the area that is valued at just under $1 million. Critics argued that the requested improvements would benefit Lewis financially by increasing the value of his property. Lewis maintained that he had no financial interest in the project.

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