Kit Bond speaks in opposition to amendments regulating nuclear medicine Recorded June 23, 2005
Christopher Samuel Bond (born March 6, 1939) is an American attorney, politician and former United States Senator from Missouri and a member of the Republican Party. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986, he defeated DemocratHarriett Woods by a margin of 53–47%. He was re-elected in 1992, 1998, and 2004. On January 8, 2009, he announced that he would not seek re-election to a fifth term in 2010, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Roy Blunt on January 3, 2011.[1] Following his retirement from the Senate, Bond became a partner at Thompson Coburn.[2]
Before beginning his 24-year-long career in the U.S. Senate, Bond served two non-consecutive terms as Governor of Missouri, from 1973 to 1977 and from 1981 to 1985. He was previously State Auditor of Missouri from 1971 to 1973.
Bond moved back to his hometown of Mexico, Missouri in the fall of 1967, and ran for Congress in 1968 in Missouri's 9th congressional district, the rural northeastern part of the state. He defeated Anthony Schroeder in the August Republican primary, 56% to 44%, winning 19 of the district's 23 counties.[9]
In the November general election, Bond came close to defeating incumbent DemocraticU.S. CongressmanBill Hungate, 48% to 52%. Bond won eight of the district's 23 counties.[10] Out of Hungate's five re-election campaigns, that 1968 election against Bond was his worst performance.[11]
State Attorney GeneralJohn Danforth hired Bond as an Assistant Attorney General in 1969, where Bond led the office's Consumer Protection Division. In 1970, at the age of 31, Bond was elected Missouri State Auditor, defeating seventeen-year incumbent Haskell Holman. As auditor, Bond hired seven certified public accountants to the office, which increased the total from one.[12]
Governor of Missouri
Bond's official photo during his first term as Governor
In 1972, Bond was elected governor of Missouri by a margin of 55% to 45%, making him, at 33 years of age, the youngest governor in the history of Missouri. Bond was the first Republican in 28 years to serve as governor of Missouri.[13]
Bond's residency qualifications to be governor were challenged but were upheld by the Missouri Supreme Court in 1972. Missouri law said the governor had to be a resident for 10 years. In the 10 years before his run, he had attended law school in Virginia, clerked for a federal appeals court judge in Atlanta, worked for a firm in Washington, D.C., applied to take the bar in Virginia and Georgia, registered a car in Washington, D.C., and applied for a marriage license in Kentucky. The Court sided with him, commenting that residence "is largely a matter of intention" and did not require "actual, physical presence". The court ruled a residence was "that place where a man has his true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning."[14]
In 1976, Bond faced Jackson County Prosecutor Joseph P. Teasdale. Bond appeared the heavy favorite, and at least one poll showed Bond ahead of Teasdale 51 percent to 36 percent.[18] However, Teasdale attacked Bond over utility rates and launched an ad blitz attacking Bond, vastly outspending him in the last few weeks.[19] Teasdale would defeat Bond by a little over 13,000 votes. Bond would later say of his loss: "I didn't answer his negative attacks and instead I tried to talk about the 50 good things we had accomplished. And the voters ... gave me four years to think about it."[20] Afterwards, Bond returned to practicing law, setting up the Great Plains Legal Foundation, a group which fought agriculture regulations.[20]
In 1980, Bond made a successful comeback, defeating fellow Republican and incumbent Lieutenant Governor Bill Phelps in the primary, and Teasdale in November. His second term had been plagued by budget issues, with the Missouri commissioner of administration Stephen Bradford telling Bond during the transition period: "Governor, I'm sorry to tell you this, but there's no money."[21] Among Bond's most noted accomplishments was helping take the Parents As Teachers program statewide.[22][23] Bond served as the Chairman of the Midwestern Governors Association in 1983.[24] Bond was succeeded as governor in 1985 by John Ashcroft, a Republican who Bond had appointed to complete his unexpired term as State Auditor after he was elected governor. Ashcroft later served alongside Bond in the Senate.[25]
Bond in 1981
U.S. Senate
Elections
After Senator Thomas Eagleton decided not to run for re-election, Bond was elected senator in 1986, defeating Lieutenant Governor Harriett Woods by 53% to 47% . Bond was re-elected in 1992 by less than expected over St. Louis County Councilwoman Geri Rothman-Serot, ex-wife of former Lieutenant Governor Ken Rothman. In 1998 Bond decisively defeated Attorney General (and future Governor) Jay Nixon and LibertarianTamara Millay after a hard-fought campaign, and in 2004 he won re-election over Democratic challenger State TreasurerNancy Farmer with 56 percent of the vote.
Facing the expiration of his fourth full term in January 2011, Bond announced on January 8, 2009, that he did not plan to seek a fifth term and would not run for re-election in November 2010.[1] Representative Roy Blunt held the seat for the Republicans, defeating Democratic Secretary of State Robin Carnahan.[26]
Tenure
Environmental record
The environmental watchdog group Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP) has given Bond an exceptionally low rating of −2 for the 109th United States Congress, citing anti-environment votes on seven out of seven issues deemed critical by the organization. According to the 2006 REP scorecard, Bond supported oil drilling both offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, while opposing a bill for "efficiency and renewable-resource programs to improve energy security, lower costs, and reduce energy-related environmental impacts".[27] He indicated support for zero-carbon energy from nuclear power in a 2008 Senate floor speech.[28]
Taxes
Commenting on an IRS spokesman's claim that a person catching a record-breaking home run ball from Mark McGwire could be "responsible for paying any applicable tax on any large gift", which was thought to be close to $140,000 in this circumstance, Bond said: "If the IRS wants to know why they are the most hated federal agency in America, they need look no further than this."[29]
Torture
Bond has opposed setting forth interrogation methods used by the Central Intelligence Agency to conform to the U.S. Army Field Manual.[30] While drawing criticism for being one of only nine senators to oppose such a bill, Bond said on the floor that he does not favor or approve of torture.[citation needed]
In a memo to CIA director John Brennan and others, he suggested banning specific techniques that could be considered torture in order to encourage servicemen to invent others on their own. He does not approve of making interrogation techniques public information on the basis that it would allow enemy combatants to train and prepare themselves for what they might go through if captured. He drew criticism when, during a debate he made a comment comparing waterboarding to swimming, stating "There are different ways of doing it. It's like swimming, freestyle, backstroke", in response to the question "do you think that waterboarding... constitutes torture?"[31]
While Bond voted in favor in banning members of Congress from receiving gifts from lobbyists[citation needed], he has generally opposed campaign reform. He voted against the McCain Feingold Act for bipartisan campaign finance solutions. Bond also voted against limiting contributions from corporations or labor.[citation needed]
Social issues
Bond received an 11% rating from the NAACP.[32] He has voted consistently against same-sex marriage, supporting the proposed constitutional ban of it.[33]
On June 25, 1976, Bond officially ordered the recension of Executive Order Number 44 issued by Lilburn W. Boggs in 1838 that ordered the expulsion or extermination of all Mormons from the State of Missouri and issued an apology to Mormons on behalf of all Missourians.[34][35]
As governor of the state of Missouri in 1983, Bond signed a declaration of recognition in support of the group known as the Northern Cherokee, now called the Northern Cherokee Nation of the Old Louisiana Territory attempting to grant a form of State recognition by way of executive order. This act was part of the group's attempt to gain Federal Recognition and to receive the related benefits for the group.[36][37][38]
In October 2008, Bond apologized to former U.S. Attorney Todd Graves, after a U.S. Justice Department report cited Bond for forcing Graves out over a disagreement with Representative Sam Graves. Following the report, Attorney General Michael Mukasey appointed a special prosecutor to investigate whether former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and other officials involved in the firings of nine U.S. attorneys broke the law. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a progressive activist group, filed an Ethics Committee complaint against Bond over his role in the ouster of Graves.[39]
In 2009, it was revealed according to White House documents that Graves was put on a dismissal list a month after White House e-mail indicated that his replacement was part of a deal between Bond and the Bush administration.[40] The e-mail suggested that Graves was replaced with a candidate favored by Bond for clearing the way for an appointment of a federal judge from Arkansas on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.[40]
In August 2011, Bond announced that he would join alliantgroup's strategic advisory board and serve as a senior adviser for the firm.[43]
Bond formally launched his own firm, Kit Bond Strategies, in November 2011.[44]
Missouri Apollo 17 goodwill Moon rock
In the last few days of his long political career, Kit Bond and his staff solved a mystery that had intrigued the press, Missouri politicians, and members of academia for much of 2010. Missouri state officials had wrongly believed that the state museum held a rare and valuable Apollo 17 lunar sample display containing a "goodwill Moon rock". On June 8, 2010, the state realized that what they actually had was only the Missouri Apollo 11 lunar sample display containing small samples of Moon dust rather than the $5-million piece of Apollo 17 history.[45][46]
In cleaning out his senatorial office in December 2010, it was discovered that Bond had inadvertently taken the Apollo 17 display when he had left the governor's office. He subsequently returned the display to the governor of Missouri at the time, Jay Nixon, who passed it on to the Missouri State Museum. Bond was one of four former governors who had taken their states' lunar sample displays upon leaving office; the other three were the former governors of Colorado, West Virginia, and Arkansas.[47][48]
Personal life
Bond's son Sam graduated in 2003 from Princeton University, after which he became an officer in the United States Marine Corps and served multiple tours of duty in Iraq.[49][50] Sam later entered a career in business.[49]
In 1994, Bond's wife, Carolyn, filed for a divorce, which was finalized the following year.[citation needed] Bond married Linda Pell, now Linda Bond, in 2002. She grew up in the Kansas City suburb of Gladstone and is a partner of a fundraising firm that supports Republican organizations. She and Bond had dated in the late 1990s then again a few years later before they were engaged. It is her second marriage as well.[51]
After winning his second term as governor, Bond sued his investment manager and Paine Webber, alleging his $1.3 million trust fund had been drained. He was one of several clients who sued, and he settled in 1996 for $900,000.[52][53]
In 2009, Bond co-authored a book with Lewis Simons entitled The Next Front: Southeast Asia and the Road to Global Peace with Islam.[54]
Bond has permanent vision loss in one eye, which he attributes to undiagnosed amblyopia during childhood.[55][56]
After over 40 years in politics, Senator Bond announced on January 8, 2009, that he would not seek re-election in 2010.[58] Results of elections in which he was a candidate are summarized as follows:
^Carnahan, Jean (1998). If walls could talk: the story of Missouri's first families. Jefferson City, Mo: MMPI. p. 321. ISBN978-0-9668992-0-7. Once on the job. Bond assembled a professional staff, adding seven certified public accountants to the auditor's office where there was previously only one.
^Carnahan, Jean (1998). If walls could talk: the story of Missouri's first families. Jefferson City, Mo: MMPI. p. 331. ISBN978-0-9668992-0-7. To begin with, he antagonized Missouri's Republican leaders by endorsing Vice President Gerald Ford for the presidency against Ronald Reagan.
^A history of Missouri. 6: 1953 to 2003 / Lawrence H. Larsen. Columbia, Miss: Univ. of Miss. Pr. 2004. p. 136. ISBN978-0-8262-1546-8. On his second try Teasdale easily won the Democratic nomination, which at the time appeared an empty honor. In September a poll of registered voters had Bond holding a 51 to 36 percent lead, with only 13 percent undecided.
^"Yucca Mountain Bill Introduced". U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Archived from the original on October 2, 2022. Retrieved November 18, 2023.
^Bond, Kit (January 15, 2009). "Let Congress Limit Permissible Interrogation Techniques". The Hill. Retrieved March 3, 2019. unworkable is the right way to describe proposals limiting interrogation techniques to those listed in the publicly available U.S. Army's Field Manual
^Federalism and the State Recognition of Native American Tribes: A Survey of State-Recognized Tribes and State Recognition Processes Across the United States By Alexa Koenig and Jonathan Stein, pp. 60–64
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