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John Kline
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 7, 2003
Preceded by	Mark Kennedy
Succeeded by	Incumbent
Born	September 06, 1947 (1947-09-06) (age 60) Allentown, Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Vicky Kline
Religion	Methodist

John Paul Kline (born September 6, 1947 in Allentown, Pennsylvania) is an American politician. He has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota.

Contents 1 Background and education 2 Political career 3 110th congress 4 Personal life 5 Electoral History 6 References 7 External links

Kline is a graduate of W. B. Ray High School in Corpus Christi, Texas (1965) and was educated at Rice University (1969) and Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (1988).

Prior to his election to Congress, Kline was a 25-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, where he was a senior military aide to Presidents Carter and Reagan and was responsible for carrying the President's package containing launch codes for a nuclear attack, known as the "Football".^{[citation needed]} During his military career, retiring as Colonel, Kline served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, commanded all Marine aviation forces in Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, flew "Marine One," the Presidential helicopter, and served as Program Development Officer at Headquarters Marine Corps. During his military career, Kline received numerous medals and commendations including Four Legions of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal (awarded 3 times), the Vietnam Campaign Medal, a Presidential Service Badge, and the Navy Commendation Medal.^[1]

In 2002, Kline defeated the Democratic incumbent, Bill Luther, in a rematch of their 2000 and 1998 races. In 2004, he defeated Democratic Burnsville City Councilwoman Teresa Daly to win a second term and in 2006, he defeated former FBI Special agent and whistleblower Coleen Rowley, one of Time magazine's "Persons of the Year".

In 2005, Kline introduced legislation to place Ronald Reagan on the $50 bill. While the bill has a dozen Congressional cosponsors, it has not made any legislative progress.

In his campaigns, Kline received $30,000 in contributions from former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's political action committee ARMPAC. Following DeLay's indictment on charges of money laundering, Democrats have criticized Kline for failing to return DeLay's contributions or to donate them to charity.^[2] On Sept. 27, Texas Highest Court upheld the dismissal of the conspiracy charges against Tom Delay, no trial date has been set on any other charges. ^[3]

He has also taken $11,000 in political contributions from the PAC of former congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham. After Cunningham’s indictment on fraud charges, Kline donated the $11,000 to charity “to remove questions of any impropriety" according to his chief of staff, Steve Sutton.^[4]

Kline is considered to be the most conservative member of the Minnesota delegation in the 109^th Congress, scoring 2.8% progressive on a range of issues^[5] and 88% conservative based on 2006 House votes.^[6] Minnesota Congressional Districts shows the scores for the entire delegation.

Along with fellow Minnesota Republican, Michele Bachmann, Kline supported President Bush's plan to increase troop levels in Iraq in January, 2007,^[7] and against most of the Democrat’s “100-Hour Plan” legislative agenda.^[8]

Kline and his wife, Vicky, live in Lakeville, Minnesota. They have one daughter and one son, Kathy and Dan, and four grandchildren.

• 1998 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — 6th District
  • Bill Luther (DFL) (inc.), 50%
  • John Kline (R), 46%

• 2000 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — 6th District
  • Bill Luther (DFL) (inc.), 50%
  • John Kline (R), 48%

• 2002 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — 2nd District
  • John Kline (R), 53%
  • Bill Luther (DFL) (inc.), 42%

• 2004 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — 2nd District
  • John Kline (R) (inc.), 56%
  • Teresa Daly (DFL), 40%

• 2006 Race for U.S. House of Representatives — 2nd District
  • John Kline (R) (inc.), 56%
  • Coleen Rowley (DFL), 40%

• U.S. Congressman John Kline, U.S. House site

• John Kline's biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• John Kline's voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• John Kline's campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• John Kline's campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• John Kline's biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• John Kline's issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• MPR — Campaign 2006: John Kline profile from Minnesota Public Radio
• NNDB — John Kline profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — John Kline profile

Preceded by Mark Kennedy

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 2nd congressional district 2003 – present

Incumbent

v • d • e Minnesota's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators	Norm Coleman (R), Amy Klobuchar (DFL)
Representative(s)	Tim Walz (DFL), John Kline (R), Jim Ramstad (R), Betty McCollum (DFL), Keith Ellison (DFL), Michele Bachmann (R), Collin Peterson (DFL), Jim Oberstar (DFL)
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