QUESTIONS:
1. Rep. Christopher Cox (R.-Calif.) has just been nominated chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, making him the fifth sitting House member to be appointed to another office by President Bush. Can you name the other four?
2. Cox’s resignation from Congress will result in a special election to choose his replacement. When was the last special election for an open House seat?
3. Who was the first chairman of the SEC?
4. What SEC chairman went on to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court?
5. Cox is a former White House staffer under Ronald Reagan. What other former Reagan staffer serves in the House today?
ANSWERS:
1. Republican Representatives Asa Hutchinson (Ark.), named deputy undersecretary of Homeland Security in ’01, Porter Goss (Fla.), appointed CIA director in ’04, and Rob Portman (Ohio), made U.S. trade representative this year, and Democratic Rep. Tony Hall (Ohio), named ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization in ’02.
2. In March of this year, when Democrat Doris Matsui won in California to succeed her late husband, Rep. Robert Matsui, who had died on January 1.
3. Joseph P. Kennedy, chairman from 1934-35.
4. William O. Douglas, chairman from 1937-39.
5. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R.-Calif.), who was a speechwriter for Reagan.
