James Bilbray

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

James Hubert Bilbray (born May 19, 1938) is a U.S. Democratic politician, who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1995.

Bilbray was born 1938 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He graduated from Las Vegas High School and University of Nevada, Las Vegas during 1959-1960. He earned a BA and law degree from American University, Washington, D.C. in 1962 and 1965, respectively.

Bilbrary was in the Nevada Army National Guard during 1955-1956 and the Reserve after that. He practiced law and was deputy district attorney of Clark County, Nevada, during 1965-1967. He was chief legal counsel juvenile court, Clark County, 1967-1968, alternate judge, city of Las Vegas, 1978-1980, and was elected to the Nevada Senate and served during 1981-1987. As a State Senator, he was chairman of the Taxation Committee and was a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Bilbray was elected to the House in 1986 from Nevada's 1st District after two-term incumbet Harry Reid made a successful run for the United States Senate. He was reelected three more times from the Las Vegas-based district with little difficulty. While in Congress he was Chairman of the Small Business Sub-Committee on Taxation, Tourism and Procurement, and was a member of the Foreign Affairs, Armed Services, and Intelligence Committees.

He appeared to be well on his way to a fifth term in 1994. However, just days before the election, reports surfaced that one of his aides stood to make a huge profit from lands legislation he had sponsored in Congress. [1] Bilbray lost to his Republican challenger, future Senator John Ensign, by 1,400 votes.

After losing his bid for reelection in 1994, Bilbray began practicing law again. He specializes in government issues. Bilbray resides in Las Vegas and is a cousin of Republican Brian Bilbray, a current member of Congress.