Robert Randolph "Randy" Neugebauer is an American politician who was the U.S. Representative for, having served from a special election in 2003 to 2017. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district includes a large swath of West Texas, including Lubbock and Abilene. According to a 2011 survey by the National Journal, Neugebauer was "the most conservative" member of the House. On September 17, 2015, Neugebauer announced he would not seek reelection to an eighth term in 2016.
Early life, education and career
Neugebauer was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and reared in Lubbock. His father was an insurance salesman and his mother a real estate agent and interior designer. He has two brothers, Jon and Bradley, and a sister, Virginia Volpe. When Randy was nine years old, his parents divorced, and his father died in 1985 after remarrying. In 1963, his mother married Joe W. Smith, a bank manager. Neugebauer graduated from Coronado High School and later from Texas Tech University in 1972 with a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting from the College of Business Administration. Like his mother, Neugebauer has long been involved in the real estate business, having served as president of the development company Lubbock Land before his election to Congress. He is a former president of the Texas Association of Builders from 1996 to 1997.
Early political career
From 1992 to 1998, Neugebauer was a Lubbock city councilman. He was mayor pro tempore from 1994 to 1996. While involved in Lubbock government, Neugebauer worked to reduce taxes and to privatize municipal services.
On March 21, 2010, during the debate in the House of Representatives of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Neugebauer yelled out "Baby killer!" The remark was believed to have been directed at Representative Bart Stupak of Michigan, a leader of the anti-abortion Democrats in the House, who was discussing a motion filed by the Republicans. While immediate inquiries began to determine who shouted the words, more than 12 hours later, on March 22, 2010, Neugebauer publicly identified himself as the person, apologized for the incident and argued that his words were "It's a baby killer", referring to the bill, not Stupak himself. However, reporters and others in the room insisted Neugebauer precisely shouted "Baby killer!", referring to Stupak. Stupak said that he does not "buy" Neugebauer's description of the outburst, said his words were "very clear", and believes Neugebauer should apologize for his remark on the floor of the US House. In contrast to Neugebauer's "baby killer" comment, Stupak and the Politifact watchdog group agree, "there will be no public funding of abortion in this legislation" that Neugebauer detests. The New York Times and Colorado Springs Gazette have compared Neugebauer's comment to Joe Wilson shouting "You lie!" during President Barack Obama's September 2009 address to Congress, and to racial and sexual slurs said to have been shouted at Democratic legislators outside the Capitol building by members of the public who opposed the bill during the 48 hours preceding Neugebauer's March 21, 2010, outburst. Neugebauer's comment was covered by media worldwide, including Canada's Macleans magazine, the United Kingdom's The Times, and Australia's Sydney Morning Herald.
Legislation sponsored
Neugebauer has sponsored the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers Reform Act of 2013 , a bill meant to reduce the regulatory costs of complying with multiple states' requirements for insurance companies, making it easier for the same corporation to operate in multiple states. The bill would transform the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers into a clearing house that set up its own standards that insurance companies would be required to meet in order to do business in other states. In this new system, however, the insurance company would only have to meet the requirements of their home state and the NARAB, not their home state and every other state they wished to operate in. Proponents of the bill argued that it would help lower costs for insurance companies and make insurance cheaper for people to buy. It passed the House on September 10, 2013. On April 26, 2013, Neugebauer introduced the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2014, a bill that would reauthorize the National Windstorm Impact Reduction Program, which was created to improve the understanding of windstorms and their impacts and to develop measures to reduce the damage they cause.
Neugebauer was elected to Congress after a hotly contested special election runoff in the spring of 2003. The seat came open after 18-year Republican incumbent Larry Combest announced his retirement not long after having been reelected to a 10th term in 2002. Although Combest had been the only Republican ever to represent this district, the 19th has long been one of the most conservative areas of Texas, and it was virtually taken for granted that Combest would be succeeded by another Republican. The 19th has not supported a Democrat for president since 1964, and Combest's first bid for the seat was the only time in the previous two decades that a Democrat won more than 40 percent of the vote. Neugebauer was one of seven candidates to run in the primary, all Republicans, though the district was so heavily Republican that any Democratic candidate would have faced nearly impossible odds in any event. Neugebauer stressed his conservative credentials; he described himself as a "pro-family, pro-life Christian who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ" and believed that "our region's most precious resources are our values." Neugebauer led the primary field, but finished well short of a majority. He was forced into a runoff with Mike Conaway of Midland, the chairman of the Texas Board of Public Accountancy and a friend of President George W. Bush. In a close third-place finish in the first round of balloting was then-State Representative Carl Isett of Lubbock. In the runoff election, Neugebauer defeated Conaway by only 587 votes, becoming only the fourth person to represent the 19th since its creation in 1935. Soon afterward in 2004, Conaway won election to Congress in the newly reconfigured 11th District. Neugebauer ran for a full term in 2004, facing 26-year incumbent Democrat Charles Stenholm of Abilene. Stenholm had previously represented the Abilene-based 17th District, but that district had been dismantled in the 2003 Texas redistricting. The largest chunk of Stenholm's former territory, including most of Abilene, was thrown into Neugebauer's district. Although Stenholm had more seniority, the new district retained about 60 percent of Neugebauer's former territory, a disadvantage Stenholm was unable to overcome despite his seniority. Neugebauer won by 18 points, and was reelected four more times with little substantive opposition, each time taking well over 60 percent of the vote.
2010
In the 2010 Texas House of Representatives election, Neugebauer supported the election of the conservative Jim Landtroop to the District 85 seat. Landtroop had worked in past Neugebauer campaigns and is a member of the congressman's campaign finance committee. Landtroop upset the Democratic incumbent Joseph P. Heflin of Crosbyton but was himself unseated after one term in a revised district by Republican Ken King of Canadian in Hemphill County.
2012
Neugebauer faced opposition in the May 29 Republican primary from Chris Winn, who resigned as the Lubbock County Republican chairman to enter the race. Neugebauer defeated Winn, 45,372 to 15,675.
2014
In December 2013, Chris Winn announced that he would again challenge Neugebauer in the Republican primary scheduled for March 4, 2014. A third Lubbock Republican also filed for the seat, Donald R. May, a retired retinal surgeon. Neugebauer easily won re-nomination to a seventh term in the House. He polled 39,584 votes ; May and Winn trailed with 14,486 votes and 7,422, respectively.
In October 2015, the Campaign for Accountability asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Neugebauer for allegations of bribery and illegal gratuity related to $8,000 given to Neugebauer by Pay Day Loan financers for his co-sponsorship of H.R.1121 - Responsible Consumer Financial Protection Regulations Act of 2011 which provided additional protection and lack of regulation to Pay Day Loan lenders.
Personal life
Neugebauer married his high school sweetheart, the former Dana Collins, and they have two sons, Todd Neugebauer, President of Aspect Holdings, LLC, and Toby Neugebauer, the co-CEO of Quantum Energy Partners. They also have four grandchildren. As of 2010, Neugebauer served as a deacon at a Southern Baptist church.
