Chip Pickering

Chip Pickering was born in Laurel, Mississippi, to attorney Charles W. Pickering.{{cite web |title=AllPolitics/CQ - Freshmen of the 105th Congress |url=https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/frosh/9612/25/ |website=CNN |access-date=June 24, 2021}} He is a cousin of Stacey Pickering, former State Auditor of Mississippi, Mississippi State Senator, and executive director of the Mississippi Veterans Affairs Board.{{Cite news |first=Ashton |last=Pittman |url=https://www.mississippifreepress.org/veterans-agency-director-stacey-pickering-resigns-but-reasons-unclear/ |title=Veterans Agency Director Stacey Pickering Resigns, But Reasons Unclear |work=Mississippi Free Press |date=May 17, 2022}}

Pickering graduated with a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Mississippi where he was a legacy member of the Eta chapter of Sigma Chi. He went on to receive a Master of Business Administration from Baylor University in 1989.{{Cite web |url=http://finance.townhall.com/columnists/chippickering/page/1989 |title=Chip Pickering Articles – Political Columnist & Commentator |website=finance.townhall.com |access-date=February 26, 2016}}{{cite book |title=Congressional Directory for the 110th Congress (2007-2008) |date=August 2008 |publisher=United States Government Publishing Office |page=147 |url=https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/CDIR-2008-08-01 |access-date=March 19, 2024 |chapter=Charles W. Chip Pickering, Jr. |chapter-url=https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CDIR-2008-08-01/pdf/CDIR-2008-08-01-MS-H-3.pdf}}

Pickering served as a Southern Baptist missionary in Hungary, after the Hungarian government ceased its persecution of religious believers.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

In 1989, President George H. W. Bush appointed Pickering as a Department of Agriculture liaison to the former European Communist countries.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

Pickering served as a staff member of Senator Trent Lott between 1992 and 1996. He helped shape the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the first major overhaul of US telecoms law since 1934.{{cite web |title=Profile in Public Service - Chip Pickering |url=http://www.stennis.gov/spotlights/spotlights_show.htm?doc_id=839904 |website=stennis.gov |access-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090806214601/http://www.stennis.gov/spotlights/spotlights_show.htm?doc_id=839904 |archive-date=August 6, 2009 |url-status=dead}} After a year at the Senate Commerce Committee, Pickering ran for Congress.{{Cite web

|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/charles_pickering/400319 |title=Charles "Chip" Pickering Jr., former Representative for Mississippi's 3rd Congressional District - GovTrack.us |website=GovTrack.us |access-date=February 26, 2016}} He defeated eight other Republicans in the primary and won the general election over Democrat John Arthur Eaves Jr. with 61 percent of the vote.{{cite book |last1=Nash |first1=Jere |last2=Taggart |first2=Andy |title=Mississippi Politics: The Struggle for Power, 1976-2008 |edition=second |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |date=2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=avs12QS3EZ4C |isbn=9781604733570 |pages=257–258}}

• Energy and Commerce Committee
• Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee
• Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee
• Telecommunications & the Internet Subcommittee

In 1998, as chairman of the Basic Research Subcommittee of the U.S. House Science Committee, Pickering helped oversee the transition from a government research internet to a commercial internet, as well as the establishment of internet domain names, registries, and

multi-stakeholder governance.{{Cite web|url=http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/science/hsy273140.000/hsy273140_0.HTM|title=Internet Domain Names, Part II|website=commdocs.house.gov}}

In 2002, Pickering contributed to legislation included in the 2002 Farm Bill, which doubled the funding for the conservation reserve, the wetland reserve programs, and other conservation initiatives administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.{{Cite web|url=http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/ag/hag107f.000/hag107f_0f.htm|title=Formulation of the 2002 Farm Bill|website=commdocs.house.gov}}

Pickering served as George W. Bush's co-chairman for Mississippi in Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004.{{cite web |title=Chip Pickering |url=https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2004/sep/30/chip-pickering/ |website=Jackson Free Press |access-date=June 24, 2021 |date=September 30, 2004}}

From 2003 to 2007, Pickering served as vice-chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.{{Cite web|url=https://www.princeton.edu/~pmc/oldsite/H-EC.html|title=House Committee on Energy and Commerce|website=www.princeton.edu}}

In 2008, Pickering, along with Bennie Thompson, received Lewis-Houghton Leadership Award.{{Cite web|url=http://dev.yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/reps_bennie_thompson_d_and_chip_pickering_r_win_2nd_lewis_houghton_leadersh/|title=Reprs Bennie Thompson and Chip Pickering}}

In January 2009, Pickering retired from the House of Representatives.

Pickering serves as an adjunct professor at the University of Mississippi's Department of Public Leadership Policy, where he teaches a bi-monthly seminar class, PPL 211: Political Campaigns.

In 2014, Pickering joined Incompas, where he currently serves as the CEO. Prior to this, he was a partner at Capitol Resources LLC, representing numerous companies and organizations.

Pickering also made a brief appearance in the 2006 film, Borat, as a speaker at a church that Borat attended.{{cite web |url=https://www.facingsouth.org/2009/07/chip-pickerings-family-affair.html |title=Chip Pickering's "Family" affair |last=Sturgis |first=Sue |publisher=Facing South |date=July 17, 2009 |access-date=June 15, 2020}}

In April 2023, the archives of Chip Pickering and Charles W. Pickering were donated to the Mississippi Political Collections, located at Mississippi State University's Mitchell Memorial Library, by them.{{Cite news |url=https://magnoliatribune.com/2023/04/05/pickering-scalia-and-the-unicorns-of-bipartisanship/ |title=Pickering, Scalia and the unicorns of bipartisanship and civility in American government |first=Sid |last=Salter |date=April 5, 2023 |website=Magnolia Tribune}}{{Cite web |url=http://www.msstate.edu/newsroom/article/2023/03/pickerings-champion-bipartisanship-civility-during-dedication-papers-msu |title=Pickerings champion bipartisanship, civility during dedication of papers at MSU |date=March 31, 2023 |website=Mississippi State University}}

Pickering and his former wife, Leisha, have five sons.{{cite news |url=http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090716/NEWS/90716027/Ex-Miss.+politician+s+wife+sues+alleged+mistress |title=Ex-Miss. politician's wife sues alleged mistress |work=Clarion Ledger |date=July 16, 2009 |access-date=July 2, 2014 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5iJmxqlEl?url=http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20090716/NEWS/90716027/Ex-Miss.%20politician%20s%20wife%20sues%20alleged%20mistress |archive-date=July 16, 2009 |url-status=dead}} Chip Pickering filed for divorce in June 2008.{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Elkins |url=https://www.djournal.com/news/update-wife-of-ex-us-rep-pickering-claims-he-had-affair/article_a0c13014-4652-5b24-8154-8bb3db5df9da.html |title=UPDATE: Wife of ex-US Rep. Pickering claims he had affair |work=Daily Journal |date=July 16, 2009 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250101204934/https://www.djournal.com/news/update-wife-of-ex-us-rep-pickering-claims-he-had-affair/article_a0c13014-4652-5b24-8154-8bb3db5df9da.html |archive-date=January 1, 2025}}{{cite book |editor-first=Robert E. |editor-last=Emory |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ix9zAwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Chip+Pickering%22+%22+Leisha%22&pg=PA977 |title=Cultural Sociology of Divorce; An Encyclopedia |page=977 |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-4129-9958-8 |publisher=Sage Publishing}}

On July 16, 2009, Pickering's estranged wife filed a complaint in Hinds County (Mississippi) Circuit Court under Mississippi's alienation of affection law, alleging that Pickering and his college sweetheart Elizabeth Creekmore Byrd had a long-standing adulterous extramarital relationship during his congressional career in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |first=Jacob M. |last=Appel |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/hate-the-husband-sue-the_b_311419 |title=Hate the Husband? Sue the Mistress! |work=HuffPost |date=May 25, 2011 |orig-date=March 18, 2010}} Creekmore Byrd is a member of Mississippi's Creekmore family that founded of the Cellular South telephone company. She further alleged in Pickering v. Pickering that Creekmore-Byrd insisted that Pickering turn down Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour's 2007 offer of former Sen. Trent Lott's Senate seat so that Pickering could divorce his wife and the two of them be together.{{cite news |title=A decade of congressional sex scandals |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2011-jun-08-la-na-weiner-list-20110608-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=June 24, 2021 |date=June 8, 2011}}{{cite news |last1=Bresnahan |first1=John |title=Pickering's wife sues alleged mistress |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2009/07/pickerings-wife-sues-alleged-mistress-025067 |work=Politico |access-date=June 24, 2021 |language=en |date=July 16, 2009}}{{cite magazine |last1=Mott |first1=Ronni |title=Wife Says Pickering's Affair Ended Career, Two Marriages |url=https://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2009/jul/16/wife-says-pickerings-affair-ended-career-two/ |magazine=Jackson Free Press |access-date=June 24, 2021 |language=en |date=July 16, 2009}} According to Max Blumenthal at The Daily Beast, "In the end, Pickering chose his mistress over his congressional career and his wife."{{cite news|last=Blumenthal|first=Max|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-secret-gop-sex-diary|title=The Secret GOP Sex Diary|work=The Daily Beast|date=July 14, 2017|orig-year=July 23, 2009|access-date=October 21, 2020}}

Pickering's family had a close relationship with Antonin Scalia.

{{reflist}}

• {{CongLinks | congbio=p000323 | votesmart= | fec=H6MS03046 | congress=}}
• [http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060615/NEWS/606150389/1001/news/ Financial disclosures] Clarion Ledger, June 15, 2006
• [http://www.radiofreemississippi.net/lobbyist.htm{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}} Pickering considers job as top lobbyist]{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20061221235714/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/29/AR2005042901349.html Lawmakers' Help for Drug Firm Tests Limits]The Washington Post, April 29, 2005
• {{C-SPAN|45603}}

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Category:Living people

Category:1963 births

Category:Baptists from Mississippi

Category:Southern Baptists

Category:University of Mississippi alumni

Category:Baylor University alumni

Category:People from Laurel, Mississippi

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Mississippi

Category:Members of Congress who became lobbyists

Category:21st-century members of the United States House of Representatives