Dave McCurdy

McCurdy was born in the city of Canadian, Texas. He received an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1972 and a JD there three years later. He studied international economics at Scotland's University of Edinburgh as a Rotary International Graduate Fellow.[http://www.aga.org/About/leadership/Documents/mccurdy-bio.pdf McCurdy profile] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807161453/http://www.aga.org/About/leadership/Documents/mccurdy-bio.pdf |date=2011-08-07 }}, aga.org; accessed November 21, 2014.

McCurdy served in the United States Air Force Reserve, attaining the rank of major and serving as a Judge Advocate General (JAG). He was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Oklahoma from 1975-77.{{cite news |title=The U.S. Congress Votes Database |newspaper=The Washington Post |location=Washington D.C. |url=http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m000398 |access-date=2009-09-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924174523/http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/m000398/ |archive-date=2008-09-24 }}

McCurdy served for seven terms, from 1981-95. In 1980 he ran for Oklahoma's 4th congressional district seat in Congress, succeeding sixteen-term congressman Tom Steed from Shawnee. He trailed Oklahoma House Majority Leader James B. Townsend, also from Shawnee, in the Democratic primary 40% to 34%, then won 51.2% of the vote in the runoff election. McCurdy defeated Townsend with campaign commercials espousing prayer in public and support for a statue of Jesus Christ in the Wichita mountains, near Lawton.

He defeated Republican Howard Rutledge 74,245 to 71,339 in the general election, and again in 1982 by a vote of 84,205 to 44,351. He won a third term in 1984 by defeating Jerry Smith 109,447 to 60,844, with Libertarian Gordon Mobley picking up 1% of the vote. After winning 81.9% of the Democratic primary vote in 1986, McCurdy coasted to a fourth term with 94,984 votes (76.1%) over Republican Larry Humphreys. McCurdy had no Republican opponent in 1988, and won in 1990 with 73.6% of the vote in the general election. In 1992 he received 70.7% of the final tally. {{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

File:Dave McCurdy.jpg

Specializing in national security and intelligence issues, McCurdy was appointed to leadership positions in the field including chairmanships of the House Intelligence Committee,{{cite news|last=Lardner Jr.|first=George |author2=Tom Kenworthy|title=Over Intelligence Panel; 4 Liberals Appointed; McCurdy Is Chairman|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Washington D.C.|date=February 6, 1991|url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1P2-1048010.html|access-date=2009-09-08}} Military Installations and Facilities Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee{{cite web|title=Army Force Structure|work=Report to Congressional Requesters|publisher=United States General Accounting Office|date=October 1993|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/intell/library/reports/gao/150002.pdf|access-date=2009-09-08}} and the Transportation Aviation and Materials Subcommittee of the Science and Space Committee.{{cite web|title=Capital Formation |publisher=American Council For Capital Formation |date=July–August 2007 |url=http://www.accf.org/media/dynamic/2/media_228.pdf |access-date=2009-09-08 |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20081023014849/http://www.accf.org/media/dynamic/2/media_228.pdf |archive-date=2008-10-23 }}

McCurdy founded and chaired a group of moderate and conservative House Democrats called the Mainstreet Forum. At its height in 1994, it counted seventy-two members.{{cite book|title=Values Matter Most: How Republicans, or Democrats, or a Third Party Can Win and Renew the American Way of Life|last=Wattenberg|first=Ben J.|author-link=Ben J. Wattenberg|year=1995|publisher=Free Press|isbn=0-02-933795-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/valuesmattermost00watt/page/304 304]|url=https://archive.org/details/valuesmattermost00watt|url-access=registration|quote=mainstream forum and dave mccurdy.|access-date=October 14, 2009}}

In Congress, McCurdy played a major role in the following pieces of legislation: the 1988 National Superconductivity Competitiveness Act,{{cite web|title=H.R. 3048|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d100:HR03048:@@@D&summ2=m&|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160705094811/http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d100:HR03048:@@@D&summ2=m&|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 July 2016|access-date=September 21, 2009}} the 1985 Goldwater-Nichols Act, which re-organized the U.S. Department of Defense,{{cite web|title=Senate Report 108-359 - National Intelligence Reform Act of 2004|publisher=Library of Congress|url=http://ecip.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp108&sid=cp108bysBv&refer=&r_n=sr359.108&item=&sel=TOC_13821&|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121213094820/http://ecip.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/?&dbname=cp108&sid=cp108bysBv&refer=&r_n=sr359.108&item=&sel=TOC_13821&|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 December 2012|access-date=September 21, 2009}} the Nunn-McCurdy Amendment of 1982, requiring congressional notification of Defense cost overruns of 15% or more,{{cite web|title=The "Nunn-McCurdy" Amendment|publisher=Center for Defense Information|url=http://www.cdi.org/missile-defense/nunn-mccurdy.cfm|access-date=September 21, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805203544/http://www.cdi.org/missile-defense/nunn-mccurdy.cfm|archive-date=August 5, 2009}} and the 1993 National Service Legislation, which originated in a bill introduced by Congressman McCurdy and former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn.{{cite web|last=Bandow|first=Doug|title=National Service: The Enduring Panacea|publisher=Cato Institute|date=March 22, 1990|url=http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa130es.html|access-date=September 21, 2009}}

In the 1990s, McCurdy was a national chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, a group that sought to moderate the Democratic Party. McCurdy was seen as a "rising national star."Kornacki, Steve (2011-05-09) [http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/05/09/santorum_loser/index.html "Rick Santorum and the problem with the 'loser' label"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511111949/http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/05/09/santorum_loser/index.html |date=2011-05-11 }}, Salon.com; accessed November 21, 2014. According to George Stephanopoulos in his political memoir, All Too Human, McCurdy at one point considered his own presidential campaign in 1992, although he eventually supported fellow DLC member Bill Clinton, and delivered a speech seconding his nomination at the Democratic Party National Convention.{{cite book|title=All Too Human: A Political Education|last=Stephanopoulos|first=George|author-link=George Stephanopoulos |publisher=Little, Brown and Company|isbn=0-316-92919-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/alltoohumanpolit00step/page/32 32]|url=https://archive.org/details/alltoohumanpolit00step|url-access=registration|quote=mccurdy.|access-date=October 12, 2009|date=2000-03-01}} During the speech, "'McCurdy 2000' signs could be seen in the crowd."

Following Clinton's election, McCurdy was considered for United States Secretary of Defense,{{cite news|title=Aspin May Get Defense Secretary Post |newspaper=Deseret News |date=December 18, 1992 |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/265194 }}{{dead link|date=November 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} a job which ultimately went to Les Aspin. McCurdy was offered the role of Director of Central Intelligence, but turned it down.{{cite book|title=War in a time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals|last=Halberstam|first=David|author-link=David Halberstam|year=2002|publisher=Scribner|isbn=0-7432-2323-3|page=192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6mfioLZjXkC&q=mccurdy%20cia%20clinton&pg=PA192|access-date=October 12, 2009}}

In 1994, when U.S. Senator David L. Boren decided to leave the U.S. Senate before the expiration of his term, McCurdy decided not to seek re-election to the House of Representatives; instead, he ran for the Senate. He campaigned on military preparedness and family values. He lost the general election to fellow congressman Jim Inhofe, whose campaign ads played clips of McCurdy's speech seconding Clinton's nomination for president. McCurdy took only 39 percent of the vote, and even lost his own congressional district. He sent his congressional records and papers to the Carl Albert Center for Congressional Studies at the University of Oklahoma.[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=M000398 Dave McCurdy profile], bioguide.congress.gov; accessed November 21, 2014.

McCurdy was chairman and chief executive officer of the McCurdy Group LLC. In 1998 he was elected President of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) a national trade organization representing the electronics industry, even though House Majority Leader Tom DeLay held up legislation of benefit to the EIA and threatened it with a loss of access if it did not hire a Republican instead.{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/id/9739|publisher=Slate.com|title=A Bug's Life: Is exterminator-turned-Rep. Tom DeLay the most powerful man on Capitol Hill?|first=David|last=Plotz|date=December 5, 1998}} DeLay was later rebuked by the House Ethics Committee.{{cite news|title=Ethics Rebukes Not Sure to Cramp DeLay's Style|author=Janet Hook|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 8, 2004|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-oct-08-na-delay8-story.html}}

He is chairman of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments{{cite web |title=CSBA Board of Directors |url=http://www.csbaonline.org/2006-1/5.AboutUs/Board_of_Directors.php |work=csbaonline.org |publisher=Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments |access-date=October 12, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127035523/http://www.csbaonline.org/2006-1/5.AboutUs/Board_of_Directors.php |archive-date=January 27, 2010 }} and has served on the Defense Policy Board under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.{{cite news|title=Defense chief makes new appointments to policy board|newspaper=CongressDaily|date=July 2, 2009|url=http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0709/070209cdpm1.htm|access-date=13 October 2009|archive-date=6 June 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606135501/http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0709/070209cdpm1.htm|url-status=dead}}

On February 12, 2007, McCurdy became president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM).{{cite news|title=An ex-lawmaker becomes automakers' insider|author=Harry Stoffer|newspaper=Automotive News|date=March 12, 2007|url=http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-30028631_ITM}} Under McCurdy's leadership, AAM supported Obama's National Program to reduce carbon emissions and increase fuel economy standards{{cite press release |title=Automakers Support President in Development of National Program for Autos |url=http://www.autoalliance.org/index.cfm?objectid=55B4BAFF-1D09-317F-BBB0DA0B7783C956 |publisher=Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers |date=May 18, 2009 |access-date=November 9, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090524010850/http://www.autoalliance.org/index.cfm?objectid=55B4BAFF-1D09-317F-BBB0DA0B7783C956 |archive-date=May 24, 2009 }} and a federal ban on texting while driving.{{cite news|title=Carmakers favor U.S. ban on texting while driving|author=John Crawley|newspaper=Reuters|date=September 23, 2009|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSTRE58M4G620090923|access-date=November 9, 2009}}

In February 2011, McCurdy became president and CEO of the American Gas Association. In August 2011, McCurdy began service as a member of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20121130115002/http://www.lmi.org/About-LMI/Leadership-(1)/Board-Of-Directors-(1)/Dave-McCurdy.aspx Board of Directors of LMI], a not-for-profit studies and analysis consulting firm headquartered in McLean, Virginia.{{citation needed|date=November 2014}} He also serves on the board of directors of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.{{cite web |title=Board of Directors |url=http://www.crfb.org/board-members |work=crfb.org |publisher=Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget |access-date=October 3, 2019}}

McCurdy lives with his wife, Dr. Pam McCurdy in McLean, Virginia; the couple has three children. {{citation needed|date=November 2014}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20091215061358/http://www.autoalliance.org/index.cfm?objectid=632B44C5-1D09-317F-BBB1C1EA5F2656C3 McCurdy official bio at Auto Alliance]
• [https://arc.ou.edu/repositories/3/resources/23 Dave McCurdy Collection] and [https://arc.ou.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/589506 Photograph Series] at the Carl Albert Center
• {{C-SPAN|1991}}

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