Thomas Milburn Davis III (born January 5, 1949) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 11th congressional district from 1995 until his resignation in 2008. A member of the Republican Party, he announced on January 30, 2008, that he would not seek re-election to an eighth term. cnn.comAmy Gardner, U.S. Rep. Davis to Retire, Ending 14-Year Tenure in Congress, January 30, 2008. Davis resigned from Congress on November 24, 2008, and was succeeded by Democrat Gerry Connolly.
From 2008 to 2018, he was a director of federal government affairs at Deloitte. In August 2014, he was named as rector (head of the Board of Visitors) of George Mason University and a trustee of its Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study and served until 2019. In January 2019, Davis began work as a partner in the law firm Holland and Knight.
Early life and education Davis was born in Minot, North Dakota, and moved to Fairfax County in Virginia at an early age. He was a U.S. Senate Page and graduated as president of the senior class at the United States Capitol Page School in 1967. He is a graduate of Amherst College and the University of Virginia School of Law. He attended Officer Candidate School of the U.S. Army, served on active duty, and spent eight years with the Virginia National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.
Early career He is the former vice president and general counsel at government contractor PRC, Inc., former chairman of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission, and former president of the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments.1995-1996 Official Congressional Directory: 104th Congress
Political career Davis was a member of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors from 1980 to 1994, serving as chairman of the Board of Supervisors from 1991 until his election to the House. During his service as board chairman, Fairfax County was ranked first financially by City and State magazine in their list of Top 50 Counties.Final Board Summary, July 12, 1993 fairfaxcounty.gov
Congressional career
Davis won election to the House in 1994, the year of the Republican Contract with America. Davis defeated one-term incumbent Leslie Byrne. The Contract with America called for citizen-legislators who would retire after 12 years, instead of career politicians. Davis signed the Contract and voted in favor of the Citizens Legislature Act; however, the bill did not achieve support from the 2/3 majority needed for the amendment to pass. Although the 11th was considered a swing district, Davis was reelected five more times without substantive opposition in part due to his popularity in Fairfax County. Democrats did not field a candidate against him in 1998 and 2002.
In the 2006 Democratic wave, when Democrats took the House for the first time since 1994, Davis faced an unexpectedly strong challenge from Democrat Andrew Hurst, but was reelected with 55 percent of the vote, which was his lowest total since his initial bid against Byrne. Nonetheless, he began fundraising for a Senate bid in 2007.Post Politics Hour washingtonpost.com In his 2004 term, on what the Washington Post deemed to be his then-most recent "key votes", Davis voted 10 times out of the last 13 times (77 percent) for the Republican Party position. On a series of 1,700 votes reported by The Washington Post, Davis voted over 89 percent of the time in favor of the Republican position.Key votes by Tom Davis Washington Post Nevertheless, Davis was sometimes described as a moderate; he supported some abortion rights and voting rights for the District of Columbia, and opposed a state car tax phase-out in 2006.
Davis was chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) from 1998 to 2002. According to The Federal Paper, he then sought the chairmanship of the House Government Oversight and Reform Committee. Davis had less seniority than the other contenders for this chairmanship, but some Republicans wanted to reward him for his work as NRCC chairman, including his supervision of a $160 million fundraising effort.Hill Oversight Committees to Get New Chairs The Federal Paper, November 18, 2002, Vol. 1 No. 5 Davis's deputy on the NRCC, Tom Reynolds of New York, became the next NRCC chairman.
House Committee on Government Reform In 2003, Davis became Chairman of the House Government Reform Committee. He served as Chairman until 2007, when Democrats became the majority party in the House of Representatives. Henry Waxman of California replaced Davis at the gavel. Davis had renamed the committee, removing "Oversight" from the title; one of Waxman's first acts as Chair was to reinstitute the name as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The committee was the chief investigative and oversight committee of the House, and was granted broad jurisdiction. This committee was very active during the Clinton administration. It issued 1,052 subpoenas to probe alleged misconduct by the administration and the Democratic Party between 1997 and 2002. By contrast, by the end of the 2005 session, Davis and the majority had only permitted three subpoenas to be issued to the George W. Bush administration, including one to the United States Department of Defense over documents related to Hurricane Katrina.article Washingtonpost.comBoston Globe boston.com
ICG government Davis's second wife, Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis, was one of the first hires (as a part-time consultant) for ICG Government, a firm that assists businesses in understanding procuring government contracts. Their financial relationship, along with financial ties that benefit family members of 64 of the 435 voting members of Congress, was highlighted in the June 2007 ethics report, "Family Affair" by the CREW.
At the time of her hire at ICG, Davis was her mentor and campaign manager. After being hired, Devolites married Davis. On July 28, 2006, the Washington Post reported that the Defense Information Systems Agency had reviewed its satellite contract with Artel, Inc., and the agency had preliminarily determined that the contract was ineffective and expensive. Artel then hired ICG for consulting services. ICG drafted a letter Davis signed to the agency threatening an investigation by his committee if the contract was not awarded. After the Post articles appeared, Davis sought an opinion from the House Ethics Committee. They advised him to be careful to avoid the appearance of any conflict in this matter. The Post published an extensive article on the issue, the company had to register as a lobbyist, and ICG removed a picture from the front page of its website of Davis speaking to ICG clients.Wife, Friend Tie Congressman to Consulting Firm washingtonpost.com
His wife continued to work for ICG, which paid her $78,000 in 2005 for working 10 to 20 hours a week, primarily at home on her cell phone. She was making $18,000 a year as a Virginia legislator. Her bio was the only one on the ICG site to name her spouse., retrieved January 1, 2007 The same Post writersArticles by Scott Hingham at the Washington PostArticles by Robert O'Harrow at the Washington Post continued the investigation of oversight of contractual influence by the committee and its chair in November"Report Finds DHS Lax on Contracting Procedures" washingtonpost.com and December 2006."GSA Chief Seeks to Cut Budget For Audits" washingtonpost.com"Trio From Hill Ask GSA Head Not to Shift Audit Burden" washingtonpost.com"Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits" washingtonpost.com
Major League Baseball team in Washington Davis was accused of threatening Major League Baseball with an investigation when a consortium that included George Soros offered to buy the Washington Nationals.Washington Post, Taking Aim At Soros Is Hardly Politic washingtonpost.com "I think Major League Baseball understands the stakes", Davis told Roll Call magazine. "I don't think they want to get involved in the political fights." Davis, who convened some congressional hearings about steroid use, added, "I don't think it's the Nats that get hurt. I think it's Major League Baseball that gets hurt. They enjoy all sorts of exemptions from antitrust laws."USA Today, Soros's bid for Nationals gets political, 6/28/2005 usatoday.com
Transportation development positions Davis also appeared at a local zoning meeting to oppose a "smart growth" plan near the Vienna Metro station. Approval of the project, to build what was called a "mini-city" within walking distance of the Metro, was considered routine. Some of the longest commutes to work in the nation begin in Virginia—second only to New York City—and in Prince William County in particular.Average Travel Time to Work census.gov The project was a key resolution to congestion in the congressional district. Davis's pledge to approve the legislation led several county supervisors to accuse him of meddling in a local land-use issue.Lawmaker Steps In on Va. Growth washingtonpost.comMetro Postpones Vienna Land Sale washingtonpost.com
One politician who spoke to Davis said the congressman told him that he opposed Pulte Homes' MetroWest project because "all it does is produce Democrats".Welcome to Fairfax – if You Vote Red washingtonpost.com
In July 2006, Davis wrote a letter to Virginia's then-Governor Tim Kaine discouraging the state from constructing an underground Metrorail through Tysons Corner. According to a July 17, 2006, story in The Washington Post, Davis said switching to a tunnel in Tysons would require reviews that could delay the rail line by as much as two years. On February 26, 2007, The Post reported that Davis had switched positions.
Jennifer and David Safavian One of 12 counsels for oversight and investigations on the House Government Reform Committee was Jennifer Safavian, wife of David Safavian, the first person convicted in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. She is now the Staff Director for the House Ways and Means Committee. A former legislative director for Davis submitted a request that he receive no jail time,Abramoff Figure Argues for No Jail Time cached here: but the judge ruled David Safavian's conduct merited incarceration.Official in Abramoff Case Sentenced to 18 Months washingtonpost.com The judge's decision was reversed on June 17, 2008, by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
David Safavian had replaced Angela Styles, who was forced from the General Services Administration after Davis wrote letters to her bosses at the Office of Management and Budget. He had written to Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. and Joshua Bolten, Styles's superiors at the Office of Management and Budget."Are We Better Off: Contracts With America" MotherJones.com
Prior to his GSA job, Safavian had no government contracts experience. He did have connections to Davis, as a lobbyist with Grover Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), he worked closely with the NRCC when Davis was chair, and presented Davis with an ATR award."ATR photos atr.org ATR has been found to have operated as tax-exempt despite not qualifying for tax-exempt status."Senate report questions tax status of groups linked to Abramoff" USA Today
Schiavo subpoena