William Raggio
William " Bill" Raggio ( born October 30, 1926 in Reno, Nevada, † February 23, 2012 in Sydney, Australia ) was an American politician of the Republican Party, which was from 1972 until his resignation in 2011 Member of the Senate of Nevada and thus the Senator with the longest tenure of this U.S. state.
Life
After schooling Raggio studied at Louisiana Tech University, the University of Oklahoma and the University of Nevada, Reno ( UNR ) and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA ) from. A subsequent post-graduate studies in law at Hastings College of Law and at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, he finished with a Juris Doctor ( JD). After a subsequent military service in the U.S. Navy Reserve, he was a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.
After completing his military service, he was first deputy district attorney in 1952 and was thereafter 1958-1970 District Attorney ( District Attorney ) of Washoe County. Subsequently, he began his political career in the Republican Party, when he faced Howard Cannon, the incumbent Democratic Senator for Nevada took in the elections to the U.S. Senate in 1970. However Raggio defeated Cannon, who was re-elected with 58 percent of the vote for a third six -year term.
1972 Raggio was first elected member of the Senate of Nevada and this was after several re- elections until his retirement in 2011 as a representative of the constituency Washoe County 3rd District on. With its 39 -year affiliation he was the Senator with the longest tenure in the history of this state. As a senator, he sat in particular the interests of the North Nevada against the growing influence of Las Vegas through.
As the incumbent Vice Governor of Nevada, Harry Reid, in 1974 decided not to reapply for the office of lieutenant governor, and instead opted for a candidacy for the U.S. Senate against former Governor Paul Laxalt to Raggio applied for the post of Deputy Governor, but lost to Democrat Robert E. Rose, who received 52 percent of the vote.
During his long membership of the Senate of Nevada, he initially from 1977 to 1979 leader of the Republican opposition ( Senate Minority Floor Leader). He held this post again from 1983 to 1986 and was followed from 1987 to 1989 Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance ( Senate Finance Committee ) and at the same time from 1987 to 1989 chairman of the Republican majority fraction ( Senate Majority Floor Leader). After he was briefly in 1991 minority leader, he held the position of majority leader again for 14 years 1993 to 2007. During this time, he was from 1993 to 2005 at the same time re- chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance and at the same time between 1997 and 1999 and between 2001 and 2003 also Chairman of the Conference Committee on Education ( legislative Committee on Education ).
Last time was 2009 again briefly minority leader in the Senate, but also practiced in this function significant influence on the tax policy of Governor Jim Gibbons from, its position was assumed to be a moderate low-tax policy also of the democratic majority faction. In the elections to the U.S. Senate, he supported the candidacy of Democrat Harry Reid against the Republican candidate Sharron Angle and justified this by saying that he thought Reid for the better representative of Nevada in the U.S. Senate. In fact, it is likely, however, have been a intraparty opposition to Sharron Angle, who ran against him in 2008 for election to the Senate from Nevada.
Bill Raggio died during a holiday in Australia.