Jay Woodson Dickey, Jr. (born December 14, 1939) is a former U.S. Representative from the Fourth Congressional District ofArkansas. He served in Congress from 1993 to 2001. Both the Dickey Amendment (1996), which blocks CDC funds to be used for injury prevention research that might advocate or promote gun control, and the Dickey-Wicker Amendment (1995), which prohibits federal funds to be spent on research that involves the destruction of a human embryo, are named for him. After the 2012 Aurora shooting, former congressman Dickey said that he regrets his role in blocking the CDC from researching gun violence.

Education and early career[edit]

Dickey, born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, graduated from Pine Bluff High School in 1957; after attending Hendrix College, he got his B.A. (1961) and his J.D. (1963) from the University of Arkansas.^[1] He began his career in law in private practice, and later served as city attorney of Pine Bluff from 1968 to 1970.^[1]

In 1988 then-Governor Bill Clinton appointed Dickey as a special justice for a case before the Arkansas Supreme Court.^[1]

Political career[edit]

Dickey, beating Secretary of State William J. “Bill” McCuen, described as a “scandal-plagued Democratic nominee”,^[2] was elected United States Representative for the Fourth District of Arkansas—the first Republican to be elected to the seat—on November 3, 1992. He was re-elected three times, and served on the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, and five of its subcommittees:^{[citation needed]} Agriculture, National Security,Energy and Water, Transportation and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.

A Second Amendment rights advocate, in 1996 Dickey responded to a supposed bias^[3] on the part of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), whose research on firearm injuries and fatalities in the US was seen to be motivated more by pro gun-control politics rather than pure science.^[4] Dickey successfully passed an amendment to eliminate $2.6 million from the CDC budget, reflecting the amount the CDC had previously spent on gun research.^[4]

The outspoken, controversial, and conservative Dickey saw his popularity decline in his overall moderate district. In 2000, he lost in his reelection campaign to the Democratic candidate Mike Ross in a close race. House Speaker Dennis Hastert came into the district in a bid to save Dickey’s seat, while President Bill Clinton poured massive resources into the contest on behalf of Ross.^{[citation needed]}

Dickey opposed Ross in 2002 in an attempt to return to his seat, but he was defeated, 60-40 percent.

Subsequent career[edit]

After leaving office, Dickey operated JD Consulting,^[5] primarily a federal government lobbying firm, which represents clients’ interest in children’s health care, navigation and water, tax matters, homeland security, and roads.

Following the mass shooting in Aurora, CO, Dickey publicly reversed his position on gun violence research, regretting that he had served as “the NRA’s point person in Congress” to suppress valid and valuable work, and called for new scientific research in the field.^[6]

Electoral history[edit]

The following are the electoral results from the Arkansas’s 4th congressional district for 1992–2002.^[7]

References[edit]