Life's lesson for Doug Lamborn: Make a lot from little

By Julie Hutchinson, Special to the Rocky

Published October 9, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Linda Mcconnell / Special To The Rocky

Republican Doug Lamborn, who is seeking re-election to his 5th Congressional District seat, chats with Sertoma club President Kathy Newell at Maggie Mae's in Colorado Springs on Wednesday.

Rep. Doug Lamborn is not one to sit back and relax - particularly now, in his first run for re- election in the 5th Congressional District.

Besides, he says, taking it easy is not in his nature. Never has been, never will be.

Growing up on a small family farm in eastern Kansas in the 1950s, Lamborn was fed a regular diet of stories from his hard-working parents about the difficult years following the crash of the stock market in 1929.

"My parents lived through the Great Depression, and they made sure to instill in us children the qualities of hard work and thrift and responsibility," Lamborn said in an interview on his cell phone as he rode in a car heading to the U.S. Capitol on the day the House would, for the second time, consider a bill to shore up the foundering U.S. economy.

Like his mother, who worked hard as a farm wife raising four sons, and like his father, who farmed feed corn and held another job off the farm, Lamborn, the Republican incumbent in the race, knows how to make a lot out of a little.

Lamborn and his three brothers attended a three-room school near Fairmount, Kan., through sixth grade and worshipped with their parents at a nearby Methodist church.

To supplement the income from the farm, Lamborn's father worked at the nearby federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, first as a guard and later as a counselor.

The sacrifices of his parents paid off as they watched their four sons move away from the farm and on to college educations and better-paying jobs.

Lamborn, the third born, went to the University of Kansas as a National Merit Scholar and graduated in 1978 with a degree in journalism. He worked as a freelance writer and a painting contractor until he entered law school at KU and graduated in 1986.

In the late 1980s, the family moved to Colorado, where Lamborn and his wife, Jeanie, always had wanted to live. Prior to his election to Congress, Lamborn served in the Colorado legislature for 11 years.

Although Lamborn votes with the Bush administration more than almost any other member of Congress and bears the distinction of voting against Democratic bills more than any member of the House, he doesn't take visits to the White House for granted.

"My wife and I had breakfast at the White House mess," Lamborn said. "We were meeting with one of the people working for the president, and I did pinch myself. And in group meetings at the White House I've had the same feeling."

As one of Congress' most conservative members, Lamborn has worked to increase funding for law enforcement to deal with undocumented workers. Lamborn helped bring an additional 5,000 soldiers and their families to his district in 2007. He was endorsed in his first campaign by conservative groups including National Right to Life and the National Rifle Association.

He is popular among his conservative constituents and known as a devout Christian, a subject about which he speaks eagerly.

Although he admits his family's churchgoing during his childhood "didn't seem to take hold," Lamborn changed his ways while an undergraduate at KU.

"It wasn't until I started college that I found my faith: evangelical Christian," Lamborn said. "Someone at KU reached out to me in a church I started attending. It's the first time in my life I actually read the Bible for myself, and that made all the difference."

Doug Lamborn

* Age: 54

* Born: Leavenworth, Kan.

* Residence: Colorado Springs

*Family: Wife Jeanie; children Luke, Eve, Will, Nathan and Mark

* Political biography: Colorado House of Representatives, 1994-98; state Senate 1998-2006

* Web site: lambornforcongress.com

10 things you might not know about him

1 Lamborn's farmer's instincts remain sharp. Asked by a reporter if his family's farm is irrigated, he said "No, ma'am. We're east of the 100th meridian." The 100th meridian is considered the dividing line between land that must be irrigated and land that receives enough rain.

2 Lamborn served in the Colorado legislature prior to his election to U.S. Congress in 2006.

3 Lamborn voted against both bailout package bills.

4 While serving in the legislature, Lamborn helped pass a bill renaming a portion of Interstate 25 near Colorado Springs the Ronald Reagan Highway.

5 Lamborn lost his bid for a seat in the Kansas legislature in 1982.

6 Lamborn described his decision to vote for Jimmy Carter in 1976 as a "weak moment."

7 Lamborn and his wife, Jeanie, have five children.

8 Lamborn gave up a job as a lawyer with the Denver office of Kutak Rock to open his own practice in Colorado Springs in the late 1980s.

9 Lamborn earned a degree in journalism from the University of Kansas in 1978 but never worked as a journalist, save for a few freelance jobs.

10 His hero is Ronald Reagan.

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