Robert Ellsworth Wise Jr

A Representative from West Virginia; born in Washington, D.C., January 6, 1948; B.A., Duke University, Durham, N.C., 1970; J.D., Tulane University School of Law, New Orleans, La., 1975; admitted to the West Virginia bar in 1975 and commenced practice in Charleston; member, State senate, 1980-1982; elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-eighth and to the eight succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1983-January 3, 2001); was not a candidate for reelection to the United States House of Representatives in 2000; Governor of West Virginia, 2000-2005. Born in Washington, D.C., BOB WISE earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University in 1970 and a J.D. from Tulane University College of Law in 1975. He was elected to the West Virginia State Senate in 1980. Two years later, he won the first of nine consecutive elections to the U.S. House of Representatives. While in Congress, Wise served in his party’s leadership as an at-large whip, a regional whip, and parliamentarian. Elected governor in 2000, Wise targeted education, economic development, and health care during his administration. He championed legislation: establishing the PROMISE Scholarship Program to help West Virginia students stay in the Mountain State to attend college; creating an economic stimulus package that combined public and private investment to generate in excess of $750 million of economic activity across West Virginia; achieving medical liability reform to provide incentives for physicians to practice in the state; and raising the tobacco tax to preserve funding for the state’s Medicaid program.