Norman DeValois Dicks (born December 16, 1940) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for , between 1977 and 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district was located in the northwestern corner of the state, and includes most of Tacoma. He retired at the end of the 112th Congress. He currently serves as Senior Policy Advisor at the law and public policy firm Van Ness Feldman LLP. He is the longest-serving member ever of the United States House of Representatives from the state of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Early life, education, and early political career

Norm Dicks was born and raised in

Bremerton, Washington Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington. The population was 37,729 at the 2010 census and an estimated 41,405 in 2019, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the Bremer ...

. His family attended Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Bremerton, and he was confirmed there as a teenager. He attended the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seatt ...

, where he was a linebacker on the

Huskies Husky is a general term for a dog used in the polar regions, primarily and specifically for work as sled dogs. It refers to a traditional northern type, notable for its cold-weather tolerance and overall hardiness. Modern racing huskies that ma ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

team and was a member of

Sigma Nu Fraternity Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlvaine Riley shortly after Hopkins witnessed w ...

. He earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

and a J.D. degree there. After college, he became legislative and administrative assistant to long-serving

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and power ...

Warren G. Magnuson of Washington.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

In 1976, incumbent Democrat U.S. Representative Floyd Hicks decided to retire to run for a

Washington State Supreme Court The Washington Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary of the U.S. state of Washington. The court is composed of a chief justice and eight associate justices. Members of the court are elected to six-year terms. Justices must retire ...

seat. Dicks qualified for the general election via the

blanket primary The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a primary election, used in Argentina and historically in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to p ...

and won the general election with 74% of the vote against Republican nominee Rob Reynolds. He won re-election 17 more times and only got less than 58% of the vote in a November general election once (1980). That year, he defeated Republican nominee Jim Beaver 54% to 46%, the lowest winning percentage and margin of victory in his career. His second lowest general election winning percentage is 58%, in 1994 and 2010 (both years when Republicans took back the majority).

Tenure

Elected to the House in 1976, he won a coveted seat on the

House Appropriations Committee The United States House Committee on Appropriations is a committee of the United States House of Representatives that is responsible for passing appropriation bills along with its Senate counterpart. The bills passed by the Appropriations Commi ...

in his first term. He became a "powerful . . . senior Democrat" on that committee. He also served for 8 years on the House Intelligence Committee. As a member of Congress, he was known as a close friend of

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic ...

. On March 28, 1981, Norm Dicks attended the christening of the USS Bremerton (SSN 698) along with U.S. Senator

Henry M. Jackson Henry Martin "Scoop" Jackson (May 31, 1912 – September 1, 1983) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a U.S. representative (1941–1953) and U.S. senator (1953–1983) from the state of Washington. A Cold War liberal and anti ...

. On October 10, 2002, Norm Dicks was among the 81 House Democrats who voted in favor of authorizing the

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

but later changed his position and supports an end to the war. With

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

a major employer in Washington, Dicks has also supported the acquisition of military aircraft on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. On October 22, 2004, Dicks cut the ribbon during the dedication ceremony for the Norm Dicks Government Center in

. On June 9, 2007, he presented the 132nd commencement speech at the

. Recently, Congressman Dicks was given the 2008 Ansel Adams Conservation Award by The Wilderness Society, and in 2010, Congressman Dicks was the first recipient of Washington non-profit Long Live the King's annual Lifetime Achievement Award in Salmon Conservation. In June 2007, Dicks expressed support for a House of Representatives bill that would increase funding for environmental protection, national parks and conservation by approximately $1.2 billion. In support of the bill, he said "The Bush administration has cut the Interior Department budget over the last six to seven years by 16 percent..."It has cut

EPA The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it be ...

by 29 percent. It has cut the Forest Service by 35 percent. It has devastated these agencies...We are trying to turn the corner, to bring these agencies back". In 2008 the

U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation The United States Navy Memorial is a memorial in Washington, D.C. honoring those who have served or are currently serving in the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and the Merchant Marine. It lies on Pennsylvania Avenue NW between 7th Street ...

awarded Congressman Dicks its Naval Heritage Award for his support of the U S Navy and military during his terms in Congress on the Appropriations Committee. On May 8, 2008, Norm Dicks voted yes on H.R. 4279: Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2007, sometimes called the

PRO-IP Act The Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act of 2008 (PRO-IP Act of 2008, , , ) is a United States law that increases both civil and criminal penalties for trademark, patent and copyright infringement. The law also es ...

. The

increases both civil and criminal penalties for trademark and

copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, ...

. It has created a new executive branch office, the Office of the United States Intellectual Property Enforcement Representative (USIPER). In addition to fines, preliminary punishments involve the seizing of unlicensed copies and the devices on which the copies are stored. On June 20, 2008, Representative Dicks voted yes on the controversial FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The bill would provide

immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity de ...

for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...

Verizon Communications Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas in ...

and other

U.S. telecommunications companies The primary regulator of communications in the United States is the Federal Communications Commission. It closely regulates all of the industries mentioned below with the exception of newspapers and the Internet service provider industry. Hist ...

against 40 lawsuits alleging that they violated customers' privacy rights by helping the government's

NSA electronic surveillance program The Terrorist Surveillance Program was an electronic surveillance program implemented by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. It was part of the President's Surveillance Program, w ...

conduct a warrantless spying program after the

September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. The bill also sought to: *Require

FISA court The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also called the FISA Court, is a U.S. federal court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants agai ...

permission to

wiretap Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...

Americans who are overseas. *Prohibit targeting a foreigner to secretly eavesdrop on an American's calls or e-mails without court approval. *Allow the FISA court 30 days to review existing but expiring surveillance orders before renewing them. *Allow

eavesdropping Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eaves ...

in emergencies without court approval, provided the government files required papers within a week. *Prohibit the government from invoking

war powers Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution, sometimes referred to as the War Powers Clause, vests in the Congress the power to declare war, in the following wording: :'' he Congress shall have Power ...To declare War, grant Lett ...

or other authorities to supersede surveillance rules in the future. Norman Dicks with Soldier

Committee assignments

* Committee on Appropriations (Ranking Member) **As ranking member of the full committee, Rep. Dicks may sit as an ''ex officio'' member of all subcommittees. ** Subcommittee on Defense (Ranking Member)

Caucus memberships

* International Conservation Caucus (Co-Chair) *Sportsmen's Caucus *Congressional Arts Caucus

Retirement and ongoing civic engagement

When deciding to retire from Congress in 2012, Dicks said his biggest regret was voting for the Iraq War. "I'm still glad

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

is not there, but I feel we were misled, not intentionally misled, but we were not given accurate information, and if we had known Saddam Hussein did not have

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natu ...

, I don't think Congress would even have been asked to vote on that." Bremerton, WA - Norm Dicks Government Center

In 2013, the former congressman joined the board of the Seattle non-profit Long Live the Kings as an Ambassador to a new U.S./Canada partnership, the Salish Sea Marine Survival project, stating that: "Efforts like the joint US/Canada Salish Sea Marine Survival Project promise to fundamentally change our knowledge about salmon and steelhead in saltwater; filling a crucial information-gap that has inhibited the progress of recovery." In 2014, Dicks was elected to the Board of Directors of the

National Bureau of Asian Research The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) is an American non-profit, research institution based in Seattle, Washington, with a branch office in Washington, D.C. NBR brings together specialists, policymakers, and business leaders to examine ...

Electoral history

, + : Results 1976–2010 ! Year ! ! Democrat ! Votes ! % ! ! Republican ! Votes ! % ! ! Third party ! Party ! Votes ! % ! ! Third party ! Party ! Votes ! % ! , - ,

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 137,964 , , 73% , , , Robert Reynolds , , 47,539 , , 25% , , , Michael Duane , , U.S. Labor , , 2,251 , , 1% , , , , , , , - ,

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 71,057 , , 61% , , , James Beaver , , 43,640 , , 37% , , ! style="background:#aa0000; ", Mary Smith , ! style="background:#aa0000; ", Socialist Workers , ! style="background:#aa0000; ", 2,043 , ! style="background:#aa0000; ", 2% , , , , , , , - ,

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 122,903 , , 54% , , , James Beaver , , 106,236 , , 46% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 89,985 , , 63% , , , Ted Haley , , 47,720 , , 33% , , , Jayne Anderson , ,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

, align="right" , 6,193 , align="right" , 4% , , , , , , , - ,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 124,367 , , 66% , , , Mike Lonergan , , 60,721 , , 32% , , , Dan Blachly , ,

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

, align="right" , 2,953 , align="right" , 2% , , , , , , , - ,

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 90,063 , , 71% , , , Don McDonald , , 36,410 , , 29% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 125,904 , , 68% , , , Kevin Cook , , 60,346 , , 32% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 79,079 , , 61% , , , Bert Mueller , , 49,786 , , 39% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 152,933 , , 69% , , , Lauri Phillips , , 49,786 , , 22% , , , Tom Donnelly , ,

, align="right" , 14,490 , align="right" , 7% , , , Jim Horrigan , ,

, align="right" , 4,075 , align="right" , 2% , , - ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 105,480 , , 58% , , , Benjamin Gregg , , 75,322 , , 42% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 155,467 , , 66% , , , Bill Tinsley , , 71,337 , , 30% , , , Ted Haley , ,

, align="right" , 5,561 , align="right" , 2% , , , Jim Horrigan , ,

, align="right" , 4,075 , align="right" , 2% , , - ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 143,308 , , 68% , , , Bob Lawrence , , 66,291 , , 32% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 164,853 , , 65% , , , Bob Lawrence , , 79,215 , , 31% , , , John Bennett , ,

, align="right" , 10,645 , align="right" , 4% , , , , , , , - ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 126,116 , , 64% , , , Bob Lawrence , , 61,584 , , 31% , , , John Bennett , ,

, align="right" , 8,744 , align="right" , 4% , , , , , , , - ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 202,919 , , 69% , , , Doug Cloud , , 91,228 , , 31% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 158,202 , , 71% , , , Doug Cloud , , 63,883 , , 29% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 205,991 , , 67% , , , Doug Cloud , , 102,081 , , 33% , , , , , , , , , , , , - ,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, , , , Norm Dicks , , 151,873 , , 58% , , , Doug Cloud , , 109,800 , , 42% , , , , , , , , , , ,

References

External links

Congressman Norm Dicks
''official U.S. House website''
Norm Dicks for U.S. Congress
''official campaign website'' *
Profile
at

SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by prog ...

Norm Dicks Government Center dedication
Eric D. Williams, ''City of Bremerton'', October 24, 2004
Dicks gets greenie award
''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'', March 31, 2008 * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dicks, Norman D. 1940 births Living people People from Bremerton, Washington University of Washington alumni American Lutherans University of Washington School of Law alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Washington (state) 21st-century American politicians National Bureau of Asian Research United States congressional aides Washington (state) lawyers