Rep. Steve Buyer announced his retirement from his congressional seat yesterday.  Buyer has served in Congress since he was first elected to Indiana's 5th district congressional seat in 1992.  Indiana lost a congressional seat in 2001 as part of post-2000 Census congressional redistricting and he represented Indiana's 4th congressional district since then.  Before being elected to Congress, Buyer served in the military and his service included action in Operation Desert Storm in 1991.  Buyer was one of the many soldiers who's health was adversely affected by what became known as Gulf War syndrome.  Instead of complaining about his disability and harboring hostility toward the federal government, Buyer decided to make constructive use of his God-given abilities to enhance national life.

At the time of the Gulf War, the 5th district was represented by Democrat Jim Jontz.  Jontz was a throwback to 19th century agrarian and labor populism who managed to experience some political and electoral success in the Indiana General Assembly and later would become the head of the liberal group Americans for Democratic Action.  Jontz, unfortunately, decided to oppose Operation Desert Storm and drew a challenge from Buyer who defeated the three term incumbent to restore the congressional representation of this part of Indiana to its more traditional Republican moorings.

During his nine terms in Congress, Buyer has been an articulate and principled proponent of the three pillars of contemporary conservatism:  fiscal, foreign policy/national security, and social.  His congressional tenure saw him serve on numerous House committees including  Armed Services, Energy and Commerce, Judiciary, and Veterans Affairs.  Buyer's service on the House Judiciary Committee granted him national recognition during Bill Clinton's impeachment and he was one of the House managers selected to present impeachment articles to the Senate.  (This accomplishment alone should earn him the eternal gratitude of conservatives.)  I highly recommend reading Buyer's remarks in the House Judiciary Committee's 1998 report recommending Clinton's impeachment (House Document 105-830, pp. 155-199).

 Supporting American veterans was another important attribute of Buyer's congressional career.  He chaired the House Veterans Affairs Committee during the 109th Congress and was involved in attempts to improve the woeful security of Dept. of Veterans affairs personnel records and was also instrumental in helping veterans who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan get the medical and mental health treatment they needed as a result of the unprecedented injuries they experienced during their combat operations.

Buyer has received some criticism in recent months for a scholarship fund he has tried to establish but which has not issued any scholarship awards and has been targeted for investigation by a self-appointed leftist ideological group.  Anyone who is experienced with higher educational funding matters, however, knows that it takes a long time to achieve the financial capitalization necessary to endow and sustain a scholarship.  When Buyer announced his retirement yesterday, he mentioned that the serious illness of his wife was the reason for this decision.  Buyer represents a secure district and could have held this seat as long as he wanted to. 

I'm proud Steve Buyer has been my congressman these past few years.  He and his staff respond to constituent inquiries with professionalism and courtesy and without regard for their constituent's partisan persuasion. He sponsored several job fairs at various locales in this district which extends from Monticello to south of Bloomington and also conducted public meetings on health care legislation. In a time period where we have seen the ethical sins of politicians as ideologically diverse as Mark Sanford and John Edwards paraded before the public, it's refreshing to see a politician end his political career because he loves his wife and places her well being above his political aspirations and desire to oppose the Obama Administration and its ill-advised policies.  We need to resist the temptation of believing that all politicians are corrupt and that we should "throw the bums out."  As conservatives, we need to reject the folly of term limits as the esteemed Illinois conservative Republican Rep. Henry Hyde did, and promote an ethos of public service as being consistent with the highest intellectual and moral principles we as Conservatives must espouse and adhere to. We need more articulate and principled conservatives like Steve Buyer who defend unborn children, traditional marriage, fiscal responsibility, and a strong and assertive national defense against the unprincipled individuals and groups opposing these proven virtues.