There’s one thing everyone can agree on about Bob Barr: he knows how to shake up Washington and the political establishment.
Soon after he started practicing law in Georgia in the 1970s, he became what was then a rare, lonely voice in Georgia’s public life: an activist Republican. He served as Cobb County Republican Chairman, and was one of the founding fathers of the modern Republican Party in Georgia.
As President Reagan’s U.S. Attorney, Bob sent a corrupt congressman and several local politicians to prison; he also successfully prosecuted members of the Medellin drug cartel.
As a Congressman, he fought to expose the lies and corruption of Bill Clinton and was a national leader in the impeachment effort; he withstood withering attacks from the liberal media establishment and never backed down.
He was part of the Newt Gingrich revolution that was swept into Congress in 1994. During his tenure there, Congress passed balanced budgets, reduced the federal deficit and cut taxes.
While in Congress, Bob received top ratings from the National Right to Life Committee, the National Federation of Independent Business, the American Conservative Union, Americans for Tax Reform and Citizens Against Government Waste. He’s currently serving his sixth three-year term on the board of the National Rifle Association.
A lifelong student of the Constitution, Bob has also been a trailblazer in securing and protecting personal liberties for all American citizens. After leaving Congress, he has continued his efforts to rein in an increasingly intrusive federal government.
Few people bring such a unique combination of intellect, energy and range of life experience to the public arena.
Bob’s dad was a graduate of West Point. After serving in the Army he engaged in a worldwide career as a civil engineer. As a result, though he was born in Iowa, Barr spent most of his youth in foreign lands, including Malaysia, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, and Iraq, ultimately graduating from high school in Iran.
After college, he spent eight years with the CIA. That would keep most people busy enough, but during that time, Bob also went to law school at night. He fell in love with Georgia while visiting a college fraternity brother and, after leaving the CIA, moved to Atlanta to start practicing law and pursue his passion of fighting for individual liberty.
Bob and his wife, Jeri, live in Smyrna. Their children are now grown so they pour much of their parental energies into their community, their grandkids and a pair of Airedale Terriers.