C.W. (BILL) YOUNG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2013
• Sequence Number: 94
• Content Type: BIO

25X1
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
? Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
Florida - 8th District
8 C.W. Bill Young (R)
Of St. Petersburg ? Elected 1970
Born: Dec. 16. 1930. Harmarville, Pa.
Education: Attended Pennsylvania public schools.
Military Career: National Guard, 1948-57.
Occupation: Insurance executive.
Family: ?Vife. Beverly F. Angelo; three children.
Religion: Methodist.
Political Career: Fla. Senate, 1961-71, minority leader,
1967.71.
Capitol Office: 2407 Rayburn Bldg. 20515; 225-5961.
In Washington: Young's blow-dried pom-
padour hair style sometimes makes him look
like a refugee from a country & western band,
but he is in reality one of the more serious and
effective conservatives in the House.
While Young plays his most substantive
role as a GOP stalwart on the Appropriations
Subcommittee on Defense, he gained an honor-
ary title of symbolic significance early in the
101st Congress: dean of the majority party in
Florida's 19-member House delegation.
When Young was first elected to the state
Senate in 1960, he was its only Republican. A
decade later. when he won a seat in the U.S.
House, he was one of just three Republicans in
the 12-member delegation. In the years since,
Florida's House contingent and its Republican
component have grown. but the GOP did not
have a majority of House members .until 2nd
.District Rep. Bill Grant switched parties in
February 19.59. making the split 10-9 GOP. "I
have to admit." Young said. "this is the first
time ever in my political career I'm in any kind
of majority status."
Whether Young's new status will bring him
any additional influence remains to be seen, but
he is already known for expanding the purview
of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee
where he serves. Young has become the leading
congressional advocate of the National Bone
Marrow Donor Registry, and he has worked to
fund it through the defense budget.
The money initially found its way. into a
defense funding bill in 1986. when then-Sen.
Paul ',malt of Nevada slipped it in. That same
?ear, Laxalt announced his retirement, and
Young came into contact with a 10-year-old girl
I rom his district who was dying of cancer and
could not tind a bone-marrow donor. Since
then. Young has guarded funding for the regis-
try. mid in the lOOth Congress. he worked to
shift it front the Navy (which contracted the
registry out to the Red Crosst to the National
Institolvs of Health.
While he says the registry is his proudest
,tchievement. Young is probably best known for
his advocacy of the 19sus defense buildup.
314
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Though Young supported nearly all of Presi-
dent Reagan's individual defense initiatives, his
seriousness and his willingness to work with
Democrats on a number of issues ? such as
tactical air power and competition in anti-tank
weapons ? have earned him respect on both
sides of the aisle. Young has even suggested
that his unyielding stance on some issues is just
a strategy to offset the zeal of liberals bent on
cutting defense. "I have become one of those
who is the counterbalance on the right that
makes it possible to compromise in the middle,"
he once said.
A member of the Intelligence Committee
earlier in his House career, Young has contin-
ued to pursue national security issues. He is a
leading House proponent of expanding random
polygraph testing for Defense Department and
federal-contractor employees. Two years after
approving a polygraph test program in the
defense authorization bill. the 100th Congress
approved language to permit annual random
polygraph tests of up to 20.000 employees of the
Defense Department and its contractors.
Young initially faced accusations that his
plan was part of -a hysterical reaction to spy
scandals. But he and other advocates main-
tained that the plan was simply aimed at im-
proving the government's capacity to discover
national security breaches, and he brushed off
questions about the reliability of the so-called
lie detector. "Give our country the tools to
battle the spies and the potential spies. the
traitors and the potential traitors." Young said.
While the national security applications of
polygraph testing have gained widespread sup-
port, Young's enthusiasm ftir testing in the
private secttlr has never caught on. In 1986 and
1987, the House passed legislation prohibiting
most private employer, from requiring 01111)1 I'
ees and job applicants to take lie-detector tests.
I iring both debates. Young, amendments to
permit testing under certain guideline, were
defeated.
During his tenure ,.0 hitelligenet-,
charted an independerti 11111r-t? Ili) 'little It1;11
ters. He supported 14, ;lid ;11111.,,,immi
nprlassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
C. W. Bill Young, R-Flo.
Florida 8
The modern era of Florida politics be-
in this district a little over three de-
cades ago, and the 8th is still a good sign-
post of political change statewide.
In 1954. this district made William C.
Cramer the state's first Republican House
member of the 20th century. Cramer owed
election to the influence of conservative
retirees. In subsequent years, other Repub-
lican candidates prospered as the retirees'
influence expanded elsewhere in Florida.
Today, the retirees are still crucial in
the politics of the 8th, but no candidate can
aftOrd to ignore the growing numbers of
young people drawn by its steadily diversi-
fying economy. The young newcomers, like
their peers flooding into other parts of
Florida, are in some ways more conserve-
ive. which is good news for the GOP here.
Not too long ago, St. Petersburg was
as almost exclusively a retirement
;iaven. The retirees who settled there ?
many of them storekeepers, office workers
mid civil servants from the small-town Mid-
- brought their Republican prefer-
ences to Florida with them. The economy
was mostly service oriented, geared to the
needs of elderly residents and tourists. The
morning rush hour saw many younger work-
ers from St. Petersburg driving to jobs in
Tampa, which provided employment in a
greater variety of fields and a faster pace of
West ?
St. Petersburg
life than in St. Pete. where the Shuffle-
board Hall of Fame is a big attraction.
Hut during the last decade, St. Peters-
burg sought to broaden its economic base
by stressing that it offers a good climate for
business investment. Now. St. Petersburg
and Pinellas County firms such as Honey-
well, Paradyne, E-Systems and General
Electric are busy with research, develop-
ment, production and marketing of comput-
ers, communications equipment and other
high-technology items. A number of the
major employers and subcontractors are en-
gaged in defense-related work.
? The median age of the Pinellas County
population has dropped because so many
young people attracted to good-paying jobs
have moved into the area. Democrats are
still competitive in some elections in the
8th, partly because many retirees identify
the party as the founder and protector of
Social Security. But Republicans and Dem-
ocrats are at near-parity in the number of
registered voters in Pinellas County. and in
practice, many of the registered Democrats
vote Republican, especially at the national
level.
Population: 512.909. White 463,124(90%). Black
44,983 (9%), Other 3,161 (1%). Spanish origin 7,616
(2%). 18 and over 413.853(81%), 65 and over 141,405
(28%). Median age: 45.
insurgents, including the Nicaraguan
? .!itraN. and defended the CIA's successful at-
.::pt to exempt certain operational files from
Freedom of Information Act requests. But he
critical of the agency following disclosures
? he CIA role in helping elect Salvadoran
i'r,.sident Jos?apoleon Duarte. "The CIA is
. the place to run political campaigns,"
).ung declared. He said he was bothered by the
.1.A's arrogance in refusing to keep Congress
ormed.
Young also plays a role in a number of
closer to home. Together with Florida
ie:nocrat William Lehman, Young led the
? i.,arize in the Appropriations Committee
;1,ainst lifting an existing moratorium on off-
-Mire oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. When
amendment challenging the drilling ban was
!tered. the committee turned it back.
Young. who notes that his St. Petersburg-
r,-ed district .contains more Social Security
..cipients than any other, goes to considerable
lis to help them. Just before the House
ted a rule that would have permitted eon-
-::.!.?ration of the long-term home health-care
bill, Young implored his colleagues to vote for
the measure. "We talk about the costs. and who
will pay for it," he said. "Do not forget these
folks who .are older Americans today are the
very ones who... created things in .our society,
in our economy: they have an outstanding
record of service to America." Young was one of
just 24 Republicans to vote for the rule on the
long-term home health-care bill, which went
down to a lopsided defeat.
In 1985, he proposed a bill to prohibit
employers from setting any mandatory retire-
ment age; a similar measure became law in
1986. A member of the Appropriations subcom-
mittee that sets spending levels for the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services, he has
called for more expeditious health-care pay-
ments to Medicare recipients, and has proposed
legislation guaranteeing that the cost-of-living
adjustments for Social Security beneficiaries
could mit be cut back or eliminated.
At Home: A high-school dropout from a
Pennsylvania mining town. Young worked his
way to success in the insurance business before
going into politics in 1960. Ten years later, he
315
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13 : CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6
'
C. W. Bill Young; R-Flo.
inh,rited Hiirida's most dependable Republi-
can seat trio Rep. William C. Cramer. who left
it xlonht- ran for the U.S. Senate in 197u.
Young had known Cramer a long time. He
had met the congressman at a Rotary Club
barbecue in 1955. worked in his 1956 campaign
and was hired as Cramer's district aide in 1957.
In 1960 the Pinellas County GOP organization
urged Young to challenge a veteran Democratic
state senator. He won, and became the only
Republican in the state Senate. By 1967. there
were 20 others, and Young was minority leader.
When Cramer announced for the Senate in
.1970. there was little question who would re-
place him. Young won 76 percent of the pri-
mary vote and 67 percent in the general elec-
tion. Since then it has been even easier.
During the 1980s, Young has drawn Demo-
cratic opposition only twice. In 1984, he won 80
I ercent against Democrat Robert Kent. a for.
mei; Sunshine Skyway toll collector. Kent. a
Yugoslavian jmigre and frequent congressional
candidate from Indiana in the 1960s. changed
his name from Ivan liorunek before running
against Young. but the strategy failed to
broaden his appeal. In 1988, Young got more
than 70 percent of the vote against Democrat C.
Bette Wimbish. a former St. Petersburg City
Council president.
When prominent Republicans were looking
for established politicians to challenge Demo-
cratic Gov. Bob Graham and Sen. Lawton
Chiles in 1982. both Young and Rep. L. A.
"Skip" Bafalis were intensively courted. Young
pondered a statewide race, then ruled it out, a
decision that seemed wise in retrospect. Bafalis
took a chance and received a dismal 35 percent
against Graham.
Committee
Appropriations (6th of 22 Republicans)
Defense: Labor. Health and Human Services. Education and
Related Agencies
Elections
1988 General
C. W. Bill Young (R)
C. Bette Wimbish (Di
1986 General
C. W. Bill Young (R)
Previous Winning Percentages: 1984 (80%)
1980 (100%) 1978 (79%) 1976 (65%)
1972 (76%1 1970 (67%)
169,165
62,539
(73%)
(27%)
Unopposed
1982 (100%)
1974 (76%)
District Vote For President
1984 1980
1988 1976
D 97.452 ,45%) 91,393 (37%) 97.234 (41%) 98.426 (49%)
R 120.065 155%) 153.584 (63%) 124.802 (53%) 100.586 (50%)
12.280 (5%)
1988
Young (R)
Wimbish (Di
1986
Young iR)
316
Campaign Finance
Receipts Expend-
Receipts from PACs itures
S212.972 S109.600 (51%) 5208,320
537.501 S14.001 (37%) 523.655
5214.687 $91.945 (43%) S96,142
Key Votes
1987 ?
Raise speed limit to 65 mph
Approve Gephardt "fair trade" amendment
Ban testing of larger nuclear weapons
Delay "re-flagging" of Kuwaiti tankers
Approve tax-raising deficit-reduction bill
1988
Approve aid to Nicaraguan contras
Enact civil rights restoration bill over Reagan veto
Kill 60-day plant-closing notification measure
Pass omnibus trade bill over Reagan veto
Approve death penalty for drug-related murders
Bar federal funds for abortions in cases of rape and incest
Oppose seven-day waiting period for purchase of handguns
Voting Studies
Presidential Party Conservative
Support Unity Coalition
Year S 0 S 0 S 0
1988 59 36 86 8 97 3
1987 59 36 76 17 84 9
1966 72 26 75 18 84 14
1985 74 25 80 14 87 9
1984 54 38 68 24 85 8
1983 74 23 77 18 87 11
1982 74 16 74t 17t 84 5
1981 72 24 83 12 88 7
t Not eligible for all recorded votes.
Interest Group Ratings
Year ADA ACU AFL-CIO CCUS
1988 10 88 36 79
1987 12 87 6 93
1986 5 95 8 67
1985 5 71 24 76
1984 25 58 15 60
1983 5 96 6 75
1982 10 86 5 80
1981 5 100 7 94
nprlacRifipci in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2013/09/13: CIA-RDP11M01338R000400470094-6