Mike Coffman
From Ballotpedia
Mike Coffman (born 1955) is a Republican politician from Colorado. He formerly served as the Colorado Secretary of State and is currently a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
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Early life and career
Coffman was born in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, to Harold and Dorothy Coffman, and is one of five children. His father served in the United States Army at Fort Leonard Wood, and after 1964, at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center in Aurora, Colorado.
In 1972, Coffman enlisted in the U.S. Army, and was assigned to a mechanized infantry battalion. The following year, he earned a high school diploma through an Army program. Leaving active duty in 1974, he entered the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He also studied at Vaishnav College in Chennai, India, and the University of Veracruz in Mexico for a year. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado, Coffman transferred from the Army Reserve to the United States Marine Corps, becoming an infantry officer. In 1983, he transferred from active duty to the Marine Reserves. That same year, he created an Aurora, Colorado-based property management firm, serving as senior shareholder until 2000.
Political career
Coffman began his political career serving as a member of the Colorado House of Representatives from 1989 to 1995. Shortly after winning reelection in 1990, he took an unpaid leave-of-absence from the State House during his active duty service in the Persian Gulf War, during which he saw combat as a light armored infantry officer. In 1994, he retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, after 20 years of combined service to the Army, Army Reserve, Marines, and Marine Reserve. That same year, he was also elected to the Colorado State Senate, where he served as Chairman of the Finance Committee.
In 1998, Coffman was elected as State Treasurer of Colorado. He resigned from that post in 2005 in order to resume his career in the U.S. Marines, and serve in the Iraq War, where he helped support the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, which oversaw two national elections, and helped establish interim local governments in the Western Euphrates Valley. Following completion of his tour-of-duty in Iraq in 2006, he was elected to his current post, as Colorado Secretary of State.
Coffman won the U.S. House seat vacated by Republican Tom Tancredo in 2008. His wife, Cynthia Coffman is currently Chief Deputy Attorney General in the office of Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, and was previously Chief Counsel in the office of then-Governor Bill Owens.
Portions of this article were adapted from Wikipedia.
References
External links
- Mike Coffman for Congress 2008 Official campaign website
