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Heather A. Wilson (born December 30 1960 ), is a Republican member of the United States House Of Representatives from New Mexico , and the first woman Veteran ever elected to the United States Congress. EARLY LIFE Born in Keene, New Hampshire , Wilson joined the United States Air Force at the age of seventeen, graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1982 . A Rhodes Scholar , she continued her education at Oxford University , earning a Ph.D . in International Relations . CAREER Upon leaving the Air Force in 1989 , Wilson became Director For European Defense Policy And Arms Control on the National Security Council . She founded Keystone International, Inc. in 1991 to promote business development in the United States and Russia . She is the former Secretary of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Family Department. Wilson was elected as a Republican member of the House of Representatives in to replace the late Steven Schiff . She was the first woman to represent New Mexico since Georgia Lusk in the 1940s and was also the first female veteran to be elected to Congress. In the House, she serves on the Energy And Commerce Committee and the Select Committee On Intelligence . In 2004 , Wilson generated some controversy when she denounced CBS and Viacom following Janet Jackson 's halftime performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII in which Jackson Revealed Her Nipple . ("You ''knew'' what you were doing...creates a ''buzz''.") Her specific words, "It was nasty", have become a well known Soundbite . Wilson is a member of The Republican Main Street Partnership and supports Stem-Cell Research. 2004 re-election During Wilson's reelection campaign in 2004, her political opponent Richard Romero ran advertisements which suggested her votes in Congress aided Osama Bin Laden because she had voted against a bill to require the screening of cargo holds. Wilson's campaign countered with an ad stating "Richard Romero opposes death penalty for child molesters who kill their victims". Wilson won the election by a 10% margin over Romero, the same margin of victory she had against Romero in the 2002 election. In her first national campaign, the Republican National Committee provided a great deal of Wilson's campaign funds because local Republicans were unsure about an untested candidate who had so recently moved to New Mexico from out-of-state. Wilson countered: "I'm a mail-order bride. I've now lived in New Mexico longer than I've lived anywhere else." Contributors to Wilson include former House majority leader Tom DeLay 's Political Action Committee ARMPAC , convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff (along with 200 other members of Congress), and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld . Wilson received the fourth largest amount of money from former House Majority Leader DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Wilson has returned $10,000 of the $46,959 she received from ARMPAC, though Democrats have called on her to return all of the money. {Link without Title} {Link without Title} NSA Warantless Domestic Surveillance On February 7, 2006 Heather Wilson broke ranks with President Bush and Congressional Republicans when she called for a full congressional inquiry into the NSA Warrantless Surveillance . Eric Lichtblau of '' The New York Times '' suggested that "the congresswoman's discomfort with the operation appears to reflect deepening fissures among Republicans over the program's legal basis and political liabilities" {Link without Title} Wilson's appeal for more oversight came nearly two months after existence of the citizen spying program first became publicly known. Some believe that her late outcry became politically necessary due to the increased heat coming from Wilson's first formidable election opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid . In the days before Wilson spoke up, Madrid's campaign released both a fund-raising report showing Madrid had out raised Wilson in the previous financial quarter and a poll putting the two candidates in a statistical tie. {Link without Title} {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS
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