Greg Orman

Greg Orman
Personal details
Born	Gregory John Orman (1968-12-02) December 2, 1968 Mankato, Minnesota, U.S.
Political party	Republican (Before 2007) Democratic (2007–2009) Independent (2009–present)
Spouse(s)	Sybil Orman (2013-present)
Alma mater	Princeton University
Website	Campaign website

Gregory John "Greg" Orman (born December 2, 1968) is an American entrepreneur. He ran as an independent to represent Kansas in the United States Senate in the 2014 election, and lost to the incumbent Senator Pat Roberts.

Background

Orman was born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota, the second-oldest of six children. His mother, Darlene Gates, was a registered nurse. When he was three his parents divorced. His father, Tim, moved to Stanley, Kansas and opened a furniture store. He lived with his mother during the school year; during the summers he worked in his father's warehouse. His mother was a Democrat, his father a Republican and Orman admired Ronald Reagan.

Orman graduated from Mankato East Senior High School in 1987. In 1986, he was the national President of the Boys Nation and met President Reagan at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden.

Orman graduated from Princeton University in 1991 with a degree in economics. He was a member of the Princeton College Republicans and worked for George H. W. Bush's presidential campaign in 1988. However, in 1992 he supported independent candidate Ross Perot.

Business career

After graduating, Orman worked for consultancy firm McKinsey & Company before he founded Environmental Light Concepts in 1992, which designs and installs energy-efficient lighting systems for commercial and industrial companies. He built the company into a multimillion-dollar business with over 120 employees in four years, before selling a majority of the company to Kansas City Power and Light in 1996. Orman joined the company was put in charge of KLT Energy Services, a subsidiary. He left the company in 2002. He has since invested in 15 companies, including boxing equipment manufacturer Combat Brands of Kansas. In 2004, Orman co-founded private equity firm Denali Partners LLC.

Orman has professional and personal ties to former Goldman Sachs director Rajat Gupta, and served as his designated representative on the board of New Silk Route, a private equity fund, from April 2013 until March 2014. When Gupta was convicted of insider trading in 2012, Orman said that "He is a friend of mine, he made a huge mistake, and he's paying the price for it. It shocked me like it shocked a lot of people when it came out that he was charged with those things."

Political career

At various times Orman has been registered as a Republican and a Democrat. He has been unaffiliated with a party since 2010. After a debate in 2014 he stated, "I've tried both parties; and, like most Kansans, I've been disappointed."

Orman has made donations to both Democrats and Republican candidates. In 2006, while he was considering running as a Democrat for the Senate, he gave US$1,000 to Harry Reid, and US$4,600 to the 2007 presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Public records also show donations to Dennis Moore, Nancy Boyda and Al Franken.

Orman donated to Republicans Todd Akin in 2006 and gave US$ 2,000 to Scott Brown in 2010, in an effort to block the passage of Obamacare. He opposes the attempts to repeal ACA. Orman said that "I've made contributions to lots of political candidates over time, and I've generally been disappointed with the results."

In 2012 he donated US$25,000 to the independent political organization Americans Elect. According to the Associated Press, given Orman’s net worth of more than US$21 million, his donations to political campaigns of less than US$180,000 since 1997 were "hardly robust".

Orman was briefly a candidate for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 U.S. Senate election in Kansas, but dropped out before the primary, saying "Whenever you run as a candidate in either party, there are certain constituencies that want you to behave and act and believe certain things. As I evaluated the race and looked at the positions I was going to have to take to get the support that was necessary to win, I just didn't feel comfortable taking those positions."

2014 U.S. Senate election

Main article: United States Senate election in Kansas, 2014

Orman was an independent candidate in Kansas's 2014 United States Senate election. The campaign gathered enough signatures to get on the ballot as a candidate for the general election.

He faced incumbent Republican Senator Pat Roberts in the November general election. Orman was the main rival to Roberts after Democrat Chad Taylor dropped out of the race on September 3 over concerns that he and Orman would split votes from Independent and Democratic voters not breaking for Roberts.

The group Traditional Republicans for Common Sense endorsed Orman on September 3, 2014. This group is composed of approximately 70 former Republican elected officials. Jim Yonally, chairman of the group, stated "We believe Greg Orman is the best qualified candidate for the office of United States senator from Kansas", although some other members of the group expressed their support for Roberts following the announcement. During the campaign, Orman did not appear to receive significant support or help from any politicians or organizations, including Democrats. After the election, final fundraising reports showed that groups supporting Orman had received $1.5 million from Senate Majority PAC, run by former advisors to Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid, $1 million from Independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and donations from GOP donors Peter Ackerman, Greg Penner, Jeffrey Binder and John Burbank.

Because the makeup of the U.S. Senate might have been affected if Orman was elected, NBC News said that Orman could be "the most interesting man in politics" in November. If Orman had been victorious, the U.S. Senate would have had three independent senators for the first time in the chamber's history.

Potential caucus affiliation

Due to the close nature of the 2014 Senate elections, Orman could have played the role of kingmaker in choosing the Senate Majority Leader. He proposed to caucus with whichever party held the majority in the Senate, saying that "it's in the best interests of the voters of Kansas that they have a senator in the majority".

In the event that Orman held the tiebreaking vote in the Senate, he stated that he would ask both parties to commit to issues including immigration and tax reform and caucus with whichever agreed. He said in October 2014 that if, after caucusing with one party for four or five months he found that "they're engaged in the same old partisan politics", he would "absolutely" consider caucusing with the other party to give them the majority instead. He explained: "Ultimately, this is about solving problems. This is about the voters of Kansas saying—the status quo doesn't work anymore."

Orman said that since Obama's election, he has moved away from the Democratic Party. He stated that he voted for Obama in 2008 and voted for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012. In 2010 he founded the Common Sense Coalition to promote the voices of "the sensible middle".

Election results

Although Orman led incumbent Roberts in the polls in early November, Roberts defeated Orman 53% to 43%, with the balance going to a third party candidate.

Political positions

According to Kansas Democratic Party Chairwoman Joan Wagnon, Orman and the Democratic Party have similar views in support of certain gun restrictions, reproductive rights, and other matters. Orman has described himself as "a problem solver, not a partisan" and describes his ideology as "fiscally responsible and socially tolerant". He supports "broad tax reform", is concerned about the impact entitlement spending is having on the federal deficit, and agrees with some of the ideas of Republican House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan.

Orman has stated that he supports campaign finance reform, by proposing expansion of campaign finance disclosure rules and contribution restrictions. He also supports a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision.

Orman has declined to indicate whether he would have voted for the Dodd–Frank financial services industry reform bill. He has also declined to indicate a position on whether he would support an increase in the gas tax.

Orman accepts the evidence for man-made climate change. He has declined to indicate a position on whether he would support a cap-and-trade emissions trading system.

Orman, a gun owner himself, supports universal background checks on gun sales. He has not indicated a position on whether he would back an assault-weapons ban.

According to Orman, he would have opposed the Affordable Care Act, but is against repeal of it now. He also has stated he supports maintaining or increasing border patrols to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the US. In addition, he supports a path to citizenship for some of the illegal immigrants already in the country. Orman has declined to take a stance on whether the Keystone Pipeline should be constructed, saying that he doesn't have enough information to make a decision. Orman supports access to abortion.

Orman, a supporter of term limits, has promised to serve no more than two terms.

Personal life

Orman lives in Olathe, Kansas with his wife, Sybil. He moved to Kansas in 1997, where he registered as a Republican at the time.

External links

• Greg Orman for U.S. Senate
• Greg Orman at DMOZ