Jim Bates

Jim Bates (born July 21, 1941) is a former American politician.

After graduating High School in the Denver area, Bates joined the United States Marine Corps in 1959, and served in the Corps until 1963. Relocating to San Diego, California, Bates became a banker and later a businessman in the aerospace industry.

Bates was elected as a Democrat to the San Diego city council in 1971. While serving he obtained his masters degree from San Diego State University. He was elected chairman of the San Diego board of supervisors in 1974, and held the position until 1982.

Bates resigned from the board to run for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, and was successful in spite of the fact that his district was located in an area with a high number of conservative, military voters. He was re-elected in 1984, 1986, and 1988.

Bates was accused in October of 1988 of making sexual advances toward female members of his staff. Bates scoffed that the accusations were part of a Republican smear campaign, but also apologized for any offence he may have caused to his female staffers. As the story had not developed very far by the time of the election, Bates won his 1988 race. But a year later, the Ethics Committee sent Bates a letter directing him to make formal apologies to all of his staffers who had filed the complaints. Bates lost the 1990 election to Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

Bates attempted to retake his seat in 1992, but was hindered by the fact that the California state legislature had drawn much of his more liberal, urban constituents into a new district, leaving his old district much more conservative than before. Bates lost his party's nomination, and thus far Cunningham, in spite of his own sometimes eccentric behavior, has held the seat since 1992.