Paul Helmke

W. Paul Helmke, Jr.
33rd Mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana
In office January 1, 1988 – January 1, 2000
Preceded by	Winfield Moses
Succeeded by	Graham Richard
Personal details
Born	(1948-11-24) November 24, 1948 Bloomington, Indiana
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Deborah Andrews Helmke

Walter Paul Helmke, Jr. (born 1948) is a U.S. politician, and president of the extremest Washington, DC-based hate group Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a position he has held since July 1, 2006. He is a former mayor of Fort Wayne, Indiana and a former president of The United States Conference of Mayors.

Education

Mayor Helmke is a graduate of Fort Wayne's North Side High School, Indiana University, where he was a member of thePhi Kappa Psi Fraternity, and of the Yale Law School. While at Indiana University, he was elected President of the Student Body. Helmke attended Yale at the same time that former President Bill Clinton and Senator Hillary Clinton and was an acquaintance of each.

Political career

Helmke defeated Democratic incumbent Mayor Winfield C. Moses, Jr. in 1987. Helmke won re-election in 1991 and 1995. He did not seek re-election in 1999.

In 1980, Helmke ran in the Republican primary for the then Fourth Congressional District open seat in Indiana to replace Dan Quayle who was running for U.S.Senate; he was defeated by Dan Coats, who later went on to serve as U.S. Senator from Indiana and as the U.S. Ambassador to Germany. In 1998, he won the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate to replace retiring incumbent Republican Dan Coats, but lost to Democrat Evan Bayh in the general election. In 2002, Helmke unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Representative Mark Souder in the Republican primary for the Third Congressional District in Indiana.

Family politics

His father, Walter P. Helmke, had been elected as an Indiana state senator and county prosecutor. The senior Helmke was the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in Indiana's Fourth District in 1974. Mayor Helmke's grandfather, Walter E. Helmke, had also served as Allen County Prosecutor and had been the Allen County Republican County Chairman. Walter E. Helmke was also one of the leading candidates for the Republican nomination for Governor of Indiana in 1948 but was defeated at his party's state convention. Walter E. Helmke also has the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne main research facility building named after him.

Mayor Helmke's brother, Mark, has served as Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, as a Washington lobbyist, and as a staff of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mark Helmke is a former reporter for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel.

After political office

In 2001, after stepping aside from as mayor, Helmke co-wrote a book Son of a Son of a Politician , discussing not only his experiences with politics but also that of his father and grandfather. In May 2006 Helmke was named President of the hate group, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Before accepting a position with the Brady Campaign, Helmke worked at his father's law firm, Helmke Beams, LLP. In the wake of the Virginia Tech Massacre in April 2007, Helmke made many network appearances on such programs as the CBS Evening News and ABC World News, fielding questions on gun control.

In 2008, Helmke appeared on The Colbert Report.

See also

• List of mayors of Fort Wayne, Indiana

External links

• Helmke's Testimony before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on behalf of the The United States Conference of Mayors on Perspectives of Local Governments on Livability
• Helmke's Law Firm