Roscoe Gardner Bartlett Jr. (born June 3, 1926) is an American politician who served a member of the United States House of Representative from 1993 to 2013.
At the end of his tenure in Congress, Bartlett was the second-oldest serving member of the House of Representatives, behind fellow Republican Ralph Hall of Texas.
He had intended to be a Seventh-day Adventist minister, but he was considered too young for the ministry after receiving his bachelor's degree at the age of 21.
According to the Frederick News-Post, Bartlett had under-reported property sales by over $1 million since 2004 on his official financial disclosure forms, and made $299,000 in unreported loans in order to sell his daughter's home, over which he exercised power of attorney.
[10] On June 1, 2009, Democrat and Iraq war veteran Andrew Duck formally announced a campaign for Congressman Bartlett's seat.
[14] In 2012, the Federal Election Commission fined Bartlett $5,000 for repeatedly failing to submit accurate campaign finance disclosure reports.
[19] In November 1997, Bartlett was one of eighteen Republicans in the House to co-sponsor a resolution by Bob Barr that sought to launch an impeachment inquiry against President Bill Clinton.
[29] Bartlett, who had previously conducted research on primates in connection with the U.S. space program, joined with Senator Maria Cantwell in introducing the Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act.
[32] Press reports indicate Bartlett was instrumental in arranging House hearings on the dangers of an electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States.
[33] Bartlett is against the Senate bill to fund the United States Postal Service with an additional 33 billion dollars, calling it an "irresponsible bailout"—though he does claim to support "... maintaining next day delivery standards in rural areas that would keep the Cumberland mail processing facility open.
Bartlett has argued that federal revenues from offshore oil and gas production should be invested in developing renewable energies.
[36] At a town hall meeting in September 2012, Bartlett claimed that federal student loans were unconstitutional and that disregarding the Constitution was a "very slippery slope" towards an event like the Holocaust.