Topic: Curt Weldon

Wayne Curtis "Curt" Weldon (born July 22, 1947) is an American politician. He served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007, representing the 7th district of Pennsylvania. He was defeated in November 2006 for reelection by Joe Sestak. Weldon was vice-chair of the Armed Services Committee and the House Homeland Security Committee. He was also the co-chair of the Duma-Congress Study Group, the official inter-parliamentary relationship between the United States and Russia. Despite FBI allegations of corruption, in the nearly two years since the '06 elections, no formal charges or allegations have ever been levied against him.

Weldon grew up in a blue-collar family in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of nine children. He attended West Chester University of Pennsylvania and earned a BA in Russian Studies in 1969, making him the first in his family to graduate from college. At West Chester University, Weldon became a brother of Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity. Weldon speaks Russian fluently.

After graduation, Weldon was subject to the draft, with the Vietnam War ongoing. In November 2000, his office said he used student and teaching deferments during the Vietnam era, and had a low number when the draft lottery was reinstated. In July 2006, a Weldon spokesman said that Weldon "wanted to serve, but the military would not take him because of his extremely poor eyesight." The Army's standards for rejection from military duty are not based on poor eyesight alone, however; they allow rejection only if the eyesight cannot be corrected to 20/20 or 20/40 in one eye with glasses, or for certain other narrow reasons.