Reuters: Politics: Ex-Giffords aide Barber sworn in to U.S. House

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Ex-Giffords aide Barber sworn in to U.S. House Jun 19th 2012, 19:17 By Lily Kuo WASHINGTON | Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:17pm EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ron Barber, a former aide to Gabrielle Giffords who was wounded along with her in a deadly shooting last year, was sworn in on Tuesday in the U.S. House of Representatives to take the seat for Arizona she vacated to focus on her recovery from a gunshot wound to the head. Barber, a 66-year-old Tucson Democrat, won a special election last week to succeed his one-time boss, who retired in January from her position representing a southern Arizona district. "I am very much looking forward to being able to carry the concerns of the people of Southern Arizona directly to the halls of Congress," Barber said in a statement ahead of a swearing-in ceremony on the floor of the House. Barber was shot in the face and thigh when a gunman opened fire with a semiautomatic pistol in January 2011 on a crowd gathered for an event at which Giffords was speaking outside a Tucson-area supermarket. Six people were killed and 13 were wounded, including Giffords and Barber. Barber spent months in physical therapy. He told Reuters last week that he had been "energized" by the campaign, and had been walking without a cane for the past two months. In the special election, Barber was boosted by an endorsement from Giffords, whose popularity and political stature climbed as she soldiered on through a difficult recovery. Before the shooting, Giffords was seen as a rising Democratic star in the House. Giffords, 42, has been undergoing rehabilitation in Houston. Barber had served as Gifford's district director and was her handpicked successor. He beat Jesse Kelly, a Tea Party-backed Republican and Iraq war veteran in Arizona's 8th Congressional District, where Republicans outnumber Democrats. Barber faces another contest in November when voters will elect a representative for a full two-year term. Barber focused his campaign on rebuilding the middle class, protecting Medicare and Social Security, bolstering services for veterans and reforming immigration efforts. He has said he wants more agents at the Arizona-Mexico border. Barber has also said he wants the nation to be more energy independent, and Tucson to become the "solar capital of the country." The man charged in the Tucson shooting, Jared Loughner, 23, has pleaded not guilty to 49 criminal offenses, including first-degree murder. He has been declared mentally unfit to stand trial and is undergoing psychiatric treatment at a federal prison hospital in Missouri. (Reporting By Lily Kuo; editing by Cynthia Johnston and Mohammad Zargham) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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