Vin (John Vincent) Weber was born in Slayton, Minnesota on July 24, 1952. After graduating from Slayton High School he attended the University of Minnesota (1970-1974), where he studied political science. In 1974 he worked on Tom Hagedorn's campaign for Congress and, later, became Representative Hagedorn's press secretary. In 1976 he made an unsuccessful run for a seat in the Minnesota State Senate. Weber was co-publisher of his family's newspaper, The Murray County Herald, from 1976 to 1978. He managed Rudy Boschwitz's 1978 campaign for the U.S. Senate, and later served as Senator Boschwitz's senior Minnesota aide (1979-1980).
Weber was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1980 in what was then Minnesota's Sixth Congressional District. He was returned by the voters five times as the representative from the Second Congressional District, which was created in an early-1980s redistricting and included most of his old Sixth District. Weber's committee assignments included Science and Technology, Small Business, Public Works, Transportation, Budget, and Appropriations.
Weber was associated with a rising group of aggressive young House neo-conservatives (sometimes referred to as the "young turks") that included Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Calling themselves the Conservative Opportunity Society, they were anti-tax, anti-welfare state, and anti-communist and saw themselves as high-tech, futurist, populist, and conservative. They sought to win Republican control of the House of Representatives, and to reshape the post-Reagan Republican Party in their own image.
Weber retired from Congress in 1992 in the wake of the so-called House Bank Scandal. After leaving the House, Weber became a political commentator on national television. In 1993 he helped to start Empower America, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. In January, 1995 Weber joined Clark & Weinstock, a New York-based communications consulting firm.
From the guide to the Congressional Files and Related Papers., 1950-1995 (bulk 1990-1992)., (Minnesota Historical Society)
