Bill Owens (congressman)
| Bill Owens | |
|---|---|
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| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 21st district |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2013 |
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| Preceded by | Paul Tonko |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 23rd district |
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| In office November 3, 2009 – January 3, 2013 |
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| Preceded by | John M. McHugh |
| Succeeded by | Tom Reed |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 20, 1949 Brooklyn, New York |
| Political party | Registered independent (1971–2009) Democratic (2009–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Owens |
| Children | Three |
| Residence | Plattsburgh, New York |
| Alma mater | Manhattan College (B.B.A.) Fordham University School of Law (J.D.) |
| Profession | Lawyer, Businessperson |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Website | Congressman Bill Owens |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Air Force |
| Rank | Captain |
William Lewis “Bill” Owens (born January 20, 1949) is the U.S. Representative for New York's 21st congressional district, a post he has held since 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, the state's largest and most rural, includes most of the North Country, as well as the northern suburbs of Syracuse.
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Early life, education, and military service [edit]
Born in Brooklyn to Lewis Owens and Alice Stanton Owens,[1] Owens was raised in Mineola, New York. After graduating from Chaminade High School, where he was a classmate of conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was stationed at Plattsburgh Air Force Base. He returned to the North Country and has lived there for over 30 years after serving as a United States Air Force captain.
Owens is a 1971 summa cum laude graduate of Manhattan College with a degree in business administration and a 1974 top-half graduate of Fordham University School of Law.
Law career [edit]
Before coming to Congress, Owens was a managing partner at Stafford, Owens, Piller, Murnane & Trombley, where he specialized in business law, international law, and estate and tax law.[2] He is also an adjunct professor in business law at State University of New York at Plattsburgh. In 2004, he was appointed by Governor George Pataki to the College Council at that university.[3] He served as the host for Business Affairs[4][5] on WCFE-TV, a PBS television station in Plattsburgh. According to financial disclosure forms filed when he ran for Congress, Owens made $751,000 in 2008, mostly from his law practice.[6]
When the Plattsburgh Air Force Base closed in 1995, Owens helped create and worked for the Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation (formerly the Plattsburgh Inter-municipal Development Council), which recruited private companies to reuse the space. The base is now home to companies such as Bombardier Inc., a passenger railway car maker. Plattsburgh Airbase Redevelopment Corporation attests that more than 2,000 jobs were created at the site since the military left.[7]
U.S. House of Representatives [edit]
Elections [edit]
- 2009
On August 10, 2009, the Democratic Party of New York's 23rd congressional district chose Owens to run in a special election to fill the House seat vacated by the incumbent Republican John McHugh, who had resigned to take a post as the Secretary of the Army.[8] Because he was a registered independent at the time, Owens had to obtain the signatures of all 11 Democratic county chairs in the district to allow him to run as a Democrat.[9]
Originally, Owens faced Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman, an accountant from Lake Placid who was running as a third party candidate on the single ballot line of the Conservative Party of New York after failing to also get the Republican Party nomination. “The race,” wrote Valerie Bauman of the Associated Press, “received national attention, with some calling it a referendum on Obama and others saying it could help Republicans focus their message to attract more people to the party.” Bauman said that “Despite the fervor that surrounded Hoffman in the final week of the campaign, Owens managed to appeal to the voters with his talk of job creation and the need for more federal support for Fort Drum (an army base in the district) and farmers.”[10] Scozzafava was a social liberal, and high-profile conservatives such as Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Malkin threw their support behind Hoffman, who enjoyed Tea Party support. Under pressure from conservative elements in her party, who saw “Doug Hoffman as the man who would save them,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle, Scozzafava dropped out of the race on October 31, the weekend before the election.[11] Hoffman became Owens's sole opponent when Scozzafava dropped out of the race on October 31. The Watertown Daily Times, which had originally endorsed Scozzafava, switched its endorsement to Owens on November 1.[12] Later on November 1, Scozzafava endorsed Owens. In the special election, Owens won 49 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Hoffman and 6 percent for Scozzafava. Owens was sworn in on November 6, 2009. He became the first Democrat to represent what is now the 23rd since 1873.
- 2010
Owens almost immediately announced that he would run for a full term in 2010. He campaigned largely on “creating jobs throughout his district, attracting foreign manufacturers, taking care of veterans, and ensuring that Fort Drum (an Army installation located in the district) is preserved.” Owens won his re-election bid with a second consecutive plurality of 47.5% of the vote against Republican and Independence nominee Matthew A. Doheny and Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman, becoming the first Democrat to win a full term in the North Country district in 138 years.
The election was one of the ten closest Congressional races that year.[13]
- 2012
Owens ran for reelection in 2012 in the renumbered 21st District. He faced a rematch against Doheny and was elected to a second full term, albeit narrowly.[14]
Tenure [edit]
During his campaign, Owens said he would focus on creating jobs throughout his district, attracting foreign manufacturers, taking care of veterans, and ensuring that Fort Drum is preserved.[9][15] He has called for deeper federal budget cuts (including 3% cuts across the board for federal agencies), co-sponsored the Budget Process Improvement Act of 2011, and said that the Bush-era tax cuts need to be allowed to expire for people earning over $500,000. Owens is the second thriftiest member of Congress, with staff expenses of $713,969.[16]
As a congressman, Owens first authored piece of legislation was the [17] Rural Jobs Tax Credit Act, a bill that, if passed, would create a 15% tax incentive in 2010 for businesses that hire or expand their payroll in rural areas, and a 10% tax incentive for firms that do the same in 2011.
On December 14, 2011, Marc Heller reported that Sen. Claire McCaskill had accused Owens and other members of the House Armed Services Committee “of loading up an annual defense bill with pork-barrel projects despite a congressional ban on home-state 'earmarks.'” Owens's earmarks “included construction at Fort Drum and $500,000 intended for the Fort Drum Regional Health Planning Organization.”[18]
- Gay rights
In August 2009, Owens stated that supported civil unions but opposed same-sex marriage and federal action on marriage, which he called a "states rights issue".[9] In July 2011, after the New York State legislature passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in New York, Owens became a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act.[19]
- Labor
He supports the Employee Free Choice Act.[20]
- Health Care
Owens voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act on November 7, 2009.[21] He voted against the Stupak Amendment which proposed to restrict abortion funding in the federal health insurance exchanges.[22] He voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on March 21, 2010, and for the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 to incorporate certain agreed-upon changes with the Senate.[23][24]
- Internet policy
In 2011, Rep. Owens became a co-sponsor of Bill H.R.3261 otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act.[25]
Committee assignments [edit]
- United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations
- United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense
- United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Source: House Appropriations Committee
Caucus memberships [edit]
- Congressional Biomass Caucus
- Congressional Center Aisle Caucus
- Congressional Northern Border Caucus (Co-Chair)
- International Conservation Caucus
- Sportsmen's Caucus
Personal life [edit]
Owens and his wife Jane have three children and four grandchildren. Jane was an early childhood education teacher and is currently the Director of Education and Outreach for Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh.[26] He is a Roman Catholic.
References [edit]
- ^ "Alice S. Owens". Press-Republican. June 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "William L. Owens, Esq.". Archived from the original on October 18, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "William Owens Appointed to College Council". State University of New York at Plattsburgh. October 22, 2004. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Mountain Lake PBS – Public television serving New York, Vermont, Quebec and Ontario". Mountainlake.org. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ "Owens throws hat into ring » Local News". Press-Republican. July 23, 2009. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ Vielkind, Jimmy (October 6, 2009). "Owens' Financial Disclosure". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ "Owens points to others to explain his jobs-creation claim". Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ Weiner, Mark (August 10, 2009). "Democrats nominate Bill Owens to run for Rep. John McHugh's seat in Congress". The Post-Standard. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ a b c Vielkind, Jimmy (August 11, 2009). "Meet Bill Owens, a DCCC-Approved Non-Democrat for the House". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on November 06 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ Bauman, Valerie (November 4, 2009). "NY 23 Election Results: Bill Owens Beats Doug Hoffman". Huffington Post.
- ^ limbaugh/ "Election results". SF gate.
- ^ "A changed race: Owens is best-equipped to represent NNY". Watertown Daily Times. November 1, 2009. Archived from the original on November 04 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-03.
- ^ "$200,000 Attacking Owens". North County Now. December 29, 2011.
- ^ http://pressrepublican.com/0100_news/x1499660430/Owens-wins-despite-losing-eight-of-12-counties
- ^ "Local Lawyer Nominated For U.S. House". WPTZ. August 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ b79b-11e0-914b-001cc4c03286.html "Frelinghuysen’s staff most frugal". The Bernardsville News. August 19, 2011.
- ^ "H.R.4565: Rural Jobs Tax Credit Act of 2010 – U.S. Congress". OpenCongress. January 13, 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ "Senator Accuses Owens Of PorkBarrel Projects". The Journal. December 14, 2011.
- ^ "HR 1116: Respect for Marriage Act". GovTrack.us. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- ^ Vielkind, Jimmy (August 14, 2009). "Why Labor Might Leave the Democrat to His Own Devices in NY-23". The New York Observer. Retrieved 2009-11-05.
- ^ FINAL VOTE RESULTS FOR ROLL CALL 887
- ^ "Owens votes "no" on Stupak-Pitts amendment, "yes" on health care bill". Watertown Daily Times. Retrieved 2010-07-12.
- ^ http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll165.xml
- ^ http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll167.xml
- ^ Bill H.R.3261; GovTrack.us;
- ^ "Executive Staff". Mountain Lake PBS. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
External links [edit]
- Congressman Bill Owens official U.S. House site
- Bill Owens for Congress official campaign site
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
- Congressional profile at GovTrack
- Congressional profile at OpenCongress
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Financial information (federal office) at OpenSecrets.org
- Staff salaries, trips and personal finance (federal office) at LegiStorm.com
- Issue positions and quotes at On the Issues
- Voting record at The Washington Post
- Appearances on C-SPAN programs
- Collected news and commentary at The New York Times
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John M. McHugh |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 23rd congressional district 2009–present |
Succeeded by Tom Reed |
| Preceded by Paul Tonko |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 21st congressional district 2013–present |
Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by John Garamendi D-California |
United States Representatives by seniority 267th |
Succeeded by Ted Deutch D-Florida |
- 1949 births
- American political candidates
- Businesspeople from New York
- Fordham University School of Law alumni
- Living people
- Manhattan College alumni
- Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York
- New York Democrats
- New York lawyers
- People from Brooklyn
- People from Clinton County, New York
- People from North Hempstead, New York
- State University of New York at Plattsburgh faculty
