Carolyn B. Maloney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carolyn Maloney
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 14th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1993
Preceded by	S. William Green
Born	February 19, 1946 (1946-02-19) (age 63) Greensboro, North Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Clifton Maloney
Children	Christine Maloney Virginia Maloney
Residence	Manhattan, New York City, New York
Alma mater	Greensboro College
Occupation	United States Congresswoman
Religion	Presbyterian

Carolyn Bosher Maloney (born February 19, 1946) is a New York Democrat serving in the United States House of Representatives for New York's 14th congressional district (map) since 1993. This district, popularly known as the "silk stocking district", includes most of Manhattan's East Side; Astoria and Long Island City in Queens; and Roosevelt Island. She is married to Clifton Maloney, and they have two daughters, Christina and Virginia. They have lived on East 92nd Street in Manhattan for many years. She serves on the board of The Michael Stern Parkinson's Research Foundation and the Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation, both in New York City.

[edit] Early life

Maloney was born in Greensboro, North Carolina and graduated from Greensboro College. In 1970, she visited New York City and decided to stay.

[edit] Political career

Maloney was elected to the New York City Council in 1982 and served as a Councilmember for 10 years. On the Council, she served as the first Chair of the Committee on Contracts, investigating contracts issued by New York City in sludge and other areas. She authored legislation creating the City's Vendex program, which established computerized systems tracking information on City contracts and vendors doing business with the City ^[1]. Maloney also introduced the first measure in New York to recognize domestic partnerships, including those of same-sex couples.^[2] She was the first person to give birth while serving as a City Councilmember.^[3]

In 1992, Maloney was elected to the House of Representatives, narrowly defeating a 15-year incumbent, liberal Republican Bill Green, in a victory considered an upset; Maloney was dramatically outspent. She is the first woman ever to represent the district, and has been re-elected eight times. She faced significant opposition from Republican City Councilman Charles Millard in 1994^[4], the year of a Republican tidal wave in the midterm congressional elections. Maloney defeated Millard handily and hasn't faced serious general election opposition since. The 14th and its predecessors had been one of the few districts in the city where Republicans usually did well; in fact, they held the seat for all but eight of the 56 years between 1937 and Maloney's victory. Following Maloney's win, Republicans continued to hold most of the State Senate, Assembly, and City Council seats on Manhattan's East Side for nearly another decade. Since 2002, the Democrats have dominated the area, and now hold all of the area's seats in the state legislature and City Council.^[5].

In 2004, she faced a potential Democratic primary challenge from Bob Jereski. Jereski opposed the Iraq War while Maloney had initially voted for the resolution to authorize force; she later forcefully renounced the war, including most memorably at a town hall meeting in her district ^[6]with antiwar Congressman John Murtha. However, Jereski didn't qualify because his petition was found to have invalid signatures, leaving him 4 short of the 1250 required. After reports of corruption among military contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan, Maloney later secured passage through the House of her bill to create a database to better monitor all federal contracts^{[7] [8]}.

Maloney received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues. The Drum Major Institute is a left-leaning public policy institute.

In Congress, Maloney serves on the Committee on Financial Services, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and the Joint Economic Committee, and was previously the Chair of the Democratic Task Force on Homeland Security. On December 19, 2006, Maloney was named Vice Chairwoman of the Joint Economic Committee for the 110th Congress. The Chair of the Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit, Maloney introduced the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights in the 110th Congress, a measure that drew praise from some editorial boards and consumer advocates ^[9][10].

Days after voting against cancellation of a $1 billion, 10-year subsidy plan for U.S. sugar farmers within the 2007 U.S. Farm Bill, Maloney hosted a fundraising event that netted $9,500 in contributions from sugar growers and refiners, according to Federal Election Commission records. Maloney's election attorney, Andrew Tulloch, called the timing of the 31 July fundraiser a "pure coincidence." The bill passed the House by a 282-144 vote.^[11] The Sunlight Foundation pointed out that among the 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Maloney has the ninth-highest amount of investment in oil stocks.^[12]

Maloney has been active on issues involving women, children and families.^{[citation needed]} A former Co-Chair of the House Caucus on Women's Issues, she authored and helped secure the enactment into law of a measure to provide federal funding to clear the backlog of rape kits for which evidence had been collected, but never entered into law enforcement DNA databases. It was called "the most important anti-rape legislation ever considered by Congress" by the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network.^[13] Maloney's bill, included in the "Justice for All Act of 2005", was named in honor of Debbie Smith, a rape survivor; the effort to enact it was later the subject of a Lifetime Television movie, A Life Interrupted: The Debbie Smith Story.^[14].

Maloney introduced the “Comprehensive Comparative Study of Vaccinated and Unvaccinated Populations Act of 2007” (H.R. 2832), legislation that would require the National Institute of Health (NIH) to conduct a comprehensive comparative study of vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, which may resolve the heated controversy over the possible link between autism and vaccine components, including thimerosal and aluminum.^[15] The original bill did not pass, but Maloney re-introduced the legislation in 2008.

In 2008, Maloney authored and secured passage through the House of a bill to provide four weeks of paid parental leave to federal employees.^[16] She has also authored and introduced the Family and Medical Leave Inclusion Act that would expand the 1993 Family and Medical Leave Act to include couples in domestic partnerships, civil unions, and same-sex marriages.^[17]

In 2008, Rodale Press published Maloney's book on women's issues, Rumors of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: Why Women's Lives Aren't Getting Any Easier -- and How We Can Make Real Progress for Ourselves and Our Daughters ^[18]. In the book, Maloney argues that progress for women has stalled and offers recommendations for resuming their advance toward full equality ^[19].

Maloney appeared on The Colbert Report in the Better Know a District segment on July 29, 2008, speaking about women's issues.

In December 2008, Maloney hired a public relations firm to help bolster her efforts to be named by Governor David Paterson as Hillary Clinton's successor as a New York Senator. Maloney toured parts of the state, but was overshadowed by Caroline Kennedy's promotional tour for the same seat. Maloney interviewed with the governor for 55 minutes. Public opinion polls placed Maloney's support for the Senate seat in the single digits, trailing the front-runner, state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. On January 23, 2009, Paterson named Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand to the post.^[20]Many Democrats urge Maloney to run against Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010. To that end, Maloney has, at the very least, refused to publicly rule out a run.^[21]On July 1, 2009, an aid to Maloney announced that she is definetly running for the senate seat.^[22]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Domestic Monetary Policy and Technology
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives
  • Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
• Joint Economic Committee (Chairwoman)

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• U.S. Representative Carolyn B. Maloney official U.S. House site
• Carolyn Maloney for Congress official campaign site
• Carolyn B. Maloney at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Carolyn B. Maloney campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Carolyn Maloney issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Carolyn B. Maloney campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Carolyn B. Maloney (NY) profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Carolyn B. Maloney voting record
• Stop Deceptive Advertising for Women’s Services Act text of bill introduced by Maloney
• 504 Democratic Club — Carolyn B. Maloney 2006 congressional screening questionnaire response
• 504 Democratic Club — Carolyn B. Maloney 2008 congressional screening questionnaire response