Patty Murray

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Patty Murray
United States Senator from Washington
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1993 Serving with Maria Cantwell
Preceded by	Brock Adams
Born	October 11, 1950 (1950-10-11) (age 59) Bothell, Washington
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rob Murray
Children	Randy Murray Sara Murray
Residence	Bothell, Washington
Alma mater	Washington State University
Occupation	teacher
Religion	Roman Catholic

Patricia Lynn "Patty" Murray (born October 11, 1950) is a politician from Washington. A Democrat, Murray was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, becoming Washington's first female U.S. senator. She is now the Senate Majority Conference Secretary.^[1] Murray is the third female conference secretary.

Murray was the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2003, and she is now a senior member of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations and the chairwoman of its Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.^[2]

[edit] Life and career

Murray was born in Bothell, Washington to Beverly A. McLaughlin and David L. Johns.^[3] Her father fought in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. Her mother was an accountant.

Murray received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington State University in 1972. She was a preschool teacher for several years and taught at Shoreline Community College from 1984 to 1987.^[4]

As a citizen-lobbyist for environmental and educational issues, she was once told by a state representative^[who?] that she couldn't make a difference because she was just a "mom in tennis shoes." The phrase stuck, and she later used it in her successful campaigns for Shoreline School District Board of Directors (1985–1989), Washington State Senate (1989–1993), and United States Senate (1993— present). Murray was successful in gathering grassroots support to strike down proposed preschool program budget cuts.^[5]

Her 1988 State Senate campaign was successful and she unseated incumbent Republican Bill Kiskadden. She was commended by the Seattle Post Intelligencer.

[edit] Personal life

Murray is one of seven children. Her father earned the Purple Heart during the invasion of Okinawa and became a store owner. Her mother was a homemaker and accountant. Patty is married to Rob Murray and has two grown children, Sara and Randy. Sara is married to Nitin Bhagat.^[6] Murray is a grandmother; Randy and his wife Erin have a son. Patty Murray enjoys fishing, exploring Washington state’s great outdoors and spending time with her family.^[5] Murray is a lifelong resident of Bothell, Washington.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] United States Senate

In 1992, Murray announced her intention to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate following the publication of a series of articles by The Seattle Times alleging that incumbent Democrat Brock Adams had sexually assaulted a number of women.^[7]

Senator Murray at the podium, joined by (left to right), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), launching an interactive website regarding the nomination of Judge John Roberts as the Chief Justice of the United States of America.

When Adams dropped out of the election prior to the primary, Murray defeated Representative Don Bonker to win the Democratic nomination. In the general election she faced Republican Representative Rod Chandler, whom she defeated 54 percent to 46 percent despite being outspent by a wide margin. In 1998 she won reelection against Representative Linda Smith, 58 percent to 42 percent. In 2004 she faced another Republican Representative, George Nethercutt, whom she defeated 55 percent to 43 percent, making her the fourth Washington senator to win three consecutive terms.

On August 2, 2006, the New York Times said, "In 1994, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was said to have engaged in excessive touching of his then-freshman colleague Patty Murray of Washington. Ms. Murray later asked for and received an apology from Mr. Thurmond, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported at the time. Through a spokeswoman, Ms. Murray declined to comment."

On January 30, 2008, Murray endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.^[8]. One month later, the Washington Democratic caucus awarded two-thirds of its delegates to Barack Obama and one-third to Clinton. After Clinton's June 7 concession, Murray switched her endorsement to Obama.^[9]

[edit] Positions or Questions on the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

In October 2002, Murray was one of 21 Democrats in the Senate to vote against the War Authoritization for invading Iraq. Quoted from her Senate speech:

Mr. President, if we do take action in Iraq, there is no doubt that our armed forces will prevail. We will win a war with Iraq decisively, and, God willing, we will win it quickly. But what happens after the war? That will have as big an impact on our future peace and security. Will we be obligated to rebuild Iraq? If so, how? Our economy is reeling, our budget is in deficit, and we have no estimate of the cost of rebuilding. And with whom? As New York Times columnist Tom Friedman points out, there's a retail store mentality that suggests to some — if "you break it, you buy it."

In December 2002, while speaking to students at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Murray made a number of remarks that proved controversial, with one even appearing in a campaign ad by her opponent in 2004. Murray won reelection regardless.^[10] These comments linked Osama bin Laden's popularity around the world to his building of infrastructure, including day care centers, in Muslim countries and the lack of popularity for the U.S. due to it not helping to build infrastructure.^[11]

Conservative pundits were quick to criticize Murray, accusing her of saying bin Laden was a humanitarian and being uninformed as to the nature of the U.S.'s lack of popularity in Muslim countries.^[12] Several local newspapers were quick to come to Murray's defense by saying that even though her comments were over-simplistic and poorly constructed, bin Laden has spent much of his personal fortune to gain influence over local leaders and promote his ideology by making investments, including infrastructure improvement projects, in those countries.^[13]

[edit] Global Trade Exchange

Senator Patty Murray put the controversial intelligence ports-data into the Homeland security budget, alleged, in a case filed with human rights entities, to have led to a covert attack on a U.S. citizen abroad. The attack is considered to have been lawful in the U.S. context, due to immunization of intelligence activities under the Protect America Act of 2007.

[edit] Senate Initiatives or Positions

In May 2006, Murray, along with 38 of 44 Senate Democrats, voted in favor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611).^[14] The bill includes provisions to improve border security, increases fines and other punishments for employers of illegal immigrants, creation of a guest worker program (which includes an almost doubling of the number of H-1B visas,^[15] and creates a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country.^[16] The bill, with support from GOP leadership, passed 62-36.

Murray repeatedly cosponsored legislation to create the Wild Sky Wilderness area in the Washington Cascade Range.^[17] She eventually succeeded, with the bill being signed by President Bush on May 8, 2008.^[18] Murray has also supported legislation to increase the size of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, also in the Washington Cascades.^[19]

Murray opposes the U.S. Air Force's choice of a consortium consisting of Northrop Grumman and Airbus over Boeing, a major employer in Washington, to build the next generation (KC-X) of refueling tankers.^[20] When it was discovered that the Air Force incorrectly calculated the lifetime operating costs of the two planes, a correction that resulted in the Boeing plane having a lower lifetime operating cost, Murray claimed the "process was flawed from the outset and this is further evidence that we need serious answers from the Pentagon before moving forward."^[21]

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
  • Subcommittee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (Chairwoman)
• Committee on Veterans' Affairs
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
  • Subcommittee on Children and Families
  • Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety (Chairwoman)
• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Rules and Administration
• Joint Committee on Printing

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] See also

• Washington United States Senate election, 2004
• United States Senate election in Washington, 2010

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• United States Senator Patty Murray official Senate site

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues

• Patty Murray for U.S. Senate Official campaign website

• New York Times — Patty Murray News collected news and commentary

• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Patty Murray profile

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