Steve Israel

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For the football player, see Steve Israel (American football). For the American fraudster, see Samuel Israel III.
 This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (November 2010)
Steve Israel
Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2011
Preceded by Chris Van Hollen
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 2nd district
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 3, 2001
Preceded by Rick Lazio
Member of the Huntington Town Board
In office
1993–2001
Personal details
Born May 30, 1958 (1958-05-30) (age 53)
New York City, New York
Political party Democratic
Spouse(s) Marlene Budd Israel
Residence Huntington, New York
Alma mater George Washington University
Occupation Public relations executive, political assistant
Religion Jewish[1][2][3]

Steve J. Israel (born May 30, 1958) is the U.S. Representative for New York's 2nd congressional district, serving since 2001. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is located on Long Island and includes the towns of Huntington, Babylon, Islip, and Smithtown in Suffolk County, part of the town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, and the communities of Huntington, Dix Hills, Melville, Northport, Commack, Brentwood, Central Islip, Bay Shore, Deer Park, North Amityville, and Wyandanch. Israel was tapped by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to head the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for the 2012 election cycle, which will make Israel the 5th highest ranking Democrat in the leadership.

Contents

[edit] Early life, education and career

Israel was born in Brooklyn and graduated from Nassau Community College and George Washington University. He was elected to the town board in Huntington, New York in 1993.

[edit] U.S. House of Representatives

[edit] Committee assignments

[edit] Party leadership

  • House Democratic Caucus
    • Assistant Democratic Whip
    • Chair, House Democratic Caucus Task Force On Defense and the Military
    • Co-chair, House Democratic Study Group on National Security Policy

[edit] Caucus membership

  • Co-chair and founder of the House Center Aisle Caucus
  • Co-chair, House Cancer Caucus
  • Co-chair, Long Island Sound Caucus

[edit] Tenure

In his first term, Israel voted to authorize George W. Bush to use military force against Iraq, even though over 60% of his Democratic colleagues in the House voted against the bill.[4]

In his second term, Israel was tapped for a leadership position as Assistant Whip. He is one of two New York members of Congress to serve on the House Armed Services Committee. He also serves on the House Financial Services Committee. He is the founder and chair of the Democratic Study Group on National Security, the Congressional center aisle caucus, and co-chairs the bipartisan House Cancer Caucus and the bipartisan Long Island Sound Task Force.

In his third term, Israel was appointed to chair the House Democratic Caucus Task Force on Defense and Military, a group of 15 members of Congress who will outreach to the defense community and advise the House Democratic Leadership on military policy. In 2006, Israel harshly criticized Jimmy Carter for his book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid and at the same time criticized the Palestinian government.[5]

In his fourth term in Congress, Israel was appointed to the Appropriations committee.

Israel supported a study on the feasibility of switching from Tuesday to weekend voting.[6]

[edit] Controversy

Steve Israel was an honorary member of the gala host committee for the J Street Gala Dinner on October 27, 2009. J Street is a controversial nonprofit liberal[7][8][9] political organization founded to lobby the U.S. government to adopt their approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In the weeks leading up to the Gala dinner, American neoconservatives[who?] and those aligned with the Likud, the political party of current Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, criticized Rep. Israel and those supporting J Street. The Weekly Standard blogger Michael Goldfarb called the J Street dinner an "anti-Israel bash."[10] Lindsay Hamilton, Rep. Israel's spokeswoman, told The Jerusalem Post: "It's absurd that this has become a controversy...The congressman agreed to be on the gala host committee. That doesn't mean he agrees with every viewpoint of every speaker at the event."[11][12]

[edit] Political campaigns

After Rick Lazio left his House seat to run for the United States Senate in 2000, Israel was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat. Israel received 48% of the vote, defeating Republican Joan Jonhson, who received 34%, and three independent candidates who received 6% of the vote each.[13]

[edit] Electoral history

New York election law allows for fusion voting, where a candidate can run as a member of multiple parties. In 2000, Israel ran only as a Democrat in his winning bid for Congress, but since 2002 he has run under the Democratic Party, the Independence Party, and the Working Families Party. The pooled vote totals for candidates are listed first, and the split of the votes among the parties they ran as is listed beneath.

New York's 2nd congressional district: Results 2000–2010[14][15][16]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
2000 Steve Israel 90,438 48% Joan B. Johnson 65,880 35% Robert Walsh Right to Life 11,224 6%
Democratic 90,438 Republican 65,880 Richard N. Thompson Conservative 10,824 6%
David A. Bishop 10,266 5%
Independence 7,595
Green 1,404
Working Families 1,267
2002 Steve Israel 85,451 58% Joseph P. Finley 59,117 40% John Keenan Green 1,558 1%
Democratic 75,845 Republican 48,239
Independence 7,632 Conservative 5,772
Working Families 1,974 Right to Life 5,106
2004 Steve Israel 161,593 67% Richard Hoffmann 80,950 33%
Democratic 147,197 Republican 72,953
Independence 9,508 Conservative 7,997
Working Families 4,888
2006 Steve Israel 105,276 70% John W. Bugler 44,212 30%
Democratic 94,100 Republican 37,671
Independence 7,443 Conservative 6,541
Working Families 3,733
2008 Steve Israel 161,279 67% Frank J. Stalzer 79,641 33%
Democratic 143,759 Republican 70,145
Independence 11,900 Conservative 9,496
Working Families 5,620
2010 Steve Israel 94,694 56% John Gomez 72,115 43% Anthony Tolda CST 1,258 1%
Democratic 84,211 Republican 53,747
Independence 6,353 Conservative 13,525
Working Families 4,130
* Blank, void, and write-in candidate ("scattering") notes: In 2000, there were 37,596 BVS votes; in 2002, 14,087; in 2004, 40,937; and in 2006, 14,101. The 2008 results were separated out, and there were 54,163 blank votes; 10 void ballots; and 12 votes cast for write-in candidates. In 2010, 7,104 were blank votes; 93 were void ballots; and thirty were votes cast for write-in candidates.

[edit] Personal life

He lives in Dix Hills with his wife, Marlene Budd, who had served on the Huntington Town board before being elected as a county family court judge in 2005. Israel has two daughters.

[edit] References

  1. ^ National Jewish Democratic Council
  2. ^ Project Vote Smart
  3. ^ Jews in political news: Jack Lew, Steve Israel on the hotseat James Besser, Jewish Week, 11/21/2010
  4. ^ See http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2002/roll455.xml
  5. ^ "– The Jewish Daily Forward". Forward.com. http://www.forward.com/articles/carter-book-slaps-israel-with-%E2%80%98apartheid%E2%80%99-tag/. Retrieved 2010-08-23. [dead link]
  6. ^ "Why Tuesday? Goes To Washington". July 16, 2009. http://www.whytuesday.org/2009/07/16/why-tuesday-goes-to-washington/. 
  7. ^ Abramowitz, Michael (April 15, 2008). "Jewish Liberals to Launch A Counterpoint to AIPAC". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402647.html. Retrieved April 29, 2008. 
  8. ^ Eggen, Dan (April 17, 2009). "Year-Old Liberal Jewish Lobby Has Quickly Made Its Mark". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/16/AR2009041603995.html. Retrieved May 5, 2010. 
  9. ^ Stockton, Farah (February 27, 2010). "Delahunt’s journey to Mideast upended". Boston.com. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2010/02/27/delahunts_journey_to_mideast_upended/. Retrieved September 22, 2010. 
  10. ^ Eggen, Dan (October 25, 2009). "Israel conference to open amid controversy". The Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/24/AR2009102400994.html. Retrieved May 24, 2010. 
  11. ^ "Gala Dinner Honorary Host Committee". J Street. http://www.jstreet.org/page/j-street-gala-dinner-honorary-host-committee. Retrieved 2010-08-23. 
  12. ^ [1][dead link]
  13. ^ http://www.elections.state.ny.us/NYSBOE/elections/2000/wcon2000.pdf
  14. ^ "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/index.html. Retrieved 2008-01-10. 
  15. ^ New York State Board of Elections 2008 Election Results page
  16. ^ New York State Board of Elections 2010 Election Results page

[edit] External links

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United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Rick Lazio		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New York's 2nd congressional district
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Mike Honda
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