Tim Bishop

Tim Bishop
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2003
Preceded by	Felix Grucci
Personal details
Born	(1950-06-01) June 1, 1950 Southampton, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Kathy Bishop
Children	Molly Bishop Meghan Bishop
Residence	Southampton, New York
Alma mater	College of the Holy Cross, Long Island University
Occupation	College Administrator, Politician
Religion	Roman Catholic
Website	U.S. Congressman Tim Bishop

Timothy H. "Tim" Bishop (born June 1, 1950) is the U.S. Representative for New York's 1st congressional district, serving since 2003. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

The district includes most of Central and Eastern Suffolk County, including most of Smithtown, as well as the entirety of the towns of Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southold, Southampton, East Hampton, and Shelter Island. The district encompasses wealthy enclaves such as the Hamptons, middle class suburban towns such as Selden, Centereach and Lake Grove, working-class neighborhoods such as Mastic and Riverhead and rural farming communities such as Mattituck and Jamesport on the North Fork. The distinctive role in local Democratic politics of celebrities who reside in the district is reflected in the fact that Bishop's contributors have included Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, Christie Brinkley, Mel Brooks, Liz Claiborne, Bette Midler, Paul Simon, Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, and Anna Wintour.

Early life, education and career

Bishop is a twelfth-generation resident of Southampton, New York, where he was born on June 1, 1950. He received a bachelor's degree from The College of the Holy Cross and a master's degree from Long Island University. He served as the long-time Provost of Southampton College, where he began working in 1973 as an admissions counselor. During his 29 years at the college, he served in administrative positions touching almost every aspect of college life, from institutional research and planning, to financial aid and enrollment services, student activities, personnel, community relations and fundraising.

Political career

Rep. Tim Bishop (at podium)

Bishop's voting record has been near the center of House Democrats. The GovTrack website calls him a “rank-and-file Democrat,” while the Issues2000 website identifies him as a “populist-leaning liberal.”

He voted for The Affordable Health Care for America Act (HR 3962) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, and voted in 2011 against repealing “Obamacare.”

Bishop also voted for the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act ( TARP), and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (also known as the “stimulus bill”), all of which increased the debt ceiling, and for further measures in 2009 and 2010 which did the same. He also voted for the Budget Control Act of 2011, which provided for further gradual increments in the debt limit.

He has received a rating of 88% from the HRC, indicating a pro-gay-rights stance, and 97% from the NAACP, indicating a pro-affirmative-action stance. His ratings of 100% from NARAL and 0% from the NRLC indicate a pro-choice position. He has been given a 100% score by the LCV, reflecting pro-environment votes, and 100% by SANE, indicating a “pro-peace” record.

On February 3, 2012, a report on an “Occupy Long Island” rally outside Bishop's Patchogue office to protest military legislation quoted a leader of the group as explaining that they were there not to criticize Bishop but rather to seek his support, because “Bishop has been responsive to us.”

Committee assignments

• Committee on Education and the Workforce
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
  • Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment (Ranking Member)

Bishop received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2008 Congressional Scorecard on Middle Class Values on middle-class issues.

Bishop gave leadership to the bipartisan coalition of elected officials and community advocates that saved the 106th Air Rescue Wing located at Gabreski Airport from being shut down by the Pentagon’s base closure commission. He also successfully led the opposition to a plan that would have dumped more than twenty million cubic yards of contaminated dredge waste in the Long Island Sound. He has pushed forward the Democratic Party's efforts to increase college affordability.

Caucus Memberships

• Congressional Arts Caucus

Political campaigns

2002

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2002

In his first political race, Bishop ran as a Democrat against Republican Congressman Felix J. Grucci, Jr. During the campaign, Grucci ran radio ads accusing Bishop of falsifying rape statistics at the college, but his claims were based on articles from a college newspaper that contained numerous inaccuracies. Grucci refused to repudiate the ads, and Bishop won the election by less than 3,000 votes. Bishop's victory was one of only two that year in which a non-incumbent Democrat beat an incumbent Republican.

2004

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2004

Incumbent Tim Bishop beat Republican candidate Bill Manger 56.2%-43.8%

2006

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2006

Incumbent Tim Bishop beat Republican candidate Italo Zanzi 62.2%-37.8%

2008

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2008

Bishop was challenged by the officially endorsed Republican candidate Lee Zeldin, but was re-elected. He endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination for President.^{[citation needed]}.

2010

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2010#District 1*

Bishop was challenged by Republican Randy Altschuler, a local businessman. On election night, Bishop led Altschuler, but after a recheck of the votes, Atschuler appeared to be ahead. However, Bishop won a majority of the absentee ballots and eventually defeated Altschuler by 593 votes. It was the country's last undecided Congressional race in the 2010 election.

2012

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in New York, 2012#District 1*

Bishop was again challenged by Randy Altschuler. Bishop defeated Altschuler by a 52.2%-47.8% margin.

Pay-to-play allegations

In August 2012 it was alleged that Bishop solicited a campaign contribution from hedge fund magnate Eric Semler in return for assistance obtaining some environmental permits. Bishop denies the allegations as "outrageous, unfounded attacks on my character and my family". Semler called the allegations a "nonstory" and said that, "Tim never said anything to me about a donation. I didn’t know he was running for re-election. After the fact, after I got the permit, I did receive a request for a donation. He didn’t tell me, one of his campaign people told me, that he was in a hot race and needed a lot of support. I would love to support a guy like that. There was never a discussion of a contribution while he was trying to help me. He never asked me for money. It was someone with his campaign."

Relationship with Shinnecock First Nation

Tim Bishop has recently developed strong relationship with the Shinnecock native tribe living on the East coast of the Long Island. In his later years in office, he began to support and recognize the rights of the nation by aiding in their attempt for federal recognition, which was granted in 2010. He wrote a letter to Ken Salazar, the Secretary of the Interior, stating that is was "obvious" that this nation existed prior to Long Island records, and that he was offended by the attempts from the Coalition of Connecticut to disqualify the tribe on the grounds that the nation was not authentically independent. The congressmen asked for the Secretary to look into recordings from meetings conducted by Indian affairs, which would clarify the actions of the Native Americans have with their developer. Bishop recognized that the Native American on the Long island coast follow their own customs, rituals and more importantly, elections, which defines them as their own governing body to some respects.

This specific federal recognition grants the tribe the opportunity for developing a casino on their land. Bishop has asked tribe leaders since 2010 to seriously weight the pros and cons of developing a casino on their land (Voice of the nation). However the Wall Street Journal reported that the congressmen openly opposed the development of the casino Tim bishop http://projects.wsj.com/campaign2012/candidates/view/tim-bishop--NY-H. In some respects, Bishop is cautionary with the development, which could potentially develop employment opportunities for Long Islanders, but as currently, it is difficult to confidently claim Bishop's stance on the potential casino development.

Bishop has helped the first nation with receiving federal funding. The tribe recently received 160,000 dollars from the federal government with the support from Bishop, who in January sent a letter to White House budget officials, urging them to financially support the tribe. He stated that is was important for "The Shinnecock nation [to] received the same support traditionally extended to newly-recognized Indian tribes by the federal government". If the Budget goes through,the allocated money will primarily be used for "infrastructure, administration and organizational support as well as training the tribal government in federal policy and procedures, judicial systems and community policing".

Personal life

Bishop is married to Kathryn, founder and director of The Children's School Early Childhood program at Southampton College, and has two daughters, Molly and Meghan.^{[citation needed]}

External links

• U.S. Congressman Tim Bishop official U.S. House site
• Bishop 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
• Profile at SourceWatch

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Felix Grucci	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 1st congressional district 2003–present	Incumbent
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Rob Bishop R-Utah	United States Representatives by seniority 148th	Succeeded by Marsha Blackburn R-Tennessee