Sherwood Boehlert
Sherwood Boehlert | |
|---|---|
| File:SherwoodBoehlert.jpg | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 24th district | |
| In office 1983–2007 | |
| Preceded by | Donald J. Mitchell |
| Succeeded by | Mike Arcuri |
| Personal details | |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Marianne Willey |
| Residence | New Hartford, New York |
| Alma mater | Utica College |
| Occupation | plant manager, political assistant |
Sherwood Louis Boehlert (born September 28, 1936) is a retired American politician from New York. He represented New York's upstate 24th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 until 2007. Boehlert, a Republican, was considered to be a member of the party's moderate wing.
Background
Boehlert was born in Utica, New York to Elizabeth Monica Champoux and Sherwood Boehlert,[1] and graduated from Utica College. He served two years in the United States Army (1956–1958) and then worked as a manager of public relations for Wyandotte Chemical Company.
After leaving Wyandotte, Boehlert served as Chief of Staff for two upstate Congressmen, Alexander Pirnie and Donald J. Mitchell[2]; following this, he was elected the county executive of Oneida County, New York, serving from 1979 to 1983. After his four-year term as county executive, he ran successfully for Congress in the elections of 1982. He has been reelected to every Congress since then. In 2003, Utica Union Station was renamed in the Congressman's honor.
On March 17, 2006, at a press conference in Utica, New York, Boehlert announced that he would not seek a thirteenth term in office.
Congressional career
Boehlert served on the Science Committee for his entire congressional career. In 2001, he was made the chairman of the committee. In addition, he was the third-ranking member of the Transportation Committee; from 1995 to 2000, he served as the chairman of its Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment. He was also a member of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligenceand served and interim Chairman of the committee in 2004. He was a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership and Christine Todd Whitman's It's My Party Too.
Boehlert is best known for his work on environmental policy. Beginning in the 1980s with the acid rain crisis, Boehlert became a prominent voice in the Republican party for the environment. He was a major contributor to the acid rain provisions of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.
On the Science Committee, Boehlert championed investments in the National Science Foundation, science and math education programs and the Department of Energy's Office of Science. He was one of the first Members of Congress to call for a competitiveness agenda, culminating with a major National Academy of Sciences report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm" on retaining U.S. leadership in science and engineering, as well as the American Competitiveness Initiative introduced by President Bush in 2006.
Recent Activities
Since 2007, Boehlert has served as a co-chair of the National Transportation Policy Project of the Bipartisan Policy Center.
References
- ^ 1
- ^ "Boehlert Begins Plans for Transition; Calls Pawlinga and Eilenberg", The Observer-Dispatch, Utica, New York, p. 1, 1973-11-07
External links
- United States Congress. "Sherwood Boehlert (id: B000586)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Sherwood Boehlert profile, NNDB.
- Interview with Grist Magazine
- Voting record maintained by the Washington Post