John E. Sweeney

John E. Sweeney (born August 9, 1955) is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of New York, currently representing the state's 20th Congressional district (map) in the United States House of Representatives.

Sweeney was born in Troy, New York and he graduated from the Sage College of Albany in 1981 with a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice and his J.D. from Western New England College School of Law in 1991. Sweeney was the New York State Commissioner of Labor under Governor George Pataki from 1995 to 1997, and served as Executive Director & Chief Counsel of the New York Republican Party from 1992 to 1995.

Sweeney was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998 while living outside the district in the Albany area. However, he did relocate to the district shortly after he won.

Sweeney has three children from his first marriage. He lives in Clifton Park, New York with his second wife. He has been suffering significant health issues been for some time,[1] and is trying to quit smoking. [2]

Congressional career

John Sweeney is classified as a Libertarian Conservative by the non-partisan group On The Issues [3]

In recent months he has attempted to distance himself from his record of supporting the Bush Administration. [4]. He votes in support of the positions of the Christian Coalition 69% of the time.

He opposes gun control. His has voted for prayer in public schools on numerous occasions and the National Education Association gives him only an 18% approval rating.

Sweeney supported human embryonic stem cell research. He voted for allowing federal funding for international abortion groups but has also voted against similar funding [5]

He voted for making it a federal crime to transport minors across state lines for an abortion. His record is 90% anti-choice. [6]

He opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment, but supported a ban on adoptions by gays or other individuals who are not related by blood or marriage (HR 2587).

On economic matters, he supports free trade and tax cuts, as well as social security privatization.

Sweeney also opposes environmental protections [7] and was given a "D" grade by EANY for opposing GE dredging of PCB aka Polychlorinated biphenyl from the Hudson River [8].

In 2001, Sweeney voted against a bill that would require increasing average fuel efficiency standards and offer incentives for alternative fuel vehicles. (Bill HR 4).

Sweeney received an "F" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.

2006 Congressional Race

The filing deadline for major party candidates was July 13, 2006. As of mid-July, Sweeney will face three candidates in the general election on November 7, 2006: Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, Libertarian Eric Sundwall, and Liberal Morris Guller. [9]

Controversies

Role in Florida recount in 2000

During the 2000 election, Sweeney helped to stop the recount in Miami, [10] possibly leading to his nickname from President Bush, "Congressman Kickass." He became a national hero to his party when he led the infamous charge in November 2000 on the Miami-Dade elections commissioners by ordering the pro-Bush troops to "shut it down!" Sweeney's directive inspired the assemblage of GOP Capitol Hill staffers to bang on the election commission's doors, intimidating the commissioners. [11] Sweeney used the words "thugs" to describe the Florida officials involved in the recount. But he said his intent was only to stop the canvassing board's withdrawal from public view., and that his actions were "completely and absolutely legitimate."[12]

January 2001 automobile accident

On the night of January 23, 2001, around 10:00 p.m., Sweeney lost control of his 2001 Jeep Laredo and hit a utility pole on a rural upstate road, shutting down power to the homes of several residents and to the nearby Willard Mountain ski resort, stranding skiers aloft on the chairlifts. Sweeney was not charged or ticketed, and the state trooper on the scene refused the offer by a volunteer-fire-department chief to send a crew to the site to direct traffic (instead, a local resident did this, for an hour and a half, with downed and live electrical wires about). In early February, a local newspaper reported that Sweeney had been in bar before the crash. Witnesses came forward to insist that Sweeney had only one or two glasses of wine. The newspaper noted that Sweeney was not given a sobriety test by the state trooper on the scene. [13]

Wife as fundraiser

On April 11, 2003, Sweeney began paying a company called Creative Consulting for fund-raising The company had been founded a day earlier by Gayle Ford. Between April 2003 and January 2004, Sweeney's campaign paid $42,570 to the firm. Sweeney proposed to Ford in September 2003 [14] and married her in 2004.

Sweeney spokeswoman Melissa Carlson said the congressman considers his wife "his best representative in the district when he's fund-raising." She said Ford, who had no previous fund-raising experience, receives a 10 percent commission on whatever she raises.

Ford also works for Powers & Company, the lobbying firm of former state GOP Chairman William Powers, Sweeney's longtime political ally and onetime boss.[15]

Congressional Winter Challenge

The Winter Challenge was started in 1998 by Sweeney's House predecessor, Gerald Solomon, with the declared purpose of showcasing the Olympic facilities at Lake Placid, New York to congressmen and their staffers in hopes of getting federal funds. In January 2006, Sweeney, his wife, about sixty other people, [16] mostly Sweeney's friends, staffers, and family members, spent a four-day weekend at the facilities, competing against each other in skating, downhill skiing and bobsledding events. The group included Representative Pete Sessions (R-TX) and his wife, and aides to U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), Representative Randy Kuhl (R-NY), and Representative Bart Stupak (D-MI). At least fifteen registered lobbyists also attended, including Pete Card, a former staffer of Sweeney's and the brother of former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, and Lisi Kaufman, a lobbyist for United Technologies Corporation, the sister of Andrew and Pete. [17] [18] [19] The weekend cost the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) $27,500 plus in-kind services it provided plus the costs of operating the Olympic venues for the competition (exact figures for the latter two were unavailable). [20] ORDA is a part of the New York State government. [21].

In the fall of 2005, the House ethics committee warned Sweeney in a letter that he should be careful to let the Olympics groups invite guests to avoid the appearance of an endorsement by the House. [22]

The official invitation for the event read: "While this trip has proven itself to be an enjoyable one for delegation members in the past, it is, nevertheless, an official trip authorized by the House and Senate Ethics Committees . . . intended to provide an opportunity for Members of Congress and Congressional staff to inspect and evaluate the manner in which federal funds have been used to strengthen the area's tourism industry."[23]

Invitations to the event officially come from ORDA and the U.S. Olympic Committee, a nonprofit group chartered by Congress. ORDA says the impetus for the event comes from the U.S. Olympic Committee. The U.S. Olympic Committee said it's really Sweeney's event. [24] Three committees of the NY State Assembly have launched investigations of the Challenge, focusing on whether public money was put to good use. ORDA President Ted Blazer, speaking at one such hearing, said Sweeney’s office helped assemble lists of possible invitees to the event. [25]

In his request to the House ethics committee, Sweeney did not ask about lobbyists.[26] A spokesman for ORDA said he does not know why the lobbyists were invited. [27] Seven of the lobbyists had contributed a total of $12,400 to Sweeney's campaign in 2005, according to a May 15, 2006 article in the Post-Star of Great Falls, NY. [28]

April 2006 fraternity party

On April 27, 2006, the Concordiensis, the newspaper of Union College, reported that Sweeney "appeared at a registered party at Alpha Delta Phi on Friday, April 22. The Congressman came from Geppetto's Bar and was described by witnesses as being inquisitive and engaging, while also acting openly intoxicated." The newspaper further reported [29] :

... witnesses affirm that Mr. Sweeney appeared to have been under the influence of alcohol at the party. One student saw the representative drinking a Keystone Light beer. "He was clearly not in the normal state of mind. He had definitely been drinking, there is no question about it," commented sophomore Kenneth Falcon, who attended the party. Falcon also managed to capture photographs [30] [31] and video footage of the congressman on his digital camera and cellular telephone.

The reporter for the story told the Albany Times Union that Sweeney "was 'very loud and cursing,' and also slurring his words while trying to discuss policy with the students."

Sweeney says he wasn't drunk and wasn't even drinking at the frat party. Sweeney's spokeswoman, Melissa Carlson, said that Sweeney "isn't supposed to be drinking" because he's on medication trying to recover from a recent three-week-long hospitalization for a condition doctors believe to be vasculitis, an inflammation of blood vessels in the brain. "He wasn't drinking," she said. The friend of Sweeney who accompanied him to the party says that Sweeney had only had "a half a glass of wine" before he went over. He added that Sweeney was "absolutely not" inebriated and he "wasn't slurring his words," as the Union College paper reported. [32].

External links

Preceded by Gerald B.H. Solomon	U.S. Representative New York 22nd District 1999–2003	Succeeded by Maurice D. Hinchey
Preceded by Benjamin A. Gilman	U.S. Representative New York 20th District 2003–	Succeeded by Incumbent