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
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Kathy Bishop
Children	Molly Bishop Meghan Bishop
Residence	Southampton, New York
Alma mater	College of the Holy Cross, Long Island University
Occupation	college administrator
Website	U.S. Congressman Tim Bishop

Timothy H. "Tim" Bishop (born June 1, 1950) is a politician from New York and the current Congressman for New York's 1st congressional district, which 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.

Early life, career, and family

Bishop was born on June 1, 1950 in Southampton, New York and graduated with a bachelor's degree from The College of the Holy Cross and a master's degree from Long Island University. Bishop is among the 12th generation of Bishops to live in Southampton. He served as the long-time Provost of Southampton College. Bishop began working at Southampton College in 1973 as an admissions counselor and rose rapidly through the ranks. 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.

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.

Political career

In his first political race in 2002, 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 in 2002 that had a non-incumbent Democrat beating an incumbent Republican.

As of 2007, Bishop serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Committee on Education and Labor and Committee on the Budget. He is Vice Chair of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. Congressman 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.

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

In the 2008 election, 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. Bishop's re-election bid in 2010 is rated as a toss-up according to the Real Clear Politics polling aggregator.

Timothy Bishop cosponsored the bill H.R. 1207 but voted against a motion to return the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform bill to committee and add a complete Audit of the Federal Reserve to the financial reform bill.

Rep. Tim Bishop (at podium)

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Education and Labor
  • Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness
  • Subcommittee on Workforce Protections
• Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
  • Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation
  • Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
  • Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment

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
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Tim Bishop profile