Frank Lautenberg
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Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (born January 23, 1924) is a businessman and Democratic Party politician. Now the senior United States Senator from New Jersey, he is in his second stint in office, first serving from 1983 to 2001, and again since 2003.
Early life and career
The son of poor Jewish immigrants (from Poland and Russia), Lautenberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey and served overseas in the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II after graduating high school. Then, financed by the GI Bill, he attended and graduated from Columbia University in 1949 with a degree in economics. He co-founded the successful Automatic Data Processing, Inc. (ADP) and was its president. He was commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from 1978 to 1982.
U.S. Senator
In 1982 he received the Democratic nomination for a US Senate seat from New Jersey for that year's election. The seat had been occupied by Democrat Harrison Williams who resigned on March 11, 1982 after being implicated in the Abscam scandal.
Lautenberg won the election, defeating popular Republican congresswoman Millicent Fenwick. Republican senator Nicholas F. Brady, who had been appointed to replace Williams, resigned on December 27, 1982, allowing Lautenberg to take office several days before the traditional swearing-in of senators, which gave him an edge in seniority over the other freshmen senators. He was reelected in both 1988 and 1994. Lautenberg was a member of the President's Commission on Aviation Security and Terrorism (PCAST) which was set up in September 1989 to review and report on aviation security policy in light of the sabotage of Pan Am Flight 103 on December 21, 1988.
He was again reelected in the Republican landslide year of 1994. He announced his retirement in 2000, and his fellow Democrat and businessman, Jon Corzine, was elected to replace him.
2002 election
Lautenberg unexpectedly returned to politics in 2002, when the other New Jersey senator, Democrat Robert Torricelli, withdrew his candidacy for reelection, because of corruption charges. It was rumored, however, that Lautenberg was the second choice to run, the first choice being former Senator Bill Bradley, who turned it down.
The New Jersey Republican Party challenged the replacement of Torricelli's name on the ballot with Lautenberg's, arguing that it came too late according to state election laws. The ballot name change was upheld by the New Jersey Supreme Court, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case. Lautenberg won the election, thus becoming one of very few people in recent times to return to the Senate after leaving it.
Back in the Senate
Lautenberg is considered to be one of the Senate's most liberal members. He is pro-choice, supports gun control, has introduced many bills increasing penalties for carjacking and car theft, and has criticized the Bush administration on national security issues. He has been very involved in various anti-smoking legislation, as well as airline safety legislation, and is probably best known for being involved with, and authoring some of, the legislation that banned smoking from most commercial airline flights. He also is known for authoring the Ryan White Care Act which provides services to AIDS patients. His name is also associated with the Domestic Violence Offender Gun Ban (sometimes called the Lautenberg Amendment), which prohibits any persons convicted of misdemeanor or felonious domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition.Upon his return to the Senate, Lautenberg was the first U.S. senator to introduce legislation calling for homeland security funds to be distributed solely on the basis of risk and vulnerability.
In 2005, he became a leading voice within the Senate in calling for an investigation into the Bush administration payment of columnists. [Lautenberg Requests All Documents From White House Relating to Discredited "Journalist" James D. Guckert, A.K.A. Jeff Gannon], Lautenberg press release, dated February 10, 2005
When Jon Corzine resigned from the Senate to become Governor of New Jersey, Lautenberg became the Senior Senator, again, in 2006. This also makes him the only person to have been both the junior and senior senator of a state twice.
Lautenberg received an "A" on the liberal Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues[Congress at the Midterm: Their 2005 Middle-Class Record], accessed June 28, 2006.
2008 election
In April 2006, SurveyUSA listed him as having a 43% approval rating and a 43% disapproval rating. [link] A Quinnipiac University poll for January also showed Lautenberg's approval rating at 44% with 34% disapproval, a 10% net approval rating.[link] Another poll by Strategic Vision actually gives him a 50% approval rating.[link]
In February 2006, Lautenberg announced that he intends to run for reelection in 2008, saying that deciding not to run for reelection in 2000 "was among the worst decisions of his life". [link] Later that year he sparked some controversy when in wake of the Dubai Ports World controversy he compared the Emirate of Dubai with "the Devil".[link]
Electoral history
- 2002 Race for U.S. Senate
- *Frank Lautenberg (D), 54%
- *Doug Forrester (R), 44%
- 1994 Race for U.S. Senate
- *Frank Lautenberg (D) (inc.), 50%
- *Chuck Haytaian (R), 47%
- 1988 Race for U.S. Senate
- *Frank Lautenberg (D) (inc.), 54%
- *Pete Dawkins (R), 46%
- 1982 Race for U.S. Senate
- *Frank Lautenberg (D), 51%
- *Millicent Fenwick (R), 48%
See also
References
External links
- [Official Lautenberg Senate Site]
- [Congresspedia article on Frank Lautenberg]
- [record maintained by the Washington Post]
| New Jersey Congressional Delegation currently serving in the United States Congress | |
|---|---|
| Senators : | Frank Lautenberg (D), Robert Menendez (D) |
| Representative(s) : | Dist 1: Robert E. Andrews (D), Dist 2: Frank A. LoBiondo (R), Dist 3: H. James Saxton (R), Dist 4: Christopher H. Smith (R), Dist 5: Scott Garrett (R), Dist 6: Frank Pallone Jr. (D), Dist 7: Michael Ferguson (R), Dist 8: William J. Pascrell Jr. (D), Dist 9: Steven R. Rothman (D), Dist 10: Donald M. Payne (D), Dist 11: Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R), Dist 12: Rush D. Holt Jr. (D), Dist 13: vacant |
|
Current Delegation: AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY | AS DC GU PR VI | |
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