Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell
United States Senator from Kentucky
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1985 Serving with Jim Bunning
Preceded by	Walter Huddleston
22nd United States Senate Minority Leader
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2007
Deputy	Trent Lott (2007) Jon Kyl (2007–)
Preceded by	Harry Reid
28th United States Senate Majority Whip
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Leader	Bill Frist
Preceded by	Harry Reid
Succeeded by	Richard Durbin
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
In office January 6, 1999 – January 3, 2001
Preceded by	John Warner
Succeeded by	Christopher Dodd
In office January 20 – June 6, 2001
Preceded by	Christopher Dodd
Succeeded by	Christopher Dodd
Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics
In office January 4, 1995 – January 7, 1997
Preceded by	Richard Bryan
Succeeded by	Robert C. Smith
Born	February 20, 1942 (1942-02-20) (age 68) Sheffield, Alabama
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Sherrill Redmon (div.) Elaine Chao
Residence	Louisville, Kentucky
Alma mater	University of Louisville (B.A.) University of Kentucky (J.D.)
Profession	Lawyer
Religion	Baptist[1]
Signature
Military service
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1967
Unit	Reserves

Addison Mitchell "Mitch" McConnell, Jr. (born February 20, 1942) is the senior United States Senator from Kentucky. He was chosen by his Republican colleagues as the Minority Leader in November 2006, making him the top-ranking Republican in the 110th Congress, which convened January 3, 2007.^[2] He is a conservative, receiving a perfect score from the American Conservative Union in 2006.^[3] McConnell won re-election in 2008 against Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford.

Early life

McConnell was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama to Julia (née Shockley) and Addison Mitchell McConnell.^[4] McConnell was raised in southern Louisville, Kentucky, where he attended the duPont Manual High School, and in 1964 he graduated with honors from the University of Louisville with a B.A. in political science. He was student body president and a member of the Phi Kappa Tau fraternity. He graduated in 1967 from the University of Kentucky College of Law, where he was elected president of the Student Bar Association.

Military service

McConnell became a member of the 100th Division (Training), U.S. Army Reserve, in Louisville, Kentucky during his final semester of law school, and he reported for his six months of active service, primarily for training, in July 1967. After induction at Fort Knox, Kentucky, McConnell was released early from his active-duty military service in August 1967.^[5] John Cooper, a U.S. Senator from Kentucky (for whom McConnell had interned) wrote a letter in August 1967 to the commanding general at Fort Knox, asking when McConnell would be "cleared" from active duty so as to attend New York University. According to a former campaign manager, McConnell received a medical discharge for optic neuritis (a symptom of multiple sclerosis).^[6]

Early political career

In March 1967, during his final semester of law school, McConnell gained experience on Capitol Hill as an intern under Senator John Sherman Cooper, then later as an assistant to Senator Marlow Cook, and was a Deputy Assistant Attorney General under President Gerald R. Ford. From 1978 until his election to the Senate, he was the Jefferson County Judge/Executive, the top political office in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville.

U.S. Senate tenure

Elections

In 1984, McConnell ran for the U.S. Senate against two-term Democratic incumbent Walter "Dee" Huddleston. The election race wasn't decided until the last returns came in, and McConnell won by a thin margin — only 5,200 votes out of more than 1.8 million votes cast, or just over 0.4 percentage point. McConnell was the only Republican Senate challenger to win that year, despite Ronald Reagan's landslide victory in the presidential election. Part of McConnell's success came from a series of television campaign spots called "Where's Dee", which featured a group of bloodhounds trying to find Huddleston, implying that Huddleston's attendance record in the Senate was less than stellar. It is likely that he was helped by Ronald Reagan's 21-point win in Kentucky that year. His campaign bumper stickers and television ads asked voters to "Switch to Mitch".

In 1990, McConnell faced a tough re-election contest against former Louisville mayor Harvey I. Sloane, winning by 4.5 points. He soundly defeated Steve Beshear in 1996, even as Bill Clinton narrowly carried the state. In keeping with a tradition of humorous and effective television ads in his campaigns, McConnell's campaign ran television ads in 1996 that warned voters to not "Get Besheared" and included images of sheep being sheared. In 2002, he was re-elected with the largest majority by a Republican candidate in Kentucky history. In 2008, McConnell defeated Democratic opponent Bruce Lunsford by 5.8%--one of the closest margins in recent memory for a major party leader.

Leadership

McConnell was chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee during the 1998 and 2000 election cycles; Republicans maintained control of the Senate in both. McConnell was first elected as Majority Whip in the 108th Congress and unanimously re-elected by Republicans in the Senate on November 17, 2004. Sen. Bill Frist, the Majority Leader, did not seek re-election in the 2006 elections. After Republicans lost control of the Senate in November 2006, they elected McConnell to replace Frist as Republican Leader.

Committees

• Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
  • Subcommittee on Rural Revitalization, Conservation, Forestry, and Credit
  • Subcommittee on Domestic and Foreign Marketing, Inspection, and Plant and Animal Health
  • Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition and Family Farms
• Committee on Appropriations
  • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on Defense
  • Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
  • Subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans' Affairs, and Related Agencies
  • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
• Committee on Rules and Administration
• Select Committee on Intelligence (Ex officio)

Political positions

He is widely considered a kingmaker in Kentucky Republican politics.^[7] Although he is considered by many as an ardent conservative, he has distanced himself from the majority in his party by suppoting earmarks and opposing the Flag Desecration Amendment.^[8]

Senator McConnell has supported several gun control measures put forth by Democrats including the 1991 Crime Bill S.1241 (see U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote here) sponsored by then senator Joseph Biden that instituted a national waiting period for handgun purchases as well as a federal ban on semi-automatic firearms.^[9] In 1998, McConnell voted for Barbra Boxer's Trigger Lock Amendment 3230 (see U.S. Senate Roll Call Vote here), an unfunded mandate requiring the purchase of a trigger lock with the sale of each handgun. Firearms dealers who do not comply to force the private transaction are guilty of a federal crime and face revocation of their Federal Firearms License and civil fines up to $10,000 for each omission.

McConnell is also well known for his opposition to campaign finance regulation on First Amendment grounds. He argues that regulations reduce participation in political campaigns and protect incumbents from competition.^[10] He spearheaded the movement against the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (known since 1995 as the "McCain–Feingold bill" and from 1989–1994 as the "Boren–Mitchell bill"), calling it "neither fair, nor balanced, nor constitutional."^[11] His opposition to the bill culminated in the 2003 Supreme Court case McConnell v. Federal Election Commission and the 2009 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

In August 2007 McConnell introduced the Protect America Act of 2007, which allowed the National Security Agency to monitor telephone and electronic communications of suspected terrorists inside and outside the United States without obtaining a warrant.

In 1996, Senator McConnell demanded that President Clinton allow White House aides to testify under oath. On April 1, 2007, Chris Wallace claimed that McConnell's stance on Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testifying under oath in relation to the Dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy was contradictory. Wallace asked, "In 1996, you were saying those White House aides should testify in open hearing. These were White House aides of Bill Clinton, in open hearing under oath. Why shouldn't the same rules apply for the Bush White House and people like Karl Rove?" McConnell replied, "And what I’m telling you is the president's going to make that decision."

Senator McConnell was the writer of the Gas Price Reduction Act. The GPRA calls for more offshore and domestic oil exploration, to try to curb rising gas prices.

On April 21, 2009, McConnell delivered a speech to the Senate criticizing United States President Barack Obama's plans to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.^[12][13] During the speech, he suggested that Obama's closure plans might result in the release of "murderers" into the U.S. He also claimed that the Department of Defense had identified 18 former Guantanamo prisoners who allegedly returned to battle, whom he called "recidivists", and he predicted that the closure of the camp would result in additional former captives returning to the battlefield.

War in Iraq

McConnell voted for the initial War in Iraq, has supported the "troop surge", and opposed a timetable for withdrawal from the country. McConnell remains one of the strongest supporters of the Iraq War, which he considers a central part of the War on Terrorism. He holds the view that the violence in Iraq is perpetrated primarily by al-Qaeda and other international jihadists who would otherwise be engaged in terrorist actions within the United States. In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper on January 10, 2007 (after President Bush's announcement of an escalation in troop levels in Iraq), McConnell claimed that the war in Iraq was a success because it had prevented terrorist attacks in the U.S. since the September 11 attacks. He warned that if the United States withdrew from Iraq, "the terrorists would come after us where we live."

However, regarding the failure of the Iraqi government to make reforms, McConnell said the following on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer: "The Iraqi government is a huge disappointment. Republicans overwhelmingly feel disappointed about the Iraqi government. I read just this week that a significant number of the Iraqi parliament want to vote to ask us to leave. I want to assure you, Wolf, if they vote to ask us to leave, we'll be glad to comply with their request."^[14]

On the June 17, 2007, edition of CBS News' Face the Nation, McConnell said, "Most members of my conference in the Senate believe [that September will be] the critical point to evaluate where we are ... I think everybody anticipates that there's going to be a new strategy in the fall. I find growing support in the Senate among Republicans, and for that matter, some Democrats as well, for the recommendations of the [Baker-Hamilton] Iraq Study Group".^[15][16]

On July 9, 2007, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky at Fort Campbell, speaking to a contingent of troops about to ship out for a 15-month deployment to Iraq, McConnell said, "The majority of the public has decided the Iraq effort is not worth it," he said. "That puts a lot of pressure on Congress to act because public opinion in a democracy is not irrelevant."^[17][18]

In its 2009 report, liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named McConnell one of the 15 most corrupt members of Congress, stating that "Sen. McConnell's ethics issues stem primarily from (1) earmarks he inserted into legislation for clients of his former chief of staff in exchange for campaign contributions and (2) the misuse of his nonprofit McConnell Center for Political Leadership at the University of Louisville."^[19] McConnell was also included in the group's report in 2007 and 2008.^[19]

Fundraising

From 2003 to 2008, among McConnell's top 20 donors have been 5 financial/investment firms: UBS, FMR Corporation (Fidelity Investments), Citigroup, Bank of New York and Merrill Lynch. During his entire political career, the top three industries donating to McConnell have been: Lawyers ($1.5 million), Securities and Investments ($1.5 million), and Health Professionals ($1.4 million).^[20]

In April 2010, while Congress was considering financial reform legislation, a reporter asked McConnell if he was "doing the bidding of the large banks." McConnell has received more money in donations from the "Finance, Insurance and Real Estate" sector than any other sector according to the Center for Responsive Politics.^[20][21] McConnell responded "I'd say that that's inaccurate. You could talk to the community bankers in Kentucky." The Democrats’ plan for financial reform is actually a way to institute "endless taxpayer funded bailouts for big Wall Street banks," says McConnell. McConnell is concerned that the proposed $50 billion, bank-funded fund that would be used to liquidate financial firms that could collapse "would of course immediately signal to everyone that the government is ready to bail out large banks."^[20][21] In McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, the Lexington Herald Leader newspaper ran an opinion page story saying “We have read that the Republicans have a plan for financial reform, but McConnell isn't talking up any solutions, just trashing the other side's ideas with no respect for the truth.^[22]

Electoral history

Elections are shown with a map depicting county-by-county information. McConnell is always shown in red.

Year	% McConnell	Opponent	Party affiliation	% of vote	Map color	County-by-county map
2008	52.9%	Bruce Lunsford	Democrat	47.1%
2002	64.7%	Lois Combs Weinberg	Democrat	35.3%
1996	55.5%	Steve Beshear	Democrat	42.8%
		Dennis L Lacy	Libertarian	0.7%	n/a
		Patricia Jo Metten	Natural Law	0.6%	n/a
		Mac McElroy	U.S. Taxpayers	0.4%	n/a
1990	52.2%	Harvey I. Sloane	Democrat	47.8%
1984	49.9%	Walter Huddleston (incumbent)	Democrat	49.5%
		Dave Welters	Socialist Workers	0.6%	n/a

Personal life

McConnell is a member of the Baptist Church. His first wife was Sherrill Redmon,^[23] who is now director of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Archives at Smith College;^[24] later divorced, they have three daughters, Elly, Claire, and Porter.^[25] His second wife, whom he married in 1993, is Elaine Chao, the former Secretary of Labor under George W. Bush.

References

External links

• Senator Mitch McConnell official U.S. Senate website
• Mitch McConnell For U.S. Senate official campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Current Bills Sponsored at StateSurge.com
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Collected news and commentary from The New York Times
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Candidate information from Our Campaigns

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