Anita Faye Hill (born July 30, 1956) is a professor of social policy, law, and women's studies at Brandeis University at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and a former colleague of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She gained national exposure for testifying at Thomas' 1991 Senate confirmation hearings alleging that her supervisor Thomas had made provocative and harassing sexual statements.

Early career

Anita F. Hill was born in Lone Tree, Oklahoma. She received her undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in 1977 and her Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School in 1980.

Hill was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1980. Hill began her law career as an associate with the Washington, D.C., firm of Wald, Harkrader & Ross. In 1981 she served as counsel to the assistant secretary of the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. From 1982 to 1983, she moved on to serve as assistant to the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Clarence Thomas (see below). Hill became a professor at the O. W. Coburn School of Law at Oral Roberts University, where she actively taught from 1983 to 1986. In 1986, she joined the faculty at the University of Oklahoma College of Law.

Clarence Thomas controversy

In 1981, Hill became an attorney-adviser to Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Department of Education (''ED''). When Thomas became Chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (''EEOC''), Hill went to the EEOC with Thomas and his then-secretary, Diane Holt, to serve as his special assistant. Hill alleges that it was during these two periods (i.e., during her employment at ED and EEOC) that Thomas made sexually provocative statements.

Although Hill was a career employee and therefore had the option of remaining at the Department of Education, she testified that she followed Thomas because, "[t]he work, itself, was interesting, and at that time, it appeared that the sexual overtures . . . had ended." Also, she testified that she wanted to work in the civil-rights field, and that she believed that "at that time the Department of Education, itself, was a dubious venture."

Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States by then-President George H. W. Bush to replace the retiring Justice Thurgood Marshall. On October 11, 1991, Hill was called to testify during the Senate confirmation hearing for Thomas. Hill's allegations against Thomas were made public when information from an FBI interview about the allegations was leaked to the media days before the final Senate vote on his appointment.

Hill's testimony included a wide variety of language that she allegedly was subjected to by Thomas and that she found inappropriate:

He spoke about acts that he had seen in pornographic films involving such matters as women having sex with animals and films showing group sex or rape scenes....On several occasions, Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess....Thomas was drinking a Coke in his office, he got up from the table at which we were working, went over to his desk to get the Coke, looked at the can and asked, "Who has put pubic hair on my Coke?"

Four individuals (Ellen Wells, John W. Carr, Judge Susan Hoerchner, and Joel Paul) testified that Hill had been upset at the time she worked for Thomas about what she had said was sexual harassment by him. Angela Wright, another of Thomas' subordinates, stated that she had not considered the behavior to be sexual harassment, but that others might. She was interviewed by Senate Judiciary Committee staff, but did not testify at the hearings. Wright had been fired by Thomas from the EEOC.

Anita Hill's accusations were viewed suspiciously by Thomas' supporters, partly due to their timing (only revealed during Justice Thomas' confirmation hearings) and the "he said, she said" nature of the discussions made privately between Hill and Thomas. Further cause for suspicion were her actions after the contested events: in addition to following him to the EEOC, after that job concluded she continued personal contact with him, both in public and in private. Anita Hill agreed to take a polygraph test which found that her statements were true. Clarence Thomas refused to take a polygraph test. Thomas made a blanket denial of the accusations, claiming this was a "high-tech lynching". After extensive debate, the U.S. Senate confirmed Thomas by a vote of 52–48.

Effects

Public interest in, and debate over, Hill's testimony is said to have launched modern-day public awareness of the issue of sexual harassment in the United States.

In their Black feminist anthology, ''All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, but Some of Us Are Brave: Black Women's Studies'', Editors Akasha (Gloria T.) Hull, Patricia Bell Scott and Barbara Smith describe Black feminists mobilizing "a remarkable national response to the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas (Supreme Court nomination) in 1991, naming their effort ''African American Women in Defense of Ourselves''.

In October 2010, almost 20 years after the accusations, Virginia Lamp Thomas, Thomas' wife, sought an apology from Hill in an office voicemail left for her. Hill dismissed the request, maintaining "I testified truthfully about my experience and I stand by that testimony." Hill referred the matter to the Brandeis University campus police with a request that the Federal Bureau of Investigation investigate the call.

Books

Doubts about her testimony were furthered by journalist David Brock's claims of Hill's "true motives", which he described in in his 1993 book ''The Real Anita Hill''. However, in 1997 he recanted those claims, describing the book as "character assassination". Brock, who in 2004 founded the progressive media watchdog organization Media Matters for America, apologized to Hill.

In 1998, Anita Hill wrote her autobiography, ''Speaking Truth To Power'':

I see...the faces of these young people, and I see their hearts and that they really do want change, and that they deserve it. They deserve a better society and so that is what motivates me and I think that I can be a part of creating that and having [been] given that chance, I don't want to blow it.

In 2007, Clarence Thomas published his autobiography, ''My Grandfather's Son'', revisiting the Anita Hill controversy. He describes her as touchy and apt to overreact and her work at the EEOC as mediocre. He wrote:

On Sunday morning, courtesy of ''Newsday'', I met for the first time an Anita Hill who bore little resemblance to the woman who had worked for me at EEOC and the Education Department. Somewhere along the line she had been transformed into a conservative, devoutly religious Reagan-administration employee. In fact she was a left-winger who'd never expressed any religious sentiments whatsoever during the time I'd known her, and the only reason why she'd held a job in the Reagan administration was because I'd given it to her.

In an op-ed piece written by Anita Hill, appearing in the ''New York Times'' on October 2, 2007, Hill writes that she "will not stand by silently and allow [Justice Thomas], in his anger, to reinvent me."

Recent career

Hill has provided expert commentary on many national television programs. Hill has been featured on ''Today,'' ''60 Minutes'' and ''Face the Nation''. Hill is also the author of many articles that have been published in ''The New York Times'', ''Newsweek'', and ''Critical Race Feminism''. In addition, she has contributed to many scholarly and legal publications. Hill has been a speaker in the area of law and women's rights.

In 1995, Hill co-edited ''Race, Gender and Power in America'' with Emma Coleman Jordan. She has also "written extensively on international commercial law, bankruptcy, and civil rights".

On October 29, 1996, Hill resigned from the University of Oklahoma College of Law. She obtained a position at the Institute for the Study of Social Change at University of California, Berkeley in January 1997.

In 1997, Hill joined the faculty of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, after time at Brandeis University's Women's Studies Program.

In 2005, Hill was selected as a Fletcher Foundation Fellow.

In 2008, Professor Hill was awarded the Louis P. and Evelyn Smith First Amendment Award by the Ford Hall Forum.

In 2011, Hill joined the plaintiffs' law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC as of counsel to their Civil Rights & Employment Practice group.

Anita Hill also serves on the Board of Trustees for Southern Vermont College which is located in Bennington, Vermont.

References

External links

Faculty profile at Brandeis University

Anita Hill's 2007 op-ed for ''The New York Times'' discussing Thomas' Memoir.

Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Hill, Anita

Category:1956 births Category:African American lawyers Category:American legal scholars Category:Living people Category:Washington, D.C. lawyers Category:American lawyers Category:People from Oklahoma Category:Oklahoma State University alumni Category:Brandeis University faculty Category:Yale Law School alumni Category:Oral Roberts University faculty Category:American female lawyers Category:African American female lawyers fr:Anita Hill

name	Arlen Specter
jr/sr	Senior Senator
state	Pennsylvania
party	Democratic (1951–1965, April 28, 2009–present) Republican (1966 – April 28, 2009)
term start	January 3, 1981
term end	January 3, 2011
preceded	Richard Schweiker
succeeded	Pat Toomey
order2	Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence
term start2	January 3, 1995
term end2	January 3, 1997
preceded2	Dennis DeConcini
succeeded2	Richard Shelby
order3	Chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs
term start3	January 3, 1997
term end3	January 3, 2001
preceded3	Alan Simpson
succeeded3	Jay Rockefeller
term start4	January 20
term end4	June 6, 2001
preceded4	Jay Rockefeller
succeeded4	Jay Rockefeller
term start5	January 3, 2003
term end5	January 3, 2005
preceded5	Jay Rockefeller
succeeded5	Larry Craig
order6	Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary
term start6	January 3, 2005
term end6	January 3, 2007
preceded6	Orrin Hatch
succeeded6	Patrick Leahy
office7	District Attorney of Philadelphia
term start7	1966
term end7	1974
predecessor7	James Crumlish
successor7	Emmitt Fitzpatrick
committees	Appropriations, Judiciary, Veterans' Affairs, Special Committee on Aging
birth date	February 12, 1930
birth place	Wichita, Kansas
occupation	Attorney
residence	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
spouse	Joan Specter
alma mater	University of Pennsylvania (B.S.)Yale University (J.D.)
religion	Judaism
signature	Arlen Specter Signature.svg
branch	United States Air Force
serviceyears	1951–1953
rank	}}

Arlen Specter (born February 12, 1930) is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009. Elected to the Senate in 1980, Specter staked out a spot in the political center.

Specter was born in Wichita, Kansas to a Russian immigrant father and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He later served with the United States Air Force during the Korean War, graduated from Yale Law School, and opened a law firm with Marvin Katz, who would later become a federal judge. Additionally, Specter served as assistant counsel for the Warren Commission investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy and helped devise the "single bullet theory." In 1965, Specter was elected District Attorney of Philadelphia, a position that he would hold until he lost his re-election bid in 1973. In 1980, Specter was elected for the first time to the U.S. Senate for Pennsylvania.

On April 28, 2009, Specter announced that, after 44 years as an elected Republican, he was switching membership to the Democratic Party, On May 18, 2010, Specter was defeated in the Democratic primary by Joe Sestak. He was replaced by current Senator Pat Toomey on January 3, 2011.

In fall 2011, Specter will teach a course at the University of Pennsylvania Law School on the relationship between Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, focusing on separation of powers and the confirmation process.

Early life

Specter was born in Wichita, Kansas, the youngest child of Lillie Shanin (Arlen's son Shanin Specter is named after her), and Harry Specter, who grew up in the Bachkuryne village of Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. Specter claimed in his memoir ''Passion for Truth'' that his father's family was the only Jewish family in the village. The family lived at 940 South Emporia Street in Wichita before moving to Russell, Kansas where he graduated from Russell High School in 1947. He was raised in the Jewish faith in Russell, also the hometown of fellow politician Bob Dole (who graduated Russell High School in 1941). Specter said that his father weighed items from his junkyard on a scale owned by Dole's father Doran Dole (who owned a granary). He said his brother Morton and Dole's brother Kenny were contemporaries and friends.

Specter's father served in the U.S. infantry during World War I, and was badly wounded. During the Great Depression, Specter's father was a fruit peddler, a tailor, and a junkyard owner.

After graduating from Russell High School, Specter studied first at the University of Oklahoma. He transferred to the University of Pennsylvania, majored in International Relations, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1951. Specter said the family moved to Philadelphia when his sister Shirley was of a marriageable age because there were no other Jews in Russell.

During the Korean War, he served stateside in the United States Air Force from 1951 to 1953 and obtained the rank of Second Lieutenant within the Air Force Office of Special Investigations.

Specter graduated from Yale Law School in 1956 and was admitted to the Pennsylvania Bar. That year, he married Joan Levy. They reside in the East Falls section of Philadelphia. They have two sons: Shanin and Steve; and four grandchildren: Silvi, Perri, Lilli, and Hatti.

After graduating from Yale Law School, Specter opened a law practice, Specter & Katz, with the late Marvin Katz, who served as a Federal District Court Judge in Philadelphia until his death in October 2010. Specter became an assistant district attorney under District Attorney James Crumlish, and was a member of the Democratic Party.

Early political career

Warren Commission

At the recommendation of Representative Gerald Ford, he worked for the Warren Commission, investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy. As an assistant counsel for the commission, he authored or co-authored the "single bullet theory," which suggested the non-fatal wounds to Kennedy and wounds to Texas Governor John Connally were caused by the same bullet. This was a crucial assertion for the Warren Commission, since if the two had been wounded by separate bullets within such a short time frame, that would have demonstrated the presence of a second assassin and therefore a conspiracy.

A further investigation by the House Committee on Assassinations in the late 1970s reaffirmed the single bullet theory, though concluded a conspiracy was likely owing to acoustic evidence. Numerous authors have raised doubts over the plausibility of the theory and have concluded a conspiracy was likely, though most conclude Oswald acted alone.

Seeks political office

In 1965, Specter ran for district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, on the Republican ticket as a registered Democrat. He handily beat incumbent Jim Crumlish, and subsequently changed his registration to Republican. Although a supporter of capital punishment, as prosecutor he questioned the fairness of the Pennsylvania death penalty statute in 1972.

In 1967, he was the Republican Party standard bearer, together with City Controller candidate, Tom Gola, in the Philadelphia mayoral campaign against the Democratic incumbent James Tate. One of their slogans was, "We need THESE guys to watch THOSE guys." He served two terms as district attorney for the city of Philadelphia, but was defeated in his bid for a third term in 1973.

In 1976, Specter ran in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate and was defeated by John Heinz. In 1978, he was defeated in the primary for Governor of Pennsylvania by Dick Thornburgh. After several years of private practice with the prestigious Philadelphia law firm Dechert, Price & Rhoads, Specter ran for the Senate in 1980, this time, successfully. He assumed office in January 1981.

Hodgkin's disease

On February 16, 2005, Specter announced that he had been diagnosed with an advanced form of Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer. Despite this, Specter continued working during chemotherapy. He ended treatment on July 22. Senator John Sununu (R-New Hampshire) shaved his head to show solidarity with Specter when he was undergoing chemotherapy and was temporarily bald. On April 15, 2008, he announced his cancer had returned, at a stage "significantly less advanced than his Hodgkin's disease when it was originally diagnosed in 2005." He underwent a second round of chemotherapy, which ended on July 14, 2008.

Senate career

right|thumb|An earlier portrait of SpecterSpecter was first elected to the Senate in 1980. He is the longest-serving Senator in Pennsylvania's history; no one else from the state has been elected to five terms in that body. According to polls by Quinnipiac University, Specter has a higher approval rating among Democrats in Pennsylvania than Republicans, 62–55 respectively.

His opposition to Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork in 1987 is seen as an important factor in the nomination's failure. However, he raised the ire of many feminists with his aggressive questioning of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991, claiming she had committed "flat-out perjury" in her testimony.

In 1998 and 1999, Specter criticized the Republican Party for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Believing that Clinton had not received a fair trial, Specter cited Scots law to render a verdict of "not proven" on Clinton's impeachment. However, his verdict was recorded as "not guilty" in the Senate records.

On October 11, 2002, Arlen Specter voted in favor of H.J.Res.114 authorizing the Iraq War.

In a 2002 PoliticsPA Feature story designating politicians with yearbook superlatives, he was named the "Toughest to Work For." In 2003, the ''Pennsylvania Report,'' a subscription-based political newsletter, described Specter as one of the "vanishing breed of Republican moderates" and described his political stance as "'Pennsylvania first' middle of-the-road politics" even though he was known as an "avid Republican partisan."

Soon after the 2004 election, Specter stepped into the public spotlight as a result of controversial statements about his views of the future of the Supreme Court. At a press conference, he stated that: Activist groups interpreted his comments as warnings to President George W. Bush about the implications of nominating Supreme Court justices who are opposed to the ''Roe v. Wade'' decision. Specter maintained his comments were a prediction, not a warning. He met with many conservative Republican senators, and based on assurances he gave them, he was recommended for the Judiciary Committee's chairmanship in late 2004. He officially assumed that position when the 109th Congress convened on January 4, 2005.

On March 9, 2006, the USA PATRIOT Act was signed into law. It amended the process for interim appointments of U.S. Attorneys, a clause which Specter wrote during his chairmanship of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The change allowed the Bush Administration to appoint interim U.S. attorneys without term limits, and without confirmation by the Senate. The Bush administration used the law to place at least eight interim attorneys into office in 2006. Specter claims that the changes were added by staff member Brett Tolman. For more information, see dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy.

Specter was very critical of Bush's wiretapping of U.S. citizens without warrants. When the story first broke, he called the effort "inappropriate" and "clearly and categorically wrong." He said, he intended to hold hearings into the matter early in 2006, and had Alberto Gonzales appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee to answer for the program (although Specter declined to force Gonzales to testify under oath). On January 15, 2006, Specter mentioned impeachment and criminal prosecution as potential remedies if Bush broke the law, though he downplayed the likelihood of such an outcome.

On April 9, 2006, Specter, speaking on Fox News about the Bush administration's leaking of classified intelligence, said that "The president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people".

However, he voted for the 2008 amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which placed federal electronic searches almost entirely within the executive branch.

During the 2007–2008 National Football League season, Specter wrote to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell concerning the destruction of New England Patriots Spygate tapes, wondering if there was a link between the tapes and their Super Bowl victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. On February 1, 2008, Roger Goodell stated that the tapes were destroyed because "they confirmed what I already knew about the issue." Specter would release a follow up statement: }}

Since 2007, Specter has sponsored legislation to fix a longstanding inequity in American law which shuts out a majority of U.S. Armed Forces service members from equal access to the U.S. Supreme Court. In 2007, Specter cosponsored the Equal Justice for United States Military Personnel Act of 2007 with Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). The bill failed in the 110th Congress, and Specter again cosponsored the measure in the 2009 111th Congress.

In December 2008, Specter was involved in a controversy as a result of telling "Polish jokes" at New York's Rainbow Room while speaking at the annual meeting of the Commonwealth Club.

Specter voted in favor of the Senate's version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 10, 2009; he was one of only three Republicans to break ranks with the party and support the bill, which was favored by President Barack Obama and was unanimously supported by the Democratic senators. As a result of his support, many in the Republican mainstream have begun to set up ads calling for his removal from office. Specter was instrumental in ensuring that the act allocated an additional $10 billion to the National Institutes of Health over the next two years. Since becoming a Democrat in the Senate, Specter has been denied seniority on Senate committees.

In Oct. 2009 Specter called for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, which he supported in 1996.

In Nov. 2009, Specter introduced a bill to require televising U.S. Supreme Court proceedings, and explained "[t]he Supreme Court makes pronouncements on constitutional and federal law that have direct impacts on the rights of Americans. Those rights would be substantially enhanced by televising the oral arguments of the Court so that the public can see and hear the issues presented."

His career in the United States Senate ended on January 3, 2011. He was succeeded by Pat Toomey.

Committee assignments

Specter holds the following committee assignments:

Committee on Appropriations

*Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies

*Subcommittee on Defense

*Subcommittee on Homeland Security

*Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies

*Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

*Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies

Committee on Environment and Public Works

*Subcommittee on Children's Health

*Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health

*Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure

Committee on the Judiciary

*Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights

*Subcommittee on the Constitution

*Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs (Chair)

*Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law

Committee on Veterans' Affairs

Special Committee on Aging

Specter was chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence from 1995, when the Republicans gained control of the Senate, until 1997, when he became chairman of the Committee on Veterans Affairs. He chaired that committee until 2001 and again from 2003 to 2005, during the times the Republicans controlled the Senate. He also chaired the Judiciary Committee from 2005 to 2007.

Campaigns

In 1980, Specter became the Republican nominee for Senate when Republican incumbent Richard Schweiker announced his retirement. He faced the former Mayor of Pittsburgh, Pete Flaherty. Specter won the election by a 2.5% margin. He was later reelected in 1986, 1992, 1998 and 2004, despite 1992 and 1998 being bad years for Republicans. Specter ran for reelection in 2010, for the first time as a Democrat, but was defeated in the Primary.

1996 presidential bid

On March 31, 1995, Specter announced his candidacy for President of the United States, to challenge the incumbent Bill Clinton. He entered the race claiming his party needed a candidate who did not conform to the stereotypical religious conservative image. He was critical of Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson and Ralph Reed, saying all three were far too conservative.

His campaign focused on balancing the federal budget, strict crime laws, and establishing relations with North Korea. His candidacy was not expected to succeed in winning the Republican nomination due to the overwhelmingly large number of social conservatives in the Republican Party. He was, however, able to gain support. Although fellow Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was never overly enthusiastic, he was supportive. Other supportive Republicans were hopeful Specter could trim the party's "far-right fringe." Although his campaign was ultimately unsuccessful at wooing conservatives, it was widely believed he could have had a strong showing among independents. On November 23, 1995, before the start of the primaries, Specter suspended his campaign to endorse Kansas Senator Bob Dole.

2004 campaign

In 2004, Specter faced a challenge in the Republican primary election from conservative Congressman Pat Toomey, whose campaign theme was that Specter was not fiscally conservative enough. The match-up was closely watched nationally, being seen as a symbolic clash between the conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party. However, most of the state and national Republican establishment, including the state's other senator at the time, Rick Santorum closed ranks behind Specter. Specter was strongly supported by President George W. Bush. Specter narrowly avoided a major upset with 51 percent of the primary vote. Once Specter defeated the challenge from the right, he was able to enjoy great support from independents and some Democrats in his race against Hoeffel. Hoeffel also trailed Specter in name recognition, campaign funds and poll results. Although the two minor candidates were seen as more conservative than Specter, they were only able to take four percent of the vote and Specter was easily reelected.

2010 campaign

Specter was up for re-election to the Senate in 2010, and expressed his plans to run again. On March 18, 2009, Specter said that he was not considering running as an independent. He said, "To eliminate any doubt, I am a Republican, and I am running for reelection in 2010 as a Republican on the Republican ticket." Subsequently Specter's 2004 conservative GOP primary challenger, Pat Toomey, announced he will again run for the Republican nomination in the Republican senatorial primary.

However, on April 28, 2009, Specter stated that "As the Republican Party has moved farther and farther to the right, I have found myself increasingly at odds with the Republican philosophy and more in line with the philosophy of the Democratic Party." He said that he was switching party affiliation and would run as a Democrat in the 2010 election. In the same announcement, Specter also said that he had "surveyed the sentiments of the Republican Party in Pennsylvania and public opinion polls, observed other public opinion polls and have found that the prospects for winning a Republican primary are bleak." A March 2009 Quinnipiac poll indicated that Specter trailed his likely primary challenger, Pat Toomey, by 14 percent (41 percent for Toomey, 27 percent for Specter). Additional polling found that 70 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans disapproved of his recent vote in favor of the Stimulus Bill and that 52 percent of Pennsylvania Republicans disapprove of the job he is doing. Following Specter's switching parties, Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele criticized his leaving the Republican Party, claiming that Specter had "flipped the bird" at the GOP.

On February 6, 2010, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party overwhelmingly endorsed U.S. Senator Arlen Specter at the Democratic State Committee's annual endorsement convention which was held in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Specter defeated Joe Sestak by winning over 77% of the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee members vote which far exceeds the 2/3 threshold needed to claim the endorsement. Sestak, however, went on to win the Democratic primary nomination on May 18.

Personal reputation

Over Specter's long and notable legislative career, numerous sources from within the U.S. Senate reported that they found it difficult to work with him. For example, when Specter was still a Republican, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott needed him to sign off on an appropriations bill. However, Specter refused to sign the document unless Lott flew out to Pennsylvania to attend two fund raisers for him. Lott agreed, but this incident only contributed to a reputation which earned Specter the nickname "Snarlin' Arlen". Similarly, Specter gained a reputation among U.S. Embassy staff for condescending treatment and unreasonable demands such as organizing squash tournaments on his behalf.

Political views

According to the National Journal, Specter voted with Democrats 90% of the time since he switched parties, while as a Republican Specter split his votes between both parties. According to fivethirtyeight.com, between January–March 2009 Specter voted with the Democrats 58% of the time. Following the support of the stimulus package and the entrance of Pat Toomey in the Republican primary, Specter began to vote 16% with Democrats. When switching to become a Democrat, he voted 69% with his new party initially, until Joe Sestak entered the Democratic primary and Specter started to vote 97% of the time.

Abortion

Specter states that he is "personally opposed to abortion", but is "a supporter of a woman's right to choose". He received a 20 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America in 2005 based on certain votes related to the regulation of abortion; in 2008, he received 100 percent

Gay rights

Specter supports LGBT rights. He voted to prohibit job discrimination based on sexual orientation, and was a co-sponsor of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Specter is opposed to same-sex marriage, but is also opposed to a federal ban and supports civil unions. Specter also voted in favor of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the lame-duck session of the 111th Congress.

Gun control

Specter strongly opposes most gun control, voting against the Brady Bill, background checks at gun shows, the ban on assault weapons, and trigger locks for handguns.

Affirmative action

He supports affirmative action and voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1991, receiving a 76 percent rating from the NAACP in 2008. He was one of only four Republicans to vote against the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act and in recent years has been less enthusiastic about weakening so-called consumer protection laws than many members of his party. In 1995 he was the only Republican to vote to limit tax cuts to individuals with incomes of less than one million dollars. He voted against CAFTA. Specter also supports an increase in the federal minimum wage. He is a leading supporter of the U.S. Public Service Academy.

Illegal immigration

On immigration, Specter supports a "pathway to citizenship" and a "guest worker program" which opponents call amnesty. He introduced Senate bill S. 2611 (the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006) on April 6, 2006, which was passed by the Senate on May 25, 2006 before reaching a stalemate in the House.

Health care reform

Public option

On May 3, 2009 Specter went on Meet the Press and was asked "Would you support health care reform that puts up a government run public plan to compete with a private plan issued by a private insurance company?" Specter said no. Two months later, he changed his position and he now supports it.

Single payer

Specter believes single payer healthcare should not be "taken off the table," according to an interview he had with John King on CNN.

Votes

On health care reform, Specter was a cosponsor of the Healthy Americans Act, a proposal he supported during both the 110th and 111th Congresses. Specter voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the healthcare bill passed through the Senate by every Democratic senator, on a party-line vote.

Card check

Specter has received a 61 percent rating from AFL-CIO. He voted for cloture on the Employee Free Choice Act in 2007. In early 2009, Specter announced that he would not be voting for cloture on the same act in the 111th Congress. After Specter switched parties, he changed his position on the issue yet again and wrote a letter to the unions that he supported card check legislation.

Privacy; computers

Spurred by the 2010 case of ''Robbins v. Lower Merion School District'', in which two high schools admitted to secretly taking 66,000 webcam photos and screenshots of students in their homes on school-issued laptops, Specter held a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs on March 29, 2010. He said: "The issue is one of surreptitious eavesdropping. Unbeknownst to people, their movements and activities were under surveillance." Specter said he believes existing wiretap and video-voyeurism statutes do not adequately address concerns in today's era of widespread use of cell-phone, laptop, and surveillance cameras. He said that Lower Merion's use of laptop cameras for surveillance convinced him that new federal legislation was needed to regulate electronic privacy.

Specter then introduced legislation in April 2010 to amend the federal Wiretap Act to clarify that it is illegal to capture silent visual images inside another person's home. He said: "This is going to become law. You have a very significant invasion of privacy with these webcams, as more information is coming to light." Speaking on the floor of the Senate, he said:

Many of us expect to be subject to ... video surveillance when we leave our homes and go out each day—at the ATM, at traffic lights, or in stores, for example. What we do not expect is to be under visual surveillance in our homes, in our bedrooms, and, most especially, we do not expect it for our children in our homes.

Other

The Jewish daily newspaper ''The Forward'' reported in the wake of the July 2009 organ trafficking scandal in the U.S. involving Rabbi Levy Izhak Rosenbaum of Brooklyn that an Organ Trafficking Prohibition Act of 2009, sponsored by Specter, had yet to be officially introduced in the U.S. The preliminary reports cites Israel as a model of a nation that has enacted a law providing benefits for organ donors.

Specter criticized the federal government's policy on cancer, stating the day after Jack Kemp — the 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee and former congressman — died of cancer, that Kemp would still be alive if the federal government had done a better job funding cancer research.

Electoral history

See also

List of select cases of Hodgkin's disease

Party switching in the United States

References

External links

*Interactive timeline

Complete transcript, audio and video of Specter's Final Floor Speech in the U.S. Senate at AmericanRhetoric.com

;Articles After Yale, Specter Still a Force, Andrew Mangino, ''Yale Daily News'', September 23, 2005

Tale of injustice, ''Sarasota Herald Tribune'', July 16, 2007

Specter: Reagan’s GOP is Gone by Mark Trumbull, ''The Christian Science Monitor'', May 3, 2009

The Need to Roll Back Presidential Power Grabs, by Arlen Specter, The New York Review of Books, May 14, 2009

The Magic Bullet; Even More Magical Than We Knew, Gary Aguilar and Josiah Thompson, ''History Matters''

;Legislation sponsored or cosponsored The following table links to the Congressional Record hosted by the Library of Congress. All the specifics and actions taken for each individual piece of legislation that Specter either sponsored or cosponsored can be viewed in detail there. "Original bills" and "'Original amendments" indicate instances where Sen. Specter pledged to support the legislation at the time it was initially introduced and entered into the Senate record, rather than later in the legislative process.

! Senator Arlen Specter – U.S. Senate – [D-PA]
	rgin: auto;font-size:90%;border:0px;text-align:left;line-height:150%;"
!Years Covered	!All bills sponsored	!All amendments sponsored	!All bills cosponsored	!All amendments cosponsored	!Original bills cosponsored	!Original amendments cosponsored
1981–82	42	38	188	48	95	44
1983–84	92	52	216	37	98	37
1985–86	90	44	327	53	171	52
1987–88	44	49	260	32	151	31
1989–90	37	61	262	26	112	24
1991–92	76	71	359	33	142	34
1993–94	33	52	178	24	66	20
1995–96	33	46	103	35	63	32
1997–98	75	49	120	26	63	24
1999–00	54	31	168	24	89	24
2001–05	46	51	188	36	103	31
2003–04	52	61	203	36	94	25
2005–06	85	50	179	24	96	13
2007–08	52	38	325	77	181	51
2009–10	22	6	58	10	39	8

''Note'': The numbers for the current session of Congress may no longer reflect the actual numbers as they are still actively in session.

The THOMAS database shows Sen. Arlen Specter has withdrawn his one-time support of legislation by adding his cosponsorship to introduced legislation a total of five times during the time this statistic first started being compiled by them:

One bill in 1991–1992

One amendment in 1991–1992

One bill in 1993–1994

One bill in 1997–1998

One bill in 1999–2000

|}

{{U.S. Senator box |state=Pennsylvania |class=3 |before=Richard Schweiker |after=Pat Toomey |years=1981–2011 |alongside=John Heinz, Harris Wofford,Rick Santorum, Bob Casey, Jr.}}

Category:1930 births Category:American Jews Category:American military personnel of the Korean War Category:American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Category:Democratic Party United States Senators Category:Dismissal of United States Attorneys controversy Category:District attorneys in Pennsylvania Category:American Jews Category:Jewish United States Senators Category:Living people Category:Pennsylvania Democrats Category:Pennsylvania lawyers Category:Pennsylvania Republicans Category:People from Wichita, Kansas Category:People with cancer Category:Philadelphia, Pennsylvania politicians Category:Republican Party United States Senators Category:United States Air Force officers Category:United States presidential candidates, 1996 Category:United States Senators from Pennsylvania Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni Category:Warren Commission Category:Yale Law School alumni

da:Arlen Specter de:Arlen Specter es:Arlen Specter fr:Arlen Specter he:ארלן ספקטר nl:Arlen Specter ja:アーレン・スペクター no:Arlen Specter pl:Arlen Specter pt:Arlen Specter ru:Спектер, Арлен sh:Arlen Specter fi:Arlen Specter sv:Arlen Specter uk:Спектер Арлен

Name	Herman Cain
Office	Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Term start	1995
Term end	1996
Predecessor	Burton A. Dole, Jr
Successor	A. Drue Jennings
Office2	Deputy Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City
Term start2	1992
Term end2	1994
Predecessor2	Burton A. Dole, Jr
Successor2	A. Drue Jennings
Birth date	December 13, 1945
Birth place	Memphis, Tennessee, US
Residence	Sandy Springs, Georgia, US
Occupation	BusinessmanRadio hostColumnist
Party	Republican
Spouse	Gloria Cain
Children	Melanie Cain and Vincent Cain
Religion	National Baptist
Alma mater	Morehouse College (B.A.)Purdue University (M.S.)
Website	hermancain.com }}

Herman Cain (born December 13, 1945) is an American businessman, politician, columnist, and radio host from Georgia. He is the former chairman and CEO of Godfather's Pizza and a former deputy chairman (1992–94) and chairman (1995–96) of the board of directors to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Before his business and economics career he worked as a mathematician in ballistics for the United States Navy. Cain's newspaper column is distributed by North Star Writers Group. He lives in the Atlanta suburbs, where he also serves as a minister at Antioch Baptist Church North.

In January 2011, Cain announced he had formed an exploratory committee for a potential presidential campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, and on May 21, 2011, Cain officially announced his candidacy.

Background

Cain was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 13, 1945, the son of Lenora (née Davis) and Luther Cain, Jr. His mother was a cleaner and his father was a chauffeur. He was raised in Georgia. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and received a Master of Science degree in computer science from Purdue University in 1971, while he was also working full-time in ballistics for the U.S. Department of the Navy. Cain has authored four books: ''Leadership is Common Sense'' (1997), ''Speak as a Leader'' (1999), ''CEO of SELF'' (October 2001), and ''They Think You're Stupid'' (May 2005). He also authored an article titled "The Intangibles of Implementation" in the technical journal ''Interfaces'' (Vol. 9, No. 5, 1979, pp. 144-147), published by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS).

Business career

After completing his master's degree from Purdue, Cain left the Department of the Navy and began working for The Coca-Cola Company as a business analyst. In 1977, he joined Pillsbury where he rose to the position of Vice President by the early 1980s. He left his executive post to work for Burger King – a Pillsbury subsidiary at the time – managing 400 stores in the Philadelphia area. Under Cain's leadership, his region went from the least profitable for Burger King to the most profitable in three years. This prompted Pillsbury to appoint him President and CEO of Godfather's Pizza, another of their then-subsidiaries. Within 14 months, Cain had returned Godfather's to profitability. In 1988, Cain and a group of investors bought Godfather's from Pillsbury. Cain continued as CEO until 1996, when he resigned to become CEO of the National Restaurant Association – a trade group and lobby organization for the restaurant industry – where he had previously been chairman concurrently with his role at Godfather's.

Cain became a member of the board of directors to the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in 1992 and served as its chairman from January 1995 to August 1996, when he resigned to become active in national politics. Cain was a 1996 recipient of the Horatio Alger Award.

Cain was on the board of directors of Aquila, Inc. from 1992 to 2008, and also served as a board member for Nabisco, Whirlpool, Reader's Digest, and AGCO, Inc.

Media work

Cain serves as a commentator for Fox Business; he is also a syndicated columnist distributed by the North Star Writers Group. Until February 2011, Cain hosted ''The Herman Cain Show'' on Atlanta talk radio station News Talk 750 WSB, a Cox Radio affiliate. In 2009, Cain founded "Hermanator's Intelligent Thinkers Movement" (HITM), aimed at organizing 100,000 activists in every congressional district in the United States in support of a strong national defense, the FairTax, tax cuts, energy independence, capping government spending, and restructuring Social Security.

Political activities

Role in the defeat of the Clinton health care plan

Cain publicly opposed the 1993/1994 health care plan of President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. As president-elect of the National Restaurant Association, he challenged Bill Clinton on the costs of the employer mandate contained within the bill and criticizing its effect on small businesses. Cain has been described as one of the primary "saboteurs" of the plan: :The Clintons would later blame "Harry and Louise," the fictional couple in the ads aired by the insurance industry, for undermining health reform. But the real saboteurs are named Herman and John. Herman Cain is the president of Godfather's Pizza and president-elect of the National Restaurant Association. An articulate black entrepreneur, Cain transformed the debate when he challenged Clinton at a town meeting in Kansas City, Mo., last April. Cain asked the president what he was supposed to say to the workers he would have to lay off because of the cost of the "employer mandate." Clinton responded that there would be plenty of subsidies for small businessmen, but Cain persisted. "Quite honestly, your calculation is inaccurate," he told the president. "In the competitive marketplace it simply doesn't work that way." Joshua Green of ''The Atlantic'' has called Cain's exchange with Clinton his "auspicious debut on the national political stage."

1996 Senior Advisor of Dole/Kemp Campaign

Cain was a senior economic advisor to the Dole/Kemp presidential campaign in 1996.

2000 presidential campaign

Cain briefly ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000; he says it was more about making political statements than winning the nomination. "George W. Bush was the chosen one, he had the campaign DNA that followers look for." However, Cain went on to state, "I believe that I had a better message and I believe that I was the better messenger."

2004 U.S. Senate candidacy

In 2004, Cain ran for the U.S. Senate in Georgia, pursuing the seat that came open with the retirement of Democrat Zell Miller. Cain sought the Republican nomination, facing congressmen Johnny Isakson and Mac Collins in the primary. Cain and Collins both hoped to deny Isakson a majority on primary day in order to force him into a runoff. Collins tried to paint Cain as a moderate, citing Cain's support for affirmative action programs, while Cain argued that he was a conservative, noting that he opposed the legality of abortion even in cases of rape and incest. Cain finished second in the primary with 26.2% of the vote, ahead of Collins, who won 20.6%, but because Isakson won 53.2% of the vote, Isakson was able to avoid a runoff.

2012 presidential candidacy

In 2010, "Cain addressed more than 40 Tea Party rallies, hit all the early presidential states, and became a YouTube sensation." In April, he teased the audience at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference about his being a possible 2012 presidential candidate by saying that there may be a "dark horse candidate." On September 24, 2010, Cain announced that he was considering a run for president in 2012 on the Republican Party ticket. "In December, he was the surprise choice for 2012 GOP nominee in a reader poll on the conservative Web site RedState.com, narrowly edging out [Sarah] Palin."

Cain announced the formation of a presidential exploratory committee on January 12, 2011 on the Fox News Channel program ''Your World with Neil Cavuto''.

Cain supports a non-federally subsidized efficient economic stimulus, saying: "We could grow this economy faster if we had bolder, more direct stimulus policies," criticizing President Barack Obama's stimulus plan as simply a "spending bill" instead of meaningful stimulus through permanent tax cuts.

In February 2011, Cain addressed the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). Ed Morrisey of the conservative website Hot Air said he "stole the show" and that some attendees were moved to tears by the speech. In contrast, liberal website AlterNet accused Cain of pandering to white conservatives and referred to him and other black conservatives as "garbage pail kids". Cain called the news website's attacks racist and condemned its "shameful behavior".

A number of comments made by Cain regarding his attitudes towards Muslim people have caused controversy. He has stated that he was "uncomfortable" when he found that the surgeon operating on his liver and colon cancer was Muslim, later explaining "based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them". Following a number of such comments, he was asked in March 2011 if he would feel comfortable appointing a Muslim to his administration or as a Judge. Cain said "No, I will not ... There's this creeping attempt, there's this attempt, to gradually ease Shariah Law, and the Muslim faith into our government. It does not belong in our government" and he went on to cite court cases in Oklahoma and New Jersey as evidence. He was criticized for this remark by conservatives at Grover Norquist's weekly Wednesday Gatherings, one of whom called the remark "frightening." Cain's statement was also criticized as "bigotry" and "muslim bashing" from CAIR, whose spokesperson stated "It would be laughable if it weren't having such a negative impact on the lives of Muslim Americans". Cain opposed the building of an Islamic Center for a Muslim community at a site in Tennessee, claiming that it was "an infringement and an abuse of our freedom of religion" and "just another way to try to gradually sneak Shariah law into our laws". Defending himself against the suggestion that this would be bigotry or discrimination during an interview with Chris Wallace, he defended his position, saying "I'm willing to take a harder look at people who might be terrorists, that's what I'm saying".

In an interview with Bloomberg view, Cain argued that he is a 'black American' rather than an 'African American' on account of being able to trace his ancestors within the US, describing Barack Obama as "more of an international...look, he was raised in Kenya, his mother was white from Kansas and her family had an influence on him, it’s true, but his dad was Kenyan". Interviewer Jeffrey Goldberg pointed out that Obama had spent 4 years of his childhood abroad, and that it was in Indonesia – not Kenya, at which point Cain revised his claim.

On May 5, 2011 Fox News presented a presidential campaign debate. Cain was one of five potential candidates who participated. (The others were Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Gary Johnson and Rick Santorum as the higher-profile candidates declined Fox's invitation.) Cain was declared the winner by pollster Frank Luntz after a show of hands among 29 debate witnesses who were chosen by Fox to act as a post-performance focus group.

On June 3, 2011, an Insider-Advantage poll showed Cain leading the field of Republican primary candidates among Georgia Republicans. A July 2011 Zogby poll showed Cain in second place nationally, with 18% of the vote, behind Michele Bachmann and ahead of Romney.

Political positions

Personal life

Religious involvement

Cain is an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta, which he joined at the age of 10. The church is part of the National Baptist Convention, USA.

Cancer

In 2006, Cain was diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in both his colon and his liver. Cain underwent surgery and chemotherapy following the diagnosis, and has since reported that he is cancer-free.

Race

Cain has shared first-hand accounts of racial discrimination. In a YouTube video uploaded by his campaign, he describes the experience of sitting behind the white/black demarcation on buses. He also talks about the experience of taking turns with his brother, standing watch as each took a drink from the "white" side of a segregated water fountain in a department store.

Honorary degrees

Cain is the recipient of eight honorary degrees from Creighton, Johnson & Wales, Morehouse College, Nebraska, New York City Technical College, Purdue, Suffolk University, and Tougaloo College.

References

External links

Herman Cain, President 2012 official campaign website

Column archives at the North Star Writers Group

Profile at ''Forbes''

Watch Herman Cain Battle Bill Clinton on Health Care, Joshua Green, ''The Atlantic'', January 2011, with Profile

Category:1945 births Category:Living people Category:African American United States presidential candidates Category:African American radio personalities Category:American businesspeople Category:American chief executives Category:American columnists Category:American political writers Category:American talk radio hosts Category:Colorectal cancer survivors Category:Georgia (U.S. state) Republicans Category:Morehouse College alumni Category:People from Atlanta, Georgia Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Purdue University alumni Category:Radio personalities from Atlanta, Georgia Category:United States presidential candidates, 2012 Category:Businesspeople from Tennessee

cs:Herman Cain de:Herman Cain fa:هرمان کاین fo:Herman Cain hsb:Herman Cain ja:ハーマン・ケイン no:Herman Cain simple:Herman Cain sv:Herman Cain