Katherine Harris
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 13th district
In office January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Dan Miller
Succeeded by	Vern Buchanan
Secretary of State of Florida
In office January 5, 1999 – January 7, 2003
Governor	Jeb Bush
Preceded by	Sandra Mortham
Succeeded by	James C. Smith
Member of the Florida Senate of the 24th District
In office 1994–1998
Preceded by	Jim Boczar[1]
Succeeded by	Lisa Carlton
Personal details
Born	(1957-04-05) April 5, 1957 (age 55) Key West, Florida
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Anders Ebbeson (1996– )
Residence	Sarasota, Florida
Alma mater	Agnes Scott College (B.A.) Harvard University (M.P.A.)
Occupation	Computer Executive
Religion	Non-denominational Protestant

Katherine Harris (born April 5, 1957, Key West, Florida) is a former Secretary of State of Florida and former member of the United States House of Representatives. A Republican, Harris won the 2002 election to represent Florida's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. She held that post from 2003 to 2007. Harris lost the November 7, 2006, election to represent Florida in the United States Senate.

Harris rose to national attention as Secretary of State of Florida during the 2000 presidential election.

Background[link]

Harris's family is one of Florida's wealthiest and most politically influential.^[2] Her father, George W. Harris, Jr., owned Citrus and Chemical Bank in Lakeland, Florida.^[3] Her grandfather was Ben Hill Griffin, Jr., a successful businessman in the citrus and cattle industries and a powerful figure in the state legislature, who, shortly before his death in 1990, was ranked as the 261st richest American on the Forbes 400 list.^[4] Ben Hill Griffin Stadium at the University of Florida is named for him.^[5]

Harris comes from a family that is active in Christian evangelism.^[6] Her grandfather was a Christian missionary in Africa, while her aunt and uncle were missionaries in India and now head the Arab World Missions.^[6] Harris studied under Dr. Francis Schaeffer at a L’Abris Fellowship International center. Harris attended an all girls Christian camp in the hills of Asheville, North Carolina called Greystone. She says her faith is “the most important thing in my life.”^[6] Harris grew up in the Presbyterian Church in America (she has criticized the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) for being "more liberal"^[6]). Currently she attends Calvary Chapel in Sarasota, Florida.^[6]

Harris married Swedish businessman Anders Sven Axel Ebbeson (born March 16, 1945) in 1996 and has one stepdaughter, Louise.

Education and early career[link]

Harris graduated from Bartow High School in Bartow, Florida, in 1975, and then attended the University of Madrid^{[disambiguation needed ]} in 1978. Harris received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia, in 1979, and then studied under Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer at the L'Abri community in Huemoz, Switzerland, not far from Lausanne. While in college she was an intern for U.S. Representative Andy Ireland. Harris received a mid-career M.P.A. from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government in 1997 with a concentration in international trade.^[7] Before entering politics, Harris was a marketing executive at IBM and a vice president of a commercial real estate firm.^[8]

Early political career[link]

Harris entered politics by winning election to the Florida Senate in 1994 in one of the most expensive state races in Florida history to date. Harris's political career was guided by Dan Berger, Adam Goodman, and Benjamin McKay, along with her campaign manager, David Lapides.

Florida Senate and Riscorp[link]

In the 1994 state senate election, Sarasota-based Riscorp, Inc. made illegal contributions totaling $400,000 to dozens of political candidates and committees,^[9] including $20,600 to the Harris campaign.^[10] Harris played a prominent role in introducing the CEO of Riscorp, William Griffin, to various Florida legislators and had a strong personal relationship with Griffin. Two years later, in 1996, Harris sponsored a bill "to block Riscorp competitors from getting a greater share of Florida workers' compensation market, [and] also pushed a proposal that would hurt a particular competitor."^[9] This issue later emerged during her campaign for Florida Secretary of State in 1998. William Griffin, eventually pleaded guilty to illegal campaign donations among allegations of other serious wrongdoing at Riscorp and served prison time in 1998. The election of Jeb Bush as governor of Florida was a major factor in stopping further investigation into the Riscorp scandal. According to a SunHerald column from June, 2005, "Harris denied any knowledge of the scheme, was never charged with any crime and was cleared of wrongdoing by a state investigator."^[11] This view was criticized strongly by other investigators involved in the Riscorp prosecution.

Secretary of State[link]

Harris was elected Florida Secretary of State in 1998. She defeated then-incumbent Sandra Mortham in the Republican primary, and won the general election against Democrat Karen Gievers, an attorney from Miami.^[12][13] Her office played a leading role in the closely contested 2000 U.S. presidential election. Her SoS campaign was guided by Mark Reichelderfer, Trey Evers, Benjamin McKay, Adam Goodman and sometimes Dan Berger.

International travel[link]

During her first 22 months in office, Harris spent more than $106,000 for travel, more than any cabinet officer or the governor. She visited eight countries on ten foreign trips, which included Iran, India, and the Netherlands.

In early 2001, Florida Senate leaders eliminated the $3.4 million that Harris had budgeted for international relations for the year, assigning it instead to Enterprise Florida, the state's economic development agency. But Florida House leader Tom Feeney said that he disagreed with the Senate and felt Harris was an able advocate to foreign countries. After the House refused to go along with the proposed budget action, the Senate agreed to restore the money but insisted on a review committee, appointed by Senate President John McKay, Feeney, and governor Jeb Bush, to evaluate all of Harris's expenditures on international affairs since July 1, 1999, and produce a report.^[14]

Purge of voters[link]

Harris's purge of ineligible voters in Florida also removed eligible voters. Harris, along with state division of elections director Clay Roberts, and Governor Jeb Bush used an inaccurate ineligible-voter list that eliminated a disproportionate number of non-felon African Americans from Florida voter rolls. According to journalist Jake Tapper, the problem went uncorrected for two years despite the warnings and complaints of elections supervisor Ion Sancho, and affected the 2000 presidential election.^[15]

2000 US presidential election[link]

As Secretary of State for the State of Florida (and co-chair of Bush's Florida election efforts), Harris was a central figure in the 2000 US presidential election in Florida. Harris certified that the Republican candidate, then-Texas Governor George W. Bush, had defeated the Democratic candidate, then-Vice President Al Gore, in the popular vote of Florida and thus certified the Republican slate of electors. The margin separating Bush from Gore was 537 votes. Harris ordered a halt after several recounts. Her ruling was upheld in the state circuit court, but was subsequently overturned on appeal by the Florida Supreme Court. That decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. In a per curiam decision, by a 7-2 vote, the Court in Bush v. Gore held that the Florida Supreme Court's method for recounting ballots was a violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. By a 5–4 vote, the Court held that no alternative method could be established within the time limits set by the State of Florida. Three of the concurring justices also asserted that the Florida Supreme Court had violated Article II, § 1, cl. 2 of the Constitution, by misinterpreting Florida election law that had been enacted by the Florida Legislature.

The decision allowed Harris's previous certification of Bush as the winner of Florida's electoral votes to stand. Florida's 25 electoral votes gave Bush, the Republican candidate, 271 electoral votes, defeating Gore, who ended up with 266 electoral votes (with one D.C. elector abstaining).

Harris later wrote Center of the Storm, her own memoir of the 2000 election controversy.

United States Congresswoman[link]

In 2002, Harris ran against Sarasota Attorney Jan Schneider for the congressional district vacated by retiring Republican Rep. Dan Miller, winning by 10 percentage points in this solidly Republican district-and a victory helped with one of the biggest first term campaign fund raising efforts in the history of this district and substantial support from the Bush family.

Harris considered running for the seat of retiring Senator Bob Graham in 2004 but was reportedly dissuaded by the Bush White House to allow Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Mel Martinez to run for the open seat. Martinez went on to narrowly beat challenger Betty Castor. Harris ran for re-election to her House seat in 2004; she was re-elected with a margin almost identical to her first win.^[16]

In a 2004 speech in Venice, Florida, Harris claimed that a "Middle Eastern" man was arrested for attempting to blow up the power grid in Carmel, Indiana;^[17] Carmel Mayor James Brainard and a spokesman for Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan said they had no knowledge of such a plot. Brainard said he had never spoken to Harris.^[18]

During a 2004 campaign stop in Sarasota, a local resident, Barry Seltzer, "tr[ied] to 'intimidate' a group of Harris supporters" by menacing Harris and her supporters with his automobile. Witnesses described Seltzer as having swerved off the road and onto the sidewalk, directing it at Harris and her supporters. Nobody was injured in the incident. Seltzer, who claimed he was "exercising [his] political expression," was eventually arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.^[19]

MZM scandal[link]

In 2005 and 2006, a major corporate campaign donor to Harris, Mitchell Wade (founder of defense contractor MZM), was implicated in several bribery scandals. The improprieties were said to have occurred from 2004 through 2006. One alleged incident of attempted bribery resulted in the criminal conviction and resignation of California congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, as well as the conviction of Mitchell Wade of MZM (now renamed "Athena Innovative Solutions"). Wade had bundled together and donated to Harris's campaign $32,000 in contributions from his employees at MZM, Inc., then reimbursed those employees for the contributions.^[20]

Regarding this issue, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Wainstein has recently said that Harris did not appear to know the donations were obtained illegally.^[20] Harris has maintained she had no personal knowledge that her campaign was given illegal contributions. Wade admitted that the donations to the Harris campaign were illegal and were part of an attempt to influence Harris to MZM's benefit.^[21]

Documents filed with Wade's plea say that he took Harris to dinner in March 2005, a year after the illegal contributions, where they discussed the possibility of another fundraiser and the possibility of getting funding for a Navy counterintelligence program placed in Harris's district.^[22]

Harris subsequently sent a letter on April 26, 2005 to defense appropriations subcommittee Chairman C. W. Bill Young, in which Harris sought $10 million for a Navy project backed by Wade.^[23] In the letter, Harris emphasized the importance of the project, asking that it be added to her list of five priorities and identifying it as her new No. 3. Harris later released the April 26, 2005 letter for legal scrutiny, but neither she nor Young would turn over the request form (RFP) used for the proposal.^[24]

CQPolitics noted "Harris’s former political strategist, Ed Rollins, spoke on the record about the dinner and detailed a meal that cost $2,800, far in excess of the $50 limit on gifts that members of Congress are allowed to accept" at the Washington restaurant Citronelle.^[25] Wade and Harris discussed MZM's desire for a $10 million appropriation, and Wade offered to host a fundraiser for Harris's 2006 Senate campaign. Regarding the MZM contributions, the Sentinel article goes on to say "The Justice Department has said Wade, who personally handed many of the checks to Harris, did not tell Harris the contributions were illegal". Regarding the expensive meal, the article quotes Harris as saying that she personally had only a "beverage and appetizer" worth less than "$100". House rules prohibit accepting any gift worth $50 or more.

Rollins said that he had conducted a thorough internal investigation into Harris's ties to MZM in hopes of finding conclusive proof of her innocence; but when he could not, he and other advisers, including her lawyer, urged her to drop her candidacy rather than risk federal corruption charges. Although he did not believe Harris intentionally broke any laws, "her story kept changing. Our great concern was that you get into trouble when you don't tell the same story twice ... Maybe you don't think you did anything wrong, but then maybe you start getting questioned about it and so forth, and you may perjure yourself. ... Unlike Cunningham, I don't think she set out to violate the law, but I think she was very careless. She heard whatever she wanted to hear, but we could find no evidence whatsoever that this was a project going into her district."^[26]

Although Rollins recalled discussing the $2,800 meal with Harris, Harris told the Orlando Sentinel on April 19, 2006, that the cost of the meal was "news to me", and that her campaign had since "reimbursed" the restaurant for the cost of the meal. According to the reporter, when questioned as to why she would reimburse the restaurant for a meal that had been paid for by MZM, Harris abruptly terminated the interview, and her spokesman later called and requested unsuccessfully that the story not be printed. The next day, Harris's campaign issued a statement that she had believed her campaign had reimbursed the restaurant, and that she had donated $100 "which will more than adequately compensate for the cost of my beverage and appetizer".^[27] Harris also asserted that most of the cost of the meal was from Wade ordering several unopened bottles of wine to take home, although the management of the restaurant denies ever allowing anyone to take unopened bottles of wine off the premises, saying "Why would we jeopardize our liquor license for the sake of selling a couple bottles of wine?"^[26]

In the weeks following the expensive meal, former senior Harris staffers claimed that "they initially rejected a defense contractor's $10 million appropriation request last year but reversed course after being instructed by Harris to approve it."^[28]

In May 2006, Harris's campaign spokesman Christopher Ingram acknowledged that she had also had a previous dinner with Wade in the same restaurant in March 2004, when the $32,000 in illegal donations had been given to her campaign. Ingram told the press that he did not know how much that meal cost, but that a charitable donation of an unknown amount had been given to a charity whose name he did not know, equivalent to her share of the meal. "She takes responsibility for the oversight that there was no reimbursement," he said.^[26]

Mona Tate Yost, an aide to Harris, left to work for MZM during the time Wade was pressing Harris to secure federal funding (April or May 2005).^[29]

On July 17, 2006, Ed Rollins confirmed that Justice Department lawyers and FBI agents had recently questioned her about the $32,000 in donations. Rollins noted: "I assume more [interviews] will be coming, though. They were very serious."^[30]

On September 7, 2006, Federal investigators questioned Jim Dornan, who quit as Harris's campaign manager the previous November.^[31]

2006 Senate race[link]

Overview[link]

On June 7, 2005, with support from her new campaign advisors of Ed Rollins and Jim Dornan, Harris announced her candidacy for the 2006 Florida United States Senate election, challenging incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson. Both lackluster fundraising relative to Nelson and controversy over campaign contributions from MZM caused Harris to fall far behind in all polls by May 2006.^{[citation needed]} Late in the primary race, Republican contender Will McBride polled only 31 points behind Nelson in a hypothetical election against him, while Harris polled 33 points behind Nelson in the same poll. Harris was still popular among Republican voters and won the September 5 primary over McBride and two other challengers with approximately 50% of the total vote.^[32]

Despite Harris's support of many Republican causes and her previous statewide victories, some party leaders expressed doubt about her statewide appeal:

• In May 2006, Florida Governor Jeb Bush questioned Harris's ability to win the general election and encouraged others to challenge her in the primary.^[33][34]

• Karl Rove expressed doubts about her statewide appeal.

• National Republicans openly criticized her campaign and tried to convince other GOP candidates to challenge Harris in the primary.^[35]

• Florida state House of Representatives Speaker Allan Bense declined the candidacy on May 11 despite public courting by many leaders including Governor Bush.

• Conservative pundit and former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough was also unsuccessfully recruited to enter the race. Departing Harris aides claim that Harris called potential Scarborough supporters and raised the death of an aide in order to prevent his entry into the race.^[36] Scarborough later told Nelson that drawing Harris as an opponent in the race made him "the luckiest man in Washington".^[36][37]

Nelson defeated Harris by more than one million votes. Harris received less than 39% of the vote.

By late July 2006, she had gone through three campaign managers and her campaign was floundering. At that time, it was disclosed that state Republican Party leaders had told Harris they would not support her because she could not win in the general election.

Financial problems plagued her Senate campaign from the start. During the primary, it was clear that the incumbent Senator Nelson had a substantial financial advantage.

On the March 15, 2006, edition of Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes, Harris pledged to spend $10 million of her own money, which she said was all of her inheritance, on her campaign. She also stated that her run was dedicated to the memory of her father.^[38]

Despite her promise, the $10 million never materialized. Reports surfaced that Harris would not actually receive the inheritance from her father, who instead left his entire estate to her mother. She donated $3 million to her campaign, but later took back $100,000, fueling speculation that she would be unable to donate the promised amount.^[39]

In October, Harris announced that she was trying to sell her house in Washington to raise money for her campaign,^[40] but the home was not publicly listed for sale and no sale was ever announced.^{[citation needed]}

Staff resignations[link]

In late February 2006, in the midst of revelations surrounding Mitchell Wade's illegal contributions, Harris's campaign finance director and campaign treasurer both resigned.^[41]

On April 1, 2006 Harris's top campaign advisor, pollster and campaign manager all resigned with a half-dozen other staffers. Republican pollster and consultant David Johnson said, "I've never seen staffers go like this. It's just imploding."^[42]

In early April 2006, Harris told the Tampa Tribune that some of her ex-campaign staffers and the national Republican party were deliberately sabotaging her campaign by "putting knives in her back" and had warned her that if she did not back out of the campaign, she would get an "April surprise".^[43] Former campaign staffer Ed Rollins said "They were all good professionals...There was no backstabbing. It's insulting that she would even say that. If she wants to know what went wrong with the campaign, maybe she needs to take a good look in the mirror."^[44]

In June, the Harris campaign received a legal bill for thousands of dollars that contained a reference to "DOJ subpoena". Later, an ex-aide told the Associated Press that Harris had received a grand jury subpoena from federal investigators, but kept it from her top advisers, prompting several staff members to quit when they found out.^[45]

On June 8, 2006, Harris's fourth chief of staff, Fred Asbell, left in order to pursue a "business opportunity". Asbell said he'd "greatly enjoyed" his time with the campaign and he would remain in a consultant position.^[46]

On July 12, 2006, Harris's campaign spokesman Chris Christopher Ingram left the campaign.^[47] The next day he was followed by campaign manager Glenn Hodas,field director Pat Thomas, political director Brian Brooks and Deputy field director John K. Byers all resigned from her campaign.^[48] Hodas cited Harris's "tantrums" and "increasingly erratic behavior" as his reasons for leaving.^[49] An anonymous campaign worker described Harris as "very difficult to work with. The more that we put her out there, the more she shot herself in the foot."^[50]

In late August, Harris lost another key staffer, Rhyan Metzler, in the wake of a disastrous political rally at Orlando Executive Airport. Only 40 people showed up for the event, and Harris blamed the paltry turnout in part on a last-minute change in location. She claimed that a tree fell on the hangar that was originally scheduled to hold the rally, forcing her campaign to switch to another hangar. Airport officials, however, stated that not only had no trees had fallen, but also that there are no trees as they get in the way of the airplanes; further adding that the event in fact took place in the hangar that Harris's campaign had originally booked. Harris's campaign blamed Metzler for the comments Harris made after the rally.^[51]

On August 31, 2006, Harris was interviewed on Hardball with Chris Matthews, where she responded to the criticisms from her former staffers with "We have their email traffic, we know what was behind all that, we know who's been paid and who isn't."^[52]

Lack of Republican support[link]

The Pensacola News Journal suggested that Harris might withdraw from the Senate race after winning a primary victory, thereby allowing the Republicans to nominate another candidate, such as Tom Gallagher, to run against Bill Nelson.^[53]

In August, Katherine Harris touted political endorsements from fellow Republican lawmakers on her campaign web site. However, some of those cited claim that they never endorsed her. This conflict resulted in several Republican congressmen calling the Harris campaign to complain after the St. Petersburg Times notified them of the endorsements listed on Harris's Web site. A short time later, their names were removed without comment from Harris's Web site.^[54]

Of Harris's three primary opponents, only Will McBride endorsed her candidacy for the general election. In the first few days after the primary, a number of Republican nominees such as Charlie Crist and Tom Lee went on a statewide unity tour with Gov. Bush. Harris was not invited; Republicans said the tour was only for nominees to statewide offices. Harris claimed Bush would campaign with her sometime in the two months before the election, but the governor's office denied this.^[55]

President Bush did not make public appearances or private meetings with Harris before the primary. He did, however, appear with her at a fundraiser on September 21 in Tampa.

When it came time for newspapers to make their op-ed endorsements, all 22 of Florida's major daily newspapers supported Senator Nelson. The only endorsement Harris received was from the Polk County Democrat, a newspaper in Bartow which publishes four days out of the week.^[56]

Controversy over religion[link]

Harris was a headline speaker at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church's "Reclaiming America for Christ" conference held in Ft. Lauderdale on March 17–18, 2006. The conference web site invited attendees to attend in order to "reclaim this nation for Christ."^[57] The stated mission of ReclaimAmerica.org is "To inform, equip, motivate, and support Christians; enabling them to defend and implement the Biblical principles on which our country was founded."^[58] As part of her speech, Harris urged conferees to "win back America for God." Her appearance was noted in a Rolling Stone article covering the conference.^[59]

In an interview with the Florida Baptist Witness on August 24, 2006, Harris called for Christians to vote on religious lines. She said,

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said she was "disgusted" by the comments "and deeply disappointed in Representative Harris personally,” adding "clearly shows that she does not deserve to be a representative."^[60] Two of Harris’ primary opponents denounced her statements, Republican Will McBride (an attorney and son of a pastor) stated “I’m a Christian, and I’m a Republican, and I don’t share her views. There are people of other faiths and backgrounds of outstanding integrity who know how to tell the truth.” Real estate developer Peter Monroe, another GOP primary opponent, called on her to quit the race and resign from Congress. He called her suggestion that non-Christian voters are ignorant of morality when voting as “contemptible, arrogant and wicked.”^[61]

On August 26, 2006, Harris's campaign released a "Statement of Clarification", that stated, “In the interview, Harris was speaking to a Christian audience, addressing a common misperception that people of faith should not be actively involved in government. Addressing this Christian publication, Harris provided a statement that explains her deep grounding in Judeo-Christian values."^[61] The press release went on to mention her past support of Israel and quoted her Jewish campaign manager Bryan G. Rudnick, who stated “As the grandson of Holocaust survivors, I know that she encourages people of all faiths to engage in government so that our country can continue to thrive on the principles set forth by our founding fathers, without malice towards anyone.”^[61] At an appearance at an Orlando gun show that same day, she said "it breaks my heart" to think people understood her comments as bigoted. When asked if she thought the Founding Fathers intended the nation to have secular laws she replied,

On October 3, 2006, Harris participated in a prayer service via phone call and stirred even more controversy. In one instance, she called for the elimination of the separation of church and state when she said,

Harris then went on and called for Jews to be converted to Christianity.

Replacements in the 13th Congressional District[link]

Vern Buchanan was the Republican nominee and Christine Jennings the Democratic nominee to replace Harris in the 2006 election. The race had been ranked as "leaning Democratic" by CQ Politics, but Buchanan scored a very narrow victory, winning the election by a few hundred votes.

Political positions and voting record[link]

Harris is a conservative Republican on most issues. She is pro-life and has voted against embryonic stem cell research. She opposes oil-drilling in Florida's coastal waters.^{[citation needed]} Harris supported reforming Social Security to include private accounts. She has voted in favor of granting legal status to fetuses via the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. She supports tax cuts and the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act, which restricts bankruptcy filings by consumers. Harris is also in favor of welfare reform, school vouchers, the Patriot Act, the Flag Desecration Amendment, the Federal Marriage Amendment, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[64] In a televised debate with Nelson on November 1, however, she repeatedly declined to say whether she would still support the Iraq War Resolution knowing that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction.^[65] In an earlier debate with Nelson, Harris was asked to comment on trade of arms with foreign nations and the potential threat of their acquisition by terrorist groups. Harris responded that "we know we don't want to have arms going to the rogue nations like China."^[66]

In popular culture[link]

Katherine Harris was the subject of some popular skits on Saturday Night Live, in which she was played by Ana Gasteyer; she was also portrayed by actress Laura Dern in the 2008 film Recount, which won Dern a Golden Globe for the role. Harris is also referenced in one of filmmaker Kevin Smith's monologues for the DVD An Evening with Kevin Smith 2: Evening Harder. Her hairstyle won the first Crown Award for "Best Hair in Government/Politics" in 2005 from voters at Super-Hair.Net.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Katherine Harris

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Recount Movie
• Top contributors at opensecrets.org
• Audio of Katherine Harris's controversial October 3, 2006 prayer call
• Profile piece at Washington Post

Janeane Garofalo
Garofalo in January 2008
Born	(1964-09-28) September 28, 1964 (age 47) Newton, New Jersey, U.S.
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, radio
Nationality	American
Years active	1988–present
Genres	Alternative comedy
Subject(s)	American politics, celebrities, feminism, body image

Janeane Garofalo ( /dʒəˈniːn ɡəˈrɒfəloʊ/; born September 28, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, progressive political activist and writer. She is the former co-host on the now defunct Air America Radio's The Majority Report. Garofalo continues to participate regularly in New York City's local comedy and performance art scene.

Early life[link]

Garofalo was born in Newton, New Jersey, the daughter of Joan and Carmine Garofalo. Her mother was a secretary, in the petrochemical industry, who died of cancer when Janeane was 24. Her father is a former executive at Exxon.^[1][2] Garofalo was raised as a conservative Catholic^[3] and is of Italian and Irish descent. She grew up in various places, including Ontario, California, Madison, New Jersey and Katy, Texas. Garofalo is quoted as having disliked life in Houston because of the heat and humidity and the emphasis on prettiness and sports in high school.^[1][2]

While studying history at Providence College, Garofalo entered a comedy talent search sponsored by the Showtime cable network, winning the title of "Funniest Person in Rhode Island." Her original gimmick was to read off her hand, which was not successful in subsequent performances. Dreaming of earning a slot on the writing staff of the TV show Late Night With David Letterman, she became a professional standup upon graduating from college with degrees in History and American Studies.^[4] She struggled for a number of years, working briefly as a bike messenger in Boston.^[5]

Garofalo has described herself thus: "I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth."^[6]

Entertainment career[link]

Stand-up comedy[link]

Garofalo began her career in stand-up comedy in the late 1980s during the pre-grunge era.^{[citation needed]} Her appearance was often in line with late 1980s style: disheveled with thick black glasses and unkempt hair.^{[citation needed]} Her comedy is often self-deprecating;^{[citation needed]} she has made fun of popular culture and the pressures on women to conform to body image ideals promoted by the media.^{[citation needed]}

Garofalo's comedy shows involve her and her notebook, which is filled with years' worth of article clippings and random observations she references for direct quotes during her act.^{[citation needed]} Garofalo has said that she does not tell jokes as much as make observations designed to get laughs.^{[citation needed]} She was part of the alternative comedy scene in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, appearing at Un-Cabaret and other venues and co-created the Eating It comedy series which ran at Luna Lounge on the Lower East Side of New York City between 1995 and 2005.^{[citation needed]} She did a one-hour stand-up special, "If You Will," at Seattle's Moore Theatre, that aired on Epix in June 2010 and was released on DVD in September 2010.^{[citation needed]}

During her filmed stand-up show in Seattle, she brought up her ten-year asexual relationship with her boyfriend, describing herself as having no interest in sex whatsoever.^[7]

Television[link]

Garofalo's big break came in 1990 after meeting Ben Stiller at Canter's Deli in Los Angeles, where they were hanging out with stand-up friends. They bonded over their "love of SCTV, early Saturday Night Live and Albert Brooks."^[8]

Her television series debut was on the short-lived Ben Stiller Show on Fox in 1992, on which she was a cast member alongside longtime friends Bob Odenkirk, Andy Dick, and David Cross. A chance meeting on the set of that show led her to be offered the role of Paula on The Larry Sanders Show on HBO, earning her two Emmy Award^[9] nominations in 1996 and 1997.

After The Ben Stiller Show was cancelled, Garofalo joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (SNL) for its 1994–95 season. She left SNL in March 1995 (mid-season) after only six months, saying that the experience left her "anxious and depressed" and that a sexist attitude pervaded the show and she called many of the sketches "juvenile and homophobic". According to New York Magazine, Garofalo was "largely stuck in dull, secondary wife and girlfriend roles" and her friends said that she considered the stint "the most miserable experience of [her] life."^[10]

Following SNL, Garofalo appeared in a plethora of guest star roles: the grown-up daughter of the Buchmans on the final episode of Mad About You; Jerry Seinfeld's female counterpart (and, briefly, fiancée) Jeannie Steinman on Seinfeld; a correspondent on Michael Moore's TV Nation and a former girlfriend of Dave Foley's character on Newsradio. Two television pilots starring Garofalo, the 2003 ABC show Slice O'Life about a reporter consigned to sappy human interest stories appearing at the end of news broadcasts, and the 2005 NBC program All In, based on the life of poker star Annie Duke, were not picked up by their respective networks.

Throughout the 2005–2006 television season, Garofalo appeared on The West Wing as Louise Thornton, a controversial campaign adviser to the fictional Democratic presidential nominee. Garofalo participated in the series' first live episode, most of which was a debate televised live on the East Coast and then reshot live for the West. Garofalo's character can be seen walking backstage advising before the start of each debate. In 2006, she provided the voice for the animated character "Bearded Clam" on Comedy Central's Freak Show. In 2007, she wrote a dedication for the mini-book included in the six-DVD box-set of the 1994 cult series My So-Called Life.

In 2009, Garofalo joined the cast of 24, where she starred as Janis Gold.

Garofalo was a cast member of the Criminal Minds short-lived spinoff TV series Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior.^[11]

In 2010, Garofalo joined the cast of Ideal as Tilly.

Films[link]

Garofalo's breakthrough into film came in 1994's Reality Bites as Winona Ryder's Gap-managing best friend Vickie. The role helped solidify Garofalo's status as a Generation X icon. In 1996, Garofalo earned a starring role in the critically acclaimed The Truth About Cats & Dogs, a variation on Cyrano de Bergerac which featured Uma Thurman in the lead role as a beautiful but dim-witted model, while Garofalo played Abby, a highly intelligent radio host. Initially an independent film, it became a studio movie when Thurman was signed. The film was a modest hit, but Garofalo disparages it to this day, saying:^[12]

Based on the success of this film, director Cameron Crowe then offered her the leading lady role in Jerry Maguire with Tom Cruise if she could lose weight; after trimming down, however, she learned that Renée Zellweger had won the part instead.^[13] Garofalo turned down the role of Gale Weathers in Wes Craven's Scream because she thought the film would be too violent: "I said I didn't want to be in a movie where a teen girl was disemboweled. I didn't know it turned out so good, and it was a funny movie."^[14] Garofalo had also been David Fincher's first choice for the role of Marla Singer in the film Fight Club, but she turned it down, uncomfortable with the film's sexual content.^[15]

Before The Truth About Cats & Dogs, she was visible from television work and supporting roles in films such as Reality Bites, Bye Bye Love and Now and Then, and a leading role in I Shot a Man in Vegas. Garofalo has had a variety of leading, supporting and cameo roles in Cop Land, Wet Hot American Summer, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion, Dogma, The Cable Guy, Half-Baked, Mystery Men, The Wild, and Clay Pigeons.

Garofalo played the leading role in the The MatchMaker, a 1997 film about the misadventures of a cynical American woman who reluctantly visits Ireland. In 1998 Garofalo starred in her first voice-acting job playing Ursula the Artist in Disney's English dub of Studio Ghibli's Kiki's Delivery Service. In 2002, she played Catherine Connolly in The Laramie Project. A puppet version of Garofalo appeared (and was graphically killed off) in the movie Team America: World Police; while Garofalo was irritated by the parody, she was more upset by the filmmaker's lack of correspondence. "I ran into them in the street, Trey and the other guy, and I said to them, 'The least you could do is send me a puppet.' And they said OK, took my address down ... and never sent me a puppet! So while Team America bothered me, the fact they didn't send me my puppet, that bothered me even more."^[16]

Garofalo had a segment in several episodes of the 2007 season of The Henry Rollins Show. These took place in her apartment, much in the same way Rollins' take place at his house. In 2007, she provided the voice of Colette, a chef in the Pixar/Disney feature film Ratatouille. Garofalo affected a pronounced French accent in the role, highlighted by her character's soliloquy about being the only female chef in the all-male kitchen.

She made cameo appearances in The Guitar in 2008 and Labor Pains in 2009.

Political views[link]

Garofalo has been open and outspoken regarding her liberal political views. In an interview for Geek Monthly magazine, she stated that she grew up conservative in a conservative family.^[17]

She has appeared with political figures such as Ralph Nader (whom she supported in the 2000 election, but opposed in 2004^{[citation needed]}) and Jello Biafra at various events. Garofalo now describes herself as an atheist,^[18] and has participated in a radio interview by Freethought Radio, a show by the Freedom From Religion Foundation.^[19]

She became more prominent as an activist when she voiced opposition to what became the 2003 Iraq War, appearing on CNN and Fox News to discuss it. She said that she was approached by groups such as MoveOn.org and Win Without War to go on TV, because these organizations say that the networks were not allowing antiwar voices to be heard. Garofalo and the other celebrities who appeared at the time said they thought their fame could lend attention to that side of the debate. Her appearances on cable news prior to the war garnered her praise from the left and spots on the cover of Ms. and Venus Zine. Garofalo has had frequent on-air political disputes with Bill O'Reilly, Brian Kilmeade, and Jonah Goldberg.^[20]

Prior to the 2003 Iraq War, she took a position on the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. For example, in an interview with Tony Snow on a February 23, 2003 episode of Fox News Sunday,^[21] Garofalo said of the Iraqi dictator:

In March 2003, she took part in the Code Pink anti-war march in Washington, D.C. That fall, she served as emcee at several stops on the Tell Us the Truth tour, a political-themed concert series featuring Steve Earle, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, and others. Throughout the year, Garofalo also actively campaigned for Howard Dean.

While on Fox News' program The Pulse, O'Reilly asked Garofalo what she would do if her predictions that the Iraq war would be a disaster were to turn out wrong. Garofalo stated:

In April 2009, Garofalo drew criticism when she denounced the Tea Party protests.^[23] In response to the controversy Garofalo has continued to criticize Tea Party protesters.^[24]

Air America Radio[link]

In late March 2004, Garofalo became a co-host for Air America Radio's new show The Majority Report alongside Sam Seder.The early days of Air America Radio are chronicled in the documentary Left of the Dial, which includes a debate between Garofalo and her conservative father Carmine, who was initially a regular guest on The Majority Report.

Garofalo commented on her April 28, 2006 show supporting the Scientology-linked New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, a controversial treatment for workers suffering ailments from 9/11 clean-up efforts in New York City.^[25]

Filmography[link]

Movies[link]

Short films[link]

• Suspicious (1994)
• "Angel Mine" (1996 music video)
• The Cherry Picker (2000)
• Housekeeping (2001)
• Junebug and Hurricane (2004)

Documentaries[link]

• New York: A Documentary Film (1999)
• Outlaw Comic: The Censoring of Bill Hicks (2003)
• Dangerous Living: Coming Out In The Developing World (2003)
• Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns) (2003)
• Left of the Dial (2005), HBO
• I Am Comic (2010)

Television[link]

Books[link]

• Feel This Book: An Essential Guide to Self-Empowerment, Spiritual Supremacy, and Sexual Satisfaction ISBN 0-694-52146-9 (with Ben Stiller)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Janeane Garofalo

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Janeane Garofalo

• Official website
• Janeane Garofalo at the Internet Movie Database
• Janeane Garofalo at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Janeane Garofalo's political donations
• Janeane Garofalo at Emmys.com

Michele Bachmann
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Minnesota's 6th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Mark Kennedy
Member of the Minnesota Senate from the 52nd district
In office January 7, 2003 – January 2, 2007
Preceded by	Satveer Chaudhary
Succeeded by	Ray Vandeveer
Member of the Minnesota Senate from the 56th district
In office January 3, 2001 – January 7, 2003
Preceded by	Gary W. Laidig
Succeeded by	Brian LeClair
Personal details
Born	Michele Marie Amble (1956-04-06) April 6, 1956 (age 56) Waterloo, Iowa, United States
Citizenship	United States
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Marcus Bachmann
Residence	Stillwater, Minnesota
Alma mater	Winona State University (B.A.)[1] Oral Roberts University (J.D.)[1] William & Mary Law School (LL.M.)[1]
Occupation	Attorney[2]
Religion	Evangelical Christian (formerly Lutheran)
Website	Official webpage at U.S. Congress Campaign website
This article is part of a series about Michele Bachmann 2012 presidential campaign Electoral history

Michele Marie Bachmann (pronounced /ˈbɑːkmən/;^[3] née Amble; born April 6, 1956)^[4] is an American Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing Minnesota's 6th congressional district, a post she has held since 2007. The district includes several of the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Woodbury, and Blaine as well as Stillwater and St. Cloud.

She was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2012 U.S. presidential election,^[5] winning the Ames Straw Poll in August 2011 but dropping out in January 2012 after finishing in sixth place in the Iowa caucuses. Bachmann previously served in the Minnesota State Senate and is the first Republican woman to represent the state in Congress.^[6] She is a supporter of the Tea Party movement^[7] and a founder of the House Tea Party Caucus.^[8]

Early life, education, and early career[link]

Bachmann was born Michele Marie Amble in Waterloo, Iowa "into a family of Norwegian Lutheran Democrats";^[9] her family moved from Iowa to Minnesota when she was 13 years old.^[10] After her parents divorced, Bachmann's father, David John Amble, moved to California, and Bachmann was raised by her mother, Arlene Jean (née Johnson), who worked at the First National Bank in Anoka, Minnesota.^[10][11][12] Her mother remarried when Bachmann was a teenager; the new marriage resulted in a family with nine children.^[13]

She graduated from Anoka High School in 1974 and, after graduation, spent one summer working on kibbutz Be'eri in Israel.^[14] In 1978, she graduated from Winona State University with a B.A.^[1]

In 1979, Bachmann was a member of the first class of the O. W. Coburn School of Law, then a part of Oral Roberts University (ORU).^[13] While there, Bachmann studied with John Eidsmoe, whom she described in 2011 as "one of the professors who had a great influence on me".^[15][16] Bachmann worked as a research assistant on Eidsmoe's 1987 book Christianity and the Constitution, which argues that the United States was founded as a Christian theocracy, and should become one again.^[13][15][16] In 1986 Bachmann received a J.D. degree from Oral Roberts University.^[1] She was a member of the final graduating class of the law school at ORU, and was part of a group of faculty, staff, and students who moved the ORU law school library to what is now Regent University.^[17]

In 1988, Bachmann received an LL.M. degree in tax law from the William & Mary School of Law.^[2][18] From 1988 to 1993, she was an attorney working for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).^[19] She left her position with the IRS to become a full-time mother^[20] when her fourth child was born.^[21]

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Husband Marcus Bachmann and Michele at the 2011 Time 100 gala, where Michele was an honoree

In 1978, she married Marcus Bachmann, now a clinical therapist with a master's degree from Regent University and a Ph.D. from Union Graduate School,^[22] whom she had met while they were undergraduates.^[13][23] After she received an LL.M. in taxation from William & Mary School of Law in 1988, the couple moved to Stillwater, Minnesota, a town of 18,000 near St. Paul, where they run a Christian counseling center.^[13] Bachmann and her husband have five children (Lucas, Harrison, Elisa, Caroline, and Sophia). Bachmann said in a 2011 town hall meeting that she suffered a miscarriage after the birth of their second child, Harrison, an event which she said shaped her pro-life views.^[24]

Bachmann and her husband have also provided foster care for 23 other children,^[25][26] all teenage girls. The Bachmanns were licensed from 1992 to 2000 to handle up to three foster children at a time; the last child arrived in 1998. The Bachmanns began by providing short-term care for girls with eating disorders who were patients in a program at the University of Minnesota. The Bachmann home was legally defined as a treatment home, with a daily reimbursement rate per child from the state. Some girls stayed a few months, others more than a year.^[21]

In May 2012, it was reported that in addition to their U.S. citizenship, Bachmann and her husband had applied for Swiss citizenship^[27] for themselves and their three youngest children, and been granted it on March 19, 2012. They had been eligible for this under Swiss nationality law because Marcus Bachmann's parents were Swiss.^[27] Bachmann denied that she or her husband had recently applied for Swiss citizenship, saying that her husband had already been a dual citizen as the son of Swiss immigrants, and that she had automatically acquired Swiss citizenship under then-current Swiss law when she married him in 1978; however, when asked by a Swiss Television reporter on May 8, 2012, "I understand you just got Swiss Citizenship," Bachmann's reply was, "Yes, we did."^[28] Marcus Bachmann did not register the marriage with the Swiss authorities until 2012.^[27][29] Within two days of the first reports of Bachmann's dual citizenship,^[30] she announced that she had written to the Swiss consulate to have her Swiss citizenship withdrawn.^[31]

Religion[link]

Bachmann was a longtime member of Salem Lutheran Church in Stillwater. She and her husband withdrew their membership on June 21, 2011, just before she officially began her presidential campaign. They had not attended the congregation for over two years.^[32][33] Salem Lutheran Church is a member of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. When challenged about that denomination's belief that the Pope is the Antichrist,^[34][35][36] Bachmann responded by stating, "I love Catholics, I'm a Christian, and my church does not believe that the Pope is the Anti-Christ, that's absolutely false."^[37] A spokesman for the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights said they see "no evidence of any bigotry" in Mrs Bachmann.^[38] More recently, according to friends, the Bachmanns began attending Eagle Brook Church, an Evangelical church closer to their home.^[39]

Bachmann has cited theologian Francis Schaeffer as a "profound influence" on her life and her husband's, specifically referring to his film series How Should We Then Live?.^[15][16] She has also described Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity by Nancy Pearcey as a "wonderful" book.^[15] Journalist Ryan Lizza has argued that Bachmann's worldview is deeply influenced by the Christian movement known as Dominionism, citing the influence of Schaeffer and Pearcey as evidence.^[15] Others have criticized Lizza's article, especially its connection of Schaeffer with Dominionism.^[40][41][42] However, religion writer Sarah Posner broadly concurs with Lizza, pointing to the influence of Christian Reconstructionists Herb Titus and R. J. Rushdoony on Bachmann via the curriculum at O. W. Coburn School of Law.^[43][44]

Businesses[link]

Bachmann and her husband own a Christian counseling practice named Bachmann & Associates.^[45][46] The clinic is run by her husband, who has a PhD with “a concentration in clinical psychology”^[47] from Union Graduate School. Marcus Bachmann is not a licensed clinical psychologist in Minnesota.^[48] The clinic received nearly $30,000 from Minnesota government agencies between 2006 and 2010 in addition to at least $137,000 in federal payments and $24,000 in government grants for counselor training.^[49] When asked about the subject in an interview, Bachmann indicated that she and her husband had not benefited at taxpayers' expense, saying that "the money that went to the clinic was actually training money for employees".^[50] Marcus Bachmann has denied allegations that Bachmann & Associates provides conversion therapy, a controversial psychological treatment repudiated by the American Psychological Association, which attempts to transform homosexuals into heterosexuals.^[51][52] A former client of Bachmann's clinic and a hidden camera investigator with the activist group Truth Wins Out have said that therapists at the clinic do engage in such practices,^[53][54] although columnist Mariah Blake of The Nation has suggested the hidden camera investigator may have been intentionally baiting the therapist to say something controversial.^[51] In a subsequent interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune, Marcus Bachmann did not deny that he or other counselors at his clinic used the technique but said they did so only at the request of a client.^[32]

In personal financial disclosure reports for 2006 through 2009, Bachmann reported earning $32,500 to $105,000^[50] from a farm that was owned at the time by her ailing father-in-law, Paul Bachmann. The farm received $260,000 in federal crop and disaster subsidies between 1995 and 2008.^[55] Bachmann said that in 2006–2009, her husband acted as a trustee of the farm for his dying father and so, out of "an abundance of caution", she claimed the farm as income in financial disclosures, though it was her in-laws who profited from the farm during that period.^[56]

Early political activism[link]

Bachmann grew up in a Democratic family, but she says she became a Republican during her senior year at Winona State. She told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that she was reading Gore Vidal's 1973 novel, Burr: "He was kind of mocking the Founding Fathers and I just thought, I just remember reading the book, putting it in my lap, looking out the window and thinking, 'You know what? I don't think I am a Democrat. I must be a Republican.'"^[10][57]

While still a Democrat, she and her then-fiancé Marcus were inspired to join the pro-life movement by Francis Schaeffer's 1976 Christian documentary film, How Should We Then Live?^[58] They prayed outside of clinics and engaged in sidewalk counseling,^[18] a pro-life protest activity in which activists approach people entering abortion clinics in an attempt to dissuade women from obtaining abortions.^[59] Since then, Bachmann has made statements supportive of sidewalk counseling.^[60] Bachmann was a supporter of Jimmy Carter in 1976, and she and her husband worked on his campaign.^[61] During Carter's presidency, Bachmann became disappointed with his liberal approach to public policy, support for legalized abortion and economic decisions she held responsible for increased gas prices. In the 1980 presidential election, she voted for Ronald Reagan and worked for his campaign.^[18][62]

Her political activism gained media attention at a pro-life protest in 1991. She and approximately 30 other pro-life citizens went to a Ramsey County Board meeting where a $3 million appropriation was to go to build a morgue for the county at St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center (now Regions Hospital). The Medical Center performed abortions and employed pro-choice activist Jane Hodgson. Bachmann attended the meeting to protest public tax dollars going to the hospital; speaking to the Star Tribune, she said that "in effect, since 1973, I have been a landlord of an abortion clinic, and I don't like that distinction".^[19][63]

In 1993, she and other parents started the K-12 New Heights Charter School in Stillwater. The publicly funded school's charter mandated that it be non-sectarian in all programs and practices, but the school soon developed a strong Christian orientation. Parents of students at the school complained and the superintendent of schools warned Bachmann that the school was in violation of state law. Six months after the school's founding Bachmann resigned and the Christian orientation was removed from the curriculum, allowing the school to keep its charter.^[16][64][65] Bachmann began speaking against a state-mandated set of educational standards, which propelled her into the world of politics.^[66]

Bachmann became a critic and opponent of Minnesota's School-to-Work policies. In a 1999 column, she wrote: "School-to-Work alters the basic mission and purpose of K-12 academic education away from traditional broad-based academic studies geared toward maximizing intellectual achievement of the individual. Instead, School-to-Work utilizes the school day to promote children's acquisition of workplace skills, viewing children as trainees for increased economic productivity."^[67]

In November 1999, she and four other Republicans were candidates, as the "Slate of Five", in an election for the school board of Stillwater. All five lost.^[13]

Minnesota Senate[link]

In 2000, Bachmann defeated 18-year incumbent Gary Laidig for the Republican nomination for State Senator for Minnesota District 56. In the November 2000 general election, she defeated Ted Thompson of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) and Lyno Sullivan of the Minnesota Independence Party, to win the seat. Two years later, in November 2002, after redistricting due to the 2000 Census, Bachmann defeated another incumbent, State Senator Jane Krentz of the DFL, in the newly drawn State Senate District 52. In office, Bachmann's agenda focused on the cultural conservative issues of opposition to abortion and gay marriage.^[21]

Same-sex marriage constitutional amendment[link]

On November 20, 2003, Bachmann and Representative Mary Liz Holberg proposed a constitutional amendment that would bar the state from legally recognizing same-sex marriage.^[68] In 2004, Bachmann and a coalition of religious leaders announced plans for a "Minnesota for Marriage" rally.^[69] Bachmann's effort to place a marriage amendment on a referendum ballot in 2004 ultimately failed. She resurrected her proposal in March 2005^[70] but it stalled indefinitely in a senate committee that April.^[71]

Assistant Minority Leader[link]

In November 2004, Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Day appointed Bachmann as Assistant Minority Leader in charge of Policy for the Senate Republican Caucus.^[72] In July 2005, the Republican Caucus removed her from her leadership position. Bachmann said that disagreements with Day over her anti-tax stance were the reason for her ouster.^[73]

U.S. House of Representatives[link]

Since being elected in November 2006, Bachmann has served Minnesota's 6th congressional district, which includes the northernmost and eastern suburbs of the Twin Cities and St. Cloud. She is the first Republican woman to be elected to the U.S. House from Minnesota.^[45]

110th Congress[link]

Iraq War troop surge[link]