Jim McDermott

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Jim McDermott
Jim McDermott
In office
1989 - present
Preceded by Mike Lowry
Succeeded by Incumbent
Born December 28, 1936
Chicago, Illinois
Political party Democratic
Spouse Therese Hansen
Religion Episcopalian

James Adelbert "Jim" McDermott (born December 28, 1936 in Chicago, Illinois) is the current U.S. Representative for Washington's 7th congressional district. The 7th District includes most of Seattle and Vashon Island and portions of Shoreline, Tukwila, SeaTac, and Burien.

McDermott is a member of the Democratic Party. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and is a member of the House Progressive Caucus.

McDermott was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was the first member of his family to attend college; he graduated from Wheaton College, Illinois, and then went to medical school, getting an MD from the University of Illinois Medical School in 1963. After completing his medical residency, he served in the United States Navy Medical Corps as a psychiatrist in California during the Vietnam War [1].

Contents

[edit] Political career

In 1970, McDermott made his first run for public office and was elected to the State Legislature from the 43rd district in Washington. In 1974, he ran for the State Senate, and subsequently was re-elected three times, each for a four year term. In 1980, while a state senator, McDermott defeated incumbent Dixy Lee Ray in the Democratic primary for Governor of Washington, but lost the general election to Republican John Spellman.

In 1987, McDermott left politics to become a Foreign Service medical officer based in Zaire, providing psychiatric services to Foreign Service, AID, and Peace Corps personnel in sub-Saharan Africa. In 1988, when the 7th District Congressional seat became open, he returned from Africa to run for the seat. In 2004 he was elected to the 109th Congress, is currently serving his 9th term, and in 2006 he was elected to the 110th Congress. [2]

McDermott won his ninth term with over eighty percent of the vote in the election held on 2 November 2004. In the 7 November 2006 general elections, McDermott received slightly less than eighty percent of the vote, easily winning against challenger Steve Beren.

[edit] Political views

McDermott, who is regarded as one of the House's most liberal members, has recently gained a degree of national prominence in the wake of the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

A vocal opponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he appears in Michael Moore's documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 discussing the aftermath of September 11.

He endorses the Genocide Intervention Network.

As a licensed physician, McDermott is particularly interested in health care issues. He has strongly advocated that the United States adopt a universal health care system.

McDermott has called for an investigation into the use of depleted uranium by the U.S. military. He is featured on the album "For Blood And Empire" by talking about the effects of depleted uranium on the song "Depleted Uranium Is a War Crime".

McDermott also praised Anti-Flag for encouraging young people to register and vote leading up to the 2004 presidential elections.[3]

McDermott is often strongly involved in Congressional debates on gay rights.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Recorded telephone conversations

In December of 2004, Rep. McDermott came under investigation by the House Ethics Committee when they had to determine whether he violated standards of conduct for leaking an illegally recorded telephone conversations during a committee investigation in 1997. At that time the committee was investigating the conduct of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich.

The illegal telephone converstation was recorded by a Florida couple, John and Alice Martin, who overheard a conversation between Rep. Gingrich and top Republicans, on their police scanner inside their car. After listening to the conversation for several minutes they decided to record it, at first for posterity's sake and after listening further decided that it might be important for the Ethics Committee to hear. [4]

It was at that time that they delivered the tape to McDermott, the senior Democrat on the committee at that time, and who was in town for a swearing-in ceremony.

Shortly afterward, Congressman McDermott leaked the tape to several media outlets, including the New York Times. Rep. John Boehner, who was part of the Gingrich conversation, sued McDermott for illegally leaking the tape; U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan concluded that McDermott was behind the leak and ordered him to pay Boehner for "willfull and knowing misconduct" that "rises to the level of malice".

McDermott challenged that ruling in a federal appeals court. But on March 29, 2006 the court ruled 2-1 that McDermott violated federal law when he turned over the illegally recorded tape to the New York Times and other media outlets. The court then ordered McDermott to pay for Boehner's legal costs (over $600,000) as well as $60K in damages. McDermott had argued that since he was not the one involved in the recording, "his actions were allowed under the First Amendment, and said a ruling against him would have "a huge chilling effect" on reporters and newsmakers alike. Lawyers for 18 news organizations — including ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The Associated Press, The New York Times and The Washington Post — filed a brief backing McDermott. [5]

On June 26, 2006, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated the earlier judgement, and decided to re-hear the case with all nine judges in September. [6]

On December 11. 2006 a report released by the House Ethics comittee concluded that McDermott "violated ethics rules by giving reporters access to an illegally taped telephone call involving Republican leaders a decade ago." [7]. The report stated, "Rep. McDermott's secretive disclosures to the news media ... risked undermining the ethics process regarding" former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, the committee said. It said McDermott's actions "were not consistent with the spirit of the committee."[8]

[edit] Visit to Iraq in 2002

Rep. McDermott visited Iraq in 2002, prior to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. He received sharp criticism from conservatives, both for his visit and for his prediction that President George W. Bush would "mislead the American public" to justify military action. During the run up to the Iraq war, McDermott insisted that no WMDs would be found in Iraq.

After his visit to Iraq, Rep. McDermott received a $5,000 contribution to an unrelated legal defense fund from Shakir al Khafaji, an Iraqi-American businessman with alleged ties to the Oil for Food scandal. McDermott returned the contribution in 2004 after it was questioned in the media. Aides asserted that McDermott had no prior knowledge of Khafaji's alleged connections to Iraqi oil money.

McDermott's opponents frequently use the nickname "Baghdad Jim" to call attention to his controversial Iraq visit.

[edit] Pledge of Allegiance

After atheist Michael Newdow lost his case to have the phrase "Under God" dropped from the Pledge of Allegiance, Rep. McDermott, during his leading of the pledge on the floor of the House, left out the phrase. He later claimed that he had forgotten, as he was born in 1936, and the phrase not added until 1954 when he was 17.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] Succession

Preceded by:
Mike Lowry		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Washington's 7th congressional district
1989 – present		 Incumbent


Washington's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators: Patty Murray (D), Maria Cantwell (D)

Representative(s): Jay Inslee (D), Rick Larsen (D), Brian Baird (D), Doc Hastings (R), Cathy McMorris (R), Norman Dicks (D), Jim McDermott (D), Dave Reichert (R), Adam Smith (D)

All delegations: Alabama • Alaska • Arizona • Arkansas • California • Colorado • Connecticut • Delaware • Florida • Georgia • Hawaii • Idaho • Illinois • Indiana • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Louisiana • Maine • Maryland • Massachusetts • Michigan • Minnesota • Mississippi • Missouri • Montana • Nebraska • Nevada • New Hampshire • New Jersey • New Mexico • New York • North Carolina • North Dakota • Ohio • Oklahoma • Oregon • Pennsylvania • Rhode Island • South Carolina • South Dakota • Tennessee • Texas • Utah • Vermont • Virginia • Washington • West Virginia • Wisconsin • Wyoming — American Samoa • District of Columbia • Guam • Puerto Rico • U.S. Virgin Islands
Persondata
NAME McDermott, Jim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McDermott, James Adelbert
SHORT DESCRIPTION US Congressman
DATE OF BIRTH December 28, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Chicago, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
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