Mike Fitzpatrick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mike Fitzpatrick

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th district
In office 2005-2007
Preceded by	Jim Greenwood
Succeeded by	Patrick Murphy

Born	June 28, 1963 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Kathleen Fitzpatrick
Religion	Roman Catholic

Michael G. "Mike" Fitzpatrick (born June 28, 1963, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a Republican U.S. politician from the state of Pennsylvania. He represented the state's 8th Congressional district in the U.S. House. He lost his bid for re-election to Democrat Patrick Murphy.

1 Education and early career
2 Congressional career
3 2006 re-election campaign
4 Other
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Education and early career

Fitzpatrick was born in Philadelphia. A graduate of Bishop Egan High School in Lower Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Fitzpatrick was awarded an Honors Degree (B.A. 1985) from St. Thomas University in Miami, Florida, and a Law Degree (Juris Doctor 1988) from the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University. He is admitted to the practice of law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and is a member of the Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and American Bar Associations. He served as Special Counsel at the Philadelphia law firm of Saul Ewing LLP.

He was a member of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners beginning in January 1995. He served as Chairman of the Board in 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2003. During that time, the County made improvements to the emergency management system, including the enhancement of the 9-1-1 system, the construction of a new state-of-the-art emergency operating center, and took a leadership role in the five-county anti-terrorism task force.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Congressional career

In July 2004, popular moderate Republican James C. Greenwood unexpectedly withdrew from his re-election campaign. Thanks to the backing of Bucks County Republican Party boss Harry Fawkes, Fitzpatrick won the nomination (as chosen by a convention of Republican committee members) over the more moderate State Senator Joe Conti (against Greenwood's wishes). The Democrats were left according to Larry Sabato "stuck with their sacrificial lamb candidate" Virginia "Ginny" Schrader. ([1]) ([2]) Fitzpatrick won the general election against Schrader 55.3%-44.3%, with the remaining vote split between two minor candidates ([3]). His district, the Pennsylvania 8th, includes all of Bucks County, a sliver of Montgomery County, and parts of two Northeast Philadelphia wards ([4]).

He served on the United States House Committee on Financial Services and the United States House Committee on Small Business.

In May 2006, Fitzpatrick introduced the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, which requires most schools and libraries to actively restrict minors from access to "Commercial Social Networking Websites" and "Chat Rooms."

In late July, the DOPA Act overwhelmingly passed the House. Speaking before the vote was taken, Fitzpatrick said, "The social networking sites have become, in a sense, a happy hunting ground for child predators" ([5]).

[edit] 2006 re-election campaign

Fitzpatrick faced Democrat Patrick Murphy in the November general election of 2006.

In January 2006, Fitzpatrick said he had donated to charity the $21,500 he received from political action committees headed by U.S. Representatives Bob Ney, R-Ohio, Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Calif (all of whom, coincidentally, left the Congress in disgrace; Cunningham sentenced to jail time; [6]).

Fitzpatrick was endorsed by several environmental groups including the Sierra Club. He was the only incumbent Republican congressman in Pennsylvania who had the support of the environmentalist lobby during this election.

The Cook Political Report rated this race as "Leans Republican". However, Congressional Quarterly rated this race as "Toss-up" (see Notable U.S. House elections, 2006 - Pennsylvania). An October 30, 2006 poll by Constituent Dynamics showed Fitzpatrick trailing Murphy 47% to 50% ([7]).

On Election night, the votes between the two candidates were within 1%, with Fitzpatrick trailing by just over 1,500 votes out of nearly 250,000 cast.

On November 8, with all precincts reporting, Murphy led by 1,521 votes. Philadelphia television station NBC 10 later reported that Fitzpatrick had conceded the election to Murphy.^[1] He and Mike Sodrel (R-Indiana) were the only two freshman Republicans to be defeated in 2006.

[edit] Other

Fitzpatrick is involved with the Boy Scouts of America and is a member of the Temple Lower Bucks Hospital Board of Directors, the Conwell-Egan Catholic Board of Advisors, the Knights of Columbus, the Levittown Bristol Kiwanis Club, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Brehon Law Society.

He and his wife Kathleen have six children; they are Roman Catholics.

Fitzpatrick never served in the military and had a 37.5% DAV Congressional Voting Record.

[edit] References

^ NBC10.com. Fitzpatrick Concedes Defeat. 2006-11-08.

[edit] External links

Preceded by Jim Greenwood	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district 2005 – 2007	Succeeded by Patrick Murphy