John Spencer (politician)

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John Spencer
40th Mayor of Yonkers, New York
In office January 1996 – December 2003
Preceded by	Terrence M. Zaleski
Succeeded by	Philip A. Amicone
Born	November 17, 1946 (1946-11-17) (age 61) Yonkers, New York
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Kathy Spring-Spencer

John Spencer (born November 17, 1946 ) is the former Mayor of Yonkers, New York (1996-2003). He was the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from New York and lost to incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. Prior to entering politics as a member of the Yonkers City Council in 1991, he worked in retail, food service, construction, waste management, and banking. He is now unemployed.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Career 2 Personal life 3 New York Senate race 4 Controversy 5 References

[edit] Career

Spencer, a former lieutenant in the US Army, is a veteran of the Vietnam war.^[1] He was the founder of Spencer Consulting Group, where he uses his personal experience of overcoming alcoholism to help others defeat their addictions.^[2]

In 1996, John Spencer was sworn in as mayor of Yonkers. The city's finances had been under the oversight of a State Emergency Financial Control Board for a decade.^[3]

In 1998, control of the city's finances was returned to the city.^[4]

In 2001, Spencer unsuccessfully supported a ballot measure to rescind a term limits law he had spearheaded while on the City Council.^[1]

In November 2002, Spencer could not run for re-election as mayor due to that same term limits law.

[edit] Personal life

Spencer was born in Yonkers, New York. He was adopted and raised by the Ginnane family who had eight children of their own. His adoptive parents died when he was young; his sister Noreen Ginnane raised him. After two years at Westchester Community College, he dropped out to join the Army during the Vietnam War. He earned an officer's commission as an Infantry Lieutenant and served a combat tour in Vietnam during 1968 through 1969. He has received the Combat Infantrymans Badge and the Bronze Star. He married his first wife Eileen and they have two children. He married Kathy Spring, his second wife, and they have three children together, two of whom were born while Spencer was married to his second wife and while Spring was serving as Spencer's mayoral chief of staff. Spring's annual salary, which started at $52,000, increased to $138,000 by the time she and Spencer both left office. Spencer did not publicly acknowledge the affair until 2002.

Spencer's son, John Spencer, Jr., is married to Rachel McEneny, the daughter of John McEneny, a Democratic politician from Albany, New York.^[5] They have a daughter.

[edit] New York Senate race

Main article: New York United States Senate election, 2006

In 2005, Spencer announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was seeking re-election to a second term. Politically, Spencer is opposed to abortion and gun control, and a supporter of tighter border security.^[6] His support for the Bush Administration and its policies is well known, including but not limited to the war in Iraq.

On May 31, 2006, Spencer won the endorsement of the state Republican Party organization but did not achieve the threshold of 75 percent he needed to prevent his rival, former Pentagon aide Kathleen Troia “K.T.” McFarland, from gaining an automatic position on the primary ballot. He received 63 percent, and thus faced McFarland in the September 12, 2006 Republican primary, which he won by a margin of almost two to one.^[7] Spencer called on McFarland to step aside after the vote, but McFarland told CQPolitics.com she had no intention of withdrawing from the race.^[8]

In a June 2006 radio ad, Spencer expressed his disappointment in the national Republicans for not helping his Senate campaign.

In his 2006 election campaign, Spencer came out in favor of New York's Court of Appeals denying same-sex marriage to 42 gay and lesbian couples who challenged that denial as unconstitutional. On his campaign page, Spencer says that same-sex marriage or civil unions equate to "special rights for gays".

Spencer ultimately lost the Senate race to incumbent Hillary Clinton. He garnered 31 percent of the vote, and did not win a single ward in his hometown of Yonkers.

[edit] Controversy

On August 18, 2005, Spencer gave a radio interview where he said District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, another candidate for the Republican nomination, didn't have a "Chinaman's chance" of getting the conservative line. Spencer was asked to apologize for the comment after an outcry from the Asian community that the statement was derogatory.^[9] Pirro dropped out of the race in December 2005.

Publicly, Spencer has said that Clinton "aids and abets our enemies" in the war on terrorism.[1]

Preceded by Terrence M. Zaleski	Mayor of Yonkers 1996 - 2003	Succeeded by Phil Amicone
Preceded by Rick Lazio	Republican Nominee for U.S. Senate from New York (Class 1) 2006	Succeeded by TBD

[edit] References