Steve Rothman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Steve Rothman
Steve Rothman
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 9th district
Incumbent
Assumed office 
January 3, 1997
Preceded by Robert Torricelli
Born October 14, 1952 (1952-10-14) (age 55)
Englewood, New Jersey
Political party Democratic
Spouse Jennifer Beckenstein
Religion Jewish

Steven R. "Steve" Rothman (born October 14, 1952 in Englewood, New Jersey) is an American Democratic Party politician, who is a member of the United States House of Representatives for New Jersey's Ninth Congressional District (map). First sworn into the United States Congress on January 3, 1997, he now is serving his sixth two-year term in office. Rothman also sits on the powerful Committee on Appropriations in the House. He attended Washington University Law School.

Before being elected into congress, Rothman served as Mayor of Englewood for two terms (1983–1989), a Bergen County Surrogate Court Judge (1993–1996), and practiced law as a private attorney while providing free legal services to the poor, disabled, and elderly (1978–1993). Rothman now lives in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.

Rothman defeated Republican Kathleen Donovan to win election to Congress in New Jersey's 9th District in 1996, replacing Representative Robert Torricelli, who was elected to the Senate.

In Congress, Rothman has been a supporter of Israel. Locally, Rothman helped secure money for improving transportation and relieving highway congestion, improving local homeland security, police and firefighting technology, improving education, providing relief to the unemployed, and sponsoring a bill to stop large airplanes from taking off at Teterboro Airport because of the excessive noise in residential areas. Rothman is also credited for saving the New Jersey Meadowlands from urban construction and securing millions of dollars for the protection and study of the environment and wildlife.

Rothman strongly opposes President George W. Bush's tax-cut plans, his health care issues, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil drilling plan, and various other Republican Party and Bush Administration backed plans. Rothman earned an F from the taxpayers advocacy organization National Taxpayers Union in 2004.[1]

Rothman has a lifetime rating of 82.54% with Progressive Punch, which ranked him as the 162nd most Progressive member of Congress.[2] He is listed by Congress.org as the 107th most powerful person in the House of Representatives and the 104th most powerful Democrat.[3] According to the National Journal, Rothman has a composite liberal score of 82.[4]

Rothman was featured on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, in Stephen Colbert's part nine of the "Better Know A District" segment, which highlighted Rothman and New Jersey's 9th District, and originally aired on January 12, 2006.

On August 18, 2006, Rothman married Jennifer Beckenstein, the community affairs coordinator at the Center for Food Action in Englewood, New Jersey. The couple met through JDate, an online dating website for Jewish singles.[5] Between them, Rothman and Beckenstein have five teenage children and two dogs, who plan to live in Rothman's home, which is being expanded to accommodate the blended family.[6]

Contents

[edit] Committee Assignments

  • Appropriations Committee
    • Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies
    • Subcommittee on Defense
    • Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs

[edit] Electoral history

New Jersey's 9th congressional district: Results 1996–2006[7]
Year Democrat Votes Pct Republican Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct 3rd Party Party Votes Pct
1996 Steve Rothman 117,646 56% Kathleen Donovan 89,005 42% Arthur Rosen Independent 2,730 1% Leon Myerson Independent 1,549 1%
1998 Steve Rothman 91,330 65% Steve Lonegan 47,817 34% Michael Perrone Independent 1,349 1% Michael Koontz Independent 686 <1% *
2000 Steve Rothman 140,462 68% Joseph Tedeschi 61,984 30% Lewis Pell Independent 2,273 1% Michael Perrone Independent 1,072 1% *
2002 Steve Rothman 97,108 70% Joseph Glass 42,088 30%
2004 Steve Rothman 146,038 68% Edward Trawinski 68,564 32% David Daly Libertarian 1,649 1%
2006 Steve Rothman 105,853 71% Vincent Micco 40,879 28% Michael Jarvis The Moderate Choice 1,363 1%
*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 1998, Kenneth Ebel received 277 votes. In 2000, Robert Corriston received 980 votes.

[edit] References

  1. ^ National Taxpayers Union Rates Congress 108th Congress: 2nd Session, 2004, accessed June 22, 2004
  2. ^ Progressive Punch's Rating for Steve Rothman, accessed March 26, 2006
  3. ^ Congress.Org's Rating for Steve Rothman accessed March 26, 2006
  4. ^ National Journal Composite Ratings accessed March 26, 2006
  5. ^ Rothman ties the knot, The Hill, September 6, 2006
  6. ^ Biography of Congressman Steven Rothman, accessed December 13, 2006
  7. ^ Election Statistics. Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved on 2008-01-10.

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Robert Torricelli		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from New Jersey's 9th congressional district
1997–Present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent
v • d • e
New Jersey's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Representative(s)
State 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
Non-voting delegations
Languages