| Chris Shays | |
|---|---|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th district |
|
| In office August 18, 1987 – January 3, 2009 |
|
| Preceded by | Stewart McKinney |
| Succeeded by | Jim Himes |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Christopher Hunter Shays October 18, 1945 Stamford, Connecticut |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Betsi DeRaismes Shays |
| Children | Jeramy Alice Shays |
| Residence | Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Alma mater | Principia College, New York University |
| Occupation | Director, financial group |
| Religion | Christian Science[1] |
Christopher Hunter "Chris" Shays[2] (born October 18, 1945) is an American politician. He was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives and represented the 4th District of Connecticut.
Shays was the only Republican congressman from New England elected to the 110th United States Congress in the 2006 midterm elections. His loss to Jim Himes in the 2008 election made New England's House delegation entirely Democratic in the 111th Congress. He was the most senior member of House of Representatives to be defeated in the 2008 election.
In 2009, Shays was appointed to co-chair the Commission on Wartime Contracting. The commission is an independent, bipartisan legislative commission established to study wartime contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Created in Section 841 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, this eight-member commission is mandated by Congress to study federal agency contracting for the reconstruction, logistical support of coalition forces, and the performance of security functions, in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Shays is currently a candidate for the 2012 Republican U.S. Senate nomination to replace retiring Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman.[3]
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Shays was born in Stamford, Connecticut, the son of Margaret "Peggy" (née Oliver) and Thurston Crane Shays. His maternal grandmother was born in Scotland.[2] He grew up in Darien, attended the Christian Science Principia College in Elsah, Illinois, and received an MBA and MPA from New York University. He lives in the Black Rock section of Bridgeport, Connecticut.[4] Shays is a Christian Scientist; in September 2006, Shays said in an interview that he was questioning his faith.[5][6]
Shays married Betsi DeRaismes in 1968. They served together in the Peace Corps in Fiji from 1968 to 1970. They have one daughter.
U.S. News & World Report said that analysis of Shays' voting record reveals that he is a moderate, having voted historically more often with liberals than with conservatives, although it noted he voted with Congressional Republicans 80% of the time in 2002.[7] Shays has listed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as his political inspiration, saying "Newt Gingrich is my hero."[8]
Shays is labeled by his supporters as a "maverick"[9] and "independent thinker", while conservative detractors regard him as a RINO ("Republican In Name Only").[10] Shays is pro-choice on abortion; and although he voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, he had voted against various prior versions of the bill.[9][11] Shays was endorsed by the Brady Campaign for his support for gun control and was one of only six Republicans to vote against banning lawsuits against gun manufacturers and distributors in 2005.[12] Shays generally voted with the Democratic Party on matters affecting gays and lesbians; he has voted against the federal marriage amendment and co-sponsored a bill to overturn the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. He is one of the few Republicans to oppose amending the Constitution to ban flag-burning. In 1999 he was one of 20 Republicans to vote against an ultimately failed bill to ban physician-assisted suicide. The Congressman has long been known for environmental regulations,[13] and was endorsed in the past by the League of Conservation Voters.[14] He also advocates humane treatment of animals[15] and ending discrimination in the workplace.[16] Shays was also one of only four Republicans to vote against all four articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.
In April 2005, he broke with most of his party over House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's alleged ethics violations. This made Shays the first Republican to say DeLay should step down from the Majority Leader post. He fought to maintain the Republican Party rule that requires an indicted leader to step down — the rule that ultimately resulted in Tom DeLay's resignation. Shays stated that he should resign, saying, "Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election."[17]
Shays is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, he cosponsored H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act.[18] In 2008, he opposed H.R. 5767, the Payment Systems Protection Act (a bill that sought to place a moratorium on enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act while the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve defined "unlawful Internet gambling").
Shays is a member of or supported by the Republican Main Street Partnership,[19] The Republican Majority For Choice,[20] Republicans for Environmental Protection,[21] It's My Party Too,[22] and the Congressional Wildlife Refuge Caucus.
Shays voted in favor of the 2003 Congressional resolution authorizing the use of force in Iraq. In 2003, he was the first U.S. Congressman to visit Iraq after the outbreak of war and he has traveled to Iraq 21 times overall, more than any other U.S. legislator.[23][24]
From 2003 until August 24, 2006, Shays was a "stalwart supporter" of the War in Iraq, and of a continued U.S. military presence there.[25][26] Shay has faced a continued political challenge to his views in a district where recent polls show a solid majority of voters disapprove of the 2003 US decision to invade Iraq.[27]
On April 10, 2003, Shays told the Connecticut Post that "The war plan has been nearly flawless."[28] On August 19, 2004, Shays told reporters, "We're on the right track now."[29] On June 24, 2005, Shays said "We've seen amazing progress [in Iraq]."[30] On July 27, 2005, Shays said on a local radio program that he was optimistic about the future of Iraq, and that he opposed any timetable for troop withdrawal.[31] On June 11, 2006 Shays told the Hartford Courant that his position on the war was a matter of principle and he was not going to stop talking about it.[10]
On October 11, 2006, at a debate Shays sparked outrage from critics with comments about the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse scandal. "Now I've seen what happened in Abu Ghraib, and Abu Ghraib was not torture. It was outrageous, outrageous involvement of National Guard troops from [Maryland] who were involved in a sex ring and they took pictures of soldiers who were naked, and they did other things that were just outrageous. But it wasn't torture."[32]
Upon returning from an August 2006 Iraq trip, Shays became the first Congressional Republican to call for a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.[25] Shays said he was still a supporter of the war, but supported a timetable in order to "encourage some political will on the part of Iraqis".[33]
Shays has staunchly disputed media claims that he has flip-flopped his position on Iraq.[34] "I am not distancing myself from the President," he told the Los Angeles Times on August 25, 2006.[35] That same day, he told other reporters, "I totally support the war."[36]
On February 16, 2007, Shays voted against H. Con. Res. 63 (which disapproved of increasing troop levels in Iraq),[37] claiming that "The resolution sends the wrong message to the President, to our troops, and to our enemies" [38] On July 13, 2007 Shays called on Congress to approve withdrawing virtually all American troops from Iraq by December 2008. "I believe we need a timeline. I believe the president's wrong," said Shays. Shays' latest plan marks the first time he has specified dates.[39] On April 13, 2008, Shays defended President Bush's Iraq policy to a town meeting in his home district, telling them, "I support the President on Iraq."[40]
Along with Representative Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat, Shays co-sponsored the Shays-Meehan bill, which was signed into law as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The American Civil Liberties Union "believes that key elements of Shays-Meehan violate the First Amendment right to free speech because the legislation contains provisions that would violate the constitutionally protected right of the people to express their opinions about issues through broadcast advertising if they mention the name of a candidate and restrict soft money contributions and uses of soft money for no constitutionally justifiable reason."[41] The Supreme Court upheld the law (McConnell v. Federal Election Commission).
After a series of leaks from within the FBI, CIA, and NSA regarding the disputed legality of surveillance, Shays chaired a hearing on National Whistleblower Protection.[42] This hearing was largely opposed by the Republican leadership and the Bush administration, which was attempting to strip intelligence employees of whistleblower protections. The witness list included members of the military, the FBI, the CIA, and the NSA who had come forward about such issues as warrantless eavesdropping and the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq.[43]
In 2007, Shays raised his voice to a Capitol Hill policeman, and touched the officer's badge to read the number for not letting the congressman's visitors through a doorway. "I take full responsibility for this incident and want to ensure it does not reflect negatively on the officer in any way," he added.[44][45]
Shays served as a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1975 to 1987, representing part of Stamford (he has since moved to Bridgeport). Just a few months after starting his seventh term in the state house, Shays entered a special election for the 4th District after 16-year incumbent Stewart McKinney died of AIDS, and won with 57 percent of the vote. He won the seat in his own right in 1988 and was reelected nine times.
From 1988 to 2002, Shays was reelected fairly handily, never dropping below 57 percent of the vote even as the 4th turned more Democratic at the national level. The district, once a classic "Yankee Republican" district, swung heavily to the Democrats along with the rest of Connecticut from the early 1990s onward; the last Republican presidential candidate to carry it was George H. W. Bush in 1988.
In 2006, Shays was in "the fight of his political life",[7] facing a strong challenge for re-election from former Westport First Selectwoman Diane Farrell, who had held him to only 52 percent of the vote in 2004. According to U.S. News & World Report, "With money pouring in from the district and from national groups (Farrell expects to raise close to $3 million, Shays a bit less) and unregulated political interest groups targeting Shays with automated calls and negative telemarketing designed as polls, this one already has the odor of ugly."[7] According to the U.S. News report, Farrell says that, in 2002, Shays voted in support of Bush's post-9/11 agenda 80% of the time, but other analyses of his voting record revealed that historically he voted more often with liberals.[7]
Despite the strong challenge from Farrell, Shays was re-elected to Congress in the 2006 election by a slim margin of 6,645 votes (3%). Shays lost Bridgeport, Stamford, Norwalk, Westport, and Weston to Farrell, but her margin in those communities was insufficient to overcome Shays' lead in the more Republican towns in the district. Shays was likely also helped by coattails from Governor Jodi Rell, who easily carried the district.
After the defeats of Nancy Johnson and Rob Simmons, Shays was the only Republican congressman from Connecticut, and the only Republican congressman from all of New England.
In the 2008 election, Shays faced Democratic nominee Jim Himes, an affordable housing executive and businessman; Libertarian nominee M. A. Carrano, a professional philosophy writer and systems consultant; and Green Party nominee Richard Duffee. Shays was defeated by Himes 51% to 48%. Himes was likely assisted by Barack Obama's landslide victory in the 4th; Obama carried the district with 60% of the vote, one of the largest margins for a Republican-held district. Shays' defeat resulted in there being no Republicans representing New England in the House for the first time in almost 150 years.
Shays carried all but three towns in his district—Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford. However, he could not overcome a landslide loss in Bridgeport, the largest city in the district, where he won only 19% of the vote.
Shays officially entered the 2012 U.S. Senate race on August 22, 2011.[3] He will seek the Republican nomination to replace retiring senator Joe Lieberman.
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Stewart McKinney |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 4th congressional district 1987–2009 |
Succeeded by Jim Himes |