| Linda Chavez | |
|---|---|
| Linda Chavez at CPAC in February 2010. | |
| 7th Assistant to the President for Public Liaison | |
| In office April 8, 1985 – February 4, 1986 |
|
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Faith Whittlesey |
| Succeeded by | Mari Maseng |
| Personal details | |
| Born | June 17, 1947 Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Christopher Gersten |
| Children | David, Pablo, and Rudy |
| Alma mater | University of Colorado UCLA |
| Occupation | Politician Columnist |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Linda Chavez (born June 17, 1947 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American author, commentator, and radio talk show host. She is also a Fox News analyst, Chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity, has a syndicated column that appears in newspapers nationwide each week, and sits on the Board of Directors of two Fortune 1000 companies: Pilgrims Pride and ABM Industries Inc. Chavez was the highest-ranking woman in President Ronald Reagan's White House, and was the first Latina ever nominated to the United States Cabinet.
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Chavez earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado in 1970. She attended graduate school at UCLA.
Starting in 1975, Chavez was employed within the inner circles of the United States second largest teachers' union, the American Federation of Teachers, where she was responsible for editing that organization's publications.[1] [2] She was a confidante of Al Shanker,[3] the AFT's president. While she believed in President Shanker's personal philosophy of trade unionism, she eventually came to feel that many in the organization were intent on moving the union in another direction after Shanker's inevitable departure. She later wrote that the more she learned about the goals of these newer union leaders, the less comfortable she felt in the organization. She left the AFT in 1983.
Chavez has held a number of appointed positions, among them White House Director of Public Liaison (1985),[4] under President Ronald Reagan; Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1983–1985) appointed by President Reagan; and Chairman of the National Commission on Migrant Education (1988–1992) under President George H.W. Bush. Concurrently with some of these positions she served as a member of the Administrative Conference of the United States (1984–1986) under President Reagan.
In 1992, Chavez was selected by the United Nations Human Rights Commission to serve a four-year term as U.S. Expert to the U.N. Sub-commission on the Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. In August 1993, the sub-commission asked Chavez to study systematic rape, sexual slavery and slavery-like practices during wartime, including internal armed conflict. As Special Rapporteur, Chavez reported regularly for nearly four years to different sub-commission meetings. In May 1997, Chavez asked that the final report be finished and delivered by a colleague, and was granted permission to withdraw from the project. (On June 22, 1998, her successor, Gay McDougall, released the final version of "Contemporary Forms of Slavery".)[5]
Chavez was the head of Governor George W. Bush's taskforce on immigration when he ran for president in 2000, and she later met with him on a number of occasions while he was president to discuss immigration reform.[6]
In 2001, President George W. Bush nominated Chavez for Secretary of Labor. She was the first Hispanic woman nominated to a United States cabinet position. However, she withdrew from consideration after it was revealed, through her neighbor Margaret "Peggy" Zwisler, that she had allegedly given money to Marta Mercado, a one-time illegal immigrant from Guatemala who lived in her home more than a decade earlier.[7] Chavez withdrew as President Bush's nominee but stated she never felt pressure from Bush's political team to do so. Chavez has always maintained that she knew Mercado was in the United States illegally, stating "I think I always knew." [8]
In 1986, Chavez ran as a Republican for the United States Senate against Democrat Barbara Mikulski in the state of Maryland. Chavez left her post as the highest ranking woman in Ronald Reagan's White House in an attempt to win the open U.S. Senate seat in Maryland.
In the campaign, Chavez attacked Mikulski as a "San Francisco-style, George McGovern, liberal Democrat."[9] Because of a possible interpretation of "San Francisco-style", Chavez was accused of making Mikulski's sexual orientation a central issue of the political campaign. However, the term referred to Jeane Kirkpatrick's 1984 Republican National Convention "Blame America First" speech, in which she coined the phrase "San Francisco Liberal" in reference to the Democratic Convention in San Francisco.[9]
Mikulski defeated Chavez with 61% of the vote.
Chavez is a syndicated columnist and a Fox News political commentator. She frequently appears on a number of national news programs, including The O'Reilly Factor, the Glenn Beck show, Hannity and Colmes, The Rush Limbaugh Show, Good Morning America, and The Newshour with Jim Lehrer. She has previously been a regularly panelist on the Mclaughlin Group, Crossfire, and Fox and Friends. She has previously guest-hosted Hannity and Colmes, sitting in for Sean Hannity.
She quit PBS's To the Contrary after a May 12, 2000, incident when the host, Bonnie Erbé, made the claim on air that, at her age, Chavez was more likely to be hit by lightning than raped.[10] The comment was made during a discussion on gun control and whether it was necessary for Chavez to obtain a gun to defend herself against a potential rape. Chavez and Erbé argued on the opposite sides of the gun ownership issue. Chavez decided to leave the show after Erbé's controversial comment. After an absence of more than seven years, Chavez returned to the program on January 18, 2008[11] and is listed as a panelist on its website.[12]
Chavez "sits at the helm of a political empire," according to the Washington Post. She is the chairman and founder of the Center for Equal Opportunity, a conservative think tank devoted to issues of race and ethnicity. The Center is the leading conservative organization fighting against race-based public policies, known as "affirmative action" in contracting, employment, higher education, and K-12. Under Linda Chavez's leadership, the Center for Equal Opportunity has released dozens of studies documenting the extent to which race is a factor in college admissions, at over 60 colleges and universities.[13]
Chavez is also the founder and Chairman of Stop Union Political Abuse (SUPA), a federally registered Political Action Committee. In August 2007, the Washington Post reported that Chavez and her immediate family members, through political action committees they had created, had raised $24.5 million from January 2003 to December 2006. The Republican Issues Committee, the Latino Alliance, Stop Union Political Abuse, and the Pro-Life Campaign Committee donated $242,000 to politicians. The Post also listed the salaries of her family members, who worked for the PACs. Chavez's family members earned a total of $261,237, each earning an average of approximately $10,000 per year for their part-time work with the PACs.
The Post also reported that over the previous two years, the Federal Election Commission has fined three of the PACs for a total of $262,500 for failing to file timely reports and for not promptly disclosing all the money raised and spent. However, the FEC found no intentional wrongdoing.[14]
In addition to the income from the PACs, the Post reported that Chavez and her family had been paid as executives of four nonprofit foundations founded by Chavez and her family. Between 2003 and 2006, the four foundations, combined, raised about $350,000 per year.[14]
In January 2008, Chavez and her husband said that they were continuing some of their fundraising operations, though they were closing down one of their PACs.[15]
Chavez is a Director of two Fortune 1000 companies, Pilgrim's Pride and ABM Industries. Pilgrims Pride is the largest poultry producer in the United States, and ABM Industries is the 2nd largest property management company in the United States. Chavez is a past Board member of Greyhound Lines as well as the Foundation for Teaching Economics.
Chavez sits on the Boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy,[16] and was named to the advisory board of the Bruin Alumni Association.[17]
Chavez is of Spanish (father's side) descent who emigrated to what is now New Mexico from Spain in the 17th century and Anglo-American (mother's side) ancestry.[18] She is married to Christopher Gersten, former Bush Administration official, and is the mother of three adult sons, David, Pablo, and Rudy. She is a grandmother of nine and resides with her family in Boulder, Colorado.
In 2000, Chavez was named a Library of Congress Living Legend.[19]
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