| Patrick Murphy | |
|---|---|
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th district |
|
| In office January 3, 2007 – January 3, 2011 |
|
| Preceded by | Mike Fitzpatrick |
| Succeeded by | Mike Fitzpatrick |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 19, 1973 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Jennifer Safford Murphy |
| Residence | Bristol, Pennsylvania |
| Alma mater | Bucks County Community College Kings College Widener University |
| Occupation | attorney |
| Religion | Roman Catholic[1] |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1996–2004 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | 82nd Airborne Division United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps |
| Battles/wars | Iraq War |
| Awards | Bronze Star |
Patrick Joseph Murphy (born October 19, 1973) is the former U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district, serving from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
He was the first veteran of the Iraq War to serve in Congress; he was the only Iraq War veteran to serve in the 110th Congress, and was one of four members to have served in Iraq in the 111th Congress, including Democrat John Boccieri of Ohio and Republicans Mike Coffman of Colorado and Duncan D. Hunter of California.
Murphy is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Pennsylvania Attorney General in the 2012 election.
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Murphy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the Northeast Philadelphia area, the son of a Philadelphia police officer and a legal secretary.[2] As a high school student, Murphy worked weekends as a security guard in the infamous "700 Level" of Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Eagles and Temple University football games.
Murphy graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia. After attending Bucks County Community College, he went to King's College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he was a cadet in the U.S. Army ROTC and was captain of the hockey team and student body president. After graduating in 1996 with a double major, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve, branched into the Judge Advocate General's Corps as a prospective direct entry law school student. In lieu of going directly into the active duty Army with a Reserve commission, he remained in the inactive Army Reserve while attending law school and later while working as a legislative aide to a member of the Pennsylvania state legislature.[3]
Murphy attended law school at the Widener University School of Law in Harrisburg, where he became a member of the Trial Advocacy Honor Society and president of the St. Thomas More Society. He then began working in the office of the district attorney of Philadelphia, and later as a leader in the Harrisburg Civil Law Clinic, a legal aid society serving the poor while concurrently serving as a drilling JAG officer in the Army Reserve. He also served as the legislative aide to Thomas Tangretti, a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Westmoreland County. Murphy has taught American politics and government at Mount Saint Mary's University. After returning from active duty, Murphy joined Cozen O'Connor, a large U.S. law firm based in Philadelphia.
In 2000, Murphy went on active duty in the Army, joining the military faculty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he taught constitutional law. He has also lectured at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the International Institute for Humanitarian Rights in Sanremo, Italy, and at Widener.[4] After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Murphy volunteered for overseas deployment, serving in Bosnia (2002) and in Baghdad during the Iraq War (2003–2004). While in Baghdad as a JAG Corps attorney with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, Murphy worked to reconstruct the justice system and helped prosecute Sheik Moyad, a lieutenant of Muqtada al-Sadr.[5] A graduate of the U.S. Army Airborne School at Fort Benning, dual Qualified as a Basic Parachutist and in Air Assault, Murphy was awarded the Bronze Star for his seven months of service in Iraq.[6] Following his service in Iraq, he was released from active duty and returned to a drilling status in the Army Reserve.
Murphy serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.[7] Murphy is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate to conservative Democratic representatives. In 2008, he was not only one of the first members of Congress to support then Senator Obama; he was the first to actually campaign for him.
Murphy opposed the Iraq War troop surge of 2007. He was a cosponsor, with Senator Barack Obama and Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA), of the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, which aimed to develop a plan to redeploy American troops out of Iraq starting May 1, 2007; a bipartisan majority of Republicans and Democrats as well as President George W. Bush opposed the measure, and it did not pass.
On February 13, 2008 he was the only member of the House to vote against a resolution congratulating the New York Giants for the team's victory in Super Bowl XLII. “As a former 700-level security guard and lifelong Eagles fan, I couldn’t, in good conscience, vote for the New York Giants”, Murphy later stated. “The only thing worse would have been a resolution honoring the Dallas Cowboys."[8]
In the 2007 congressional vote rankings by the non-partisan National Journal, Murphy scored a 56.5 liberal rating and a 43.5 conservative rating, which is considered "centrist" in the Journal's rankings.[9]
In July 2009, Murphy became the lead advocate for a bill that would repeal the Defense Department's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy concerning open gays in the armed forces.[10]
In May 2010, the Officer Daniel Faulkner Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act of 2010 passed the house. Congressman Patrick Murphy sponsored the bill which would assist children whose parent or guardian died as a result of performing service as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.[11]
In July 2010, Rep. Patrick Murphy's Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act was signed into law. The bill enacted stricter standards among federal agencies to identify improper payments and recover taxpayer dollars that were misspent.The new law will help eliminate the $98 billion in wasteful government spending each year.[12]
In August 2010, Congressman Patrick Murphy's Patent bill was signed into law. The bill will help bring new inventions to market and create jobs by ensuring the U.S. Patent and Trade Office has the resources they need to hire an adequate number of patent examiners, install up-to-date information technology and make other operational changes necessary to tackle this backlog.[13]
Murphy has a 100 percent rating from NARAL and "supported the interests of Planned Parenthood 100 percent in 2008."[14]
Patrick Murphy was a leader of the opposition to the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of removing service members from the American military for their sexual orientation.[15] Murphy worked tirelessly to convince fellow moderate Democrats to support the issue despite the political risk involved. [16] He introduced a bill in the House to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell on December 14, 2010.[17] The bill was approved in a strong bipartisan vote of 250-175 in the House, with the support of 15 House Republicans including Murphy's home-state colleagues Todd Russell Platts and Charlie Dent.[18] Ultimately eight Republicans joined with 57 Democrats to approve the bill in the Senate and send it to the President's desk for signature.[19]
Murphy voted for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[20]
Murphy has a mixed record on guns. He is a concealed-carry permit holder [21] and believes in the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, but also recognizes the need for some regulation. In 2007, Murphy co-sponsored legislation that would re-authorize a Federal ban on semi-automatic firearms.[22] The following year, he signed onto H.R. 861, a bill to establish national concealed-carry reciprocity.[23] Also in 2008, Murphy was an original co-sponsor of legislation that would repeal the District of Columbia's ban on semi-automatic weapons and mandatory handgun registration.[24]
Murphy voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act on November 7, 2009.[25]
Murphy became a partner at Philadelphia law firm Fox Rothschild in the litigation department[26] and an adjunct professor at the Widener University School of Law.[27]
In June 2011, President Obama appointed Murphy to the United States Military Academy's Board of Visitors.[28]
On April 26th, Patrick Murphy was awarded the John F. Kennedy Jr. Award from the Brown University Democrats.[29]
In 2005, Murphy decided to challenge Republican incumbent Representative Mike Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district as a Fighting Dem, building his campaign around "Murphy Plans" for Iraq, ethics reform, online protection, and a GI Bill of Rights.[30]
On May 16, 2006, he won the Democratic primary with about 65% of the vote,[31] against Andrew Warren, a former county commissioner and ex-Republican who badly trailed Murphy in campaign funds.[32]
Polls taken in October, 2006, generally showed a tight race between Murphy and Fitzpatrick: A poll by Grove Insight (a Democratic polling firm) showed Murphy leading 44% to 40%, a mid-October poll by Global Strategies Group (another Democratic polling firm) showed Murphy leading 45% to 43%, a late October poll by Global Strategies Group showed Murphy leading 46% to 41%, a poll by Constituent Dynamics showed Murphy leading 50% to 47%, and a poll by Muhlenberg College showed Murphy trailing 47% to 42%.[33] A sixth poll, by Franklin & Marshall College Poll, showed Murphy trailing 48% to 39%, but was flawed by the inadvertent inclusion of a third candidate who was not on the ballot.[34]
On election day, Murphy's campaign, led by campaign manager Scott Fairchild and GOTV Director Brent Welder, engaged in a massive get-out-the-vote effort with over 2000 volunteers knocking on 160,000 doors.[35] The resulting high turnout in Democratic lower Bucks County and Philadelphia, combined with surprisingly strong returns for Murphy in Republican upper Bucks County, was enough to push Murphy over Fitzpatrick 125,656 to 124,138. Murphy narrowly lost the Bucks County portion of the district (116,669 to 115,645), but decisively won the Philadelphia County portion (6,024 to 5,048) and the Montgomery County portion (3,987 to 2,421).[36][37] Overall, he received 50.3% of the vote.
Murphy faced Republican Tom Manion, a retired Marine Corps Reserve Colonel and executive at Johnson & Johnson, as well as independent Tom Lingenfelter. Significant national attention was drawn to the race because of both candidates' connections to the Iraq War. Murphy is an Iraq War veteran and a strong critic of Bush's war strategy. Manion, whose son (1st Lt Travis Manion, USMC) was killed in Iraq in April 2007, supports the Iraq War Surge.
Congressman Murphy won election to a second term with 57 percent of the vote. Murphy won re-election to a second term by increasing his margin in Democratic Lower Bucks County while at the same time winning many rural townships in Upper Bucks and keeping his margin down in Central Bucks (his opponents' home territory).
Murphy was defeated by Republican nominee and former U.S. Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, whom Murphy had previously defeated in 2006.
On April 20, 2011 Patrick Murphy announced that he will be running for Attorney General of Pennsylvania. His announcement was accompanied by over thirty endorsements from prominent elected officials and organizations across the state. He will face former Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Granahan Kane in the Democratic Primary.
Murphy married Jennifer Safford on June 17, 2006. Their first child, a daughter, was born shortly after his Congressional victory. Their second child, a son, was born on November 2, 2009. The family lives in the Edgely section of Bristol Township, Pennsylvania.
In 2010, Murphy was given the Fenn Award by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library's New Frontier Award Committee. The award is presented to a distinguished young elected official in honor of Dan Fenn, the Kennedy Library's first director and a former member of President Kennedy's staff.
Patrick J. Murphy with Adam Frankel, Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress, Henry Holt and Co. (February 19, 2008), ISBN 978-0805086959
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Patrick_Murphy_(politician) Patrick Murphy (politician)] at Wikimedia Commons
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mike Fitzpatrick |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district 2007 - 2011 |
Succeeded by Mike Fitzpatrick |