Paul Sarbanes

Paul Spyros Sarbanes (born February 3, 1933), a Democrat, is a former United States Senator who represented the state of Maryland. Sarbanes was the longest-serving senator in Maryland history, having served from 1977 until 2007. He did not seek re-election in 2006, when he was succeeded by fellow Democrat Ben Cardin. Sarbanes was known for his low-key style, often shunning the limelight over his 30-year Senate career. In 2002 Sarbanes co-sponsored the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, which put his name in the headlines.

Early life and family

Paul Sarbanes was born on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the city of Salisbury. His parents, Spyros P. Sarbanes and Matina Tsigounis,^[1] were immigrants from Laconia, Greece, and owned a Salisbury restaurant.

A graduate of Wicomico High School in Salisbury, Maryland, Sarbanes attended Princeton University, earning a bachelor's degree in 1954. As a senior he received the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, Princeton's highest undergraduate honor. He also was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship that brought him to Balliol College of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, graduating with a First Class degree in 1957. Sarbanes then returned to the United States and attended Harvard Law School.

After graduating in 1960, he clerked for Federal Judge Morris A. Soper before entering private practice with two Baltimore, Maryland law firms. In June 1960, Sarbanes married Christine Dunbar of Brighton, England; they have three children (John Sarbanes, Michael Anthony Sarbanes, and Janet Matina Sarbanes) and seven grandchildren. Christine Sarbanes died of cancer on March 22, 2009. Sarbanes holds the highest lay office in the Greek Orthodox Church, "Order of St. Andrew, Archon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate"^[2] and is a member of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation in Baltimore.^[3]

His son, John Sarbanes, won the general election for Maryland's 3rd congressional district in 2006, the district that Paul Sarbanes represented prior to his election as senator.

Political career

In 1966, Sarbanes ran for the Maryland House of Delegates in Baltimore City and won. During his four years as a State delegate in Annapolis, Maryland he served on both the Judiciary and the Ways and Means Committees.^[3]

He was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1970 from the fourth district of Maryland and was reelected in 1972 and 1974 from the third district. While in the House, Sarbanes served on the Judiciary Committee, the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, and the Select Committee on House Reorganization. It was during his service in the House, in August 1974, that Sarbanes was selected by his Democratic colleagues on the House Watergate Committee to introduce the first Article of Impeachment, for obstruction of justice, against President Richard Nixon.

In 1976, Sarbanes was elected to the United States Senate and re-elected in 1982, 1988, 1994 and 2000. In 2002, Sarbanes was the Senate sponsor of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which reformed federal securities laws in the wake of the 2002 accounting scandals.

Sarbanes served on the following Senate committees:

• Ranking Member of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
• Ranking Member of the Special Whitewater Committee.
• Senior Member Foreign Relations Committee.
• Senior Member Budget Committee.
• Senior Member Joint Economic Committee.

On March 11, 2005, Sarbanes, the longest serving senator in Maryland history, announced at a news conference his decision not to seek re-election in 2006.^[4] When the 110th Congress convened in 2007, he was succeeded by Ben Cardin. For more information, see United States Senate election in Maryland, 2006.

Election history

Footnotes

References

• Paul Sarbanes at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress