| 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 |
| Mayor of Englewood | |
| In office 1983–1989 |
|
| Preceded by | Sondra Greenberg |
| Succeeded by | Donald Aronson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 14, 1952 Englewood, New Jersey |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Fair Lawn, New Jersey |
| Alma mater | Syracuse University, Washington University School of Law |
| Occupation | attorney |
| Religion | Judaism |
Steven R. "Steve" Rothman (born October 14, 1952) is the U.S. Representative for New Jersey's 9th congressional district, serving since 1997. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
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Rothman attended Washington University Law School. He served as Mayor of Englewood, New Jersey for two terms (1983–1989), a Bergen County Surrogate Court Judge (1993–1996), and practiced law as a private attorney. He also provided free legal services to the poor, disabled, and elderly (1978–1993).
In 1996, incumbent Democrat U.S. Representative Robert Torricelli of New Jersey's 9th congressional district decided to retire to run for the U.S. Senate. Rothman decided to run for the seat. In the Democratic primary, he defeated Robert Gordon and Lynne Athay Dow 79%-17%-3.[1] In the general election, he defeated Republican County Clerk Kathleen Donovan 56%-42%.[2]
After the 1996 election, he never won re-election with less than 61% of the vote.
Rothman's 2008 re-election campaign raised eyebrows when it spent $1.3 million in a race against a little-known, poorly funded Republican challenger, including outlays of $59,000 in campaign funds to buy outright a hybrid SUV and $15,000 for a lavish party at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. Rothman's Chief of Staff at the time, Robert Decheine, acknowledged to the news media that Rothman's 2008 re-election campaign had spent no money on advertising or direct mail.[3] He defeated Republican Vince Micco 68%-31%.[4]
In addition to Decheine's annual salary on Rothman's government payroll - which was $168,408 in the last full year it was publicly reported before Decheine's November 2010 termination following his arrest on charges of soliciting sex from a minor - he drew tens of thousands of dollars in pay from Rothman's various campaign funds.[5]
In 2009, the Rothman campaign reported to the Federal Election Commission that one of its credit cards had been stolen and used to run up thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges at a motel in Bethesda, Maryland, mostly to rent videos and order pizzas. Decheine was quoted by Politico as saying, “Steve never stayed there; I never stayed there; so we quickly discovered it was fraud.”[6]
He defeated Republican Michael Agosta 61%-38%, his worst margin of victor since his first election in 1996.[7]
After redistricting, Rothman's home was placed in a Republican leaning district against Republican Scott Garrett. However, he has decided to move and run in the newly redrawn New Jersey's 9th congressional district and challenge fellow Democrat incumbent Bill Pascrell in the primary.[8] Rothman currently represents 53% of the new 9th, as Pascrell represents 43% of the CD.[9] Rothman has been endorsed by Hudson County Democratic Chairman Mark Smith.[10]
In Congress, 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. He has consistently supported veterans' groups in New Jersey.
Rothman strongly opposed Former 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.
In September 2009, Rothman was criticized by the Center for Public Integrity, a non-partisan government watchdog organization, for his role in securing a $1.5 million earmark appropriation for a defense contracting firm that had hired his former employee Jeff Zucker as its lobbyist. Zucker contributed and raised thousands of dollars for Rothman's campaign fund.[11] News accounts later reported that a witness in a federal corruption trial had offered testimony asserting that Rothman had written several letters supporting the clients of a lobbying firm co-owned by Dennis Oury, who subsequently pled guilty to the federal charges; Rothman had been one of the largest beneficiaries of Oury's campaign contributions in the years prior to Oury's conviction.[12]
In October 2010, the New York Times reported the announcement by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that it was revoking an approval granted to an experimental patch purporting to heal injured knees,[13] an approval that an F.D.A. report stated had been improperly granted in 2008 in part as a result of "extreme" and "unusual" political pressure mounted by Rothman and three other New Jersey legislators. Executives at the company that produced the patch, ReGen Biologics, which was based in Rothman's district in Hackensack, had contributed a total of $11,300 to his various campaign committees.[14] The Times criticized Rothman by name in a stinging editorial describing the episode as "a shabby affair" that "shines much-needed light on the insidious ways that politicians can influence regulatory decisions — and the insidious influence of money in politics."[15]
Rothman has a lifetime rating of 82.54% with Progressive Punch, which in 2006 ranked him as the 162nd most Progressive member of Congress. He is listed by Congress.org as the 107th most powerful person in the House of Representatives and the 104th most powerful Democrat.[16] According to the National Journal, Rothman had a composite liberal score of 82 as of 2006.
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.[17] In February 2010, Rothman announced $4.7 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to train military medical professionals in bloodless medicine at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.[18]
In November 2010, Rothman's longtime Chief of Staff, Robert Decheine, was arrested in Gaithersburg, Maryland on charges of soliciting sex from someone who had allegedly identified "herself" to him over the Internet as a 15-year-old girl, but who in reality was a law enforcement agent in a sting operation organized by federal and local authorities.[19] Rothman promptly fired Decheine after being informed of the arrest.[20]
| 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% | |||||||||
| 2008 | Steve Rothman | 151,182 | 68% | Vincent Micco | 69,503 | 31% | Michael Perrone | Independent/Progressive | 3,200 | 1% | |||||||||
| 2010 | Steve Rothman | 83,564 | 61% | Michael A. Agosta | 52,082 | 38% | Patricia Alessandrini | Green | 1,980 | 1% |
Congressman Steve Rothman is a father of two children, John and Karen Rothman.
Rothman married the former Jennifer Anne Beckenstein on August 18, 2006, after having met her through the Jewish dating service JDate. The combined family resided in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.[23]
On January 18, 2011, Rothman’s office announced his divorce from Jennifer Rothman.[24]
| United States House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Robert Torricelli |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 9th congressional district 1997–Present |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| United States order of precedence | ||
| Preceded by Silvestre Reyes D-Texas |
United States Representatives by seniority 132nd |
Succeeded by Loretta Sanchez D-California |
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