Katherine Clark

Katherine Clark
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th district
Incumbent
Assumed office December 10, 2013
Preceded by	Ed Markey
Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the 5th Middlesex district
In office January 5, 2011 – December 10, 2013
Preceded by	Richard Tisei
Succeeded by	TBD
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 32nd Middlesex district
In office March 13, 2008 – January 5, 2011
Preceded by	Mike Festa
Succeeded by	Paul Brodeur
Personal details
Born	(1963-07-17) July 17, 1963 New Haven, Connecticut
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Rodney S. Dowell
Children	3
Residence	Melrose, Massachusetts
Alma mater	St. Lawrence University Cornell University Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Profession	Lawyer
Website	katherineclark.org

Katherine Marlea Clark (born July 17, 1963) is an American politician who has served as the United States Representative for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 2013. She is a resident of Melrose, Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. She was a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011, and a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 2011 to 2013. Prior to serving in the Massachusetts legislature, she was an attorney and a member of the Melrose School Committee. Clark won the 2013 special election for the U.S. House of Representatives to succeed Ed Markey in the 5th district.

Early life and career

Katherine Marlea Clark^[1] was born July 17, 1963 in New Haven, Connecticut.^[2] She attended St. Lawrence University, Cornell Law School, and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.^[3] She studied abroad in Nagoya, Japan in 1983.^[1]

In her early career she worked as an attorney in Chicago, then moved to Colorado where she worked as a clerk for a federal judge and later as a staff attorney for the Colorado District Attorneys Council.^[4] She moved to Massachusetts in 1995 and became general counsel for the state Office of Child Care Services.

Local politics

She moved to Melrose in 2001 and was elected to the Melrose School Committee, taking her seat in January 2002.^[4] Clark first ran for the Massachusetts State Senate in 2004, but lost to Republican incumbent Richard Tisei in the November election 57%-43%.^[5][6] In January 2005 she was unanimously elected chairwoman of the Melrose School Committee.^[7] In 2006, she decided to run for Mike Festa's 32nd Middlesex seat in the Massachusetts House of Representatives when Festa began a run for Middlesex district attorney, but Festa droppoed out of his campaign and Clark dropped out too.^[8]

That year she was appointed co-chair of Victory 2006, the state Democratic Party's campaign and fundraising effort for the 2006 gubernatorial election.^[9] She spent some time as Chief of Policy and Government Relations in the state Attorney General's office.^[10]

Massachusetts legislature

Massachusetts House of Representatives

Festa resigned his state House seat in October 2007, and Clark entered the special election to succeed him. In the campaign she emphasized her experience as an attorney and made "developing stability in state aid" her top policy issue. She won the Democratic primary in January with 65% of the vote, defeating two other Melrose Democrats.^[10][11] She defeated Republican real estate businessman Mark B. Hutchison 63%-37%.^[12][13] In November 2008, she won re-election to a full term unopposed.^[14]

Sworn in March 13, 2008,^[15] she represented the towns of Melrose and Wakefield. She voted in favor of a sales tax increase saying "Voting for a sales tax (increase) certainly was not an easy vote, by any means, especially in this economic climate. And one of the reasons, primary reasons, I did it was for the local aid and for the MBTA. So, to have the ink barely dry on the budget, and have the MBTA coming back and asking for a fare increase to remove draconian service cuts, is something that does make me and my constituents angry." ^[16]

Clark's committee assignments were as follows.

• Education
• Judiciary
• Municipalities and Regional Government^[17]

Massachusetts Senate

When Tisei resigned his state Senate seat to run for Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, she ran for his senate seat. In the Democratic primary, she defeated Stoneham attorney Michael S. Day 64%-36%.^[18][19] She defeated Republican Craig Spadafora in the November 2010 general election 52%-48%.^[20]

Clark was sworn in January 5, 2011.^[21] She is a pro-choice legislator and has been endorsed in her state legislator campaigns by both NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts and the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund.^[22][23][24]

In 2011 she was co-chair of the Joint Committee on Public Service, where she was lead author of the Senate version of a bill to reform municipal pensions.^[25][26] For her work in 2011, she received legislator of the year awards from the Massachusetts Municipal Association and the Massachusetts Police Association.^[27][28] In 2012 she authored a law that takes steps to ensure that all Massachusetts students are reading at grade level by third grade.^[29] Also in 2012, her bill extending restraining orders in domestic violence cases to also cover victims' pets, which are often used as pawns in abusive relationships, was signed as part of a larger law on animal shelters.^[30][31] In 2013 she co-sponsored a bill expanding the state's wiretapping authority, which was strictly limited under existing law, in order to help police better investigate violent street crime.^[32] At the same time, she co-sponsored a bill to secure electronic privacy protections, requiring police to have probable cause before investigating the electronic records of individuals.^[33] She filed another bill tightening sex offender laws, imposing stricter penalties and making offender data more accessible to agencies and the public.^[34][35] The Women’s Bar Association of Massachusetts honored Clark as their 2013 Legislator of the Year for her service on women's issues.^[36]

Clark's committee assignments in the state Senate were as follows.

• Judiciary (Chair)
• Mental Health and Substance Abuse (Vice Chair)
• Post Audit and Oversight (Vice Chair)
• Public Health
• Public Safety and Homeland Security
• Steering and Policy (Chair)^[37]

Congressional career

Clark was the Democratic nominee in the 2013 special election for the U.S. House of Representatives. On December 10, 2013, she easily won the election and will replace Ed Markey as U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 5th district.^[39] She is endorsed by Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley^[40] and has also received the endorsement of EMILY's List.^[41] On October 16, 2013 she won the Democratic primary with a plurality of 32% of the vote. Her closest competitor was Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, who won 22% of the vote.^[42][43]

Clark was sworn into office December 12, 2013 and sits on the Natural Resources Committee.^[38]

Personal life

Clark's husband, Rodney S. Dowell, is an attorney and executive director of the Lawyers Concerned for Lawyers program.^[44] They live in Melrose and have three sons, Addison, Jared, and Nathaniel Dowell.^[3]

References

External links

• Congressional website
• Katherine Clark at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Katherine Clark for Congress
• Katherine Clark at the Massachusetts Legislature
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart