Lee Whitnum

Lee Whitnum
Personal details
Born	(1960-06-23) June 23, 1960
Alma mater	University of Maryland University College Harvard University
Occupation	Software engineer, writer, politician

Lee Whitnum (born June 23, 1960) is an American writer and politician. She is an outspoken critic of Israel and gained notoriety on that issue in the 2010 Connecticut U.S. Senate race. She also takes a hard stand against illegal and legal "white collar" immigration as a way to curtail unemployment. She cites abuses of the H1-B and L1 immigration loopholes as detrimental to the United States by contributing to unemployment.^[1]

Early life, education and family

Whitnum received a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Maryland University College and attended Harvard University to graduate with a master's degree (EdM.) in Administration, Planning and Social Policy.^[2]

For twelve years Whitnum worked as a contract software engineer for the United States Army concentrating in the area of Field Artillery.

Political campaigns

2008

In 2008, Whitnum ran for Congress in the Fourth Congressional District of Connecticut.^[3] Whitnum gathered enough signatures to force a primary with Congressman Jim Himes. During the campaign Himes easily defeated Whitnum with about 90% of the vote.^[4]

2010

Whitnum was a candidate for the 2010 Democratic nomination for the United States Senate from the State of Connecticut for the seat previously held by Christopher Dodd. Whitnum advocated lobby reform with a critical focus on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) stating, "AIPAC had a strong hand in pushing for the Iraq War, and AIPAC has fully infiltrated our election process, Whitnum said in a statement to the Hartford Courant. "AIPAC is the reason why senators and members of Congress consistently vote $2 billion a year to Israel -- a country that is not impoverished. We need that money here at home for our own crumbling infrastructure."^[5]

The nomination was won by Richard Blumenthal. Whitnum repeatedly called for Blumenthal's resignation, blaming him for the AIG Financial Products meltdown ^[6] for failing to reform the hedge fund industry in Connecticut as he had promised.^[7] "The largest financial meltdown in United States history happened right here in Wilton, Connecticut. A mistake with such catastrophic consequence to our country cannot go rewarded." Whitnum stated in a press release that was widely reported.^[8]

2012

Whitnum filed her candidacy for the United States senate in July 2011 for the 2012 Connecticut U.S. senate race. As a candidate she has written four bills, one of which is the Prosecute Settler Violence Bill, which would permit the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute American citizens who commit acts of violence in the "forceful taking of the homes, farms, and land of the ... Palestinians."^[9] U.S. Representative Chris Murphy won the Democratic nomination. On April 5, 2012 Whitnum famously called opponent Chris Murphy a "whore" for his stance on Israel in a televised debate,^[10] leading Connecticut governor Dannel P. Malloy to refer to Whitnum as "on the fringe of the fringe"^[11]

2018

Whitnum has declared that she will be a candidate in the 2018 Connecticut gubernatorial election.^[12]

Activism

She also gave a speech entitled the "Double Standard", contrasting Tesei's actions at the local level with U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.^[9]

Whitnum sent out a press release in February 2012 responding to Joe Lieberman's Enemy Expatriation Act (HR-3166), stating that if anyone were a "enemy combatant" it would be Joe Lieberman for his role in the 2002 Wehrkunde Conference. Whitnum states that Lieberman and Paul Wolfowitz pleaded with the European community for war in Iraq. Whitnum, in her press release, calls Lieberman's action as "renegade" and "treason."^[13]

Personal life

After John Kerry's nomination in 2004 Whitnum posted a webpage scrapbook of mementos of her time at Harvard and on Kerry's campaign 14 years prior. Whitnum wrote that on HedgeFundMistress.com that the webpage went viral receiving more than 600,000 hits due to Republican bloggers' attention. Whitnum said "who knew a few G-rated mementos posted in the middle of the night for friends would explode the way it did - I do apologize."^[14] A screenshot of the source code of Whitnum's "John Kerry Scrapbook" website however, captured on November 1, 2007, included in the meta tag/keyword section included "John Kerry's lover, Kerry daughter, Kerry blog, John Kerry's Girlfriend, John Kerry Turned Me On, John Kerry photo and Hedge Fund Mistress", the title of the book at Whitnum had written, contradicting Whitnum's explanation. Despite the way the meta tags of her website were crafted, Whitnum told the Washington Post she was distressed by the attention as it detracted from Kerry's campaign.^[15]

In March 2012 Whitnum married 77 year old James Baker, a patient at Atria in Darien CT. Baker filed for divorce two months later.^[16]

Legal Troubles

Legal issues have dogged Whitnum, who has been arrested several times:

• On April 18, 2013, Whitnum was arrested and charged with first-degree criminal trespassing ^[17]
• On June 13, 2013, Whitnum was arrested Darien CT police on a charge of second-degree harassment, her second arrest in two months. Police said the director of Atria Darien, a senior living facility at 50 Ledge Road, filed a complaint against Whitnum-Baker, who was not allowed on site. The director told police that Whitnumr left harassing phone messages that she, and perhaps other family members, were not pleased with the director's actions against her. The messages also said that Whitnum and family members were going to confront her at the residence in the near future, according to the police^[18]
• On September 10, 2013, Whitnum was charged with stalking CT Superior Court Judge Jane Emons who had been presiding over Whitnum's divorce case in Stamford ^[19] She was later exonerated^[20]
• On April 24, 2014, Whitnum is arrested at the Stamford courthouse after allegedly creating a disturbance in the law library and trying to bite a judicial marshall.^[21] She was later found guilty after a one day trial on August 11, 2015^[22]Whitnum appealed but the Superior Court decision against Whitnum in State v Whitnum-Baker was affirmed in November 2016.^[23]
• On August 11, 2015, Whitnum was arrested by Woodbridge CT police and charged with two counts each of second-degree harassment and criminal violation of a protective order^[24]

Bar Mitzvah Law Suit

In November 2011 Whitnum filed a federal lawsuit against the Town of Greenwich and Peter Tesei, First Selectman, for allowing a Bar Mitzvah at the Town Hall, citing the First Amendment Establishment Clause.^[25] In 2015 Whitnum offered to settle the suit for $11,000 but the Board of Selectmen rejected the offer after meeting with town counsel^[26] Whitnum lost the case and then appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. On May 20, 2016 the Second Circuit affirmed the decision of the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut in favor of the Town of Greenwich^[27] Whitnum issued a press release on February 24, 2017 on her campaign website stating that she has appealed to the United States Supreme Court.^[28]

Published books

Whitnum's novels are published under the pen name Lee Roystone.

• Roystone, Lee (2004). Hedge Fund Mistress. Alpha Blue Publishing. p. 387. ISBN 978-0-9758754-1-4. 
• Roystone, Lee (2005). What About the Dead?. Alpha Blue Publishing. p. 196. ISBN 978-0-9758754-0-7. 

References

External links

• Citizens for Lee Whitnum campaign website