Ginny Brown-Waite

Ginny Brown-Waite
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 5th district
In office
January 3, 2003 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by Karen Thurman
Succeeded by Rich Nugent
Personal details
Born (1943-10-05) October 5, 1943
Albany, New York, U.S.
Political party Republican
Spouse(s) Daniel Brown (Divorced)
Harvey Waite (Deceased)
Alma mater Empire State College
Russell Sage College
Religion Roman Catholicism

Virginia "Ginny" Brown-Waite (born October 5, 1943) is the former U.S. Representative for Florida's 5th congressional district, serving from 2003 until 2011. She is a member of the Republican Party and a founder of Maggie's List.[1]

The district stretches along several counties in western and central Florida, including territory in the metropolitan area of Tampa Bay.

Early life, education, and career

Brown-Waite was born in Albany, New York as Virginia Frances Kniffen, and graduated in 1976 with a BS in Interdisciplinary Studies at Empire State College, State University of New York (Northeast Center). She earned a master's degree in public administration from Russell Sage College. She served as a staffer in the New York State Senate, eventually rising to legislative director. She moved to Brooksville, Florida, in the 1980s.

Florida Legislature

After serving one term as a county commissioner in Hernando County, Florida, Brown-Waite was elected to the Florida State Senate as a Republican from Hernando County. She served as Senate Majority Whip from 1999 to 2000, and was elected president pro tempore of the State Senate in 2000.

Brown-Waite has expressed support for the death penalty. She says she believed she saw "a message" in a nosebleed suffered by death row inmate Allen Lee Davis during his execution on July 8, 1999. Brown-Waite, who saw in the blood the shape of a cross, believes that it either indicated Davis had made peace with God, or it was a message from God giving his blessing to the execution.[2]

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

Caucus memberships

Tenure

Since entering Congress, Brown-Waite has garnered a lifetime rating of 90 from the American Conservative Union.[3]

However, she has broken with her party on a few occasions. She criticized George W. Bush for fielding questions from hand-picked crowds. "Let me tell you the difference between a GWB town-hall meeting – George W. Bush – and a GBW – Ginny Brown-Waite – town-hall meeting: I don't load the audience with just the choir," she once said.[4] She was one of five Republicans who voted against a bill to give Terri Schiavo's parents the right to sue in federal court to keep her alive (Schiavo's home was located in the 5th).[5] She is a member of Republican groups such as Christine Todd Whitman's It's My Party Too, Mike Castle's Republican Main Street Partnership, and The Wish List.

Brown-Waite's district has one of the highest concentrations of retirees in the country.[6] In early 2005, she referred to the current Social Security system as a "Ponzi scheme".[7] However, she was skeptical of the president's proposal for personal accounts, saying that he hadn't done a good job of selling it to seniors.[4]

On April 6, 2005, Brown-Waite introduced the Jessica Lunsford Act, named for Jessica Lunsford, a nine-year-old from her district who was kidnapped, raped, and murdered in Homosassa, Florida, by John Couey. The bill, modeled after the Florida law of the same name, had the objectives to punish sex offenders and reduce their ability to re-offend. It had 107 cosponsors and was referred to a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, but it was never voted upon (either by any committee or the full Congress), and it died when the 109th Congress finally adjourned.

On Iraq, after reports that Brown-Waite supports the withdrawal of U.S. troops within a year, Charlie Keller, her spokesman, said in an e-mail that "it was taken out of context" and that "she said that if the Iraqis did not work toward troop and police deadlines, then Congress would put pressure on them to do so with the threat of denying funds for reconstruction and possibly withdrawing some troops." He also said that Brown-Waite would support "a properly-worded resolution" that would put forth a no-confidence vote in Congress for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (who resigned in 2007).[8]

Brown-Waite voted against an amendment that would have cut off funding for Planned Parenthood and other family planning organizations.[9]

Brown-Waite is a staunch advocate of a federal prohibition of online poker. In 2006, she supported H.R. 4411, the Goodlatte-Leach Internet Gambling Prohibition Act[10] In 2008, she opposed H.R. 5767, the Payment Systems Protection Act (a bill that sought to place a moratorium on enforcement of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act while the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve defined "unlawful Internet gambling").

An ardent opponent of gun control, Brown-Waite is known for proudly carrying a gun when she is home living in the 5th district.[4] She proposed the American Heroes Repatriation Act, to move American soldiers buried in France and Belgium back to the United States.,[11][12] in the process angering French officials and constituents.[13]

She also caused a minor controversy when, commenting on the economic-stimulus package proposed by President Bush in early 2008, she referred to the peoples of Puerto Rico and Guam as "foreign citizens"[14] (when they are, in fact, American citizens and nationals, respectively). She has since clarified those comments with an article on the Orlando Sentinel.[15]

On September 29, 2008, Brown-Waite voted against the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,[16] and also voted against the amended version which was enacted.[17]

The House version of the American Recovery and Investment Act was passed on January 28, 2009. Brown-Waite was the only Republican to abstain from voting. All other 177 House Republicans voted against the Act.[18]

Mark Foley scandal

Main article: Mark Foley scandal

In September 2006, Brown-Waite was told about an incident from 2003 or 2004 when an apparently inebriated Mark Foley had tried to gain access to the pages' dormitory. On September 28, 2006, an inappropriate e-mail that Foley sent was posted on ABCNEWS.com's "The Blotter". Brown-Waite launched her own investigation and alerted Republican leadership on September 29 both about the dorm incident and about pages who had been made to feel uncomfortable by Foley. Foley resigned that day and the scandal erupted that evening with news of the lurid instant messages he had sent former pages.[19]

Political campaigns

2002

The 5th District had been represented by Democrat Karen Thurman since its formation in 1993. After the 2000 Census, the Republican-controlled Florida legislature redrew the 5th to be more friendly to Republicans. For the most part the new 5th overlapped Brown-Waite's state senate district.[20] Brown-Waite won a narrow victory in November 2002 over Thurman despite the unfavorable publicity that came in October when police caught her husband, former New York state trooper Harvey Waite, stealing pro-Thurman lawn signs.[21]

2004

Brown-Waite was re-elected in 2004 with 66% of the vote against attorney Robert Whittel.

2006

Brown-Waite was re-elected to a third term in 2006, receiving 59% of the vote against Democrat John Russell.

2008

Brown-Waite was re-elected to a fourth term in 2008, receiving 61% of the vote against Democrat John Russell.

Land O' Lakes Republican Jim King joined the race as a conservative candidate, attacking the moderate Congresswoman from the right on matters of national security, immigration, taxation, and supporting the troops, which is one of Brown-Waite's signature issues.[22] He also made an appeal to conservative Christian primary voters. In the first three fundraising quarters, King raised $40,000, an amount dwarfed by the $176,000 Brown-Waite raised during that period, yet still large enough for King's campaign to have begun running local radio ads nine month in advance of primary day.[23][24] Three Democrats declared their candidacies: 2006 nominee John Russell, H. David Werder and Carol Castagnero. Castagnero placed third in the Democratic primary for Governor in 2006[25] and took 40% of the vote against State Senator Paula Dockery in 2004.[26] John Russell was the Democratic nominee in the General Election against Ginny Brown-Waite in 2006.

On November 26, 2007, it was reported that after years of hosting town hall meetings on the issue and calling for full hearing on the implications of the FAIR Tax,[27] Brown-Waite had endorsed the FairTax proposal on September 24. King accused her of only changing her stance because of his support for it.[28]

2010

On April 30, Brown-Waite announced she will be retiring at the end of her current term.[29] In a statement, she cited long-running health problems, particularly with her pancreas. Brown-Waite has endorsed Hernando County sheriff Richard B. Nugent as her successor.[30]

2012

Brown-Waite considered running for local office in 2012.[31]

Notable statements

February 15, 2007: "Git-R-Done" During a February 15 floor debate on US participation in Iraq, Brown-Waite invoked Larry the Cable Guy and professed the following: "In the South, we have a wonderful saying and it goes like this: Get ‘er done. Our soldiers want to get it done and come home, and our President wants the same thing, and this Congress should demand the exact same thing. Let’s get out there and get ‘er done."

References

  1. ↑ "Maggie's List. Women's Political Action Committee. Who is Maggie's List?". Maggieslist.org. Retrieved 2015-06-13.
  2. ↑ "A switch is thrown, and God speaks". St. Petersburg Times. 1999-07-13. pp. 1B. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  3. ↑ American Conservative Union 2006 ratings
  4. 1 2 3 Klein, Rick (April 4, 2005). "GOP stalwarts wary on Social Security". The Boston Globe.
  5. ↑ [Roll call vote at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2005/roll090.xml]
  6. ↑ Table P23. Households by Presence of People 65 Years and Over, Household Size, and Household Type [11] – Universe: Households, United States Census 2000
  7. ↑ William M. Welch, "Seniors skeptical of Bush proposal", USA Today, February 10, 2005
  8. ↑ Tony Marrero, "Brown-Waite Clarifies Her Stance On Iraq", Tampa Tribune, October 8, 2006
  9. ↑ United States House of Representatives Roll Call
  10. ↑ Thomas (Library of Congress): HR 4411
  11. ↑ "Don't Refuse Me". Urban Legends Reference Pages. 2003. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  12. ↑ "American Heroes Repatriation Act of 2003 (Introduced in House)". Library of Congress. 2003-03-13. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  13. ↑ Hernando: The 'foreign citizens' fallout
  14. ↑ "Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite Needs a History Lesson", Vivirlatino.com, February 7, 2008
  15. ↑ Ginny Brown-Waite, "Ginny Brown-Waite: I know Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens", Orlando Sentinel, February 10, 2008
  16. ↑ "Bailout Roll Call" (PDF). 2008-09-29. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
  17. ↑ "Final vote results for roll call 681". Office of the Clerk – U.S. Capitol. Retrieved 2009-01-15.
  18. ↑ roll call vote 70, via Clerk.House.gov
  19. ↑ Jake Tapper, John Yang, and Avery Miller, "Foley's Reputed Visit to the Page Dormitory: New Testimony May Pose Problems for GOP Leadership", ABC News, October 10, 2006
  20. ↑ Solochek, Jeffrey S. (2002-11-07). "How Brown-Waite ousted Thurman". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2007-07-01.
  21. ↑ Hamilton, Greg (2002-12-29). "This all happened — really". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2006-06-10.
  22. ↑ Hernando: Land O'Lakes vet hopes to unseat Brown-Waite
  23. ↑ Congressional Races
  24. ↑ Hernando: Early rival launches new tack for seat
  25. ↑ Florida Department of State – Election Results
  26. ↑ Florida Department of State – Election Results
  27. ↑ Motives Aside, Brown-Waite Is Fair On Tax
  28. ↑ Pasco: Brown-Waite supports conservative tax plan
  29. ↑ Cillizza, Chris (April 30, 2010). "Florida Republican Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite Retires". The Washington Post.
  30. ↑ Brown-Waite retiring. Congressional Quarterly, 2010-04-30.
  31. ↑ http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/local/former-us-rep-ginny-brown-waite-considers-running-for-office/1155491
United States House of Representatives
Preceded by
Karen Thurman		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 5th congressional district
2003–2011 		Succeeded by
Rich Nugent
Preceded by
Shelley Moore Capito		 Chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus
2005–2007 		Succeeded by
Lois Capps
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