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Peter T. King
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Peter King | |
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| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office January 3, 1993 |
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| Preceded by | Robert Mrazek |
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| Succeeded by | Incumbent |
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| Born | April 05, 1944 New York City, New York |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Rosemary Weidl |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
Peter T. King (born April 5, 1944) is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of New York, currently the U.S. Representative for the state's 3rd Congressional District (map).
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King was born in New York, New York and grew up in Sunnyside, Queens. He is of Irish descent, with roots in Galway and Limerick. He graduated from Saint Francis College and Notre Dame Law School. King served in the National Guard from 1968 to 1973. King served as comptroller of Nassau County, New York from 1981 to 1993. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for New York Attorney General in 1986, losing to Robert Abrams. King was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992. The 3rd congressional district is made up of middle-class and upper-middle-class communities in eastern Nassau County, such as Hicksville, Levittown, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Farmingdale, Seaford, and Wantagh, as well as some South Shore Suffolk County towns like Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, West Babylon, Babylon, and West Islip. The district also includes the cities of Long Beach and Glen Cove.
He resides in Seaford with his wife, Rosemary. He has two adult children and one grandson. King's office is located in Massapequa Park. King is the author of the 2004 novel Vale of Tears.
Throughout his career, King has been one of the strongest and most outspoken supporters of the Irish Republican Army. During negotiations in 1998, King carried messages between the IRA and the British government. King was instrumental in convincing President Bill Clinton to grant a visa to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in 1994. Later that year, at Clinton's urging, King voted to support the federal Assault Weapons Ban. In 1998, King was one of only a few House Republicans to vote against the impeachment of Clinton.
King thought about running for the United States Senate both in 2000 and 2004 (against Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer respectively) but decided against it both times; in the 2000 Senate race he actually raised campaign funds, but was dominated first by Rudy Giuliani and then by replacement nominee Rick Lazio. He was also mentioned by fellow conservatives as a possible candidate for Governor of New York or county executive of Nassau County.
King is the only Republican congressman left on Long Island, where Republicans once were the majority party. He has been reelected numerous times by large margins despite being a relatively conservative Republican in a district that has trended more moderate to progressive in recent elections. His conservatism is tempered by a "blue-collar appeal" that resonates with the district's many constituents of Irish and Italian descent. He won reelection in 2006 against Democratic challenger Dave Mejias, besting the Democrat by 56-44%.
King is a member of the United States House Committee on Homeland Security. An outspoken individual, he has been a strong advocate for more Homeland Security funding for New York City, although under his tenure as Chairman, New York has lost more funding from the Department of Homeland Security. He was also a strong critic of the Dubai Ports Deal. He made headlines in June 2006 when The New York Times revealed that the Bush administration was tracking financial data through SWIFT, an international banking network. King called on the justice department to investigate the paper for violations of the Espionage Act.
When Congresswoman Maxine Waters appeared on Brian Williams' Meet the Press with King, she repeatedly accused him of racism. She told King not to forget that she knows "something about what you have done. I know how you used my pictures and used me in your campaign. Yeah, you're guilty of racism."[1]
Alex Pelosi's new film "Diary of a Political Tourist" catches a tipsy Congressman Peter King making a comment at a White House function before the election had been finished that, "It's already over. The Election's over. We Won."
When Pelosi asks, "How do you know that?" King replies, "It's all over but the counting. And we'll take care of the counting." [1][2] [3]
King has been criticized for his staunch support to allow the government to eavesdrop on American citizens without court-authorized wiretaps, for his support for the Iraq war, and his claims that "Iraq is 95% safe." In February 2006, King said that things were blooming in Baghdad and that being in Baghdad was like "being in Manhattan."[4]
In late August 2006, King endorsed racial profiling as a law enforcement tool. He proposed that people of "Middle Eastern and South Asian" descent go through additional security checks due to their ethnicity and religion, saying that all Muslims aren't terrorists but that all recent terrorists are Muslim (Newsday 8/17/2006). King came under fire from civil rights proponents, law enforcement officials, and Newsday's editorial and readers' opinion sections.
In September 2007, The Politico quoted King in an interview as saying there are "too many mosques in this country", and that "[t]here are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam. We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them." When asked to clarify his statement, King did not revise his answer, saying "I think there has been a lack of full cooperation from too many people in the Muslim community."
King later said, “The quote was taken entirely out of context by Politico. My position in this interview, as it has been for many years, is that too many mosques in this country do not cooperate with law enforcement. Unfortunately, Politico was incapable of making this distinction.” In response, The Politico posted a video of the interview, saying it was "so readers can decide." [2]
- Official House site - U.S. Congressman Pete King
- Peter T. King at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Profiles:
Record:
Campaign Finance:
Criticism:
- ^ Maxine Waters Defends Ex-Klansman, Attacks GOP'er as Racist Free Republic
- ^ Dan W. Reilly, Politico News, Rep. Peter King: There are "too many mosques in this country”, September 19, 2007.
| Preceded by Robert J. Mrazek |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 3rd congressional district 1993– |
Succeeded by Incumbent |
| Preceded by Chris Cox California |
Chairman of House Homeland Security Committee 2005–2007 |
Succeeded by Bennie Thompson Mississippi |
Categories: Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York | People from Queens | Irish-American politicians | Nassau County, New York politicians | 1944 births | Living people | Republicans (United States) | Republican Party (United States) politicians | New York Republicans | 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities