Wayne Curtis " Curt " Weldon (born July 22, 1947) is an American politician. He served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007, representing Pennsylvania's 7th district. He was defeated in November 2006 for re-election by Joe Sestak. Weldon is the deputy chairman of the Committee of the Armed Forces and the Committee on Homeland Security. He is also chairman of the Duma Congressional Study Group, an official inter-parliamentary relationship between the United States and Russia.
Video Curt Weldon
Early life and education
Weldon grew up in a blue-collar family in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania. She is the youngest of nine children. He studied at West Chester University of Pennsylvania and earned a B.A. in Russian Studies in 1969, making him the first in his family to graduate from college. At West Chester University, Weldon became the brother of the Lambda Chi Alpha Brotherhood.
After graduation, Weldon submitted to the draft, with the ongoing Vietnam War. In November 2000, his office said he was using students and teaching suspension during the Vietnam era, and had a low number when the draft draw was restored. In July 2006, a Weldon spokesman said that Weldon "wanted to serve, but the military would not take him because of his very bad eyesight."
Maps Curt Weldon
early political career
Weldon was not active in politics until 1977, when he became Mayor Marcus Hook. Prior to that, he served as an educator at the local Delaware County schools, and to the North American Insurance Company, as well as the head of the volunteer line for the Viscose Fire Company at Marcus Hook.
Weldon served two terms as Mayor from 1977 to 1982 and was nominated for election on both Republican and Democratic tickets. His efforts as mayor were directed to defend the city against the Cruel Motorcycle Gang.
From 1981 to 1986, Weldon served as a board member and chair of the Delaware County Council. Maintaining his interest in foreign affairs, he co-ordinated the Soviet Union student exchange program in 1985 that continues to this day.
Campaign congress
1984-2004
Weldon first ran for the US House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 7th district in 1984 on Republican tickets, losing to Democrat Robert W. Edgar who ruled with only 412 votes even when Ronald Reagan brought the district over 20 points. However, Edgar did not seek re-election in 1986 but instead ran into the US Senate against Arlen Specter. Weldon then ran again for Edgar's chair in 1986 and won with a comfortable margin.
Weldon's margins for re-election grew rapidly since 1986, easily defeating the Democrats even as Delaware County, once a stronghold of the classic Rockefeller Republic, became more friendly to Democrats at the national level. In 2000, for example, he was re-elected with 65% of the vote even though Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore won Delaware County with 54% of the vote.
In 2004, Weldon won with 59% of the vote. In contrast, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry got 53% of the district votes that year. Weldon's Democrat, Paul Scoles, spends $ 24,000 dollars against the nine candidates; in the 2003-2004 electoral cycle, Weldon received nearly $ 900,000 in campaign contributions. Scoles entered the race in the final 90 days of the campaign, when the original Democratic candidate, Greg Philips, was summoned for the Reserve's duties to support the Iraq War.
2006
Weldon's opponent of the Democrats in 2006 was Joe Sestak, Vice Admiral who retired earlier this year after a 31-year military career. According to Delaware County's Daily Times, Sestak proved to be a reliable fundraiser and raised more money than US Vice-President Curt Weldon.
In July, CQPolitics changed their rating on the race from Republican Favored to the more competitive "Leans Republican". On October 13, 2006, CQPolitics once again changed their ratings on the race, from "Leans Republican" to "No Clear Favorite."
On October 26, 2006, the American Prospect magazine reported that recent e-mails had been forwarded to the Justice Department describing alleged attempts by an official member of Weldon's staff to call on Navy employees for information and negative statements about Democrats versus Sestak. In a Pentagon email, Weldon's office was described as "calling everyone and his brother" at the Navy's Chief of Operations Office (OPNAV) about Sestak.
On October 27, 2006, the campaign advocacy group for America's Future started advertising in District 7 in Pennsylvania questioning $ 233,840 in campaign donations Weldon received from drug and insurance companies, given the history of the vote.
On 7 November 2006, 56% of voters chose Sestak while 44% chose Weldon.
Actions in Congress
Weldon's fairly conservative voting record (lifetime ACU rank: 69.9)) reflects the enormous Republican voters' turnout in Delaware County, which varies from about 62% to around 70% of registered voters from 1998 to 2006. His voting recordings are a bit more conservative than the entire Congressional delegation of Pennsylvania; The 2006 ACU 2006 Weldon rating is 68 vs the 2006 ACU ranking rating for all 19 PA Congress members.
Domestic Issues
Weldon founded Congressical Fire Services Caucus in 1987 and consistently strives to increase funding for firefighters. He is the author of a bill that implements a federal grant program for the local fire department that evolved into the Fire Hibah Grant Program. He has been fighting for mandatory safety watering in college dormitories and fire department training to deal with terrorism incidents involving chemical and biological weapons. Sometimes, the expenditure of barrels of pork is challenged by fiscal conservatives such as Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake; Weldon once told Flake, "Damn, I will not let anyone stand here in complete and complete ignorance and spout a lot of gobbledygook.don't stand on the floor and make foolish accusations because you want the headline information about cutting the garbage.
Weldon leads with House Oceans Caucus. In 1995, its "Maritime Agenda" law passed Congress, raising funding for oceanographic research projects. Weldon is the only Republican House in the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, which approves funding for wildlife protection and the preservation of the U.S. wetlands. Weldon is a member of the Global Legislators for Balanced Environment (GLOBE), where he serves as the Honorary Chair of the Ocean Protection Task Force. Weldon also serves as a distinguished US Vice President in the Advisory Committee on Marine Protection (ACOPS). In his district, Weldon earned funds for John Heinz Wildlife Reserve in Tinicum and obtained funds for the preservation of the Paoli War Battle, where the battle for the Revolutionary War is scheduled for development.
Weldon also co-authored the Family Medical Leave Act, pushing for the expansion of unemployment benefits, has consistently supported raising the minimum wage, opposing the North American Free Trade Agreement, and choosing tax cuts across the board. He also played a key leadership role in welfare reforms in the mid-1990s.
Foreign policy
In 1993 Weldon and Bob Dole, among other Republicans, advocated withdrawal from Somalia after "Blackhawk Down" failed to seize and seize the mission Mohamed Farrah Aidid spent 18 dead Americans.
Russia and China
In June 1998, Weldon served on the Selected Committee on US National Security and Military/Commercial Issues with the People's Republic of China, perhaps better known as the "Cox Committee." The committee, five Republicans and four Democrats, are investigating whether the Clinton Administration's release that allows US military contractors to transfer military technology to China undermines national security. According to officials who have been informed of the contents, the report concludes that the acquisition of the design of US secret weapons by Beijing is part of a 20-year intelligence gathering effort, including the Republican Government and Democracy. It also mentions a series of thefts from the Government's arms laboratory, including classified information about seven advanced nuclear warheads, among them the W-88, the most advanced nuclear weapon in the American arsenal; the theft is believed to have occurred during the Reagan or Bush Administration. The report also said that China stole design information about neutron bombs.
Weldon improves relations with Russia as one of its main efforts in the House. He has worked with Russian leaders on a range of issues, including efforts to increase Russia's energy supply, repair environmental damage and protect the two countries from ballistic missile attacks. Weldon is one of the founders of the Duma-Congressional Study Group, an official parliamentary exchange between two legislative bodies. This bilateral relationship coordinates the legislative efforts in the Russian Duma and Congress to foster better working relations between the two countries. More recently, Weldon created a comprehensive framework designed to improve relations between the two countries. Entitled "A New Time, A New Beginning", his proposal makes recommendations for cooperative efforts in eleven different areas ranging from national defense and security to space exploration and scientific research.
Visit to North Korea
In June 2003, Weldon led a bipartisan Congressional delegation to North Korea. The delegation did not leave as the official representative of the White House, which has repeatedly rejected North Korea's demand that the two countries meet one on one. The White House did know the trip was planned and provided military helicopters.
Weldon said the meeting went very well. Weldon said he drew up an outline of how relations could be improved between the two countries, which would involve North Korea's total nuclear disarmament. North Korean leaders, including the deputy foreign minister who is a major negotiator for North Korea, accepted the concept, Weldon said.
In October 2003, Weldon had planned to lead a 10-member Congress delegation to North Korea for a second visit. But two days before the October 25 departure date, White House Chief of Staff, Andrew Card, told Weldon that the government "withdraws all support." Weldon then wrote a 4.5-page letter to President George W. Bush who said Bush's national security team was "arrogant and disrespectful" in that way canceled the trip. Weldon said he will continue his efforts to dialogue with North Korean officials whether the White House supports him or not. "They can not stop me going there", he said. "What they can do is make things very difficult."
In January 2005, Weldon led six members of Congress delegates during a three-day visit to North Korea, as well as brief stops in South Korea, China, Russia and Japan. Weldon says Pyongyang is serious about abandoning its nuclear program, but he says he wants to get certain guarantees from the United States - the main thing is that it ends what he calls "inflammatory rhetoric" from Washington.
In August 2005, Weldon went to North Korea as part of a 10-member delegation that included Ted Turner and former US Ambassador to South Korea Donald Gregg.
Visit to Libya
In 2004, Weldon led two bipartisan delegations to Libya. The first visit, in January, was to establish contact with government officials. The second visit, in September, was to handle their Congress (the Great People's Libyan Congress, Great Jamahiriya).
A big picture of Weldon puts what his office says is a pin of an American flag in Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, head of Libya, shown when Weldon speaks at the coronation ceremony of Sun Myung Moon.
In 2011, Weldon again visited the Gaddafi-controlled capital of Libya in Tripoli as a civilian, at the invitation of Colonel Gaddafi. He urged Colonel Gaddafi to withdraw due to bloodshed in Libya's 2011 civil war. He is currently waiting to meet with Gaddafi, although he has met some high-level members of Gaddafi's government. Iraq, Iran, and terrorism Weldon has often taken a contra-on position on subjects such as Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and weapons of mass destruction of Iraq before the war. He has criticized several federal agencies and congressional committees. In June 2005, Weldon gave a speech on the floor of the House where he described the military intelligence program Able Hazard and said that they had identified a terrorist cell involved in the 9/11 attacks in 2000, a year before the attack. He suggested that defense analysts had identified Mohamed Atta before the September 11 attacks and ignored warnings that could prevent attacks. Iranian informant
Iranian informant
In mid-2005, Weldon's book, Countdown to Terror: Top-Secret Information That Can Prevent Next Terrorist Attacks in America... and How the CIA Overrides It, is published. In it, he accused the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and his colleagues at the Independent Commission of the House and Senate for ignoring the information it possesses. This secret, he says, comes from "the perfect clandestine source", codenamed Weldon "Ali", an Iranian exile living in Paris. Most of the book consists of pages reproduced from memos of "intelligence" faxed by Ali to Weldon's office between 2003 and 2004.
According to the book, Iran-backed terrorists are planning to fly a hijacked Canadian plane to the Seabrook Nuclear Power Station, 40 miles outside of Boston. The book also says that Iran hid Osama bin Laden.
"Ali" was identified in April 2005 as Fereidoun Mahdavi, a former weak old trade minister in the Shah's government of Iran. Mahdavi said that much of the information he gave to Weldon originally came from Iranian army-Contra Manucher Ghorbanifar.
The CIA and former intelligence officers vehemently denied Weldon's allegations. Bill Murray, former head of the CIA station in Paris, said that, after interviewing Mahdavi on several occasions and investigating his claims, the CIA decided he was lying. The CIA says that Mahdavi never gave them anything specific about Iran's weapons or terrorist activities. As for Ghorbanifar, he was the subject of the rare CIA "burnout" after the agency found him to be a "fabricator" during the Iran-Contra affair.
The Death of Bin Laden
In mid-March 2006, Weldon said that Ali/Mahdavi had told him that Osama bin Laden had died in Iran. But in late April, a recording tape was released from Bin Laden who talked about various events. In an interview, Weldon says bin Laden is "very likely alive." Ali may have been formed.
Weapon of mass destruction hidden
Dave Gaubatz, a former Air Force special investigator who was a civilian employee in Iraq in 2003, said that while in Iraq he obtained what he considered to be reliable information about WMD storage places in four locations with weapons- gas and chemical weapons that have recently been produced. He could not ask US military officials to investigate the matter, so he finally contacted Weldon and Representative Peter Hoekstra, head of the House Intelligence Committee, to share information and try to get them to pressure the Department of Defense and intelligence agencies to conduct WMD searches in four local.
Instead, says Gaubatz, Weldon discusses Hoekstra-Weldon's journey to Iraq, under the guise of visiting troops, who will turn to one locally. Once there, said Gaubatz, the congressmen plan to persuade US military commanders to lend them equipment and people to go dig for the cache. He said that Weldon insists he does not want words leaked to the Pentagon, to intelligence officials, or Democratic congressmen.
Gaubatz said that "They even managed how it would go, if nothing was there, nothing would be said, if the site had been scavenged, nothing would have been said, but if it was still there they would bringing the corps press out. "After the May 4th 2006 meeting, according to Gaubatz, he called a reporter in the Washington Times, who called Weldon's office to get a confirmation. The investigation, said Gaubatz, stopped the project.
A Hoekstra spokesman denied that Hoekstra intended to make an expedition to Iraq. Weldon's office declined to comment.
March 2004 coronation
Weldon was one of six "Co-Chair Congresses" for the Sun Myung Moon event on March 23, 2004 at the Senate Office of Dirksen Building, described in the invitation as "Interreligious and International Peace Council." IIPC is a program of the Universal Peace Federation. Initially Weldon's office denied that he attended the event and when it was shown an invitation that showed him as a sponsor saying that he could not attend the event. They revoked those claims after being shown photographs proving his presence, claiming that his participation was "limited to his presence." Investigative reporter John Gorenfeld later found a photo depicting Weldon as giving the opening "congratulations" of the stage. Weldon gave a speech about his recent trip to Libya in front of a picture of him giving an award to Muammar al-Gaddafi. A Weldon spokesman later said he was "not there for coronation" and that "If we know that the Moon Pastor will attend the event, be crowned and make a remarkably interesting speech, congressmen probably will not attend."
Controversy
Investigation 2006
In 2006 Weldon faced an investigation by the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Department on suspicion of an unlawful relationship for two Russian companies and two Serbs, when in a filing with the Federal Election Commission the Weldon Commission reported that the transfer was transferred $ 70,000 to the "Weldon Legal Expense Trust". When the report appeared in September 2006, Russ Caso, Weldon's chief of staff, said that members of the congress and his staff were unaware of any investigation.
The FBI investigation and the Justice Department were sparked by a 2004 article in Los Angeles Times reporting on Weldon and his relationship with his daughter to Russia and Serbia. On October 16, 2006, FBI agents raided the home of Weldon's daughter and five other locations from the Weldon association in Pennsylvania and Florida as part of the investigation. According to an article in the October 17, 2006 edition of The New York Times, investigators are trying to determine whether Mr. Weldon abused his official position to help his daughter's company get lobbying contracts from foreign clients and help steer contracts to the preferred company. "On October 16, 2006, Weldon admitted he was being investigated. Prior to Weldon's public confirmation, an unnamed federal law enforcement official mentioned in a press report said that Weldon had not been informed of the investigation.
The grand jury was heralded as part of the investigation. Evidence is reported to have been obtained via Washington's local phone tapping. On October 19, 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Weldon already had a letter from the House Ethics Committee that he claimed to "close the case" about whether he used his influence to help his daughter. Weldon says he has not decided whether to release the letter or not. Although an email from the Weldon campaign cited by the Inquirer claimed the Ethics panel "closed the case in 2004", the article revealed that the issue did not close until September 29, 2006. The Ethics Committee action was not binding on the Department's investigations Justice.
On December 22, 2006, The LA Times reported that the federal grand jury had filed a summons over Weldon's congressional record before the November election. Because a member must notify the House leadership immediately if they receive a call from the court while the Parliament is on trial to be included in the Congressional Record, Weldon may have violated House rules depending on when he received a summons from the court. On July 17, 2007, The Washington Post reported that, in the spring of 2007, federal investigators continued to review Weldon's official acts taken on behalf of his daughter's lobby client. The same article notes that Weldon has spent at least $ 30,000 in legal fees and related investigation costs as a result of the investigation.
Weldon was never charged in the incident, but USA Today claimed in 2008 that the incident had made him re-elected.
Lobbying controversy
In September 2006, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released a second annual report to members of Congress with ethical issues, entitled "Beyond DeLay: 20 Most Damaged Congressmen (and five to watch)". Weldon is one of 20. The organization says "The ethical problem comes from using its position to financially benefit its children and a family friend."
In response, Weldon spokesman Michael Puppio said there was "nothing illegal or inappropriate about all the actions mentioned" in the CREW report. He said the organization was "a front group for liberal Democrats who have partisan axes to run over the Republicans."
In January 2006, the Los Angeles Times reported that Cecilia Grimes, 40, who calls herself an old friend of Weldon's family, is a senior partner in a two-person lobby company located in Media, Pennsylvania, where she is a realtor. The lobbyist company has clients from California so far with businesses involving one or both House committees that Weldon is a member of.
Grimes told the Times that he had known Weldon for about 15 years. "I trained one of her children in junior high school", she said, refusing to decipher it. In 2000, he was his real estate agent in the purchase of a home in Pennsylvania. He has been lobbying since March 2003, when he opened a company called CC Nexus LLC - now incorporated as Grimes and Young. Partner Grimes is Cynthia Young, 28, a lawyer who lives two houses from Weldon. Her husband, Robert J. Young, worked as a paid assistant staff for four months during Weldon's 2004 reelection campaign. He is the son of US Representative Bill Young (R-FL).
Grimes has registered at least eight corporate clients, four of which are located in the Weldon district. Most companies are small companies looking for federal defense and domestic security funding. Among the newest clients signed by Grimes and Young is Oto Melara, a subsidiary of Italian defense firm Finmeccanica, the company that employs Kim Weldon. On June 1, 2005, the company agreed to pay Grimes $ 20,000 per year. Grimes deals with Oto Melara by Weldon's chief of staff, Russ Caso. But, Grimes said in an interview, his job was not for Weldon. "That's ridiculous," he said.
Another client is Advanced Ceramics Research Inc., a Tucson, Arizona company. Grimes lobbied about a dozen members of Congress, including Weldon, for a $ 3 million contract in 2005, which became the company's first fund of defense bill legislation. The company has won a combined $ 43.5 million in naval contracts and congressional financing. More than $ 5 million comes from the Naval Command System, an agent overseen by the Weldon subcommittee.
Grimes said that despite his lack of Washington experience, he has the skills to lobby. "It's all about networking and follow-up," he said. "My client liked my company, and it has nothing to do with Curt."
An additional lobbyist, Stefanie Reiser worked from January 2000 to the end of 2005 for Weldon, handling fundraising tasks for the Weldon campaign committee and for his political action committee, the Committee for the Unified Republic Team (CURT PAC). He earned $ 54,659 as a fundraiser for the Weldon campaign committee, and paid at least $ 90,000 by CURT PAC for fundraising and reimbursement for travel, lodging and office supplies.
Prior to working for Weldon, Reiser was a lobbyist for Chambers Associates and served as former California Governor's representative Pete Wilson in Washington. He was listed as a lobbyist for Novavax, Inc., a company seeking federal funding for vaccines, on November 13, 2001; the company paid him $ 20,000. On December 6, 2001, Weldon and three other members of Congress held a briefing where they and the researchers from Novavax talked about the need for a vaccine similar to what Novavax was working on. On 24 December 2001, Reiser donated $ 250 to Curt PAC, describing himself as a "self-employment/political rally".
Use campaign funds
Between 1998 and 2006, Weldon spent about $ 80,000 in campaign treasury funds for restaurant food. During the same period, Weldon also spent about $ 30,000 in campaign funds for the hotel. He also spent $ 1,698 on his personal computer, delivered to his home; $ 4,618 for landscaping, paid to companies owned by campaign contributors; and $ 13,000 in personal replacement unitemized during that period.
The congressional ethical rules say that campaign funds should be used for "bona fide campaigns or political goals". Weldon's lawyer, William B. Canfield, says that the ethical rule is "entirely amorphous," and that "you might think it's a big gap, but he's allowed to spend money that way."
Confidence of former help
In December 2007, a former Weldon assistant pleaded guilty to failing to report $ 19,000 in income his wife made to do work for a non-profit company tied to Weldon.
Post-Congressional Career
After his election defeat in November 2006, Weldon joined Defense Solutions, headquartered in Exton, Pennsylvania, as the company's chief strategist.
In addition, Weldon joins the advisory board of Novo Energies Corporation, an alternative energy company that converts used tires and plastics into energy.
See also
- The WMD Theory after the 2003 Iraq War
References
External links
Media related to Curt Weldon on Wikimedia Commons
- United States Congress. "Curt Weldon (id: W000268)". Directory of Biographies of the United States Congress . Ã,
- Appearance in C-SPAN
- "Curt Weldon". Archived from the original on 2006-04-19 . Retrieved 2006-04-02 . - website official campaign (archived)
- Congressman Curt Weldon at Wayback Machine (archive index) Congressional official website (archived)
- "The Troublemaker," by Shane Harris National Journal , September 2006 (cover story on Weldon Iran/Iraq/911 theory)
- "Deep Drown Curt Weldon," by Laura Rozen, The American Prospect , June 10, 2006.
- "Curt Weldon's attempts to bind Iran to nuclear weapons," by Larisa Alexandrovna, Raw Story , January 11, 2006.
- Campaign for the Future of America - the website questions Weldon campaign contributions from the pharmaceuticals and insurance industry
- PA-7 Watch: Blogging PA-7 Congress rally 2006 between Joe Sestak and Curt Weldon from a pro-Sestak point of view while watching Curt Weldon in power
- Blogger questions Weldon's actions I live in Delaware County
- "Weldon summoned federal help to help firefighters," Delco Times
- "Weldon is pushing for a plan to get kids to reduce the number of drug dealers," Delco Times
- "Weldon praised the influence of the regional concept," Delco Times
- "Weldon announces Rotorcraft center, can bring 400 jobs to Delco," Delco Times
- "Weldon's Crusade has a vision of the future," Delco Times
- "Weldon left for the flood-stricken area," Delco Times
- "Weldon and Santorum gave $ 5.4M in Upper Darby," Delco Times
- "Weldon is supported in the Pentagon showdown," Delco Times
- "The Lawmaker's file is sought by grand jury," LA Times
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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