Joseph M. McDade

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Joseph M. McDade

Joseph Michael "Joe" McDade (* 29. September 1931 in Scranton , Pennsylvania ; † 24. September 2017 in Fairfax , Virginia ) was an American politician of the Republican Party . Between 1963 and 1999 he represented the state of Pennsylvania in the US House of Representatives .

Career

Joseph McDade attended St. Paul's School and the Scranton Preparatory School . He then studied at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana until 1953 . After a subsequent law degree at the University of Pennsylvania and his admission to the bar in 1956, he began to work as such in 1957. In 1962 he was the chief solicitor of the City of Scranton.

In the 1962 election , McDade defeated his Democratic rival William Gombar in the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the tenth congressional constituency of Pennsylvania, in which there were two Democrats for a registered Republican . In Congress on January 3, 1963, McDade succeeded his fellow party member William Scranton . He was re-elected 17 times, including unopposed candidates in 1992 (in addition to the Republican candidate, he had also won the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate ) and in 1994 with 66 percentage points. In 1996, the attorney Errol Flynn came close to him in the Republican primary with a good 2000 votes deficit, but McDade won the main election in November clearly against the Democrat Joe Cullen. He spent a total of 18 legislative terms in Congress . For many years from 1965 onwards, McDade was a member of the Grants Committee and at times deputy committee chairman. He also sat on a number of sub-committees.

Unlike his predecessor, McDade stayed out of national politics and its big issues. Instead, he became known for directing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds into his congressional constituency in northeastern Pennsylvania to support structural change from coal mining to other local industrial companies (nicknamed "Jobs Joe"). He pushed through his requests for subsidies in a long Democrat-dominated Congress - he counted spokesman Tip O'Neill among his friends and John Murtha among his allies - while most Republicans called for fiscal restraint. On his initiative, the Railway Museum was Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton 1986 National Historic Site explains what the federal government about 70 million US dollars cost promotion, but McDade brought criticism because many the special importance not look for the city. McDade saw the investment as a measure to promote tourism.

In 1992 he was charged with bribery after an investigation opened in 1988. He reportedly received campaign donations, free flights, golf equipment, and grants for his son of approximately $ 100,000 in exchange for approximately $ 54 million in contracts from five military equipment suppliers and an industry lobbyist between 1983 and 1988. A federal jury acquitted him of all allegations after a seven-week trial in August 1996. The allegations had prevented McDade from becoming chairman of the grants committee after the Republicans took over a majority in the House of Representatives in January 1995. In 1998 he declined to run again after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease during criminal proceedings; his mandate ended on January 3, 1999. At that point, McDade was the Republican with the longest term in the House of Representatives.

After his political career, McDade became a lobbyist. In 2006 the new terminal at Wilkes-Barre / Scranton International Airport was named after McDade. In the town of Scranton there is also a park and an expressway named after him. At the University of Scranton is McDade Center for Technology and Research established.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Michael de Courcy Hindy: Indictment of Congressman Means Little at Home. In: The New York Times , May 17, 1992.
  2. ^ Michael de Courcy Hindy: Indictment of Congressman Means Little at Home. In: The New York Times , May 17, 1992 (English); Rep. McDade Acquitted Of Bribery, Racketeering. In: CNN.com , August 1, 1996 (English).
predecessor Office successor
William Scranton United States House Representative for Pennsylvania (10th Constituency)
January 3, 1963 - January 3, 1999 		Don Sherwood
personal data
SURNAME McDade, Joseph M.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McDade, Joseph Michael (full name); McDade, Joe (short form)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH September 29, 1931
PLACE OF BIRTH Scranton , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH September 24, 2017
Place of death Fairfax , Virginia