Joe Scarborough

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Joe Scarborough
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st district
In office 1995–2001
Preceded by	Earl Hutto
Succeeded by	Jeff Miller
Born	April 9, 1963 (1963-04-09) (age 45) Atlanta, GA
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Melanie Hinton (divorced), Susan Waren
Profession	attorney, currently television host
Religion	Baptist

Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough (born April 9, 1963) is an American cable news host and former politician. Before his present position as host of Morning Joe on MSNBC, Scarborough hosted Scarborough Country on the same channel. Besides his work in cable news, Scarborough served in the United States House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001 as a Republican from Florida.

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Congressional career 2.1 Committee memberships 3 Post-congressional career 4 Family 5 Imus replacement 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life and education

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Scarborough graduated from Pensacola Catholic High School in Pensacola, Florida (although he is not a Roman Catholic). He received a B.A. from the University of Alabama in 1985 and a J.D. from the University of Florida College of Law in 1990.^[1] He was admitted to the Florida Bar in 1991. ^[1] According to the Florida Bar's web site, he is currently not eligible to practice law in Florida. Scarborough taught high school and practiced law in Pensacola.^[2] During this time he wrote and produced CDs with his band, Dixon Mills.^[3]

Scarborough represented Michael F. Griffin, later convicted of killing abortion doctor David Gunn, at the request of Griffin's family. Scarborough initially represented Griffin pro bono to find him a criminal lawyer and shield the family from media exposure. The judge later refused his request to defend Griffin during the criminal trial, citing the inexperience of Scarborough, a civil lawyer, regarding criminal law; having only represented three misdemeanors. Scarborough assisted Griffin in obtaining a trial attorney.^[4]

Scarborough's first major foray into politics was assisting with a petition drive in late 1993 opposing a 65 percent increase in the City of Pensacola's property taxes. During the drive he made numerous contacts which would prove valuable in his upcoming congressional race.^[2]

[edit] Congressional career

In 1994, Scarborough won the Republican Party (GOP) nomination for Florida's 1st congressional district, which came open after the incumbent Democrat Earl Hutto did not run for reelection. He was elected with 61 percent of the vote, becoming the first Republican to represent the area since 1872. He was reelected three times with no serious opposition, even running unopposed in 1998 and 2000. The 1st, located in the Panhandle, had turned into one of the most conservative regions of the state. It has not supported a Democrat for president since 1960, but conservative Democrats won most offices well into the 1990s. Scarborough was regarded as a reliable conservative, receiving a 95 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.^[5]. He signed the Contract with America, and was part of the 1994 Republican takeover of the House led by Newt Gingrich. Scarborough served on the Armed Services, Judiciary, Government Reform, and Education committees. In 1998, he was named Chairman of the Civil Service Committee.

Scarborough was one of a group of about 40 GOP freshmen legislators who dubbed themselves the "New Federalists" after the Federalist Papers. Scarborough was elected Political Director of the incoming legislators. The New Federalists called for sweeping cuts in the U.S. government, including plans to "privatize, localize, consolidate, [or] eliminate"^[6] the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development, but were largely unsuccessful in their goals. Gingrich tapped Scarborough to head a Republican task force on education, and Scarborough declared, "Our goal is to get as much money, power and authority out of Washington and get as much money, power and authority into the classroom as possible."^[2]

Scarborough sponsored a bill to force the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations after a four-year transition^[6] and voted to make the Corporation for Public Broadcasting "self-sufficient"^[7] by eliminating federal funding. He also voted for the "Medicare Preservation act of 1995,"^[8] which cut the projected growth Medicare by $270 billion over ten years, and against the "Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996"^[9] which raised the minimum wage to $5.15. Scarborough had a conservative voting record on economic, social, and foreign policy issues, but was seen as moderate on environmental issues and human rights causes (including closing the School of the Americas and Lori Berenson).^[2]

[US Congressman Joe Scarborough] heard about Lori Berenson on an NPR broadcast. He went to Peru and spent a day at her second trial. He watched the prosecutors and the judges working together, heard the evidence and decided that she had done nothing that would have convicted her in a U.S. court. Even a repentant terrorist, who was to have been the strongest witness, said Berenson was not a member of MRTA and gave no help at all. Scarborough thought the court had to conclude she was not a terrorist leader. ^[10]

While in Congress, Scarborough received a number of awards, including the "Friend of the Taxpayer Award" from Americans for Tax Reform; the "Guardian of Small Business Award" from the National Federation of Independent Business; the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the "Taxpayer's Hero Award" from the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste; and the "Guardian of Seniors' Rights Award" from the 60 Plus Association.

On July 20, 2001, one of Scarborough's aides died after hitting her head on a desk when she fainted while alone in Scarborough's Fort Walton Beach office.^[11] According to Scarborough, soon after her death allegations "spread all over the Internet" that he had been involved even though there was no foul play.^[12] In 2003, he joked about the incident with Don Imus on Imus's radio program^[13] and in 2004 it was the subject of a public spat between Scarborough and filmmaker Michael Moore.^[14] Moore accused Scarborough of wrongdoing, even though Scarborough was in his Washington, DC, office at the time of his aide's death.

[edit] Committee memberships

• 104th Congress^[15]
  • Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
  • Committee on National Security
• 105th Congress^[16]
  • Committee on National Security
  • Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
  • Committee on Education and the Workforce
• 106th Congress^[17]
  • Committee on Armed Services
  • Committee on Government Reform
  • Committee on the Judiciary
• 107th Congress^[18]
  • Committee on Government Reform
  • Committee on the Judiciary

[edit] Post-congressional career

In late May 2001, Scarborough announced that he would resign from Congress on September 6 to spend more time with his children. In his announcement, Scarborough also speculated about possible future presidential appointments and legal and television work.^[19] He officially resigned on September 5, 2001.^[1] After leaving Congress, he joined the law firm of prominent Florida attorney Fred Levin. He practiced law with the firm Beggs and Lane,^[20] the oldest firm in Florida. He was appointed to the President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce in 2002.^[21]

In April 2003, he embarked upon a successful television career with the launch of Scarborough Country on MSNBC, a current affairs show.

Scarborough also published a book, Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day (2004) (ISBN 0-06-074984-9) in which he reflects on his experiences as a young Republican congressman during the Clinton years. Scarborough criticizes both political parties for irresponsible spending and giving in to special interests. He publicly supported George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election.^{[citation needed]}

Scarborough briefly hosted a three-hour radio show in 2005. The show aired in a competitive time slot (10am–1pm US ET) and struggled to gain affiliates; those few that did carry the show usually carried it in the noon–3pm US ET slot or in late nights instead. After a few months, Scarborough left the show to focus his time on other priorities. (After being vacant for over a year, the slot was filled by Dennis Miller's radio show in 2007.) As of May 9, 2007, Scarborough became one of the rotating hosts auditioning for the slot vacated by Imus in the Morning on MSNBC, as host of Morning Joe. Morning Joe won the slot permanently in July 2007, thus ending Scarborough Country in the process.

In August 2005, Scarborough confirmed reports that he had been asked to consider a challenge to U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris for the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Bill Nelson's reelection bid. However, he announced later that month that he was renewing his contract with NBC.^[22]

In July 2006, former aides to Harris's 2006 Senate campaign claimed that Harris had called potential Scarborough supporters and raised the death of an aide in his home district office as a means to prevent his entry into the race.^[23] Scarborough, who had never intended to enter the race, initially considered suing Harris but decided to let the incident pass. He later told Nelson that drawing Harris as an opponent in the race made Nelson "the luckiest man in Washington."^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Family

In 1986, Scarborough married Melanie Hinton. They had two children^[24] and divorced in 1999. His younger child was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. While interviewing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in June 2005, Scarborough expressed concerns about the possibility that one of his sons may have suffered vaccine damage, perhaps attributable to the sharp increase during the 1980s in the amount of thimerosal injected into infants: "My son, born in 1991, has a slight form of autism called Asperger's. When I was practicing law and also when I was in Congress, parents would constantly come to me and they would bring me videotapes of their children, and they were all around the age of my son or younger. So, something happened in 1989."^[25]

In October 2001, Scarborough married Susan Waren, a former aide to Florida Governor Jeb Bush and a former congressional committee staffer. They live in Pensacola with their daughter Kate and his two sons, Joey and Andrew.^[26]

[edit] Imus replacement

The New York Post reported on July 3, 2007, that Scarborough was close to signing a deal to replace Don Imus on MSNBC. Since Memorial Day, Scarborough has been hosting the 6am-9am program now known as "Morning Joe" after Imus was fired from both MSNBC and CBS Radio after his "Nappy-Headed Hos" comment about the Rutgers University women's basketball team.^[27]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Morning Joe — MSNBC

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Stories on Joe Scarborough from Media Matters for America
• "A coverup for a cause of Autism? RFK Jr. explans how ingredient in vaccines may have contributed to spread" — transcript of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. interview by Joe Scarborough, MSNBC (June 22, 2005)
• Campaign contributions made by Joe Scarborough
• OnTheIssues page for Congressional terms
• USA Today: Scarborough Under Fire for Comments About Thompson's Wife

Political offices
Preceded by Earl Hutto	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida's 1st congressional district 1995–2001	Succeeded by Jeff Miller