Zoe Lofgren

Zoe Lofgren
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 16th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Don Edwards
Chairman of the House Ethics Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 2009
Preceded by	Gene Green
Born	December 21, 1947 (1947-12-21) (age 62) San Mateo, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	John Marshall Collins
Residence	San Jose, California
Alma mater	Stanford University, Santa Clara University
Occupation	attorney, political assistant
Religion	Lutheran

Zoe Lofgren (born Sue Lofgren on December 21, 1947, in San Mateo, California), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1995, representing the 16th district of California, based in San Jose.

[edit] Biography

A lifelong Bay Area resident, Lofgren attended Gunn High School in Palo Alto, earned her B.A. at Stanford University and a J.D. at Santa Clara University. She left the San Jose area for a few years after graduation from Stanford, to serve as a staff assistant to Congressman Don Edwards, in whose office she worked on, among other projects, the attempted impeachment of Richard Nixon. She was also instrumental in the creation of a Bay Area wilderness area that now bears the name of Edwards.

Returning to San Jose, Lofgren worked in Edwards' district office, while at the same time earning her law degree. After two years as partner at an immigration law firm in San Jose, she was elected first to a community college board, then to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, where she served for 13 years. Lofgren also spent three years teaching classes on immigration law at her former law school at Santa Clara University.

In 1994, Edwards decided to retire after 32 years in Congress. Lofgren entered the Democratic primary—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district—as a decided underdog, but managed to defeat the favorite, former San Jose mayor Tom McEnery. Lofgren's victory virtually assured her of becoming only the second person to represent the district since its creation in 1963 (it was numbered as the 9th District from 1963 to 1975, as the 10th from 1975 to 1993 and has been the 16th since 1993). She has been reelected six times with no substantive opposition.

Lofgren is currently the chair of the 34-member California Democratic Congressional Delegation. She serves on the Judiciary Committee and is the chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law.

During the 110th Congress, Lofgren worked for the development of fusion energy. She initiated a bill that would accelerate its uses as an alternative energy solution. Another piece of legislation that she recently authored has the goal of providing lower Internet access rates to schools, libraries, and other public institutions.

[edit] Stephen Colbert Testimony Before Congress

Lofgren invited comedian Stephen Colbert to testify before Congress on September 24, 2010 dealing with the issue of immigrant workers. Colbert diverged from his written testimony and entered a comedy routine. Republican committee member Steve King and Democrat John Conyers questioned whether it was appropriate for the comedian to appear before Congress, in an assumed character, citing the waste of taxpayer money, with an average cost of $125,000 per hearing session. Conyers asked him to leave the hearing. Fox commentator Megyn Kelly later asked, "What the hell was he doing before Congress?" ^[1]

[edit] Committee Assignments

• Committee on Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Border, Maritime and Global Counterterrorism
• Committee on House Administration (Vice Chair)
  • Subcommittee on Elections (Chairwoman)
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
  • Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law (Chairwoman)
• Committee on Standards of Official Conduct (Chairwoman)
• Joint Committee on the Library

[edit] Caucuses

• Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (Associate Member)

[edit] Other Leadership Positions

• Chair of the California Democratic Congressional Delegation

[edit] Electoral History

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• U.S. Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren official House site
• Zoe Lofgren at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Federal Election Commission — Zoe Lofgren campaign finance reports and data
• On the Issues — Zoe Lofgren issue positions and quotes
• OpenSecrets.org — Zoe Lofgren campaign contributions
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Zoe Lofgren (CA) profile
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Zoe Lofgren profile
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Zoe Lofgren voting record
• Zoe Lofgren for U.S. Congress official campaign site