Anthony Weiner

Anthony David Weiner,  born September 4, 1964  is the U.S. Representative for New York's 9th congressional district, which includes parts of southern Brooklyn and south and central Queens. Weiner is a Democrat, and has held the office since 1999. He was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1998 mid-term elections, filling the seat previously occupied by Democrat Charles Schumer who successfully ran for the U.S. Senate that year. Weiner defeated his Republican opponent, Louis Telano, by a margin of 66 percent to 23 percent. He was re-elected handily for six additional terms, receiving 59 percent of the vote in 2010. He was an unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of New York City in the 2005 election.

Previously, Weiner was a member of the New York City Council from 1992 to 1998, and an aide to former U.S. Representative Schumer from 1985 to 1991. He is a graduate of the State University of New York at Plattsburgh.

In June 2011, after having first denied doing so, Congressman Weiner admitted having sent sexually explicit photographs of himself to several women "followers" on Twitter, both before and since his marriage.House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called for an ethics investigation. On June 11, Pelosi and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called for Weiner's resignation. Weiner requested a leave of absence from the House of Representatives in order to obtain treatment of an unspecified nature. Pelosi removed Weiner from working on any House committees.

Early life, education, and family

Weiner was born in Brooklyn, New York, one of three sons of Mort Weiner, a lawyer, and Fran Weiner, a mathematics teacher at Midwood High School. The family lived for a time in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Weiner was raised Jewish: he told Moment Magazine in 2011, "We weren't a very religious household, but we had a very strong sense of our Judaism. Weiner's 39-year-old brother Seth was killed in a pedestrian–car accident in May 2000.

Weiner took the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT), and entered Brooklyn Technical High School. He says he had missed admission to Stuyvesant High School by one point. After graduating from Brooklyn Tech in 1981, he attended the State University of New York at Plattsburgh, where he played hockey. He sought to become a television weatherman, but his interests turned towards politics, and he became active in student government.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1985, Weiner worked on the staff of then-Congressman and current Senator Chuck Schumer (1985–91). First working in Schumer's office in Washington, D.C., he was sent to the District Office in Brooklyn in 1988 when Schumer encouraged him to become involved in local politics.

Personal life

Weiner married Huma Abedin, a longtime personal aide of Hillary Clinton, on July 10, 2010. Former president Bill Clinton officiated the wedding. Weiner proposed to Abedin on May 23, 2009.Abedin is now pregnant with their first child.

Weiner is a friend of actor Ben Affleck, whom he met while Affleck was researching his role for the film State of Play, in 2008. "We got into a chest-to-chest shouting match over Obama–Clinton within about four minutes. Literally, people were outside the office wondering if they should go in and separate us," Weiner has said about one of their first encounters.

Weiner has been friends with Jon Stewart since Weiner and some of Stewart's college friends rented a summer house in Dewey Beach, Delaware, in the 1980s.

Sexting scandal

On May 27, 2011, Weiner sent a link via Twitter to a photograph on yfrog showing his erect penis concealed by briefs to a 21-year-old woman in Bellingham, Washington, who was "following" him on the social media website. He initially said he had not posted the image, and that his account had been "hacked."

On June 6, 2011, conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted a cropped shirtless picture Weiner had sent to another woman on his BigGovernment.com blog, and indicated that there were more. That afternoon, Weiner held a press conference at which he apologized, saying "I have not been honest with myself, my family, my constituents, my friends and supporters, and the media" and that, "to be clear, the pictures were of me, and I sent them." He further said that he had been involved in "six inappropriate relationships over the past three years" using Twitter and other media. Answering questions, he said that he had his wife's continuing support, and that he did not intend to resign his congressional seat. After Weiner's press conference, House Minority Leader Pelosi announced that she had requested an investigation by the House Ethics Committee to determine "whether any official resources were used or any other violation of House rules occurred". On June 8, 2011, Weiner's spokeswoman commented, concerning an explicit nude picture of erect genitalia leaked through the The Opie & Anthony Show: "As Representative Weiner said on Monday when he took responsibility for his actions, he has sent explicit photos". On June 9, a NY1-Marist Poll showed that 56% of registered voters in Weiner's Congressional District wanted him to stay in Congress, and 33% thought he should resign, with 12% uncertain. Another survey of New York City adults conducted by WABC-TV and SurveyUSA finds the city largely divided, with 46 percent who think Weiner should resign and 41 percent who think Weiner should stay in office. On June 11, 2011, following several Democrats in Congress calling for Weiner's resignation, Pelosi, DCCC Steve Israel, and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz also called for his resignation.

See also: Anthony Weiner scandal

New York City Councilman: 1992–98

In 1991, after a three-way primary and a four-way general election, Weiner was elected to the New York City Council. At 27, he was the youngest person to serve on the Council to that date.

Over the next seven years on the City Council, Weiner initiated programs to tackle quality of life concerns. He started a program to put at-risk and troubled teens to work cleaning up graffiti. He spearheaded development plans for historic Sheepshead Bay that led to a revival of the area; and, when supermarkets started leaving the neighborhood, Weiner worked to reverse the trend.

As Chairman of the Subcommittee on public housing, he fought to increase federal funding, to ban dangerous dogs, and to add more police officers to the beat. His investigation into the cause of sudden, fatal stairwell fires made headlines; he exposed dangerous practices that eventually led the city to replace the paint in developments citywide.

U.S. Congressman: 1999–present

In 1998, Congressman Chuck Schumer opted to try to unseat Senator Al D'Amato. In the Democratic primary election, Schumer won the right to face D'Amato, whom he defeated in the General Election.

Weiner won the Democratic nomination to succeed Schumer, which was tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic 9th District. The district includes parts of southern Brooklyn and south and central Queens. In Queens, it includes the neighborhoods of Forest Hills, Maspeth, Fresh Meadows, Glendale, Howard Beach, Kew Gardens, Kew Gardens Hills, Middle Village, Ozone Park, Rego Park, Rockaway Beach, and Woodhaven. In Brooklyn, it includes the neighborhoods Gerritsen Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Mill Basin, and Sheepshead Bay.

Weiner is only the fifth person to represent the District since its creation in 1920. Because of the redistricting required by the U.S. Census every ten years, the 9th has been numbered the 10th (1920–45), the 15th (1945–53), the 11th (1953–63), the 10th again (1963–73), the 16th (1973–83), the 10th again 

(1983–93); and the 9th (1993–present).

In April 2008, Weiner created the bi-partisan Congressional Middle Class Caucus. Weiner received an "A" on the Drum Major Institute's 2005 Congressional Scorecard on middle-class issues.

In late July 2009, Weiner succeeded in securing a full House floor vote for single payer health care when Congress returned from its August recess, in exchange for not amending America's Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009 (AAHCA) in Committee mark-up with a single-payer plan.

Weiner is known to be one of the most intense and demanding members of Congress. He often works long hours with his staff fact-checking documents, resulting in one of the highest staff turn-over rates of any member of Congress, including, at one point, three chiefs of staff in 18 months. Weiner admitted, "I push people pretty hard... I have nothing but love for people who endured it, even if they endured it for a short period of time."

Committees

Committee on Energy and Commerce

Subcommittee on Health

Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Domestic policy

Weiner is an advocate of the United States National Health Care Act, which expands Medicare to all Americans. He has remarked that while Medicare has a 4% overhead rate, private insurers put 30% of their customer's money into profits and overhead instead of into health care.

Weiner has said that a public option “gets you some of the way” towards reducing costs, and set up a website to push for the public option in HR 3200. Weiner has derided the Republican Party as "a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry, teaming up with a small group of Democrats to try to protect that industry". Weiner attracted wide attention when, on February 24, 2010, he proclaimed in front of Congress: "Make no mistake about it, every single Republican I have ever met in my entire life is a wholly owned subsidiary of the insurance industry."

In 2003, he received a 100% rating from the National Abortion Rights Action League and a 0% rating from National Right to Life Committee (NRLC). He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, which made it a crime for a doctor to perform intact dilation and extractions. He was critical of the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, which places limits on taxpayer-funded abortions in the context of the November 2009 Affordable Health Care for America Act.

The Prevent All Cigarette Trafficking Act (PACT) of 2009, sponsored by Weiner, was signed into law in March 2010. The bill makes it a felony to sell tobacco in violation of any state tax law, and effectively ends Internet tobacco smuggling by stopping shipments of cigarettes through the United States Postal Service. Weiner said:

This new law will give states and localities a major revenue boost by cracking down on the illegal sale of tobacco and close a major source of finances for international terrorists and criminals. Every day we delay is another day that New York loses significant amounts of tax revenue and kids have easy access to tobacco products sold over the internet.

On July 29, 2010, Weiner criticized Republicans for opposing the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This act would provide for funds for sick first responders to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, many of whom reside in Weiner's district. In a speech on the floor of the House, he accused Republicans of hiding behind procedural questions as an excuse to vote against the bill.

In October 2010, Weiner urged YouTube to take down Anwar al-Awlaki's videos from its website, saying that by hosting al-Awlaki's messages, "We are facilitating the recruitment of homegrown terror. In November 2010, YouTube removed from its site some of the hundreds of videos featuring al-Awlaki's calls to jihad.

Foreign policy

Weiner voted for the authorization to use force in Iraq in 2002, which he later said he regretted. In a conversation with talk show host Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor, Weiner proposed a withdrawal from Iraq.

In May 2006, Weiner attempted to bar entry by the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations. He claimed that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas did not represent the PLO, and implied that this was because the group is listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department. Weiner further stated that the delegation "should start packing their little Palestinian terrorist bags." Weiner went on to claim that Human Rights Watch, The New York Times, and, in particular, Amnesty International are biased against Israel.

On July 29, 2007, Weiner and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) announced that they would seek to stop a $20 billion arms deal that the Bush Administration had negotiated with Saudi Arabia. The lawmakers objected to the deal because they do not want to provide "sophisticated weapons to a country that they believe has not done enough to stop terrorism," also noting that 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Weiner made the announcement outside of the Saudi Arabian consulate in Washington, stating that "We need to send a crystal clear message to the Saudi Arabian government that their tacit approval of terrorism can't go unpunished." Weiner and Nadler intend to use a provision of the Arms Export Control Act to review the deal and pass a Joint Resolution of Disapproval.

Weiner, along with several other members of Congress, have criticized the Obama administration proposal to sell over $60 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia. Weiner said:

"Saudi Arabia is not deserving of our aid, and by arming them with advanced American weaponry we are sending the wrong message"

He described Saudi Arabia as having a "history of financing terrorism" and teaching "hatred of Christians and Jews" to their schoolchildren.

The Tax Relief Bill 2010

Weiner voted against the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. He said the Republicans turned out to be "better poker players" than Obama.

Local NYC issues

In June 2008, Weiner sponsored a bill that would increase the number of O-visas available to foreign models. Weiner argued that increasing the number of visas would help boost the fashion industry in New York City.

Mayoral run

Weiner sought the Democratic nomination to run for New York City mayor in 2005, vying against three other candidates. He had a three-part pitch to voters that included criticising sitting Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his top-down style of management and promising a more democratic approach; against "passivity in City Hall" and for getting more federal money for the city; and a series of ideas on how to get the city to work better. He presented a book of 50 "Real Solutions" and among his policy proposals were fixes for the health care and educational systems. One idea already in play was a neighborhood scrubbing-up program he dubbed "Weiners Cleaners". Weiner started out last in many polls, but gained ground in the final weeks of the campaign, coming in second. Initial election returns had Fernando Ferrer with 39.95 percent of the vote, just shy of the 40% required to avoid a runoff against Weiner who had 28.82 percent, but Weiner conceded, citing the need for party unity and denying rumors that various high-ranking New York Democrats, such as Senator Chuck Schumer and then-New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, had urged him to concede. Ultimately, absentee ballots put Ferrer over the 40% mark in the official primary election returns.

Weiner appeared to be a candidate for mayor again in 2009. However, in May 2009, after the New York City Council voted to extend term limits for Mayor Bloomberg, Weiner announced his decision not to run against the popular Independent.