Lincoln Chafee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Lincoln Chafee | |
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| In office November 2, 1999 – January 4, 2007 |
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| Preceded by | John Chafee |
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| Succeeded by | Sheldon Whitehouse |
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| Born | March 26, 1953 Providence, Rhode Island |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican (while in office) Independent (currently) |
| Spouse | Stephanie Chafee |
| Alma mater | Brown University |
| Religion | Episcopalian |
Lincoln Davenport Chafee (pronounced /ˈtʃeɪ fiː/ CHAY-fee) (born March 26, 1953) is a former United States Senator from Rhode Island. Running as a Republican, he lost his re-election bid in 2006 to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. In the summer of 2007, he left the Republican Party and became an independent.[1] He is currently a visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies.
A Rhode Island native educated at Phillips Academy and Brown University, Chafee worked as a professional blacksmith for seven years before entering state politics in 1985. He was a delegate to the Rhode Island State Constitutional Convention, a member of the Warwick, Rhode Island city council, and later the mayor of Warwick. Chafee was appointed to the United States Senate in 1999 upon the death of his father, Senator John Chafee, and in 2000 was elected to a full six-year term.
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[edit] Early life, education, and early career
Chafee was born in Providence, Rhode Island as the elder son of John Chafee and Virginia Coates.[2] He attended Warwick public schools, followed by Providence Country Day School and the private prep school Phillips Academy, where he was a contemporary of future Florida Governor Jeb Bush. At Brown University, Chafee captained the wrestling team and in 1975 earned a degree in Classics. He then attended the Montana State University horseshoeing school in Bozeman. For the next seven years, he worked as a blacksmith at harness racetracks in the United States and Canada. One of the horses he shoed, Overburden, set the track record at Northlands Park in Edmonton, Alberta.
Chafee and his wife, Stephanie D. Chafee, have three children: Louisa, Caleb and Thea.
Chafee's great-great-grandfather, Henry Lippitt, was Governor of Rhode Island. Among his great-great-uncles are Rhode Island governor, Charles Warren Lippitt, and United States Senator Henry Frederick Lippitt. His great-uncle, Zechariah Chafee, was a Harvard law professor, and a notable civil libertarian.
[edit] Political offices
Chafee entered politics in 1985 as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. A year later, he was elected to the Warwick, Rhode Island City Council, where he served until his election as Warwick's mayor in 1992, a post he held until his 1999 appointment to the U.S. Senate.
After his father announced that he would not seek reelection in 2000, Lincoln Chafee announced he would run for the seat.[3] When John Chafee died suddenly in October 1999, Gov. Lincoln Almond appointed the younger Chafee to serve out the term. He was elected to a full six-year term in 2000, defeating Democratic candidate former U.S. Representative Robert Weygand by a 57% to 41% margin in the heavily Democratic state.
[edit] Political positions and voting record
Chafee was a liberal Republican who tended to identify more with the Democrats on social issues. He often voted against the more conservative Republican majority, leading some in his own party to label him a RINO ("Republican-In-Name-Only").
[edit] Abortion
Chafee strongly supports legal abortion. In May 2005, his senatorial re-election bid was endorsed by the traditionally Democratic-supporting NARAL Pro-Choice America due to his outspoken support for a woman's right to have an abortion. On October 21, 2003, Chafee was one of the three Republican Senators to oppose the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, voting with the Senate Democrats. The bill passed 64-34, was sent to President George W. Bush for his signature, and became law on November 5, 2003. Chafee was a member of the Republican Majority for Choice and Republicans for Choice.
[edit] Gay rights
Chafee is a strong supporter of gay equality. He was the only Republican senator to have expressed support for same-sex marriage. In his 2006 reelection campaign he was endorsed by the prominent gay rights organization, the Human Rights Campaign.
[edit] Environment
Chafee favors strong environmental protection. He was one of the few Republicans to vote against allowing drilling in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and is a member of the Republicans for Environmental Protection. He has been endorsed throughout his career by the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters.
[edit] Death penalty
Chafee strongly opposes the death penalty, and has consistently voted against limiting federal death penalty appeals, has favored including racial statistics in death penalty appeals, and a prerequisite of DNA analysis for all federal executions.
[edit] Tax policy
Chafee opposes eliminating the federal estate tax and voted against both the 2001 and 2003 federal tax cut bills. On November 17, 2005 he was the only Republican to vote in favor of reinstating the top federal income tax rate of 39.6% on upper-income payers.
[edit] Israel
Chafee is now involved in the J Street project, a pro-Israel peace lobby.
[edit] Iraq
Chafee was the only Republican in the Senate to have voted against authorization of the use of force in Iraq. On June 22, 2006, Chafee was the only Republican to vote for the Levin amendment calling for a non-binding timetable for a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. He voted against the Kerry-Feingold amendment calling for a binding timetable.
[edit] Stem cell research
Chafee is a member of the Republican Main Street Partnership and supports federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
[edit] 2006 John Bolton renomination
In November 2006, immediately following the midterm elections, Chafee joined key Democrats in opposing President Bush's renomination of John Bolton as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. On December 4, 2006, the White House announced that Ambassador Bolton would no longer seek the appointment, and would resign within a matter of weeks.
[edit] Other issues
Chafee favors increased federal funding for health care and supports an increase in the federal minimum wage. He supports affirmative action and gun control, and was one of only two Republicans to vote against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, which prevents firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held liable for crimes committed with their products. On June 27, 2006, Chafee was one of only three Republicans to vote against the proposed Flag Desecration Amendment.
Some of Chafee's positions that are well within the mainstream of the Republican Party include:
- Support of free trade agreements.[citation needed]
- Cosponsored the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which expanded federal jurisdiction over class-action lawsuits since federal courts are generally less likely than state courts to rule in favor of the plaintiffs in consumer protection cases.
- Supports the partial privatization of social security.[citation needed]
- Voted against a wholesale ban on gifts from employees of lobbying companies.[citation needed]
Chafee's more liberal stances have led some conservatives to refer to him as a "Republican In Name Only" (RINO).[4] [5] Most notable among these was Human Events magazine, which named Chafee "the No. 1 RINO in the country."[6] The National Journal has rated Chafee as the most liberal Republican in the Senate, and placed him to the left of two Democrats, Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu.[7]
Known for often disagreeing with the Republican Party leadership, Chafee says he did not cast his ballot for President George W. Bush in the 2004 election, instead choosing to write in former president George H. W. Bush as a nod to the Republican Party of his father.[8] Chafee was the only Republican senator to vote against the authorization of military force in Iraq in 2002. He has frequently criticized President Bush's record on the environment and also expressed concern about the 2004 Republican platform and the direction of the party. He described the younger Bush's presidency as "an agenda of energizing the far-right-wing base, which is divisive."[9] Soon thereafter, he rejected Democratic overtures to leave the Republican Party after appeals from other Republican senators to remain in their caucus.[10]
In 2003, Chafee bucked his party and voted against the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. However, Chafee also cast a crucial procedural vote against a Democratic attempt to kill the bill, which failed by only two votes.[11]
On May 23, 2005, Chafee was one of 14 bipartisan senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial filibuster, forestalling the Republican leadership's implementation of the so-called "nuclear option." Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance," and three of the most conservative Bush appellate court nominees (Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate.
Chafee was the only Republican to oppose President George W. Bush's nomination of Samuel Alito to the United States Supreme Court. However, he voted to end debate on the nomination, helping to end any chance of a Democratic filibuster.[12] Chafee did not announce his opposition to the nomination until a majority of Senators had already publicly said they would support Alito.[13]
Conservative author and radio talk-show host Hugh Hewitt has argued that Chafee is one of the single greatest roadblocks to creating a permanent Republican majority in the country because of his unwillingness to conform to the party's social goals, and therefore Republicans should remove him from office by any necessary means, which includes voting for a Democrat against him, since his votes so often fall on the opposite side of the debate that the loss will not be noticed for the few votes he can get them. Ann Coulter has expressed disgust that Bush campaigned for him in the Republican primary against conservative Steve Laffey.[14] She also said on October 25, 2006 on Hannity & Colmes, when asked about the Rhode Island Senate race, that she would be happy to lose Chafee.
[edit] 2006 reelection campaign
In September 2005, Stephen Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island, announced his intention to run against Chafee in the Republican primary. Laffey was considered a formidable challenger, as he is much more conservative than Chafee. Among other stances totally opposite those of Chafee's, Laffey is against abortion rights and against embryonic stem cell research. Laffey was heavily supported by notable conservative groups, including the Club for Growth and several Ohio-based pro-life groups. Chafee went on to defeat Laffey in the primary on September 12 by a margin of 54 percent to 46 percent--an unusually close margin for an incumbent Senator. The turnout for the Republican primary was the largest in Rhode Island history. In his victory speech, Chafee credited unaffiliated voters and disaffiliated Democrats for his victory.[15]
Chafee was defeated by Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse in the general election. Despite Chafee's high approval ratings statewide, Whitehouse pointed out that Chafee supported his party's more conservative leadership.
In response to a question at a news conference on November 9, 2006, Chafee stated that he was unsure whether he would remain in the Republican Party after serving out the remainder of his term. According to Michelle R. Smith of the Associated Press, when asked whether he felt that his loss may have helped the country by switching control of power in Congress, he replied: "To be honest, yes."[16]
[edit] After 2006 loss
In December 2006, Chafee announced that he was accepting a fellowship to serve as a "distinguished visiting fellow" at Brown University's Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies. The university planned to have Chafee lead a student group studying U.S. foreign policy.[17]
In the summer of 2007, Chafee officially left the Republican Party, changing his affiliation to independent. He said that he did so because of the Republicans' increasing conservatism, and particularly cited spending cuts in programs which assisted the middle- and low-income people, such as Pell Grants and Head Start.[18] In February 2008 he said he was considering voting for Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary.[19] On February 14, with the Rhode Island Democratic primary approaching in three weeks, Chafee officially endorsed Obama.[20]
In 2008, Chafee joined the advisory board of J Street, a pro-Israel lobbying group that promotes diplomatic relations between Israel and its neighbors, and supports an independent Palestinian state.[21]
He has been mentioned as a candidate for Governor of Rhode Island in 2010, as the incumbent Governor Donald Carcieri (a Republican re-elected the same day Chafee lost) is term-limited. Given his name recognition, Chafee might be a strong candidate, as Chafee's father was a popular U.S senator and governor. Chafee also remains extremely popular in Rhode Island, as his approval rating even at the time of his 2006 defeat was in the mid-60s, and his approval can be expected to rise with the moves he has made since leaving the Senate. If Chafee mounts an independent candidacy for the governorship, it would be similar to the path Lowell Weicker followed in Connecticut after losing his 1988 Senate re-election bid to Joe Lieberman. Chafee might also seek a rematch in 2012 against his successor, Whitehouse.
[edit] Non-political interests
Aside from spending time with his wife and three children, Chafee enjoys outdoor activities, with a particular fondness for skiing and trail riding on his horse, Trapper.[22]
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ "Chafee quietly quits the GOP"
- ^ 1
- ^ A Republican on the Edge
- ^ Jill Zuckman. "GOP favorite wins Rhode Island primary", Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, 2006-09-13.
- ^ Associated Press. "Sen. Lincoln Chafee Gains GOP Support", NewsMax.com, 2006-09-07.
- ^ Human Events
- ^ http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/pdf/Centrists.pdf
- ^ The Good 5 Cent Cigar
- ^ USATODAY.com - Sen. Chafee considers leaving GOP
- ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/11/09/republicans.chafee.ap/
- ^ Projo.com | Providence | Local News | M. Charles Bakst
- ^ Chafee says he will vote against Alito - Boston.com
- ^ FOXNews.com - Alito Filibuster Fails, Confirmation Vote Expected Tuesday - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum
- ^ They Shot the Wrong Lincoln. by Ann Coulter, August 30, 2006. Accessed September 17, 2007.
- ^ Extra: Election | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal
- ^ Chafee unsure of staying with GOP after losing election - Boston.com
- ^ Chafee takes fellowship at Brown. December 15, 2006, Providence Journal. Accessed September 17, 2007.
- ^ Former RI Sen. Lincoln Chafee Leaves GOP. September 16, 2007 Associated Press report. Accessed September 17, 2007.
- ^ Ex-Republican Chafee considers voting for Obama in R.I. primary. Mark Arsenault, February 8, 2008 The Providence Journal Accessed February 8, 2008.
- ^ Former Rhode Island senator endorses Obama
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://chafee.senate.gov/
[edit] External links
- 2006 Rhode Island Senate Candidate List from VIS
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
- 15 facts about Lincoln Chafee by U.S. News & World Report
| Civic offices | ||
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| Preceded by Charles Donovan |
Mayor of Warwick 1993–1999 |
Succeeded by Scott Avedisian |
| United States Senate | ||
| Preceded by John Chafee |
United States Senator (Class 1) from Rhode Island November 2, 1999–January 4, 2007 Served alongside: Jack Reed |
Succeeded by Sheldon Whitehouse |
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