Rob Andrews | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's1st district | |
| In office November 6, 1990 – February 18, 2014 | |
| Preceded by | James Florio |
| Succeeded by | Donald Norcross |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Robert Ernest Andrews (1957-08-04)August 4, 1957 (age 68) Camden, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Spouse | Camille Spinello |
| Children | 2 |
| Education | Bucknell University (BA) Cornell University (JD) |
Robert Ernest Andrews (born August 4, 1957) is an American politician who served as aU.S. representative forNew Jersey's 1st congressional district from 1990 to 2014. The district included most ofCamden County and parts ofBurlington County andGloucester County. He is a member of theDemocratic Party.
Andrews was born inCamden, New Jersey, the son of Josephine (née Amies) and Ernest Andrews; he is predominantly of Scottish andScotch-Irish descent and counts American portrait painterCharles Willson Peale andJohannes Roosevelt among his ancestors.[1] He grew up inBellmawr and attendedTriton Regional High School inRunnemede.[2] Andrews was the first in his family to attend college, graduating fromBucknell University in 1979 with aBA inpolitical science, summa cum laude. He later attendedCornell University Law School, earning hisJD degree with honors in 1982. Before his election to Congress, Andrews was involved in legal education as a member ofCornell Law Review 's board of editors.
He worked as an attorney and an adjunct professor at theRutgers School of Law–Camden. Starting in 1983, Andrews operated a private legal practice. In 1986, he was elected as a member of theCamden CountyBoard of Chosen Freeholders, where he served for four years, including two years as freeholder director (1988–1990).
First elected to Congress in 1990, Andrews served for 24 years as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 1st congressional district, which includes most of Camden County and parts of Burlington County and Gloucester County. In the U.S. House of Representatives, he served on theCommittee on Armed Services,Committee on the Budget, andCommittee on Education and Labor, where he served as chairman of theSubcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.[3]
In 1990, after 15-year incumbent Democratic U.S. CongressmanJames Florio resigned from theU.S. House of Representatives to take office asGovernor of New Jersey, Andrews won the 1990 special election and simultaneous general election against Gloucester County Freeholder Daniel J. Mangini.[4] He subsequently won re-election every two years until his retirement. Andrews had the 10th longest tenure among U.S. Representatives in New Jersey history, and the fifth longest among Democrats in the state.[5] In November 2004, he received more votes than anyone ever elected to the U.S. House from New Jersey, a record which he broke again in 2008 and 2012.[6][failed verification]
The New York Times characterized Andrews as "fiscally conservative but socially moderate."[10] He has a lifetime rating of 17.24 from theAmerican Conservative Union and a 2007 rating of 100 fromAmericans for Democratic Action.[11][9] He has a liberal rating of 76.2 and a conservative rating of 23.8 from theNational Journal.[12]
According toPresident Barack Obama, he was an original author of theAffordable Care Act.[13]
On December 2, 2008, theCitizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint against Andrews and four other politicians to theFederal Election Commission (FEC) for allegedly violating theFederal Election Campaign Act (FECA).[14][15] In the complaint, CREW stated that Andrews's campaign committee spent $952.04 of campaign funds on clothing, which FECA classified as personal spending.[16][17] A spokesman for Andrews responded that the clothing was intended to replacelost luggage from a flight, and that Andrews deposited $952.04 into his campaign account after the airline reimbursed him.[18] The FEC dismissed the complaint on July 16, 2009, but affirmed in the dismissal that the purchases violated campaign finance laws.[19][20]
The Star-Ledger reported on November 20, 2011, that Andrews financed a family vacation toEdinburgh,Scotland, and other European destinations with over $9,000 of campaign funds. The report claimed that Andrews "mixed personal and political expenses in an unorthodox way" on multiple occasions. These expenses included a $10,000house party celebrating both his career anniversary and his daughter'sgraduation, a $12,500 donation to theWalnut Street Theatre – where his daughter performed, and trips to California that overlapped with his daughter's auditions. Andrews and his chief of staff replied that the vacation involved attending an adviser's wedding, the party was primarily for "political associates", the theater donation was in support of itsoutreach program, and his daughter assisted him with fundraising during their trips.[21]
CREW filed another compliant with the FEC on November 30, 2011, based onThe Star-Ledger's article.[22][23] Andrews described the complaint as "baseless" and stated, "The campaign has fully complied with all laws with respect to the proper expenditure and disclosure of campaign funds. All personal aspects of any expenditures or activities have always been paid in full from our family's personal funds."[24] TheAssociated Press elaborated on March 28, 2012, that Andrews's 18 trips to California from 2007 to 2012 resulted in over $97,000 of campaign expenses and $260,000 of donations, short of the 3:1 ratio of donations to expenses that is expected from political fundraising trips.[25]
TheUnited States House Committee on Ethics started researching the complaint on July 17, 2012,[26] and decided on August 31 that it would proceed with an investigation.[27] On March 19, 2013, the Committee declared that a special panel would examine whether Andrews's travel expenses from the Edinburgh and California trips complied with campaign finance laws.[28] Andrews resigned from Congress on February 4, 2014.[29][30] He said that the campaign finance probe had "no role at all" in his resignation, and that he was departing for a position at the Dilworth Paxson law firm.[31][32] The FEC dismissed the complaint on June 3, 2014, with "prosecutorial discretion", noting that Andrews reimbursed his campaign for the Edinburgh trip before he received the complaint, and that any violations in the California trips were "relatively small".[33][34][35][36][37] The complaint was dismissed in June 2014.
In 1997, Andrews ran forGovernor of New Jersey. In the Democratic primary, he was defeated 40%–37%, a margin of 9,993 votes, by State SenatorJim McGreevey.[38]Andrews was a candidate for theDemocratic nomination in the2008 U.S. Senate election.[9] Andrews lost to incumbentFrank Lautenberg, but subsequently won re-election to his House seat, with Andrews "[receiving] more votes in November 2008 than anyone ever elected to the U.S. House in New Jersey, breaking his own record."[39]
Andrews is married and has two daughters.[40] He is anEpiscopalian.[41]
| Year | Democrat | Votes | Pct | Republican | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | 3rd Party | Party | Votes | Pct | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 (special) | Rob Andrews | 71,373 | 55% | Daniel J. Mangini | 58,087 | 45% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1990 | Rob Andrews | 72,415 | 54% | Daniel J. Mangini | 57,299 | 43% | Jerry Zeldin | Libertarian | 1,592 | 1% | Walter E. Konstanty | Pride and Honesty | 1,422 | 1% | William H. Harris | Populist | 1,066 | 1% | |||||||||||
| 1992 | Rob Andrews | 153,525 | 67% | Lee A. Solomon | 65,123 | 29% | James E. Smith | Pro-Life Pro-Family Veteran | 3,761 | 2% | Jerry Zeldin | Libertarian | 2,641 | 1% | Kenneth L. Lowndes | Pro-Life Independent Conservative | 2,163 | 1% | Nicholas Pastuch | America First Populist | 859 | <1% | |||||||
| 1994 | Rob Andrews | 108,155 | 72% | James N. Hogan | 41,505 | 28% | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Rob Andrews | 160,413 | 76% | Mel Suplee | 44,287 | 21% | Michael Edmondson | Independent | 2,668 | 1% | Patricia A. Bily | Independent | 1,873 | 1% | Norman E. Wahner | Independent | 1,493 | 1% | |||||||||||
| 1998 | Rob Andrews | 90,279 | 73% | Ronald L. Richards | 27,855 | 23% | David E.West, Jr. | Independent | 1,684 | 1% | Joseph W. Stockman | Independent | 1,324 | 1% | Edward Forchion | Independent | 1,257 | 1% | James E. Barber | Independent | 943 | 1% | |||||||
| 2000 | Rob Andrews | 167,327 | 76% | Charlene Cathcart | 46,455 | 21% | Catherine L. Parrish | Independent | 3,090 | 1% | Edward Forchion | Independent | 1,959 | 1% | Joseph A. Patalivo | Independent | 781 | <1% | |||||||||||
| 2002 | Rob Andrews | 121,846 | 93% | (no candidate) | Timothy Haas | Libertarian | 9,543 | 7% | |||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Rob Andrews | 201,163 | 75% | S. Daniel Hutchison | 66,109 | 25% | Arturo F. Croce | E Pluribus Unum | 931 | <1% | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Rob Andrews | 140,110 | 100% | (no candidate) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2008 | Rob Andrews | 191,796 | 72% | Dale M. Glading | 70,466 | 26% | Matthew Thieke | Green | 1,778 | <1% | Margaret Chapman | Back to Basics | 1,188 | <1% | Everitt M.Williams, III | Think Independently | 954 | <1% | Alvin Lindsay | Lindsay for Congress | 483 | <1% | |||||||
| 2010 | Rob Andrews | 106,334 | 63% | Dale M. Glading | 58,562 | 35% | Mark Heacock | Green | 1,593 | <1% | Margaret Chapman | Time for Change | 1,257 | <1% | Nicky I. Petrutz | Defend American Constitution | 521 | <1% | |||||||||||
| 2012 | Rob Andrews | 210,470 | 68% | Gregory W. Horton | 92,459 | 30% | John William Reitter | Green | 4,413 | 1% | Margaret Chapman | Reform Party | 1,177 | <1% |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew Jersey's 1st congressional district 1990–2014 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chair of theHouse Democratic Policy Committee 2013–2014 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Representative | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Representative |
