Joe DioGuardi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's20th district | |
| In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1989 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Ottinger |
| Succeeded by | Nita Lowey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph John DioGuardi (1940-09-20)September 20, 1940 (age 85) New York City,New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse(s) | Carol (died 1997)Shirley Cloyes |
| Children | 2, includingKara |
| Education | Fordham University (BS) |
Joseph John DioGuardi (/ˌdiːoʊˈɡwɑːrdi/DEE-oh-GWAR-dee;[1] born September 20, 1940) is an Americanaccountant andpolitician. DioGuardi served as aRepublican U.S. Representative forNew York's 20th congressional district from 1985 to 1989.[2] He was the firstAlbanian American voting member of Congress. He was also the Republican nominee forU.S. Senate in New York during the2010 special election, but lost to incumbent senatorKirsten Gillibrand.
DioGuardi, a former partner atArthur Andersen & Co., also serves as president of theAlbanian American Civic League, an organization he runs with his wife, Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi.[3] He is the father of songwriter and record producerKara DioGuardi.
DioGuardi's father, Joseph Sr., immigrated to the United States fromGreci, Italy. Joseph Sr. was ofAlbanian descent whoseancestors had immigrated to Italy a couple centuries earlier.[4] His father eventually established a grocery and vegetable store inEast Bronx. The family moved toWestchester County, New York, in 1957. Joseph Sr. married Grace Paparella on January 8, 1939, and the couple settled in Orchard Hills in White Plains.[5] Their son, Joseph J., is the oldest of three DioGuardi children. After the family's move to Westchester, he attendedFordham Preparatory School. In 1957, he landed a summer job as abusboy for Elmwood Country Club in Westchester County. He advanced to a waiter position.
DioGuardi graduated fromFordham University in 1962. After college, he was hired atArthur Andersen & Co. He became aCertified Public Accountant and achieved partner status at age 31, after 10 years at the firm.[6] DioGuardi specialized in federal and state taxation for non-profit organizations, as well as the tax economics of charitable giving.
Incumbent Democrat U.S. CongressmanRichard Ottinger ofNew York's 20th congressional district decided to retire in 1984. The Democratic leaning district had a sizable minority population in the cities ofMount Vernon,Yonkers andNew Rochelle.[7] DioGuardi decided to run as a Republican and defeated Oren Teicher 50%-48%.[8]
DioGuardi won re-election to a second term, defeating former U.S. CongresswomanBella Abzug, who had relocated from Greenwich Village in Manhattan to Mount Vernon, 54%-45%.[9][10]
DioGuardi ran for re-election to a third term but lost toNita Lowey, the AssistantSecretary of State of New York, 50%-47%.[11]
During the campaign, theGannett-ownedGannett Suburban Newspapers accused one of the Westchester area's largest car dealers, Crabtree Automotive, of skirting federal election laws by funnelingUS$50,000 into DioGuardi's campaign. The New York Times reported: "Several employees explained in interviews that they were given $2,000 each in company checks and were asked to deposit them into their own bank accounts and then write personal checks for the same amount to the DioGuardi campaign. Joseph Crabtree, the company's chief executive, and his son Robert, the company's president, served on the campaign's finance committee." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission and Mr. Crabtree resigned from the campaign. DioGuardi steadfastly denied the charges and his campaign also filed its own complaint with the State Board of Elections that argued, contrary to his opponent's commercial, that the employees in question put funds in a separate "People For DioGuardi" campaign account as required by law.[12]
After redistricting, Lowey decided to run in the newly redrawnNew York's 18th congressional district. DioGuardi challenged her in a rematch and lost again, this time 56%-44%.[13][14]
Incumbent Republican U.S. CongressmanHamilton Fish IV of the neighboringNew York's 19th congressional district decided to retire in 1994. DioGuardi ran in the crowded six-candidate Republican primary, which was won bySue W. Kelly 23%-20%.[15] DioGuardi then ran again in the general election as theConservative Party nominee. Kelly won the general election with 52% of the vote.Hamilton Fish V, the Democratic nominee, ranked second with 37%, DioGuardi ranked third with 10%, and Catherine Portman-Laux ranked last with 1% of the vote.[16][17]
DioGuardi challenged Kelly in a rematch in 1996 and lost again 53%-42%.[18][19] He ran in the general election on the lines of the Conservative Party and the Right-to-Life Party. He got 12% in third place, while Kelly won re-election with 46% of the vote.[20][21]
In 2000 DioGuardi launched a bid to run as theConservative Party challenger for the2000 Senate race as a consequence ofRudy Giuliani not running on the line. Giuliani was asked to renounce hisLiberal Party endorsement, which he refused to do, hence the decision of Conservative Party ChairmanMike Long to initiate DioGuardi's campaign. DioGuardi ended this bid after Giuliani ended his campaign, and the Conservative line was given to CongressmanRick Lazio, the new Republican candidate.
After DemocratJohn Hall defeated Kelly in 2006, DioGuardi decided to run against Hall in 2008. In May 2008, Republicans held a convention inMahopac, New York, with delegates from each of the five counties to endorse a candidate and nominate their candidate.Kieran Michael Lalor won the convention vote with 46% of the vote, while DioGuardi finished last with 13% of the vote.[22][23]
Dioguardi voted against theAbandoned Shipwrecks Act of 1987.[24] The Act asserts United States title to certain abandoned shipwrecks located on or embedded in submerged lands under state jurisdiction, and transfers title to the respective state, thereby empowering states to manage these cultural and historical resources more efficiently, with the goal of preventingtreasure hunters and salvagers from damaging them. Despite his vote against it, PresidentRonald Reagan signed it into law on April 28, 1988.[25]
He was the original author of the Chief Financial Officer and Federal Financial Reform Act (CFO Act), signed by PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush in 1990. The act mandated the assignment of achief financial officer to each major department and agency of the U.S. government. FormerComptroller General of the United StatesCharles Bowsher later said in testimony before the U.S. Senate that since the enactment of the bill, "We have seen important progress in directly confronting serious financial management weaknesses."[26]
Of the 1.55 million Black American military servicemen, not one had received theMedal of Honor. DioGuardi and Democratic CongressmanMickey Leland initiated legislation to confer the honor on Black World War I and World War II military heroes who had been recommended for, but had not received, the medal.[27] Nine Medals of Honor have since been awarded.
DioGuardi was an active member of the executive committee of theCongressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC) and worked with Caucus founderTom Lantos (D-CA) onapartheid inSouth Africa, and on the repression of Jews in the Soviet Union and theTibetan people and monks in China.
He founded and co-chaired the Congressional Long Island Sound and Hudson River Caucuses, which secured substantial increases in federal support.[6] He co-founded with CongressmanJerrold Nadler the New York Task Force for Port, Rail and Industrial Development in order to restore lost jobs to New York's manufacturing and transportation sectors and preserve a portion of the Port of New York on the New York side of the harbor.[28][29]
In the mid-1980s, Dioguardi along with a handful of Albanian-American businessmen founded the Albanian lobby, culminating in the establishment of theAlbanian American Civic League (AACL) in January 1989.[30] The lobby raised the issue of Albanian rights in Yugoslavia to the attention of U.S. policy makers in Washington.[31] Under Dioguardi's leadership, the AACL raised millions of dollars, arranged demonstrations, testified and passed resolutions in Congress promoting the issue ofKosovo Albanians, putting pressure on U.S. administrations.[32]
Dioguardi's influence over the Albanian American lobby later diminished with the formation of theDemocratic League of Kosovo (LDK). Some former members of the Civic League defected to the LDK, citing Dioguardi's behavior and style. According to them, Dioguardi "hangs onto the Civic League in order to promote his own thinly veiled political ambitions" and "demand[s] that everything go through him, even the demonstrations".[33] Still, political analystPaul Hockenos noted in 2003 that "Dioguardi and the Albanian lobby as a whole still pack a formidable punch, even after the dust of the wars has settled. Its sustained activity is something the other diaspora lobbies, those associated with the former Yugoslavia, no longer muster. In contrast, they are spent forces." The AACL is run by Dioguardi and his second wife who also serves as "Balkan Affairs Adviser".[31]
In 1989, DioGuardi founded a non-profit organization that is known as Truth in Government. According to its website, "the mission of Truth in Government is to strengthen our country's financial foundation by promoting accountability and transparency in Congressional spending and reporting."[34]
In 1992, DioGuardi authored the bookUnaccountable Congress: It Doesn't Add Up, published by Regnery. The book was re-released in 2010 with a new introduction that claimed to explain the chronology of events leading to the2008 financial crisis.
On March 16, 2010, DioGuardi announced at Grand Central Terminal in New York City that he was seeking the Republican nomination for theU.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Democratic senatorKirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand had been appointed to the seat by Gov. Paterson after it was vacated by Hillary Clinton. DioGuardi pledged to raise overUS$10 million in his campaign.[35] He secured the nomination for U.S. Senate from theConservative Party of New York on May 28, 2010,[36] but did not secure enough votes from the New York Republican party contingencies at their state convention on June 2 to appear on the Republican line in the New York primary race on September 14. On August 9, the New York Board of Elections officially certified DioGuardi's qualification for the September 14th GOP primary.[37]
During the campaign, DioGuardi attracted some press attention for his advocacy of Albanian rights and his claim that without his efforts, there would be no independentKosovo.[38]
DioGuardi narrowly defeatedDavid Malpass in the primary election (withBruce Blakeman finishing distant third), securing the Republican line in the general election. He also, after the primary, secured the line of the nascentTaxpayers Party of New York when Malpass stepped aside.
Prior to the election, DioGuardi was linked to aUS$1.7 billion Ponzi scheme by the SEC. From 2007 to 2009, the former Westchester Republican congressman was paidUS$5,000 a month as a consultant for the subsidiary Medical Capital Corp. – and also gotUS$16,000 a year to sit on boards of various other MCH subsidiaries. DioGuardi said he was oblivious to any wrongdoing. "As a consultant, Joe was tasked with saving hospitals in New York from being shut down, but knew nothing of the schemes that were occurring behind the scenes," said his spokesman Brian Hummell, adding that his boss "has never seen the books."[39]
DioGuardi lost the general election to Gillibrand, 63.0% to 35.1%.
DioGuardi lives inOssining, New York, with his wife, Shirley Cloyes DioGuardi. His first wife, Carol, died in 1997 of ovarian cancer. His son John is a counselor at thePhoenix House, a national non-profit drug treatment organization on whose board Joseph has served since 1972. His daughterKara DioGuardi is a songwriter and artist who has appeared as a judge on theAmerican Idol show, and has also been involved in Phoenix House.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 20th congressional district 1985–1989 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromNew York (Class 1) 2010 | 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 |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
