Mark Siljander | |
|---|---|
 | |
| U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (Alternative Representative) | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's4th district | |
| In office April 21, 1981 – January 3, 1987 | |
| Preceded by | David Stockman |
| Succeeded by | Fred Upton |
| Member of theMichigan House of Representatives from the42nd district | |
| Preceded by | DeForrest Strang |
| Succeeded by | Harmon G. Cropsey |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Mark Deli Siljander (1951-06-11)June 11, 1951 (age 73) Chicago,Illinois, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | Western Michigan University (BS,MA) |
Mark Deli Siljander (born June 11, 1951) is an American author and politician who served as aRepublicanU.S. Representative from the state ofMichigan.[1] He authored the book A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide.[2]
In 2008, Siljander was indicted on charges ofmoney laundering,conspiracy andobstruction of justice. In 2010, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and acting as an unregistered foreign agent. In 2020, PresidentDonald Trump pardoned Siljander.
Siljander was born inChicago,Illinois, and graduated fromOak Park and River Forest High School in 1969.[3] He received aBachelor of Science andMaster of Arts fromWestern Michigan University inKalamazoo, Michigan.[3]
He served as atrustee onFabius Township Board inSt. Joseph County, Michigan, from 1972 to 1976 and also worked as a real estate broker.[3]
Siljander served as a U.S. Representative from theMichigan's 4th congressional district from April 21, 1981 to January 3, 1987. He served on theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee.[4] At the time of Siljander's election,Michigan's 4th congressional district covered southwestern Michigan and includedThree Rivers andKalamazoo.Time magazine noted that the district was predominantly conservative, having elected only one Democrat in [the twentieth] century, in 1932.[5]
Siljander was known as a dogmaticsocial conservative. He criticizedPresidentRonald Reagan's appointment ofSandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court, viewing her track record as insufficiently conservative.[6]Time described him as afundamentalist Christian. During his race, Siljander expressed opposition to theEqual Rights Amendment,pornography,abortion,school busing and "big spending," as well as support for theneutron bomb, theMX missile andprayer in public schools.[5] In Congress, Siljander's voting record was generally consistent with most other Republicans, although he became known for his firebrand conservative rhetoric; for example, he denounced "secular humanists" as having a "perverted" philosophy.[7]
On January 27, 1981, incumbent CongressmanDavid Stockman resigned to serve as the director of theOffice of Management and Budget in theReagan administration. In the following special Republican primary, Siljander ranked first in a seven-candidate field with a plurality of 37%.[8] He defeated Stockman-endorsed tax attorney John Globensky (36%) and State Senator John Mowat (22%).[9][10] In the April 1981 special general election, he defeated DemocraticCass County Commissioner Johnie Rodebush 69%-29%.[11][12][13] In 1981, Congress enacted an amendment, named after Representative Mark Siljander, to the FY1982 Foreign Assistance and Related Programs Appropriations Act specifying that no U.S. funds may be used to lobby for abortion. Congress subsequently modified the amendment to state that funds may not be used to "lobby for or against abortion"[14]
Siljander was challenged in the next Republican primary by attorney Harold Schuitmaker and defeated him 56%-44%.[15] In the general election, he won re-election to a full term with 60% of the vote.[16]
Siljander was challenged again in the Republican primary, and defeated Tim Horan 58%-42%.[17] In the general election, he won re-election to a second full term with 67% of the vote.[18]
In 1984, Siljander sponsored a single-sentence amendment which read, "For the purposes of this Act, the term 'person' shall include unborn children from the moment of conception."Alexander Cockburn referred to the Siljander Amendment as "the most far-reaching of all the measures dreamed up by the conservative right to undercutRoe v. Wade."[19] It failed 186-219.[20]
Siljander travelled with Christian Watch International to Romania in response to the growing concerns over religious minority persecution.[21]
1985
Siljander proposed legislation which would denymost favored nation status to countries that discriminate on cultural, ethnic or religious grounds.[22][23]
Once again Siljander was challenged in the Republican primary, this time byFred Upton, a staffer to Stockman. Upton defeated Siljander 55%-45%,[24] becoming the only Republican to unseat an incumbent in a primary that year.[7] A key to his defeat was believed to be a tape sent to fundamentalist Christians in his district asking them to "break the back of Satan" by defeating Upton.[25]
Siljander was appointed by President Reagan as an alternate representative to theUnited Nations General Assembly, serving from September 1987 to September 1988.[3] He was an unsuccessful candidate in 1992 for nomination to the103rd Congress fromVirginia. He stated then his message was, "not religious values as much as it's common-sense American traditional values." He campaigned on abudget freeze, a ten percentflat tax and aline-item veto.[26] In the Republican primary, Siljander came in second toHenry N. Butler, alaw professor atGeorge Mason University.[27]
Siljander co-founded theAlliance Defending Freedom (ADF); ADF lawyers later wrote the model for Mississippi's anti-abortion legislation, leading to the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overruleRoe v. Wade in 2022.
Siljander is the president of Bridges to Common Ground.[28] He also founded Trac5,[29] with the stated goal to implement faith-based diplomacy in real-world conflicts[30]
Siljander's book,A Deadly Misunderstanding: A Congressman's Quest to Bridge the Muslim-Christian Divide was a 2009 Nautilus Silver Award Winner,[31] and has a foreword written byUN Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon, with whom Siljander worked closely to resolve the humanitarian disaster in Darfur.[32]
In Ban Ki-moon's book published in 2021 in a chapter titled "The Breakthrough", Moon recounts Siljander's involvement in resolving the Darfur crisis stating, "...Siljander prayed aloud, passionately for peace in Sudan. That night Siljander convinced President Omar al-Bashir to work closely with the United Nations."[33]
Siljander was featured in the 2019Netflix miniseriesThe Family, which details the history and activities ofThe Fellowship, a secretive Christian organization with ties to politicians and world leaders. In the series, Siljander recounts his efforts to engage Muammar Gaddafi and help bring the Pan Am Flight 103 Lockerbie bombing terror suspects to justice.[34]
In 2020,Pro-life Members of Congress led bySenator Lankford used the Siljander Amendment to Prevent US from Funding Abortions, Abortion Advocacy Abroad.[35]
In 2025, Mark Siljander was featured on theJordan Peterson podcast which covered topics ranging from Islam, linguistic studies of theAramaic language of Jesus, and its application in international peacemaking.
On January 16, 2008, Siljander wasindicted in thefederal district court in the Western District of Missouri on five counts includingmoney laundering,conspiracy andobstruction of justice.[36][37] Siljander initially pleaded not guilty,[38] but on July 7, 2010, as part of aplea agreement, Siljander pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and acting as anunregistered foreign agent.[39] On January 12, 2012, he was sentenced to ayear and a day in prison.[40]
The group for which Siljander worked as an unregistered foreign agent was theIslamic American Relief Agency, aColumbus, Missouri-based charity, which hired Siljander in early 2004 to lobby to get IARA removed from aSenate Finance Committee list of charities suspected of funding international terrorism.[41][42][43] IARA closed in October 2004 after it was added to the Treasury Department's list ofglobal terrorist organizations.
During Siljander's sentencing, U.S. District JudgeNanette Kay Laughrey stated that: ..."[U]nder the circumstances of this case there was no specific harm by the lobbying efforts that you undertook... The truth is, when you look at this objectively, this is not a case about somebody aiding a terrorist, it just isn't, and it would be wrong of me to, in fact, try to make it out to be that."
In December 2020, PresidentDonald Trump pardoned Siljander, praising his pro-life record while a congressman and his post-prison work abroad.[44] Trump's decision to pardon Siljander was criticized by Republican CongressmanFred Upton, who succeeded Siljander after defeating him in the 1986 Republican primary.[41][45] His pardon was supported byEdwin Meese,Newt Gingrich,Mike Huckabee,Robert Aderholt, andAndrew Brunson.[46]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)IARA hired Siljander in 2004 to lobby for its removal from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list of charities suspected of funding international terrorism, and its reinstatement as an approved government contractor.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 4th congressional district 1981–1987 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former US Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative | Succeeded byas Former US Representative |
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
