Joe Knollenberg | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan | |
| In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | William Broomfield |
| Succeeded by | Gary Peters |
| Constituency | 11th district (1993–2003) 9th district (2003–2009) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Joseph Kastl Knollenberg (1933-11-28)November 28, 1933 Mattoon, Illinois, U.S. |
| Died | February 6, 2018(2018-02-06) (aged 84) Troy, Michigan, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Sandie Knollenberg |
| Children | 2, includingMarty |
| Alma mater | Eastern Illinois University |
| Occupation | Insurance agent |
| Military service | |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1955–1957 |
| Rank |  Corporal |
Joseph Kastl Knollenberg (November 28, 1933 – February 6, 2018) was an American politician fromMichigan. From 1993 to 2009, he was aRepublican member of theU.S. House of Representatives, representingMichigan's 9th congressional district andMichigan's 11th congressional district.
In his congressional term, Knollenberg was known as a staunch supporter of theNorth American Free Trade Agreement, PresidentGeorge W. Bush's stance on protecting manufactured goods and for voting against expandingSCHIP in the later years of his career.[1]
He was defeated byGary Peters in the2008 election by a margin of 52% to 43%.
Knollenberg was born inMattoon, Illinois, the son of Helen E. (née Kastl; 1903–1990), a teacher and William Herman Knollenberg Jr. (1902–1975), a farmer.[2] He was raised a Catholic[2] and grew up on a farm along with 12 siblings.[1] He graduated fromEastern Illinois University in 1955, where he was a member ofTau Kappa Epsilon fraternity.[3][4]
After graduation, he served in theUnited States Army from 1955 to 1957 as a corporal in Germany, where he specialized in petroleum chemistry.[2][1] He then spent more than three decades as an insurance agent.[5] Initially working forNew York Life Insurance Company as an assistant manager and later forSears, he founded his own agency, Knollenberg Agency in the late 1980s.[6] He served as chairman of the Oakland County Republican Party from 1978 to 1982.[3]
In 1992, Knollenberg signed on as campaign manager for CongressmanWilliam Broomfield, who had represented most of Oakland County in Congress since 1957.[6] However, at a meeting with Knollenberg and other advisers, Broomfield announced he would not run for a 19th term.[5] He then asked Knollenberg to run in his place in the 11th District, which had been renumbered from the 18th District after the 1990 census.[6]
Despite being the only candidate in the three-way Republican primary not holding elected office, Knollenberg won the nomination by over 13 points.[1] As the 11th was one of the most Republican districts in Michigan and the nation at the time, he was virtually assured of becoming only the third person to represent the district. He was reelected six times without serious difficulty, never dropping below 55 percent of the vote.[6]
Knollenberg was re-elected to his seventh term in 2004 with 58% of the vote.[6] In 2006, however, Knollenberg faced a tough campaign againstDemocratNancy Skinner, a liberal talk show host in the Detroit area, ultimately winning by six points.[5] Two years later, in a more difficult election cycle for Republican candidates, Knollenberg lost re-election to former state senatorGary Peters.[1]
Generally, Knollenberg's voting record was conservative. He supported theNorth American Free Trade Agreement and led the campaign against PresidentGeorge W. Bush's steeltariffs.[7][8][9] In 2002 he was awarded theMkhitar Gosh Medal by the president of Armenia.[10] On September 29, 2008, he voted against theEmergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.[11]
Knollenberg was challenged in the 2006 Republican primary by moderateRepublicanPatricia Godchaux.[3]Democratic candidateNancy Skinner, a popular former radio-talk show host in the Detroit area, was her party's nominee for the 9th district.[6] Matthew R. Abel of theGreen Party and Adam Goodman of theLibertarian Party were third-party candidates also in the race.[13][5]
Prior to 2006, Knollenberg's election was widely considered to be relatively easy given the traditionally Republican leanings ofTroy, the largest city in his district.[1] The 2000s round of redistricting made Knollenberg's district much friendlier to Democrats.[3] While the district lost heavily DemocraticSouthfield, it picked up equally DemocraticPontiac and lost a Republican-leaning spur ofWayne County.[6]
In the 2006 election, Knollenberg was nearly defeated, taking only 52 percent of the vote to Skinner's 46 percent.[14] Abel received .9%, and Goodman received 1.3%.[14] This was the closest a Democrat had come to winning the district in 48 years; in 1958 Broomfield only won a second term by 5.5 points.[15]
Knollenberg spent $2.7 million in his campaign.[15]
In January 2006, Congressman Knollenberg announced his intent to seek re-election in 2008.[6] The narrowness of his 2006 reelection bid, combined with his district's changing demographics led theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee to target him for defeat.[16] The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee targeted Congressional Districts where Republicans garnered less than 55% of the vote.[17]
The Democratic nominee wasGary Peters, the former state lottery commissioner.[6] Skinner initially made plans for a rematch, but bowed out to clear the field for Peters.[18] In March 2008,Jack Kevorkian announced that he would challenge Knollenberg as an independent candidate.[13] The Libertarian nominee was Adam Goodman and the Green nominee wasDouglas Campbell.[13]Kevorkian, Goodman andCampbell each raised and spent less money than the mandatory reporting threshold.[13]
On November 4, 2008, Knollenberg was defeated, garnering 43 percent of the vote to Peters' 52 percent.[1] Knollenberg's candidacy was likely hurt by a heavy Democratic tide in the Detroit area;Barack Obama carried Oakland County by a 15-point margin, six percentage points more than Peters' margin over Knollenberg.[1][6] A potential factor in Knollenberg's defeat was a series of advertisements criticizing his vote against expandingSCHIP.[19]
Knollenberg had two sons, Stephen and Martin with his wife, Sandra "Sandie" Moco,[20] whom he married in September 1962 at St Frances Cabrini Church inAllen Park, Michigan.[2][5] His son,Martin, was elected in November 2006 by a 58%-42% margin to theMichigan State House of Representatives from the 41st District.[1]
Knollenberg died on February 6, 2018, due to complications fromAlzheimer's disease at a care facility inTroy, Michigan at the age of 84.[5]
Thanks to their extraordinary leadership, the tariffs were repealed.
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 11th congressional district 1993–2003 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromMichigan's 9th congressional district 2003–2009 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| People | |
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