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Toby Moffett | |
|---|---|
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| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromConnecticut's6th district | |
| In office January 3, 1975 – January 3, 1983 | |
| Preceded by | Ella Grasso |
| Succeeded by | Nancy Johnson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Anthony John Moffett Jr. (1944-08-18)August 18, 1944 (age 81) Holyoke, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Party | Democratic |
| Education | Syracuse University (BA) Boston College (MA) |
Anthony John "Toby" Moffett, Jr. (born August 18, 1944) is an American former politician from thestate ofConnecticut. ADemocrat, he served in theUnited States House of Representatives as the member fromConnecticut's 6th congressional district from 1975 to 1983. Moffett is currently Senior Advisor atMayer Brown LLP.[1]
Moffett was born inHolyoke, Massachusetts, the son ofLebanese immigrants.[2] He attended Suffield Elementary School in Suffield, Connecticut and graduated fromSuffield High School. He received hisBachelor of Artsdegree fromSyracuse University in 1966 and studied inFlorence,Italy from 1963 to 1964. He received hisMaster of Arts degree fromBoston College in 1968.
An avid Democrat and leading voice on environmental issues, Moffett first appeared on the national scene in the 1970s as an environmental activist and coalition-builder in his home state of Connecticut.
Moffett served as Director of the Office of Students and Youth in theOffice of Education within theDepartment of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1969 to 1970, but quit toprotest the Vietnam War.
Aligned with consumer activistRalph Nader, Moffett founded theConnecticut Citizen Action Group and parlayed this to a victory in 1974 for the seat vacated in the U.S. House of Representatives for Connecticut's 6th congressional district seat whenElla T. Grasso ran forgovernor.
On April 10, 1975, Moffett walked out of the House chamber during President Ford's State of the World speech when he requested military aid for Vietnam.[3]
Moffett held the northwestern Connecticut seat until 1982. He was regarded as aliberal and an opponent of theoil industry. He was also closely aligned withtrade unions. Moffett served as chairman of the House Subcommittee on Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources.
In 1981, he was selected to be one of the firstYoung Leaders of theFrench-American Foundation.[4]
In 1982 Moffett challengedU.S. SenatorLowell Weicker. While 1982 was a strong year for Democrats nationwide, Weicker was considered amoderate/liberal Republican and defeated Moffett 52-46 percent. Moffett's protégé, liberalState SenatorBill Curry, also lost the 6th district seat toRepublicanNancy Johnson.
Moffett attempted a political comeback in 1986 seeking to gain the Democratic nomination over incumbent GovernorWilliam O'Neill. That effort failed. Moffett later was a broadcaster onWVIT Channel 30 inHartford.
Moffett's final comeback effort was in 1990 when he moved to the town ofNewtown to seek election to the open congressional seat inConnecticut's 5th congressional district, which was being vacated byJohn G. Rowland, who was running for governor. Moffett's opponent,WaterburyaldermanGary Franks, claimed that Moffett was far too liberal to represent conservative 5th district voters, and Franks won the election.
In 2004 he broke with Ralph Nader regarding hisindependent candidacy for president. Moffett was among those who coordinated a national effort on behalf of the Democrats to deny votes andballot access to the Nader campaign. He also recently criticized the independent campaign ofJoe Lieberman.
After serving in Congress, Moffett worked as a news anchor, producer and investigative journalist, and spent nearly a decade as a syndicated statewide columnist. In 1999, Moffett was nominated by President Clinton to be U.S. Ambassador to Argentina (although he had unanimous Senate backing, he ultimately did not become ambassador because the process had taken almost a year).
Moffett worked at Monsanto as an international lobbyist from 1998-2000.[5]
Moffett is now a Washington consultant, and Chairman of The Moffett Group, representing for-profit and nonprofit entities, including large renewable energy developers and several foreign governments. In 2007, he joined with former Louisiana CongressmanBob Livingston and well-known consultantTony Podesta to form the PLM Group, which represented the government of Egypt for 4 years.
In 2014, Moffett joined the law firm ofMayer Brown as a consultant.[6]
In 2020, Moffett joinedWashington, D.C. lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs as co-chairman.[7] In June 2021, it was reported that Moffett registered as aforeign agent lobbying on behalf ofHikvision, a Chinese state-owned video surveillance manufacturer.[8][9]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromConnecticut's 6th congressional district 1975–1983 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Democratic nominee forU.S. Senator fromConnecticut (Class 1) 1982 | 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 | |
