Russ Feingold

Russell Dana " Russ" Feingold ( born March 2, 1953 in Janesville, Wisconsin ) is an American politician (Democratic Party). From 1993 to 2011 he represented the state of Wisconsin in the U.S. Senate.

Feingold is especially for the " Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act " ( "McCain - Feingold Bill " campaign finance reform ) is known, and that he was the only one Senator opposed the introduction of the USA PATRIOT Act of 2001. He was traded as a possible presidential candidate in 2008, but he gave in November 2006 that he would not run.

Childhood

Feingold is one of four children in a Jewish immigrant family, who settled in 1917 in Janesville, born. His parents are from Russia and Galicia. In his youth he cherished very great admiration for John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King.

After visiting the Joseph A. Craig High School studied Feingold at the University of Wisconsin -Madison and graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts cum laude. He was a member of Phi Beta Kappa students ring. In 1977 he went with a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts further. In 1979 Harvard Feingold made ​​his law degree.

Career

Feingold worked from 1979 to 1985 in private law firms Foley & Lardner and La Follette & Sinykin. From 1982 he sat in the Senate of Wisconsin, until he was elected to the Senate of the United States. During his early years in Congress he was Senator Paul Simon as a mentor.

Home life

Feingold married twice, Sue Levine and Mary Speer Schneider. He married Sue in 1977 and had two children with her (Jessica and Ellen ) before the marriage broke up nine years later. Then he married the divorced also Mary Speer Schneider, the two sons ( Sam and Ted ) brought into the marriage. On 11 April 2005 they announced together to seek divorce.

Senate

1992 election

Russ Feingold's career as a senator began in 1992 with a surprising victory over the Republican incumbent Bob box. Most notable here were the five election promises, which he wrote in the contract form, to his garage:

Also taken from Feingold campaign memo, which has often been compared to the victorious Senate campaign, which used the leading candidate Paul Wellstone in Minnesota. He was able to advertise in the form of short "Home Movies", amateur films, in which he was portrayed as "the underdog running for U.S. senate ." He was depicted as having both feet firmly standing on the ground and put the people and his home and his children in front of which (ie, no private school ) go to a public school. Thus, it was shown that the Feingold are close to the people and not stand out. His election commercials have also witnessed his sense of humor. A case showed Feingold, as he opens all his closets to prove that he has no skeletons hidden in it ( In German you would say: "That he has no skeletons in the closet ").

During the campaign, Feingold presented before a 82 -point plan, which ( by the way, plays a major role in the United States, as thriving defense companies create jobs ), the budget deficit through tax increases and cuts in the defense budget should balance. He was criticized for " too liberal " by the Republicans as " extremist " and of his Democratic rivals as. For the period from Feingold announced an extensive financial and health care reform and voted against new tax cuts.

There were in the area code of the Democrats while two leading candidates (Joe Checota and Jim Moody, but Feingold became the laughing third parties because it offered a good alternative to the programs of its competitors voters and did not lead like this one " mudslinging ". Again, this was represented pictorially in an election commercials with his opponents cardboard, which provide a mudslinging. , he won the actual election against box with 53% to 46%.

Election 1998

During the campaign for his re- election in 1998 Feingold again avoided an election campaign that is financed with a lot of money. He declined, more than a dollar for every citizen of Wisconsin ( 3.8 million ) or greater. In addition, he sat down for the procurement of money, the same limits to which he had been exposed under the McCain - Feingold law and could not be by his party with so-called "soft money" (money that is not donated directly, but eg help on going through the party).

His Republican opponent Mark Neumann then also limited to $ 3,800,000, but conceded soft money.

Feingold was criticized at the time by many party members, because it would unnecessarily put you think his political career on the line. On election day, Feingold won thanks to the strong electorate in the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison with about two percentage points ahead.

2004 election

In the Senate elections in 2004, Feingold defeated his Republican opponent, the tycoon Tim Michaels, with twelve percentage points ahead. He limited his campaign expenses, but increased the limit and finally gave nearly 11 million dollars.

When the Republicans tried to portray Feingold with his money limitations as a hypocrite, he was able to successfully demonstrate that 90 % of the money from individuals from Wisconsin ( average $ 60 ) arrived. Feingold's high electoral victory was seen by many as a general endorsement to the controversial points of view, which he had taken during his second term. Feingold won even in counties that support President George W. Bush.

Feingold also held in the wake regularly his consultations in all 72 counties from and listened to the concerns of its citizens. Since his election in '92 he has held for over 850.

Against Christmas '04 Feingold was named one of four " deputy whips " for the democratic faction in the Senate. Feingold assured that the new role that is roughly equivalent to a Deputy Group CEO, would not compromise his independence in the party or the chamber.

Rejection of the presidential nomination in 2008

In late January 2005, Feingold the Tiger Bay Club of Volusia County in Florida said that he intended to travel around only in the country before he would make his decision for or against a presidential bid in 2008. In March 2005, his staff registered the website www.russfeingold08.com online, as well. Org and. NET versions for his potential campaign.

After the victory of the Democrats in the November election in 2006 he was known, however, that he would not compete, as this " would be professional destroy (as Senator ) and personal life ."

Election 2010

In the 2010 Senate elections Feingold defeated his Republican challenger Ron Johnson, who could unite 51.9 % of the votes, and thus resigned in January 2011 from the Congress of. Reason for his performance with only 47 % was probably the still difficult economic situation in Wisconsin, the voters made ​​the ruling Democrats responsible.

Progressives United

After the United States Supreme Court allowed unlimited campaign contributions from corporations in January 2010, Feingold founded Progressives United the initiative, whose aim is to only allow donations from private citizens, curb the lobbying and corruption.