Daniel Michael Donovan Jr. (born November 6, 1956) is an American attorney, former district attorney, and congressman for New York City. A Republican, he is currently the United States Representative for New York's 11th congressional district, first elected in a May 2015 special election.
Video Dan Donovan (politician)
Early life and career
Donovan was born into a working-class Roman Catholic family in Staten Island, New York in 1956. His Irish-American father, Daniel Michael Donovan, was a longshoreman and lifelong Democrat; his Polish-American mother, Katherine Bolewicz Donovan, was a garment worker.
He was raised in the Tompkinsville section of the borough. He attended Monsignor Farrell High School, an all-boys Catholic school, graduating in 1974. He went to study Criminal Justice at St. John's University. After graduating from there he attended Fordham University School of Law, earning his juris doctor in 1988.
In 1989, Donovan became an Assistant District Attorney in the office of Robert M. Morgenthau. He served in the office of the New York County District Attorney under Morgenthau until 1996. Later that year Donovan became Chief of Staff to then Staten Island Borough President Guy V. Molinari. He remained in that position until 2002 when he was sworn in as Deputy Borough President of Staten Island; he had been appointed by his immediate predecessor and the then new Borough President James Molinaro.
Maps Dan Donovan (politician)
Richmond County District Attorney
In 2003, twenty-year incumbent Democrat William L. Murphy decided not to seek re-election. Donovan announced his intention to run to succeed him. In the election he faced Chief Assistant District Attorney David Lehr and won with over 53% of the vote. A key part of his platform was to start the county's first witness protection program, and his office led the city's prosecutors with the highest felony conviction rate in many of the years since he took office.
He was re-elected in 2007 with over 68% of the vote, defeating local Democratic attorney Michael Ryan despite a last minute endorsement for his rival by longtime friend and mentor Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro; Molinaro was angered that Donovan had referred his grandson's case to a special prosecutor.
Donovan's tenure as DA has seen several high-profile cases, including the second conviction of Andre Rand, long suspected in a string of kidnappings on Staten Island. In 2010, famed rapper Method Man pleaded guilty to attempted tax evasion and was forced to pay about $106,000 in restitution and penalties.
Eric Garner case
Donovan became the focus of a national controversy surrounding the death of Eric Garner in 2014 when a Richmond County, New York grand jury declined to indict Daniel Pantaleo, the officer whose choke hold the medical examiner determined was instrumental in Garner's death, on any charges. The medical examiner had ruled Garner's death a homicide. After considering the medical examiner's findings that Garner was killed by "compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police"
Donovan's office declared "it is appropriate to present evidence regarding circumstances of his death to a Richmond County Grand Jury."
Donovan asked the grand jury to consider whether there was "probable cause" for manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide, but did not bring forward reckless endangerment charges. After two months, the grand jury brought forward no indictment. Donovan's office strenuously opposed releasing the trial proceedings citing New York confidentiality laws despite being pressured by activists and fellow lawmakers to release the records.
2010 New York Attorney General campaign
On May 17, 2010, Donovan, a registered Republican, announced his candidacy for the New York attorney general election, 2010, becoming the front runner for his party's nomination. However, Bob Antonacci, Onondaga County Comptroller, announced his intention run for Attorney General.
Antonacci stepped aside and endorsed Donovan after earning forty percent of the vote at the 2010 Republican State Convention. With a sixty percent win of the delegates at the convention and no primary opponent, Donovan became the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party.
One week earlier, he had received the endorsement of the Conservative Party of New York but was defeated on November 2 by Democrat Eric Schneiderman.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Donovan was selected as the Republican candidate for New York's 11th congressional district after the resignation of Michael Grimm. He defeated the Democrat, Vincent J. Gentile, and the Green Party candidate, James Lane, in the May 2015 special election. Donovan was elected May 5, 2015 and sworn into office on May 12, 2015.
In 2016, Donovan faced Democrat Richard Reichard in his first re-election bid. Donovan was re-elected with 61.5% of the vote.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Foreign Affairs
- Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations
- Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere
- Committee on Homeland Security
- Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Communications (Chairman)
- Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies
Donovan is a member of the moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.
Political positions
As of January 2018, Donovan had voted with his party in 91.6% of votes so far in the 115th United States Congress and voted in line with President Trump's position in 81.4% of votes. Donovan was ranked as the 15th most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy.
Vote Smart Political Courage Test
Vote Smart, a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States, "researched presidential and congressional candidates' public records to determine candidates' likely responses on certain key issues." According to Vote Smart's 2016 analysis, Donovan generally supports pro-choice legislation, opposes federal spending and supports lowering taxes as a means of promoting economic growth, supports the building of the Keystone Pipeline, opposes government funding for the development of renewable energy, opposes the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, supports gun-control legislation, opposes repealing the Affordable Care Act, supports requiring immigrants who are unlawfully present to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship, opposes same-sex marriage, supports increased American intervention in Iraq and Syria beyond air support, and opposes allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts.
Donald Trump
Donovan endorsed Trump in the 2016 presidential election. He has called Trump a "personal friend".
Health care
In January 2016, Donovan voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). In May 2017, he voted against the American Health Care Act (the GOP's bill repealing Obamacare).
Immigration
Donovan was the only member of Congress to represent New York City who supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. He said, "President Trump's decision is in America's best interest, and I support exploring safe zones in the region to protect innocent life." In June 2017, Donovan voted in favor of Kate's Law, which would increase penalties for undocumented immigrants that return to the United States after being deported.
LGBT rights
He was endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans in his political career. He has been criticized by opponents as being opposed to LGBT rights. Donovan has a 64% rating from the Human Rights Campaign based on his LGBT rights-focused voting record.
Marijuana
Donovan has a "C" rating from NORML regarding his voting record on cannabis-related matters. He has voted against allowing veterans access to medical marijuana, if legal in their state, per their Veterans Health Administration doctor's recommendation.
Taxes
Donovan voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, one of five New York Republican representatives to do so.
In a statement, he shared that he opposed the bill because it would raise taxes for his constituents and additionally impact the "already unaffordable housing market in my district".
Townhall controversy
In 2017, some of Donovan's constituents noted he had never hosted a town hall and began to request one. Members of District 11 cited their concerns over Donovan's support of President Trump's Executive Order 13780 that would place limits on travel to the U.S. from certain countries, and by all refugees who do not possess either a visa or valid travel documents, and his voting record on health care coverage as reasons for wanting the town hall. The same constituents claimed requests for meetings and town halls had gone unanswered.
Protesters disrupted a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce event in February 2017, claiming that Donovan would not meet them in a town hall so they would seek him out at other events.
Donovan said he had offered meetings, but some activists claimed this was untrue, and that meetings were hastily scheduled after the Chamber of Commerce protest. Additional protests followed in Brooklyn and Staten Island, focusing on concerns around the Affordable Care Act.
In February, some Staten Island residents hosted their own Town Hall. The hosts said Donovan had been invited but did not attend. Instead, he offered a Tele-Town Hall, which prompted additional protests.
During the April Congressional Recess, Donovan again offered a "tele-Town Hall" while, two days later, another activist group, Fight Back Bay Ridge, planned a Congressional Town Hall on Donovan's behalf. Though organizers said they had invited Donovan to participate, he declined the in-person invitation. The event, which reached standing-room capacity of about 200 people, was livestreamed on Facebook to an audience of over 2,100 viewers. The event, despite Donovan's concerns of disruption, was reported to be civil and educational.
References
External links
- Congressman Dan Donovan official U.S. House website
- Dan Donovan for Congress
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Project Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
- Appearances on C-SPAN
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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