Information AboutMichael Steele |
|
Michael S. Steele (born October 19 , 1958 ) is the current Lieutenant Governor of Maryland , having been elected on the same ticket as Governor Robert L. Ehrlich in 2002 . He is the first African American to serve in a Maryland state-wide office and the first Republican lieutenant governor in the state since 1970 , when the position was created. Steele is currently the only African American Lieutenant Governor in the United States . On October 25 , 2005 , Steele announced his candidacy for the United States Senate . He will run for the seat of Paul Sarbanes , who is retiring. CHILDHOOD, EDUCATION AND EARLY CAREER Steele was born on October 19 , 1958, at Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County . He spent his childhood in the Petworth neighborhood in Northwest Washington, D.C. Steele has described his small community as being a racially integrated oasis of stability in the 1960s , a very turbulent era in the nation’s capital. He was one of two children raised by mother Maebell Turner and stepfather John Turner. Steele’s sister Monica later married and divorced Mike Tyson , the infamous boxer. Steele attended and graduated Archbishop Carroll Roman Catholic High School in Northeast Washington, D.C. While at Carroll, Steele was in the Glee Club, the National Honor Society and many of the school’s drama productions. During his senior year, 1976 - 1977 , he ran for student council president and won. Steele won a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore . At Hopkins, Steele was elected class president and was a member of the fencing team. Johns Hopkins awarded him a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations in 1981 . After college, Steele spent three years as a seminarian in the Order Of St. Augustine in preparation for the priesthood. He entered the Augustinian Friars Seminary at Villanova University in Pennsylvania . As a seminarian, he taught freshman world history and senior Economics for one year at Malvern Prep School in Malvern, Pennsylvania , but ultimately decided his calling was better suited to a career in law and he left the Seminary prior to taking the vows. 's address at the Second Annual African American Leadership Summit in Washington, D.C. , Wednesday, April 28 , 2004 .]] Steele then entered the Georgetown University Law Center and received his Juris Doctor degree in 1991 . He landed a position as a corporate securities associate Attorney at the Washington, D.C. office of the prestigious international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton . From 1991 to 1997 , Steele specialized in financial investments for Wall Street underwriters, working at Cleary’s Tokyo, Japan office focusing on major product liability litigation and at its London office on corporate matters. Steele left the law firm when his political and civic activities led his career away from the partnership track. He then founded the Steele Group, a business and legal consulting firm. But at this point, his increasing political activities became a priority and his business was relatively unsuccessful. Steele is married to Andrea, and they have two sons, Michael and Drew. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT Steele grew up in a Democratic household, but was given the family's values that he said later led to his switch to the Republican party. Steele’s mother was a widowed laundress who he stated worked for minimum wage rather than accept public assistance. A print of President John F. Kennedy , Martin Luther King, Jr. , and Jesus hung on the family's living room wall. Although Steele cast his first presidential vote for Democrat Jimmy Carter at the age of 18, he was soon drawn to the Republican Party, because, as he described it, “my mama raised me well. She provided me with a sense of an individual working hard and being responsible for his actions. As I grew older, I soon identified with the GOP.” After joining the Republican Party, Steele became chairman of the Prince George's County Republican Central Committee. In 1995 , the Maryland Republican Party selected him as Maryland State Republican Man of the Year. He worked on several political campaigns, was an Alternate Delegate to the 1996 Republican National Convention in San Diego and a Delegate to the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia that ultimately chose the George W. Bush ticket. In December ", as State Senator Thomas V. Miller Jr. put it in an interview in 2001 before later retracting his words and apologizing. LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND In 2002, then-Congressman Robert L. Ehrlich selected Steele as his running mate and nominee for Lieutenant Governor in the campaign against Lieutenant Governor (under Governor Parris Glendening) Kathleen Kennedy Townsend . Steele then resigned his chairmanship of the Maryland Republican Party to campaign full-time. Ehrlich's selection of Steele for Lt. Governor proved a striking counterpoint to Townsend's pick. Townsend had considered and rejected several prominent African-American Democrats to pick as a running mate, but she picked Charles Larson , a retired white naval admiral who recently switched parties and had no prior political experience. In endorsing Townsend and Larson, the '' Baltimore Sun '' characterized Ehrlich's selection of Steele as racially motivated and drew controversy by saying that Steele "brings little to the team but the color of his skin." After a September 26, 2002 gubernatorial debate, Paul Schurick, Ehrlich's communications manager, claimed that the Townsend campaign handed out '', disputed Steele's claim and said "I was in on the cleanup, and we found no cookies or anything else abnormal. There were no Oreo cookies thrown." Some eyewitnesses including AP reporter Tom Stuckey who was at the event have said cookies were handed out. Other eyewitnesses could not corroborate Steele and Schurick's claim. [http://mediamatters.org/items/200603280004 [http://mediamatters.org/items/200511210004] In the September primary election, Ehrlich and Steele had no serious opposition. In the November 2002 general election, even though Maryland traditionally votes Democratic and had not elected a Republican Governor in almost 40 years, the Ehrlich-Steele ticket beat the Townsend-Larson ticket 51% to 48%. Since his election, Steele’s most prominent efforts for the Ehrlich administration have been reforming the state’s Minority Business Enterprise program and chairing Governor Ehrlich’s Commission on Quality Education in Maryland. The Ehrlich-Steele relationship has been remarkably free of the discord that has historically enveloped previous Governors and Lt. Governors under Maryland’s gubernatorial system. Steele has recently criticized the decision to hold a fundraiser at an all-white Baltimore County country club, and spoke for the Ehrlich Administration on that issue. This could be a result of perceiving opponents on all sides – in a majority Democratic legislature as well as in the newspapers '' The Baltimore Sun '' and '' Washington Post ''. NATIONAL PROMINENCE Recently, Steele has attained national prominence due to his stature as a successful elected Conservative Republican African-American and his public speaking. At the 2004 Republican National Convention , Steele gave the Republican counterpoint to the Democrats' Barack Obama in a Prime Time speech. In April 2005 , President Bush chose Steele as one of three members of the United States delegation at the investiture of Pope Benedict XVI at the ceremonial mass in St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City . Steele was joined by Florida Governor Jeb Bush and by Knights Of Columbus Chief Executive Officer Carl A. Anderson . 2006 U.S. SENATE ELECTIONS Main article: Maryland U.S. Senate Election, 2006 When Paul Sarbanes , Maryland’s longest serving United States Senator , announced in March of 2005 that he would not be a candidate for re-election in 2006, top state and national Republican officials began pressing Steele to become their party's nominee for the seat. In April 2005, in a front page article titled, "Steele attracts strong support in Senate race," the '' Baltimore Sun '' announced the results of a poll it conducted, stating that Steele would run statistically neck and neck against either former NAACP head Kweisi Mfume , or Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin of Baltimore County . The pollster stated in the article that, " {Link without Title} a political force to be reckoned with. You're looking at him against the most-known Democratic leaders, and he's still going toe-to-toe against them at this point." On , 2006 , and the general election will be on November 7 , 2006. Since announcing his candidacy, Steele has been the target of racially tinged attacks. A African-American, depicted Steele as a Blackface Minstrel . Tim Kaine , the Democratic Governor of Virginia , subsequently pulled all his ads from the blog. In a Separate Incident , Lauren B. Weiner, a researcher working for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee illegally obtained a copy of Steele's Credit Report at the direction of her supervisor, the DSCC Research Director Katie Barge . Weiner used Steele's social security number to obtain his credit report from TransUnion and used Barge's DSCC credit card to pay for the report. Weiner created a false e-mail account, gopsteele@yahoo.com, to complete the illicit transaction. Barge resigned and Weiner was fired after the incident was discovered. Weiner plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of computer fraud and will do 150 hours of community service. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-steele0324,0,1830557.story?coll=bal-local-headlines In early 2006, Steele's campaign had some high-level resignations. Campaign manager, Graham Shafer left in January, and communications director and spokesman Leonardo Alcivar left in February. {Link without Title} CONTROVERSIES Ehrlich fundraiser In July of 2005 , Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich , a Republican , came under heavy criticism for hosting a $1,000-a-head golf outing at a white-only golf club. To the chagrin of many African-Americans , Lt. Governor Steele remarked, upon hearing of the fundraiser, "I don't know that much about the club, the membership, nor do I care, quite frankly, because I don't play golf." [http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,161710,00.html] On Wednesday after the fundraiser, Steele appeared with other black leaders at a press conference. The Democrats were upset that racially charged terms had become part of the debate. "I don't quite understand why Michael Steele has been targeted for this kind of hatred," said Garland Williamson, president of an organization of black business leaders. "Anybody can disagree with Michael Steele or anybody else they want to disagree with, but let's talk about the issues." [http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1278436&page=2] After two weeks of public outrage, Steele expressed regret, saying "I will admit that my initial reaction to this was a little more flippant than it should have been." Due to the publicity and calls by Ehrlich and Steele to "open its doors to all Marylanders," it is no longer a white-only club.[http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,175888,00.html] Stem cell comparison When discussing his position on embryonic Stem Cell s before Jew ish leaders on February 9 , 2006, Steele compared the science with experiments performed on Jews during the Holocaust and with Slavery . He said: "You of all folks know what happens when people decide they want to experiment on human beings {Link without Title} I know that as well in my community, out of our experience with slavery, and so I'm very cautious when people say this is the best new thing, this is going to save lives." Art Abramson, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council, criticized Steele for his remarks, rejecting the comparison "between ethical and lifesaving medical research, and the horrors committed by the Nazi s in their Evil drive to create a Master Race ." {Link without Title} Steele later apologized for his remarks, saying that he "made an unfortunate, irresponsible inference," and some Jewish leaders accepted his apology. [http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-steele0210,1,4234724.story?coll=bal-home-headlines] A subsequent poll in Maryland has found that by a margin of 73%-11% Maryland voters reject the notion that stem-cell research is unethical or comparable to Nazi experimentation.[http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2006/State%20Polls/February%202006/Maryland%20Senator%20February.htm] Many blame this controversial statement for eroding several points of support in the opinion polls. Compounding this problem, one of Steele's Democratic challengers is Jewish Congressman Ben Cardin , who is a strong supporter of stem-cell research and who has critized Steele for his remarks. {Link without Title} Campaign Contributions In 2004, Steele accepted over $13,000 in campaign contributions from the board members of non-profit organizations shortly after Steele's office had directed $250,000 in unrestricted grants to those same groups. According to a 2006 Baltimore Sun investigation, ethics experts and campaign finance watchdogs viewed the financial transactions as questionable and warranting further scrutiny. {Link without Title} POLITICAL BELIEFS Steele is Pro-life , and opposes federal funding for Stem Cell Research if it causes the destruction of a human embryo. He supports Free Trade , Tax Cuts , School Vouchers to move kids out of failing public school systems, supports Welfare Reform and Tort Reform , opposes Gay Adoption and supports a constitutional amendment to ban Same-sex Marriage . He has expressed serious concerns with the Death Penalty , both on religious grounds and on the grounds that the system is flawed due to evidence of racial disparities. {Link without Title} SEE ALSO SOURCES
REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|