Congressman Gejdenson Essay, Research Paper

Congressman

Sam Gejdenson

I feel that through my research that I will conclude that Congressman Sam Gejdenson supports the issues that affects his contributors.

Congressman Sam Gejdenson, who was the first child of holocaust survivors elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, was born in 1948 in an American displaced persons camp in Eschwege, Germany. He was raised on his parent?s diary farm in Bozrah, Connecticut. He attended public schools in Bozrah and in Norwich. He received his A.S. degree from Mithcell College in New London, Connecticut in 1968. And his B.A. from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut in 1970. In 1974 Sam Gejdenson was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives serving 2 years before accepting a position in the administration of Connecticut Governor Ella T. Grasso. In 1981 He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Now he is married to Betsy Henley-Cohn, and has 4 children with her. (Http://www.house .gov/gejdenson/bio.htm)

Congressman Sam Gejdenson is on the International relation committee, which deals with any type of foreign agreement or relations. Some of the legislation that has been passed through the International relation committee is H.R. 3244 trafficking victims protection act of 1999. Which is to fight trafficking of persons, especially into the sex trade, slavery, and slavery-like conditions in the United States and countries around the world through prevention, through prosecution and enforcement against traffickers, and through protection and assistance to victims of trafficking. (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.03244:) Or the Central American and Haitian adjustment act or bill number H.R. 2722. Which is to amend the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act to provide to certain nationals of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti an opportunity to apply for adjustment of status under that Act, and for other purposes. ( http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d106:h.r.02722:) Although Gejdenson’s website says he?s on the resources committee his name wasn?t listed under the member ship list. So I wasn?t able to find out any more information on that subject. I also wasn?t able to find anything on the house oversight committee and what I did find that was similar to that committee Congressman Sam Gejdenson wasn?t listed as a member. I also looked in sub committees and congressman Gejdenson wasn?t found in any of the subcommittees. This tells me that he doesn?t seem to be to interested in being part of many committees. (Http://www.house.gov/gejdenson/bio.htm) But he has many thinks that strongly agree with such as the democratic task force on retirement security. Through this group he introduced the retirement security act which would expand access to individual retirement accounts, make it easier for small business owners to establish a 401(k) savings plans for their employees, and protect workers pension funds from corporate raids.

In 1998, he Introduced legislation designed to protect small pension plans from being looted by unqualified managers. During the prime of the Reagan military build up in the mid 80?s, representative Gejdenson was one of the first members of congress to call for a concerted national effort to diversify the economies of defense-dependent regions of the country.

In 1997 Gejdenson formed a coalition of businesses, citizens, elected officials, environmentalists, and chamber of commerce from the lower Connecticut River valley to develop a nomination package for the river because president Clinton proposed to designate ten rivers nation wide as American heritage rivers. (Http://www.house .gov/gejdenson/bio.htm)After looking at the records of contributions made by individuals I have come to the conclusion that Sam Gejdenson receives most of his votes from employees or owners of small business?s or retired people. In the contribution summaries they show that over half of the contributors were either retired or was involved in sum way in a small business. The contributors show that congressman Gejdenson fights for what the people want. Gejdneson is on the committee for retirement security where he has introduced the retirement security act, which helps people receive more money and benefits that they need to survive when they retire. (Http://www.house .gov/gejdenson/bio.htm)

Congressman Gejdenson also fights for their rights of small business employees. In 1998 Gejdenson introduced legislation that was designed to protect pension plans from being looted for small business?s. (Http://www.house .gov/gejdenson/bio.htm)

While looking through the contributions from committees I have noticed that Congressman Gejdenson has received allot of contributions from teachers, airline pilots, engineers, public help organizations, and many others. Most all of the committee contributions were from and organization that has to deal with many common hard working U.S. citizens. He?s not there for the people with money he?s out to serve the average hard working citizen. Witch matches up with how he votes on certain topics such as

Juvenile justice, school vouchers, welfare overhaul, Internet censorship, unfair sentencing, denial of benefits to immigrants. Most contributions that were made by individuals were mostly in amounts of $250 and $500. Most contributors who contributed $250 also contributed another $250 soon after. Most of the contributions added up to the maximum a candidate could receive $1000 for the general election and the primary election. Littleless than half of the congressman?s contributions were out of start which was very surprising to me but when I looked at how Gejdenson voted on issues I realized that the contributors fit right in place. Most of the out of state contributors where big companies such as reality agencies, lawfirms, and other big money companies. (http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_ind/1999_H0CT02017)

Some of the major contributors are the AFL-CIO COMMITTEE ON POLITICAL EDUCATION/POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS COMMITTEE which donated a total of $7500, the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF STATE COUNTY &MUNICIPAL EMPLOYEES-PEOPLE QUALIFIED which donated a total of $10000, the AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS COMMITTEE ONPOLITICAL EDUCATION which donated $8000, the ASSOCIATION OF TRIAL LAWYERS OF AMERICA POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE which donated a total of $10000, and the BOEING COMPANY POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE WHICH donated $6000. (http://herndon1.sdrdc.com/cgi-bin/can_give/1999_H0CT02017)

All of the major contributors were out of Washington DC. The major contributors didn?t surprise me much allot of the issues Gejdenson agrees with are issues that go hand in hand with issues that are important to the major contributors. Out of all the contributors not just the major contributors there were very few of them were actually from the state of Connecticut. That was a surprising fact to me I wasn?t expecting on seeing that turn out the way it did. I figured the congressman Gejdenson would have had a bigger impact on the PAC?s in the state not out of the state PAC?s. All of the PAC?s listed above are affected by a few of the topics voted for in congress. Such as welfare overhaul. Congressman Gejdenson votes for welfare overhaul isn’t an issue that is he feels to be important. All of the committees are affected by welfare overhaul. Almost everyone in the country is affected by welfare overhaul. He also voted against the subject of national ID cards. Many people throughout the nation feel that National ID card is considered unconstitutional. As u can tell already Sam Gejdenson feels that that is an unnessesecary thing in the country. Congress also voted on and issue of English only. Gejdenson voted for the use of English only. This makes thing in any business easier and more cost effective. If there were more than one language used companies would have to have employees trained in the other languages so they can communicate and write reports for that company. I feel that Gejdenson is a fairly honest person when voting for what the people want him to. But I am not saying that he?s not a crook and a liar. As I have already told you he only belonged to one of the committees stated. He lied about the others I did some research and found out that there is a resource committee but I didn?t find his name on the members list which means only one thing to me that he lied. And the last committee house oversight there wasn?t even a committee name that I searched many different places and found a list of all the committees of congress and house oversight wasn?t one of them. I feel that he has a respect for the people and the government. I have seen through how he voted and what individuals and PAC?s contributed money to him that he is fairly honest in voting for the people I feel that he is a good congressman and does his job the best he can.

I predicted that Sam Gejdenson was a man who voted for the people and was a man that could be trusted and respected and I was partially right. He does represent the people and the PAC?s that contribute to him when he votes. But I also thought that he was a man to be trusted and respected but now after completing my paper I have come to a conclusion by doing my research and talking to my other friends who did this paper that not many candidates or even any candidates can be respected and trusted. Many people may think that the candidate is trustworthy and honest but I bet if you do some research you may change your mind.