Editing Joe Scarborough

{{Infobox Biography
| subject_name   =Joe Scarborough
| image_name     =JoeScarbrough.jpg
| image_size     =250px
| image_caption  =
| date_of_birth  =[[April 9]], [[1963]]
| place_of_birth =Atlanta, Georgia
| date_of_death  =
| place_of_death =
| occupation     =U.S. Congressman for [[Florida's 1st District]] (1995-2001), attorney, television & radio host
| religion       =[[:Category:Baptists|Baptist]]
| spouse         =[[Melanie Hinton]] (1986-1999)<br/>[[Susan Scarborough]] (2001-present)
| parents        =George & Mary Jo Scarborough
| children       =Joey, Andrew, Kate
}}

'''Charles Joseph "Joe" Scarborough''' (b. [[April 10]] [[1963]]) is a Republican politician who represented [[Florida's 1st Congressional District]] in the United States Congress from [[1995]] to [[2001]]. He is currently the host of the program ''[[Morning Joe]]'' and former host of ''[[Scarborough Country]]'' on [[Wikipedia:MSNBC|MSNBC]].

==Early life and education==
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Scarborough graduated from Pensacola's [[Catholic High School]] (although he is not a Roman Catholic). He received a B.A. from the [[University of Alabama]] in [[1985]] and a J.D. from University of Florida's law school (since named for [[Fred Levin]]) in [[1990]].<ref name=bioguide>{{cite web | title="Scarborough, Charles Joseph" | work=Biographical Directory of the United States Congress | url=http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=S000106 | accessdate=2006-03-18}}</ref> He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1991.<ref name=bioguide/>  Scarborough taught high school and practiced law in Pensacola for several years,<ref name="AAP">Michael Barone, Richard E. Cohen, ''The Almanac of American Politics'', National Journal Press, 2002, pages 374–76.</ref> during which time he wrote and produced CDs with his band [[Dixon Mills]].<ref>liner notes "Dixon Mills" CD 1992 SRS records Inc.</ref>  

His most high-profile case was that of Christian terrorist [[Michael F. Griffin]], later convicted of killing abortion doctor [[David Gunn]].  At the request of Griffin's family, Scarborough (who is himself pro-life) initially represented Griffin. The judge refused his request to defend Griffin during the criminal trial, citing the inexperience of Scarborough, a civil lawyer, regarding criminal law.  Scarborough assisted Griffin in obtaining a trial attorney.<ref>Bill Kaczor, "Abortion an Unmentionable Issue in District Hit by Anti-Abortion Violence", Associated Press, November 2, 1994;  Laura Griffin, "Area lawyer hired in clinic killing", ''St. Petersburg Times'', April 13, 1993.</ref> 

Scarborough's first major foray into politics was assisting with a petition drive in late [[1993]] opposing a 65 percent increase in city [[property tax]]es.  During the drive he made numerous contacts that would prove valuable in his upcoming Congressional race.<ref name="AAP"/>

==Congressional career==  
In [[1994]], Scarborough won the Republican nomination for [[Florida's 1st congressional district]], which came open after the incumbent Democrat [[Earl Hutto]] did not run for reelection.  He was elected with 61 percent of the vote, becoming the first Republican to represent the 1st District since its formation after the 1900 Census (it was the 3rd District from [[1903]] to [[1963]]).  He was reelected three times with no serious opposition, even running unopposed in [[1998]] and [[2000]].

Scarborough was regarded as a reliable conservative, receiving a 95 percent life time rating from the [[Wikipedia:American Conservative Union|American Conservative Union]].<ref>http://www.acuratings.org/ratingsarchive/2000/2000House.htm</ref>. He signed the [[Contract with America]], and was part of the 1994 [[Wikipedia:Republican Revolution|Republican takeover]] of the House, led by [[Wikipedia:Newt Gingrich|Newt Gingrich]]. Scarborough served on the Armed Services, Judiciary, Government Reform, and Education committees. In [[1998]], he was named Chairman of the Civil Service Committee.  

Scarborough was one of a group of about 40 GOP freshmen legislators who dubbed themselves the "New Federalists" after the [[Wikipedia:Federalist Papers|Federalist Papers]].  Scarborough was elected Political Director of theincoming legislators. The New Federalists called for sweeping cuts in the U.S. government, including plans to "privatize, localize, consolidate, [or] eliminate"<ref name="govexec">http://www.govexec.com/reinvent/downsize/0595s1.htm</ref> the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy and Housing and Urban Development, but were largely unsuccessful in their goals. Gingrich tapped Scarborough to head a Republican task force on education, and Scarborough declared "Our goal is to get as much money, power and authority out of Washington and get as much money, power and authority into the classroom as possible."<ref name="AAP"/>

Scarborough sponsored a bill to force the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations after a four year transition<ref name="govexec" /> and voted to make the Corporation for Public Broadcasting "self-sufficient"<ref name="gpopdf">http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=104_cong_bills&docid=f:h2979ih.txt.pdf (pdf)</ref> by eliminating federal funding.  He also voted for the "Medicare Preservation act of 1995",<ref name="house731">http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1995/roll731.xml</ref> which cut the projected growth Medicare by $270 billion over ten years, and against the "Small Business Job Protection Act of 1996"<ref name="house398">http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1996/roll398.xml</ref> which raised the minimum wage to $5.15. Scarborough had a conservative voting record on economic, social, and foreign policy issues, but was seen as moderate on environmental issues and human rights causes (including closing the [[Wikipedia:School of the Americas|School of the Americas]] and [[Wikipedia:Lori Berenson|Lori Berenson]]).<ref name="AAP"/>

<blockquote>[US Congressman Joe Scarborough] heard about Lori Berenson on an NPR broadcast. He went to Peru and spent a day at her second trial. He watched the prosecutors and the judges working together, heard the evidence and decided that she had done nothing that would have convicted her in a U.S. court. Even a repentant terrorist, who was to have been the strongest witness, said Berenson was not a member of MRTA and gave no help at all. Scarborough thought the court had to conclude she was not a terrorist leader.<ref>[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A29236-2001Jul20 Washington Post]</ref></blockquote>

While in Congress, Scarborough received numerous awards, including: the "Friend of the Taxpayer Award" from [[Wikipedia:Americans for Tax Reform|Americans for Tax Reform]]; the "Guardian of Small Business Award" from the [[Wikipedia:National Federation of Independent Business|National Federation of Independent Business]]; the "Spirit of Enterprise Award" from the [[Wikipedia:U.S. Chamber of Commerce|U.S. Chamber of Commerce]]; the "Taxpayer's Hero Award" from the [[Wikipedia:Council for Citizens Against Government Waste|Council for Citizens Against Government Waste]] and the "Guardian of Seniors' Rights Award" from the [[Wikipedia:60 Plus Association|60 Plus Association]].<ref name="freerepublic">http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39dc446b61ab.htm</ref>

On [[July 20]], [[2001]], one of Scarborough's aides died after allegedly hitting her head on a desk when she fainted while alone in Scarborough's [[Fort Walton Beach]] office.<ref>McLaughlin, Tom "Examiner: Klausutis' death was accidental", ''Northwest Florida Daily News'', August 7, 2001</ref> According to Scarborough, soon after her death allegations "spread all over the Internet" that he had been involved,<ref>Lisa Osburn, "Scarborough ready to get back home", ''Pensacola News Journal'', September 6, 2001</ref> although there was no officially accepted evidence of foul play. In 2003, he joked about the incident with Don Imus on Imus' radio program<ref>James Wolcott, "MSNBC's fox hunt: management and marketing strategies", ''Vanity Fair'' 518 (Oct 2003): 140(5)</ref> and, in 2004, it was the subject of a public spat between Scarborough and filmmaker [[Wikipedia:Michael Moore|Michael Moore]].<ref>Judy Bachrach. "Moore's War", ''Vanity Fair'' (March 2005): 240; ''Scarborough Country'', June 14, 2004 [http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5215794/].</ref> Moore accused Scarborough of wrongdoing, even though Scarborough has stated that he was in his Washington, DC, office at the time of his aide's death. 

=== Committee memberships ===
* 104th Congress<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r104:FLD001:H00109 Designating Majority Membership on Certain Standing Committees of the House] (House of Representatives — January 04, 1995)</ref>
** Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
** Committee on National Security
* 105th Congress<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r105:FLD001:H00030 Election of Majority Members to Certain Standing Committees of the House] (House of Representatives — January 07, 1997); [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r105:FLD001:H00083 Election of Majority Members to Certain Standing Committees of the House] (House of Representatives — January 09, 1997); [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/R?r105:FLD001:H00235 Election of Majority Members to Certain Standing Committees of the House] (House of Representatives — January 21, 1997)</ref>
** Committee on National Security
** Committee on Government Reform and Oversight
** Committee on Education and the Workforce
* 106th Congress<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r106:H06JA9-0020: Election of Majority Members to Certain Standing Committees of the House] — (House of Representatives — January 06, 1999); [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r106:H11MR9-0019: Election of Majority Members to Certain Standing Committees of the House] — (House of Representatives — March 11, 1999)</ref>
** Committee on Armed Services
** Committee on Government Reform
** Committee on the Judiciary
* 107th Congress<ref>[http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r107:H06JA1-0028: Election of Members to Certain Standing Committees of the House] — (House of Representatives — January 06, 2001)</ref>
** Committee on Government Reform
** Committee on the Judiciary

==Post-congressional career== 
In late May [[2001]], Scarborough announced that he would resign from Congress on September 6 to spend more time with his children. In his announcement, Scarborough also speculated about possible future presidential appointments and legal and television work.<ref>Lisa Osburn, "U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough Trading House for Home: Congressman ready to be a full-time dad", ''Pensacola News Journal'', May 26, 2001.</ref> He officially resigned on [[September 5]], [[2001]].<ref name=bioguide/> After leaving Congress, he joined the law firm of prominent Florida attorney [[Fred Levin]]. He practiced law with the firm [[Beggs & Lane]],<ref name="beggslane">http://www.beggslane.com/jsp3167315.jsp</ref> the oldest firm in Florida.  He was appointed to the President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce in 2002.<ref name="dol">http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA2002183.htm</ref>
[[Image:Scarborough.png|right|thumb|Scarborough Country]]
In April 2003, he embarked upon a successful television career with the launch of ''Scarborough Country'' on MSNBC, a current affairs show.

Scarborough also published a book, ''Rome Wasn't Burnt in a Day'' (2004) (ISBN 0-06-074984-9) in which he reflects on his experiences as a young Republican congressman during the Clinton years. Scarborough criticizes both political parties for irresponsible spending and giving in to special interests. 

Scarborough briefly hosted a three-hour radio show in 2005. The show aired in a competitive time slot (10am–1pm US ET) and struggled to gain affiliates; those few that did carry the show usually carried it in the noon–3pm US ET slot or in late nights instead. After a few months, Scarborough left the show to focus his time on other priorities. (After over a year vacant, the slot was filled by [[Wikipedia:Dennis Miller|Dennis Miller]]'s radio show in 2007.) As of [[May 9]], [[2007]], Scarborough became one of the rotating hosts auditioning for the slot vacated by ''Imus in the Morning'' on MSNBC, as host of ''[[Morning Joe]]''. ''Morning Joe'' won the slot permanently in July 2007, thus ending ''[[Scarborough Country]]'' in the process.

In August [[2005]], Scarborough confirmed reports that he had been asked to consider a challenge to U.S. Rep. [[Wikipedia:Katherine Harris|Katherine Harris]] for the Republican nomination to challenge Senator [[Wikipedia:Bill Nelson|Bill Nelson]]'s re-election bid. However, he announced later that month that he was renewing his contract with NBC. He subsequently expressed his dissatisfaction with the Republican leadership, saying on MSNBC that he's "embarrassed ... to be a Republican ... because of the lack of leadership."<ref name="msnbc11762586">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11762586/</ref>

In July [[2006]], former aides to Harris' 2006 Senate campaign claimed that Harris had called potential Scarborough supporters and raised the death of an aide in his home district office as a means to prevent his entry into the race.<ref>[http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15034557.htm Story of 'Joe's dead intern' began Harris' slide, insiders say], (''Miami Herald'', July 14, 2006)</ref> Scarborough, who had never intended to enter the race, initially considered suing Harris, but decided to let the incident pass. He later told Nelson that drawing Harris as an opponent in the race made him "the luckiest man in Washington."

==Other ventures==
During his Congressional career, Scarborough led a rock-and-roll band called [[Regular Joe]], which frequently performed at the [[Fish House]] restaurant owned by his friend [[Collier Merrill]]. The band performed at the [[Wikipedia:2000 Republican National Convention|2000 Republican National Convention]], where Scarborough greeted the crowd with poetry: "Unite, not divide, so once again we can look at the White House with pride."<ref>"The Republicans: The News Media -- Political Surfing; Journalists Are Making Very Much Of a Little." ''New York Times'', August 3, 2000.</ref>

In November [[1999]], Scarborough founded a weekly tabloid newspaper, ''The Florida Sun''. It merged with competing weekly '''The Independent''' in [[2001]], calling itself the '''Independent Florida Sun''' until [[2004]], when former ''Independent'' publisher [[Rick Outzen]] purchased control of the publication. It has since been published as the ''[[Independent News]]''.

==Family==
In [[1986]], Scarborough married [[Melanie Hinton]].  They had two children<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/FL/H/01/jim.scarborough.html CNN 1998 Election Biography]</ref> and divorced in [[1999]]. His younger child was diagnosed with [[Wikipedia:juvenile diabetes|juvenile diabetes]], and in a June 2005 interview, Scarborough expressed concerns about the possibility one of his sons may have suffered vaccine damage, perhaps attributable to the sharp increase during the 1980s in the amount of [[Wikipedia:thimerosal|thimerosal]] injected into infants: "My son, born in 1991, has a slight form of autism called [[Wikipedia:Asperger syndrome|Asperger's]].  When I was practicing law and also when I was in Congress, parents would constantly come to me and they would bring me videotapes of their children, and they were all around the age of my son or younger.  So, something happened in 1989."<ref name="msnbc8243264">http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8243264/</ref>

Scarborough married his current wife, [[Susan Scarborough|Susan]], in October [[2001]]. They live in Pensacola with their daughter Kate and his two sons, Joey and Andrew.<ref>Scarborough Bio from leadingauthorities.com </ref>

Scarborough supported his brother [[George Scarborough|George]]'s campaign to replace [[Holly Benson]] as the Florida State House Representative for [[Florida Congressional District 3|District 3]], but the Republican primary and subsequent special election in February [[2007]] were won by [[Gulf Breeze City Council]] member [[Clay Ford]].

{{start box}}
{{succession box|before=[[Earl Hutto]]|title=U.S. Congressman, [[Florida's 1st District]]|years=[[1995]]-[[2001]]|after=[[Jeff Miller]]}}
{{end box}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.joescarborough.com Official Site]
*[http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3036789/ ''Morning Joe''] — MSNBC
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8243264/ "A coverup for a cause of Autism?  RFK Jr. explans how ingredient in vaccines may have contributed to spread"] — transcript of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. interview by Joe Scarborough, MSNBC (June 22, 2005) 
* [http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a39dc446b61ab.htm Scarbourgh VoteSmart 2000] Joe Scarborough 'Vote Smart' sheet for 2000 hosted at Free Republic
* [http://www.newsmeat.com/media_political_donations/Joe_Scarborough.php Campaign contributions made by Joe Scarborough]
*[http://www.issues2002.org/FL/Joe_Scarborough.htm OnTheIssues page for Congressional terms]
*[http://mediamatters.org/items/200503290005 MediaMatters: Neurologist Cranford confronted Scarborough, MSNBC daytime anchor: "[Y]ou're asking me if a CAT scan was done? How could you possibly be so stupid?" (re: Terri Schiavo)] 
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/15/AR2005061500512.html Washington Post: Terri Schiavo Autopsy]
*[http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/558843346.html ChristianNewsWire: "Scarborough Judges Fred Thompson's Wife By Porn Standards"]
*[http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/06/04/scarborough-asks-does-thompsons-wife-work-the-pole/ Crooks and Liars: "Scarborough Asks: Does Thompson’s Wife “Work the Pole”?]

[[Category:Baptists|Scarborough, Joe]]
[[Category:Conservative media commentators|Scarborough, Joe]]
[[Category:National figures|Scarborough, Joe]]
[[Category:Republican politicians|Scarborough, Joe]]