John Edward Sweeney (born August 9, 1955) is an American politician from the U.S. state of New York. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York's 20th congressional district from 1999 to 2007.
A Republican, he previously served as the Commission of the New York State Department of Labor under George Pataki from 1995 to 1997. He was dubbed "Congressman Kick-Ass" by President George W. Bush for his take-no-prisoners style. He was defeated for reelection in 2006 by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.
Sweeney was born in Troy, New York and graduated from Lansingburgh High School in 1973. He is of Irish and Armenian descent. He received an associate degree from Hudson Valley Community College in 1978 and a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Criminal Justice from the Sage College of Albany in 1981. In 1991, he received a J.D. from Western New England College School of Law.
"Sweeney ... embodies that embarrassment of the Left: the rightward drift of America's white working class males. The son of a shirt factory worker active in the Amalgamated Shirt Cutters Union, and a sometime resident of a housing project, Sweeney grew up in the old, gritty industrial city of Troy, New York. He put himself through law school, and toiled as a minor county bureaucrat until, one day, he was discovered by Republican State Chairman William Powers who made him executive director of the New York state GOP in 1992."
Early career and New York Republican Party executive director
Sweeney was "Rensselaer County's one-time STOP-DWI coordinator."
He was the Executive Director & Chief Counsel of the New York Republican Party from 1992 to 1995, a period of tremendous success for the state GOP. During Sweeney's tenure at state Republican headquarters, Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor of New York City (the first Republican to win the mayor's office in 28 years) and George Pataki was elected governor (the first Republican to win the Governor's Mansion in 20 years) and Republicans made gains in both houses of the state legislature and at the local level. Sweeney was Governor Pataki's first Commissioner of the State Department of Labor, from 1995 to 1997, then he moved to Governor Pataki's inner-circle staff as Deputy Secretary to the Governor, from 1997 until he resigned to run for Congress.
State Commissioner of Labor under Pataki administration
As Governor George Pataki's Commissioner of Labor, Sweeney was the point-man on successful efforts to reform the Empire State's Workers' Compensation laws. Before the reforms, enacted in 1996, New York's workers' comp system had long been considered one of the most costly in the nation—57 percent higher than the national average, 53 percent higher than neighboring Massachusetts, 59 percent than neighboring Connecticut and 85 percent higher than neighboring New Jersey.
New York's "landmark" workers' comp reforms created the Office of Workers' Compensation Fraud, an Inspector General, and a workers' compensation fraud unit at the State Insurance Department and elevated workers' comp fraud from a misdemeanor to a felony punishable by fines, restitution and incarceration.
Election to U.S. House of Representatives in 1998
Prior to the 1998 election, Sweeney moved from Cohoes to Speigletown, to run for the seat in the district of Republican Representative Gerald Solomon who was retiring. Sweeney was born, raised and lived most of his life in Solomon's Congressional District. Solomon endorsed and campaigned for Sweeney, as did every Republican elected official and organization in the district.
Sweeney was elected to the US House in 1998, winning with 55 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Jean Bordewich, despite the fact that President Bill Clinton carried the district over U.S. Senator Bob Dole in 1996 by a 46 percent to 41 percent margin.
In 2000, Sweeney defeated Democrat Kenneth McCallion, receiving 68 percent of the vote.
In 2002, he defeated Frank Stoppenbach, getting 73 percent of the vote.
In 2004, he defeated Doris F. Kelly, receiving 66 percent of the vote.
Tenure and political positions
Sweeney generally, but not invariably, supported the positions of his fellow Republicans in the House. Sweeney opposed same-sex marriage (asserting that "a handful of activist judges have decided to undermine the will of the people"), and in 2004 called for a federal constitutional amendment to ban recognition of same-sex marriage. Sweeney subsequently voted against such a constitutional amendment. Sweeney enjoyed a measure of support from organized labor. He received the endorsement of the Civil Service Employees Union and enjoyed good relations with the Teamsters. He opposed NAFTA, and in 2006 was one of 28 House Republicans to vote against the Oman–United States Free Trade Agreement, although he voted for CAFTA. He supported the George W. Bush administration's position on the Iraq War, which was a focus of criticism from his opponent, Kirsten Gillibrand, in the 2006 race.