Chris Shays



Christopher H. Shays, a Republican, is a former U.S. Representative for the 4th Congressional district of Connecticut, having served 1987 to 2009. He was defeated by Jim Himes (D) in the general election.

Iraq War
Shays voted for the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 that started the Iraq War.

Iraq Study Group
In late June 2007, Rep. Shays, along with Reps. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Frank Wolf (R-Va.), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), and Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), issued a letter to President Bush, urging him to reconstitute the Iraq Study Group. The bipartisan group referred to a provision included in the Foreign Operations appropriations bill passed by the House to provide $1 million to the U.S. Institute for Peace to reestablish the Iraq Study Group. The members worried whether the President would sign the bill with that amendment included. Rep. Udall stated that allowing the group to update their report would give the President, Congress, and the public an independent perspective on the situation in Iraq to compare with the report due by General Petraeus in September.

Improper disclosure of Qatar trip
In 2004, Shays traveled to Qatar to attend the Qatar-American Conference on Free Markets and Democracy hosted by the Islamic Free Market Institute, a non-profit founded by Republican booster Grover Norquist. Though he initially received approval to use government funds to pay for the trip, he decided against it and instead allowed his passage to be paid for by the Islamic Institute claiming that he wanted to save the government money. He failed, however, to list the trip on his 2004 financial disclosure form. In 2006, he filed an amendment to that report when confronted by The New Republic with receipts from the Islamic Institute proving that it had paid for his air fare and lodging.

According the The New Republic, the government of Qatar appears to have reimbursed the Islamic Institute for their expenses in running the conference. As it is prohibited for any member of Congress to accept gifts or take trips funded by foreign governments or their agents, this would make Shays trip in violation of US law. 

Campaign finance
In 2001, Shays sponsored the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 (BCRA) with Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) in the House and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) in the Senate. Also known as the Shays-Meehan bill in the House, the BCRA banned "soft money" from being contributed to federal or state candidates and national, state, and local political parties. BCRA also prohibited non-partisan "issue ads" funded by soft money from corporations and labor unions - those referring to candidates for federal election without expressly advocating their election or defeat -- in the 60 days prior to a general election, or 30 days prior to a primary election. It also required the disclosure of sources of finance for "electioneering communications" in excess of $10,000 per year, and raised the legal limits of hard money that could be raised. The bill passed the House 240-189 and Senate 60-40, and was then signed into law by President George W. Bush.

Lobbying reform
On May 1, 2007, Reps. Shays and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) introduced (H.R.2093), which would "amend the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 to provide for additional reporting by lobbying firms." The bill would require organizations that spend $100,000 or more per quarter, in attempts to get the public to contact their representatives, to register and disclose their financial information to the government.

Altercation with Capitol police officer
In July, 2007, Shays got into an altercation with and allegedly swore at a Capitol police officer. The police officer, citing Capitol rules, would not take a cell-phone call from Shays, who was attempting to assist an intern of his who had gotten lost while giving a tour of the Capitol. Shays apologized for the incident, saying he had behaved "in a way I know was not appropriate."

Bio
Shays was born October 18, 1945 in Stamford, Connecticut. He grew up in Darien, attended Principia College and received an MBA and MPA fromm New York University. He and his wife Betsi -- his high school sweetheart -- served in the Peace Corps in Fiji. He was a seven term member of the Connecticut House of Representatives before entering the U.S. House of Representatives.

Now in his tenth term, he was first elected to the Congress in 1987 in a special election held to fill the vacant seat of the late Stewart McKinney.

Shays is known by his supporters and the press as a "maverick" and "independent thinker", while conservative detractors regard him as a RINO ("Republican in name only"). Liberal detractors regard him as a false moderate who effects centrism through catch and release techniques.

He has formed coalitions with liberals and moderates from both parties. Along with Representative Marty Meehan, a Massachusetts Democrat, he co-sponsored the Shays-Meehan bill, which was eventually signed into law as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. The American Civil Liberties Union "believes that key elements of Shays-Meehan violate the First Amendment right to free speech because the legislation contains provisions that would violate the constitutionally protected right of the people to express their opinions about issues through broadcast advertising if they mention the name of a candidate and restrict soft money contributions and uses of soft money for no constitutionally justifiable reason." However the Supreme Court has upheld the controversial new law (McConnell v. Federal Elections Commission).

Shays has also been very vocal in attacks against the right-wing elements in his own party. In the debate surrounding the controversial Terri Schiavo case he said, "The Republican party of Lincoln has become the party of theocracy." He argued that the GOP claimed to be in favor of states' rights "unless they don't like what states are doing".

The Congressman has long been for environmental regulations, and was endorsed in the past election by the League of Conservation Voters.

Shays is pro-choice on abortion although he has voted in favor of a ban on the practice known as partial birth abortion which usually is performed on third-trimester fetuses. Shays was endorsed by the Brady Campaign for his support for gun control.

While Shays has a liberal voting record in comparison to other House Republicans, his votes against the party leadership usually occur when his vote has no chance of changing the overall outcome. As an example, Shays has voted against the leadership on the subject of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge when the vote outcome was never in doubt; he voted with the leadership for a provision in the same energy bill to exempt the makers of MTBE from lawsuits when the vote was going to be extremely close.

While a social liberal, Shays is a fiscal conservative. He has spoken out against fiscal deficits wasteful government spending and has been a leader in the House on issues of national defense. He was the first U.S. Congressman to visit Iraq after the outbreak of war in 2003.

In April of 2005, he broke with most of his party over House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's alleged ethics violations. This made Shays one of the first Republicans to criticize DeLay publicly. Shays stated that he should resign, saying, "Tom's conduct is hurting the Republican Party, is hurting this Republican majority and it is hurting any Republican who is up for re-election."

While Shays has criticized DeLay for hurting the Republican party's electoral chances, he is very close to Speaker Dennis Hastert. In June of 2005 Dennis Hastert helped Shays raise $70,000 at a country club event.

2006 elections
In 2006, the Democrats nominated Diane Farrell, and the Libertarian Party nominated Philip Maymin to face Shays in his November 2006 bid for reelection. (See U.S. congressional elections in 2006) Shays retained his seat.

2008 elections
In 2008, Shays was defeated by Democrat Jim Himes.

Money in politics
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Committees

 * House Committee on Financial Services
 * Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Enterprises
 * Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
 * House Committee on Homeland Security
 * Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment
 * House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on National Security and International Relations -Ranking
 * Subcommittee on Domestic Policy

Committee assignments in the 109th Congress (2005-2006)

 * House Committee on Financial Services
 * Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity
 * Subcommittee on Capital Markets Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises
 * House Committee on Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Federalism and the Census
 * Subcommittee on National Security Emerging Threats and International Relations - Chair
 * House Committee on Homeland Security
 * Subcommittee on Investigations
 * Subcommittee on Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack
 * House Select Bipartisan Committee to Investigate the Preparation for and Response to Hurricane Katrina

Coalitions and caucuses

 * Co Chair, Congressional Arts Caucus
 * Co Chair, Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
 * Co Founded, Congressional National Service Caucus
 * United States Chair, Global Legislators Organized for a Balanced Environment
 * Chair, Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and Veterans Affairs
 * Co Chair, Non-Proliferation Task Force
 * Saving America's Cities Working Group
 * Co Chair, United Nations Working Group

Boards and other affiliations

 * Advisory Council, International Executive Service Corps
 * Advisory Council, Global Green USA
 * Honorary Board, Republicans for Environmental Protection

Twitter
 Christopher Shays posts on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ShaysCongress/

Latest posts: http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/14872863.rss|title=none| max=3| short See all the members of Congress who Twitter

Congresspedia/SourceWatch Related Resources

 * Exit Strategy from Iraq
 * stay the course

External resources

 * Official website
 * Peace Corps biography of Chris Shays
 * Website of the subcommittee Shays chairs
 * ACLU site on Shays
 * Open Secrets - 2006 congressional races database
 * Compare where Chris Shays stands on the issues - whereIstand.com

External articles

 * Jonathan Weisman and Anushka Asthana, "GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq," Washington Post, July 20, 2006.
 * Anushka Asthana, "Shays Urges Iraq Withdrawal. A Former War Backer, GOP Congressman Calls for Timetable," Washington Post, August 25, 2006.
 * "Shays calls for troop withdrawal time frame. Conn. Republican hopes to offer a specifics in September," Associated Press (MSNBC), August 25, 2006.
 * Marie Therese, "Christopher Shays (R-CT) Reverses Himself on Iraq. Blames Iraqis For Their Failure to Launch," News Hounds, August 25, 2006.
 * Demitri Sevastopulo, "Bush loses House ally over policy on Iraq withdrawal," Financial Times (MSNBC), August 26, 2006.
 * Johanna Neuman, "Republicans in Blue States Rethink Iraq. Some conservative defenders of the war, facing opinion polls and antiwar challengers in November, are now talking withdrawal," Los Angeles Times, also posted by Seattle Times, August 26, 2006.
 * Andrew Miga, "Shays: Page Scandal Isn't Chappaquiddick," Washington Post, October 11, 2006. re Mark Foley page scandal
 * Greg Sargent, "CT-04: Shays to Kennedy: You're a Killer," TPM Cafe, October 11, 2006.
 * Matt Corley, "CT-04: Shays: Abu Ghraib 'Wasn't Torture,' Just A 'Sex Ring'," TPM Cafe, October 13, 2006.
 * Mark Ginocchio, "Shays defends comments on Abu Ghraib," The Stamford Advocate (CT), October 13, 2006.
 * Greg Sargent, "CT-04: Shays: We Should Have Invaded Iraq 'Sooner,' And 'Not For WMD'," Election Central/TPM Cafe Blog, October 18, 2006. AMERICAblog has the YouTube video.
 * David Lightman, "Shays Files Missing Form For Trip. Says He Disclosed Details In 2003," Hartford Courant, October 28, 2006. re Jack Abramoff
 * Garance Franke-Rut, "Cost Qatar," The New Republic, October 26, 2006.
 * John Amato, "I like Debbie," Crooks and Liars, February 27, 2007. re Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * Connecticut Local Politics