John_Olver

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John Olver

John Walter Olver (born September 3 1936), American politician, has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1991, representing , a primarily rural district that makes up most of Western Massachusetts.

Education and family life

Olver was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He earned a B.S. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the age of 18, an M.S. from Tufts University, and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He served as a chemistry professor at the now-closed Franklin Technical Institute in Joplin, Missouri, at MIT and at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

John Olver is married to Rose Olver, a Gender and Women's Studies professor at Amherst College. They have one daughter, Martha. The family has lived in Amherst, Massachusetts, where Olver has lived since 1963.

Political career

He served two terms as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1969 to 1973, and then nine terms in the Massachusetts Senate from 1973 to 1991.

On February 18, 1991, 1st District Congressman Silvio Conte died just one month after taking office for his 17th term. That June, Olver, who had just been sworn in for his 10th term in the state senate, narrowly defeated Republican Steve Pierce in a special election for the seat, becoming the first Democrat to win the seat since it changed from being the in 1895. He won election to a full term by 8 points in 1992 and has only faced one truly serious challenge since, from future Acting Governor Jane Swift in 1996 (the same year Governor William Weld gave Senator John Kerry the closest race a Democratic senator has faced in Massachusetts in almost two decades). The 1st District had long been considered the most Republican district in heavily Democratic Massachusetts, but rapidly swung into the Democratic column in the 1990s. For example, in 1994, a year in which district after district fell to the Republicans nationally, Olver ran unopposed.

In 2008, Olver is being challenged in the Democratic primary by Robert Feuer, and the winner of that election will face Republican Nathan Bech in November.

Committee Assignments

Appropriations Committee

Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (Chairman)

Senior Whip

Positions

Olver has been critical of the United States lack of involvement with the genocide in Darfur. Olver was one of five members of Congress arrested April 28, 2006 after protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy.

He was one of the 31 who objected in the House to the counting of the electoral votes from Ohio in the United States presidential election, 2004.

Olver is a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He announced his commitment to Senator Barack Obama on June 3rd, 2008. Olver made the announcement after Senator Hillary Clinton found it mathematically impossible to secure the nomination.

Ideological ratings

American Civil Liberties Union, 95 percent in 2003–2004.
American Conservative Union, Lifetime score of 2%.
Americans for Democratic Action, Lifetime score of 97%.
NARAL Pro-Choice America, 100% for 2000, 2001, 2003–2005.
National Journal, Composite Liberal Score of 96% for 2003 and 2005.
Republican Liberty Caucus, 40% for 2005.

Controversies

Political Opponents as "Jihadists"

Olver called Republicans "Jihadists" during budget negotiations in late July, 2007. Congressional Quarterly reported his escalating statements:

And while Democrats rebuff Republicans and their accusations of shutdown politics, the majority is throwing some brickbats of its own.
“They’ve been stalling,’’ said John W. Olver, D-Mass., chairman of the House Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee. “They are nihilists. They are jihadists.”

Republican and Muslim leaders expressed outrage at the statement.

Pension "Double Dipping" Accusations

On July 13, 2008, Boston Herald writer David Wedge began his Pols & Politics column by calling Olver a "good, old-fashioned double-dipping hack". Wedge broke the story that Olver, who has not been employed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since 1992, continues to receive a state pension and life insurance benefits. The practice of simultaneously receiving a public salary and public pension is known as "double-dipping" and is generally forbidden.

False Churchill Quote

Greenfield journalist Christopher Collins, the program director at Air America Radio affiliate WHMP-AM, reported that Olver had confused a quote during a speech. Olver made a speech on Iran during February, 2008 where he buttressed a point with the line "...you keep your friends close but your enemies closer". Olver claimed that the words were spoken by Winston S. Churchill. Olver used Churchill's stature to support his desire for unconditional Iran-U.S. negotiations. Collins noted that those words were from the cult Mario Puzo movie The Godfather and were spoken by the fictional mobster Michael Corleone. In the movie, Michael Corleone quoted his fictional father Vito Corleone, not Churchill. Olver supporters were angered that Collins once again called Olver "The Nutty Professor", a pejorative Collins has used for over a decade.