Howard Berman

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Howard Berman
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 28th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 3, 1983
Preceded by	John H. Rousselot
Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office  February 11, 2008
Preceded by	Tom Lantos
Born	April 15, 1941 (1941-04-15) (age 68) Los Angeles, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Janis Berman
Children	Brinley Berman Lindsey Berman
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Alma mater	UCLA
Occupation	attorney
Religion	Jewish

Howard Lawrence Berman (born April 15, 1941) has been a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives since 1983, representing the 28th District of California (map). He was born in Los Angeles, California, was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles, and was a lawyer and a member of the California State Assembly from 1973 to 1982 before entering the House.

[edit] Political views

A self-described liberal, Berman aligns with the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.^{[citation needed]} Howard Berman has championed protecting American film industry jobs from outsourcing ("runaway production"). He has also voted against amending the constitution to require a balanced budget, banning the desecration of the American flag,^[1] the Defense of Marriage Act, restrictions on abortion,^[1] the death penalty, lawsuit reform, banning soft money donations to national political parties, tax cuts supported by the Republican Party, drilling in ANWR, and welfare reform.^{[citation needed]}

However, Berman is to the right on a number of issues -- particularly foreign affairs and trade. Berman voted in support of the invasion of Iraq in both 1991 and 2003, as well as for the FISA Amendments Act of 2008,^[2][3]positions that have hurt his standing among many liberals in his district.^{[4][citation needed]} While he generally supports free trade -- for instance voting in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)^[5] and various trade agreements with specific countries -- he voted against the more recent Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).^[2] He opposes withdrawing U.S. support for the World Trade Organization. In that same year, he also voted to phase out many farm subsidy programs put into place by the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the New Deal.

Berman is known for his staunch protection of copyright interests and his alliances with the entertainment industry; he is sometimes referred to as the "representative from Hollywood."^[6] The major industry contributing to his election campaigns has been the entertainment industry. ^[7] He proposed legislation under which copyright holders would be able to employ technological tools such as file blocking, redirection, spoofs, and decoys -- among others -- to curb piracy (Peer to Peer Piracy Prevention Act). Recently, he has been named as one of the primary politicians involved in the creation of the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). ^[8] In a September 2008 hearing of the House Intellectual Property Subcommittee, Berman criticized the National Institutes of Health's policy requiring NIH-sponsored research to be submitted to a database open to the public by saying that "the N in NIH shouldn't stand for Napster"^[9][10]. In addition to Hollywood, his district also covers roughly the eastern half of Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley districts and the city of San Fernando.

Berman is also a strong supporter of Israel, telling the Jewish newspaper, The Forward after being appointed Chairman of the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, "Even before I was a Democrat, I was a Zionist."^[6] He recently made a trip to Syria.

[edit] Earlier life and political career

[edit] Personal

He is the son of the former Eleanor Schapiro and Joseph Berman, and grew up in modest circumstances. He graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School (Los Angeles) in 1959, and earned his B.A. (1962, International Relations) and LL.B. (1965) at University of California, Los Angeles. He was a VISTA volunteer (1966-1967) in Baltimore and San Francisco, and was an associate at a Los Angeles law firm (1967-72) specializing in labor relations. He married Janis Gail Schwarz in 1979; they have two daughters, Brinley and Lindsey.^{[11][1][12][2][13][5]}

[edit] Young Democrats

Berman was active in the Young Democrats at UCLA. He began his friendship with Henry Waxman there in 1960, when both were still undergraduates. Waxman was head of the YD liberal caucus, and through it ran the YDs. Both of them supported Adlai E. Stevenson's pursuit of the presidential nomination up to the eve of the 1960 convention. Berman was President of the California Young Democrats 1967-1969.^[14][15]

[edit] National Convention

Berman was a convention delegate to the 1968 (Chicago), 1976, and 1984 Democratic National Conventions.

[edit] California assemblyman

Berman won election to the Assembly in 1972 from a district in the Hollywood Hills, unseating the incumbent Republican Speaker pro-tempore. His brother Michael, campaign manager in Henry Waxman's 1968 Assembly race, again ran a targeted mail operation. In 1974 Berman and Waxman both opposed Willie Brown's unsuccessful revolt against Speaker of the California State Assembly Leo McCarthy, who rewarded Berman's loyalty by appointing him the youngest majority leader in the Assembly's history. McCarthy fired Berman when he tried to replace him in 1980. Although McCarthy failed to retain the Speakership, Berman failed to win it; and Brown became Speaker. Other members remarked on what a tough politician he was; the Bermans helped arrange a primary defeat for at least one colleague (Jack R. Fenton) who had opposed his bid.^{[1][11][15][16][17]} He also served as Chairman of the Assembly Democratic Caucus and on the Policy Research Management Committee of the Assembly.^[11]

In 1982, he ran for U.S. Congress instead.

[edit] Congressional career

[edit] Committee assignments

• Committee on Foreign Affairs (Chairman)
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security, and International Law

[edit] False claims act

Berman was the House sponsor of the 1986 False Claims Act that authorized civil litigation by whistleblowers. It led to recoveries for the United States Government exceeding one billion dollars.^[11]

[edit] Investments

The Center for Responsive Politics complained that 151 members of Congress had investments (as of year end 2006) in companies that do business with the United States Department of Defense, suggesting that such holdings conflict with their responsibility for U.S. security policy. The most important such companies, ranked by estimated total value of members' holdings, were Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Pepsi, ExxonMobil, Berkshire Hathaway, IBM, Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, H. J. Heinz Company, and Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company. It identified the top ten members of Congress as

The report named no other members among the 151, save Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Berman.^[18][19]

[edit] Campaign consulting

Berman paid his brother Michael Berman's consulting firm Berman & D'Agostino $195,000 from campaign funds from 2001 to 2006.^[20] This included $70,000 in consulting fees for the 2006 election.^[21] In 2005, $50,000 in consulting fees were paid to the company, and Michael Berman himself was paid a further $80,500 in campaign management and consulting fees.^[21] In the 2002 campaign, Berman & D'Agostino was paid $75,000 in political consulting fees.^[21]

[edit] Redistricting 2000

The 2000 census allocated California one new House seat, 53 in all. Howard Berman, "dad of the delegation" on redistricting, made a deal with Republicans Tom Davis and David Dreier keeping 34 safe seats for Democrats, and adding one new Republican district while protecting 19 incumbent Republicans. Every California Democrat in the House and California State Senate hired Michael Berman as a redistricting consultant, for a fee of $20,000 each. When the August 2001 plan was unveiled, Brad Sherman complained that it undermined the safety of his seat with too many Hispanic voters. "Howard Berman stabbed me in the back." Berman agreed to redraw the boundary between their districts, giving himself 55.6% and Sherman 36.5% Latino population. The redistricting plan survived (June, 2002) MALDEF's court challenge, arguing it diluted Hispanic representation.^[12] The Republican suffered some slippage; they have only 19 members in the delegation to the 110th Congress.^[2]

[edit] Ethics committee

Alan Mollohan, ranking member of the House Ethics Committee, resigned from the committee after he himself became the subject of an ethics complaint. Berman had been its senior Democrat 1997-2003, and on 2006-10-05 Minority leader Nancy Pelosi reappointed him to replace Mollohan. Berman served on the subcommittee investigating the House's page program in the wake of the Mark Foley scandal.^[2][22][1]^{[dead link]} "This is an honor I could have done without."^[2]

Center for Public Integrity reported in 2006 that members of the House Ethics Committee and their staffs had taken many privately sponsored trips, about 400 trips from 2000 to mid 2005, at a total expense nearly $1 million. Of these, Democrats took about 80% of the trips at about 70% of the cost. Berman and his staff were at the top of the chart, with trips costing more than $245,000. Berman himself had taken 14 trips at the Aspen Institute's expense, including two to China with Mrs. Berman. Aspen replied that its events for members were like graduate seminars, and did not push any policy agenda. "Gene Smith, Berman's chief of staff, said that the bulk of the congressman's foreign travel can be attributed to his being a senior member on the House Committee on International Relations." Five private groups (Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG) jointly sent a letter to the ethics committee urging it ban or restrict such travel.^[23][24]

[edit] Memberships and awards

• First Annual Farmworker Justice Award, 2000^[25][2]^{[dead link]}
• President, California Federation of Young Democrats, 1967-1969
• Jewish Funds for Justice, member of the advisory board^{[citation needed]}
• President's award, National Music Publishers Association, 2007^[13]
• NATO Parliamentary Assembly
• Mexico Parliamentary Group^[11]

[edit] External links

• U. S. Government
  • U.S. Congressman Howard L. Berman official House site
• Howard Berman at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
  • Federal Election Commission — Howard L. Berman campaign finance reports and data (Federal Election Commission)
• Center for Responsive Politics
  • OpenSecrets.org — Howard Berman campaign contributions
  • OpenSecrets | Howard L. Berman (D-Calif) - 2006 personal finance
• On the Issues — Howard Berman issue positions and quotes (On the Issues)
• Project Vote Smart — Representative Howard L. Berman (CA) profile (Project Vote Smart)
• SourceWatch Congresspedia — Howard Berman profile (SourceWatch)
• Washington Post — Congress Votes Database: Howard Berman voting record (Washington Post)

^[26]

[edit] References