Mike Ferguson (New Jersey politician)

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Mike Ferguson

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 7th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2001–
Preceded by	Bob Franks
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	June 22, 1970 (age 36) Ridgewood, New Jersey
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Maureen Ferguson
Religion	Roman Catholic

Michael A. "Mike" Ferguson (b. June 22, 1970, Ridgewood, New Jersey) is an American Republican Party politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives representing New Jersey's 7th congressional district since 2001.

1 Early career
2 Congressional career
3 Controversy
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Early career

Ferguson attended the Delbarton School, the University of Notre Dame and has an M.P.A. from theGeorgetown University.

Before running for Congress he worked as a teacher at a private school, and worked as a part time instructor at a community college.^[1]

Ferguson was Executive Director of the Catholic Campaign for America, whose board members include William Bennett, Tom Monaghan and Mary Ellen Bork (wife of Robert Bork). Other notable members of the Catholic Campaign for America include Rick Santorum and Pat Buchanan. He also served as the executive director of the Better Schools Foundation which was founded by Lamar Alexander and whose purpose was to promote the use of school vouchers.

[edit] Congressional career

Ferguson is currently the youngest member of the New Jersey Congressional delegation. Ferguson originally sought office in the 6th Congressional District in 1998, even though he had never lived or voted in the 6th district prior to seeking the Republican nomination. He was defeated by incumbent Frank Pallone. In 1999, Ferguson moved to the 7th district where he defeated Thomas Kean Jr. in the primary and was successfully elected.

After the 1999 election, Tom Kean Jr. subsequently sued Mike Ferguson and the Council for Responsible Government (a 527 group headquartered in Virginia). The complaint alleged that Ferguson and the Council illegally coordinated their messaging. The complaint also alleged that the Council funded and distributed a brochure under the guise of non-partisan group while acting as a partisan advocacy group on behalf of Ferguson ([1]). Kean, Jr. prevailed in the lawsuit^{[citation needed]}.

In June 2003, after a three year dispute with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Congressman Ferguson agreed to pay $210,000 for a loan which he made to his campaign during his first election of $525,000 from a trust established for the Congressman by his parents. The FEC claimed that this loan from the trust equated to a gift from his parents. According to Federal law, the cap on personal contributions from an individual to a candidate is capped at $25,000 per election cycle. The fine was one of the highest ever paid to the FEC. Ferguson maintained that he did nothing wrong.^[2]

Ferguson received the third most money of all recipients of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Ferguson has not offered to return any of the $54,403 he received from DeLay or ARMPAC, despite calls from Democrats to do so ([2], [3]).

In 2006, Mike Ferguson fought off a tight race with Democratic state legislator Linda Stender. Stender tried to portray Ferguson as too conservative for the district and tried to tie him to President Bush, who was extremely unpopular at the time in New Jersey. The Seventh district had a slight Republican lean, and Stender managed to defeat Ferguson in the more liberal suburban counties of Middlesex and Union, but Ferguson held on to the more Republican areas in Somerset and Hunterdon Counties, and only kept Stender to slim victory in Union County. Nevertheless, he only defeated Stender by just over 3,000 votes and a margin of less than 2%.^[3]

Ferguson's voting record is moderate by national Republican standards. His lifetime American Conservative Union rating is 74, second-highest in the state's congressional delegation.

[edit] Controversy

Ferguson was accused of grabbing a young woman at a local college bar in Georgetown. According to the young woman, Ferguson removed his ID pin and handed it to her, saying she could keep it if she would "come back and have a drink with me." Ferguson denied the young woman's version of the event.^[4]