Jared Polis
Jared Polis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's 2nd district | |
| Assumed office January 3, 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Mark Udall |
| At-large member of the Colorado State Board of Education | |
| In office January 2001 – January 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Ben Alexander |
| Succeeded by | District eliminated |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 12, 1975 Boulder, Colorado |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Domestic partner | Marlon Reis |
| Children | Caspian Julius[1] |
| Residence | Boulder, Colorado |
| Alma mater | Princeton University |
| Occupation | Congressman |
| Website | polis.house.gov |
Jared Schutz Polis (born Jared Polis Schutz May 12, 1975) is an American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and U.S. Representative for Colorado's 2nd congressional district, serving since 2009. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Polis and his life partner, Marlon Reis, are the parents of a son, Caspian Julius, born on September 30, 2011, making Polis the only openly gay member of Congress who is a parent.[3]
Early life, education and career
Polis is the son of Stephen Schutz and Susan Polis Schutz. He attended the La Jolla Country Day School in San Diego, California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Princeton University. On December 15, 2011, he (along with Sheila Jackson-Lee, Darrell Issa, and Zoe Lofgren) was declared a "Hero of the Internet" for his role in the Stop Online Piracy Act House Judiciary Committee hearings, in which he defended the current state of the internet in opposition of the bill.
Business career
Polis has founded a number of companies and is one of the 10 richest members of the United States Congress estimated to be worth at least $65.91 million.[4] He founded American Information Systems, an internet access, web hosting and application service provider.
He, with his parents, also co-founded bluemountainarts.com, an online greeting card website, which he sold to Excite@Home three years later in a deal worth $780 million.[5][6] In 1998, he launched the online florist company ProFlowers that expanded to become Provide Commerce, Inc., acquired in 2006 by Liberty Media Corporation.
Philanthropy
In 2000, Polis founded the Jared Polis Foundation, whose mission "is to create opportunities for success through education and access to technology." Its main programs are the annual Teacher Recognition Awards; the Community Computer Connection program, which refurbishes and donates more than 3,500 computers a year to schools and non-profit organizations; and the semi-annual Jared Polis Foundation Education Report. Polis has also founded two charter schools for at-risk students. In 2004, he established the New America School, which primarily serves older immigrant youth ages 16–21 and has three campuses in the Denver Metro area and one in New Mexico. Polis serves as Superintendent. In 2005, he co-founded with Urban Peak the Academy of Urban Learning[7] in Denver to serve youth struggling with homelessness or unstable living conditions.
Polis was named Outstanding Philanthropist for the 2006 National Philanthropy Day in Colorado. He is a recipient of many awards, including the Boulder Daily Camera’s 2007 Pacesetter Award in Education;[8] the Kauffman Foundation Community Award;[9] the Denver consul general of Mexico “Ohtli”;[10] the Martin Luther King, Jr. Colorado Humanitarian Award; and the Anti-Defamation League’s inaugural Boulder Community Builder Award.
Early political career
State Board of Education
In 2000, Polis was elected at-large as a member of the Colorado State Board of Education, and served for a single six-year term, until January 2007. His election was one of the closest in Colorado history. He defeated incumbent Ben Alexander by 90 votes out of 1.6 million cast.[11] Polis served as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education during his term.[12][13]
Ballot measures
In 2006, Polis served as co-chair of Coloradans for Clean Government, a committee that supported Amendment 41, a citizen-initiated ballot measure to ban gifts by registered lobbyists to government officials, establish a $50 annual restriction on gift-giving from non-lobbyists, create an independent ethics commission, and establish a two-year cooling-off period before former state legislators and statewide elected officials can begin lobbying. In November 2006, 62.3 percent of Colorado voters approved the "Ethics in Government" constitutional amendment.[14]
In 2007, he co-chaired the "Building for our Future" campaign that supported ballot question 3A in the Boulder Valley School District to issue $296.8 million in bonds for the improvement and modernization of aging school facilities — the largest capital construction bond issue in the district’s history and the largest school bond proposal in Colorado that year. In November 2006, 58 percent of Boulder Valley School District voters approved 3A.[15]
U.S. House of Representatives
Polis is the first openly gay man elected to the House as a freshman[16] and the first gay parent in Congress.[1][17][18][19] [20][21] He declined to say whether the child was adopted, or the result of a surrogate pregnancy.[22][23] (The other openly gay male Representatives currently serving in the House are Barney Frank, who did not make his orientation public until after he was first elected, and Rep. David Cicilline, the second openly gay man to be elected as a freshman, who took his seat in the 112th Congress in 2011. Rep. Tammy Baldwin, the first openly gay person elected as a freshman, took her seat in 1999.)
Polis is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and co-chair of the Mexico Caucus and the Nepal Caucus. He was also appointed by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the Board of Visitors of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
The Fearless Campaign
While serving in the House, in early 2011, Polis launched The Fearless Campaign, an effort to empower "political leaders with the moral courage it takes to vote fearlessly on the politically charged issues of today, regardless of the perceived political risk."[24] The campaign is active on six issues: LGBTQ equality, drug policy, education reform, immigration reform, net neutrality and food policy.
- LGBTQ Equality
On April 14, 2011, Jared Polis, along with Tammy Baldwin, Jerry Nadler, Mike Honda, John Coyers, Jr, Zoe Lofgren, and Luis Gutierrez, made a speech regarding the Uniting American Families Act. This Act would provide equal LGBTQ immigration rights and add the term ‘permanent partner’ to sections of the Immigration and Naturalization Act, which currently only focuses on heterosexual couples. The term ‘permanent partner’ describes an adult who is part of an intimate, committed, lifelong relationship with another adult. This piece of legislation would give equal immigration rights to permanent partners.
Currently only married heterosexuals have these immigration benefits, and this Act would enforce the same restrictions, standards, and punishments to ‘permanent partners.’ In Polis’ speech he claims, “This common-sense bill would end one of the worst injustices in our immigration system.” He then describes how this Act would help welcome immigrants into the United States and how our economy would grow as a result. [25] Jared Polis and The Fearless Campaign have 100% approval ratings from the interest group entitled “The Human Rights Campaign.”
According to Polis, The Uniting American Families Act would not only encourage a new sense of family unity, but would begin to address the flaws in our current immigration system. More than 25 other countries already allow residents to have gay and lesbian permanent partners through the immigration process, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. [26] [27]
House Judiciary Committee Markup of SOPA
Polis gained considerable popularity outside of Colorado following his proposed amendment to the Stop Online Piracy Act. The amendment attempted to make a court order necessary to take down a website due to copyright infringement. Due to this, several civil liberty groups have dubbed Polis a 'champion of the internet'.
Elections
- 2008
Polis won a heavily-contested primary election, which virtually assured him of victory in this heavily Democratic district. In the general election held on November 4, 2008, he won comfortably and took office on January 3, 2009, succeeding Mark Udall.
- 2010
Polis won re-election to the House of Representatives on November 2, 2010.[28]
Committee assignments
- Committee on Rules
- House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee (known as the "committee on committees")
References
- ^ a b Parkinson, John. "House Democrat Jared Polis Becomes First Openly Gay Parent in Congress". ABC News. Retrieved 30 September 2011.
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/30/jared-polis-openly-gay-parent_n_989422.html
- ^ http://www.rollcall.com/50richest/the-50-richest-members-of-congress-112th.html
- ^ Susan Glairon (January 20, 2006). "After 35 Years, Card Company Still on Top". Associated Press.
- ^ Larry Dignan (October 25, 1999). "Excite@Home buys Bluemountainarts.com for $780m". zdnet.co.uk. Retrieved 2008-02-07.
- ^ "About Academy of Urban Learning". Retrieved 2007-03-01.
- ^ "Education: Jared Polis". Daily Camera. 2007-01-28. Retrieved 2007-01-28. [dead link]
- ^ "Ground Floor Media". Archived from the original on 2006-11-01. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
- ^ "City receives Amistad Award: Mexican government honors cultural, social accomplishments". Steamboat Pilot & Today. 2006-11-21. Retrieved 2006-11-21.
- ^ "Recount confirms Polis won seat on ed board; Republican Alexander won't contest second tally". Denver Post. 2000-11-29.
- ^ Colbert, Stephen (2009-08-17). "Even Better-er Know a District - Colorado's 2nd". Better Know a District. The Colbert Report. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
- ^ "Polis on Politics". Boulder Weekly. 2008-06-26. Retrieved 2008-08-13.
- ^ "Gift law spurs major battle". Rocky Mountain News. 2007-01-24. Retrieved 2007-01-24. [dead link]
- ^ "Bonds will pump new money into aging schools". Daily Camera. 2006-11-10. Retrieved 2006-11-10. [dead link]
- ^ Phillips, Kate (2009-01-06). "New Voices in Congress Will Change the Tone of the Democratic Majority". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
- ^ Andrew Harmon, 'Fatherhood for Congressman Jared Polis', in The Advocate, September 30, 2011 [2]
- ^ Amanda Terkel, 'Jared Polis Announces Birth Of Son, Becoming First Openly Gay Parent In Congress', on The Huffington Post, 9/30/11
- ^ 'Gay congressman announces birth of new son', in The Sacramento Bee, Sep. 30, 2011
- ^ 'Gay congressman announces birth of new son', in Forbes, 09.30.11 [3]
- ^ 'Congressman Jared Polis and partner proud parents of baby boy', in The Denver Post, September 30, 2011 [4]
- ^ 'Polis announces birth of son', in Boulder Weekly, September 30, 2011 [5]
- ^ 'Love, etc.: A baby for Rep. Jared Polis and partner', in The Washington Post, 09/30/2011
- ^ http://www.fearlesscampaign.com/pages/about
- ^ http://www.votesmart.org/public-statement/605451/nadler-house-champions-of-immigration-reform-introduce-the-uniting-american-families-act-to-provide-equal-lgbt-immigration-rights
- ^ http://www.vote-smart.org/candidate/106220/jared-polis
- ^ www.fearlesscampaign.com/pages/about
- ^ "Election Results - cbs4denver.com". Retrieved 3 November 2010.
External links
- Congressman Jared Polis official U.S. House website
- Jared Polis for Congress official campaign website
- The Fearless Campaign
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Profile at Vote Smart
- Jared Polis Foundation