Connie Mack IV

Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy (born August 12, 1967), popularly known as Connie Mack IV, is a politician and lobbyist. He is the former U.S. Representative for Florida's 14th congressional district, serving from 2005 to 2013. A Republican, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012, losing to Democrat Bill Nelson.[1] He subsequently began a career in lobbying and currently represents Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, among others.[2] He has been paid more than $2.5 million to lobby on behalf of Orban's regime.[3] He is the son of former Republican U.S. Senator Connie Mack III and the great-grandson of legendary baseball manager Connie Mack.

For other people named Connie Mack, see Connie Mack (disambiguation).
Connie Mack IV
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 14th district
In office
January 3, 2005 – January 3, 2013
Preceded byPorter Goss
Succeeded byTrey Radel (Redistricting)
Member of the Florida House of Representatives
from the 91st district
In office
January 3, 2001 – October 9, 2003
Preceded byDebby Sanderson
Succeeded byEllyn Bogdanoff
Personal details
Born
Cornelius Harvey McGillicuddy

(1967-08-12) August 12, 1967
Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)
Ann Galuzzo
​
(
m. 1992; div. 2006)

Mary Bono
​
(
m. 2007; div. 2013)

Jennifer Key
​
(
m. 2018)
Children3
FatherConnie Mack III
RelativesJohn Levi Sheppard (great-grandfather)
Morris Sheppard (great-grandfather)
Connie Mack (great-grandfather)
Earle Mack (granduncle)
Roy Mack (granduncle)
EducationSanta Fe College
University of Florida (BA)

Early life, education, and family

Mack was born in Fort Myers, Florida, the son of cancer prevention advocate Ludie Priscilla (née Hobbs) and former U.S. Senator Connie Mack III.[4][5] His father represented the district from 1983 to 1989 (when it was numbered as the 13th District), before serving two terms in the U.S. Senate.

Through his father, Mack is the great-grandson of Connie Mack, the manager and owner of baseball's Philadelphia Athletics and member of the Baseball Hall of Fame; the great-grandson of Morris Sheppard, U.S. Senator and Representative from Texas; and the great-great-grandson of John Levi Sheppard, a U.S. Representative from Texas.[6]

In June 1988, Mack earned his Associate of Arts from Santa Fe Community College[7] and In 1993, Mack earned his Bachelor of Arts[8] from the University of Florida. After college, Mack became a marketing executive, working as a consultant to promote the restaurant chain Hooters.[9]

Florida House of Representatives

In 2000, incumbent Republican State Representative Debby Sanderson decided to retire to run for a seat in the Florida Senate. Mack decided to run for the open seat in the Fort Lauderdale–based 91st House District. He defeated Democratic nominee Kevin Rader 56%–44%.[10] In 2002, he won re-election with 79% of the vote.[11]

Mack was Chairman of the Committee on State Administration, and in his second term he became the Deputy Majority Leader.[12]

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

In 2003, incumbent Republican Congressman Porter Goss announced his intention to retire in order to serve as Director of the CIA. That October, Mack resigned from the Florida Legislature and moved back to his hometown of Fort Myers to run for his father's old seat.[13] Had he not resigned his state house seat, he would have been unable to vote for himself in the primary or general election in the 14th District, as the Florida Constitution requires state legislators to be residents of the district they represent. Mack stated, "The people of the 14th District deserve to be represented in Washington by someone who shares our mainstream conservative Republican values in the mold of my father and Congressman Porter Goss".[14] He narrowly won a four-way Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district—with a plurality of 36% of the vote, defeating more experienced challengers State Representative Carole Green and Lee County Commissioner Andy Coy.[15] He won the general election with 68% of the vote.[16]

Mack consistently won re-election without serious difficulty, with his closest bid in 2008, when he won 59% in a three-way election.[17][18][19]

Tenure

Mack is a vocal supporter of cutting federal spending and lower taxes. He is a signer of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Additionally, he is a co-sponsor of a constitutional amendment to require a balanced federal budget and was one of the most outspoken opponents of federal bailouts. Mack has also been a prominent advocate for greater congressional oversight of government surveillance. He voted against George W. Bush's domestic eavesdropping program in 2006 and Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Reform in 2007.[20]

Mack was an outspoken critic of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez,[21] as well as one of the most vocal opponents of the Latin American television network teleSUR.[22] He is also a member of the Congressional Cuba Democracy Caucus. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Mack helped secure over $81 million to expand Interstate 75 in Southwest Florida, a project of significant concern to the region.

Unlike many members of Congress, Mack has been a vigorous and outspoken defender of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks.[23]

Committee assignments
  • Committee on Foreign Affairs
    • Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia
    • Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere (Chairman)
  • Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
    • Subcommittee on Federal Workforce, U.S. Postal Service and Labor Policy
    • Subcommittee on Government Organization, Efficiency and Financial Management (Vice Chair)
    • Subcommittee on Regulatory Affairs, Stimulus Oversight and Government Spending

2012 U.S. Senate election
Mack speaking to a conservative group in February 2012.
Main article: 2012 United States Senate election in Florida

Early in the election cycle, Mack was considered a potential candidate against incumbent Democratic Senator Bill Nelson in the 2012 Senate election. However, he declined to run on March 25, 2011, citing family and his work in the House of Representatives.[24] On October 26, 2011, it was announced Mack had changed his mind and that he would seek the Republican nomination because he felt no one in the current field was able to defeat Nelson.[25] His opponent in the Primary was former Representative Dave Weldon, whom Mack defeated, winning 58% of the vote. Mack then lost to Nelson by over one million votes.

Electoral history
U.S. House, 14th District of Florida (General Election)[26]
Year Winning candidate Party Pct Opponent Party Pct Opponent Party Pct
2004 Connie Mack IV Republican 68% Robert M. Neeld Democratic 32%
2006 Connie Mack IV (inc.) Republican 64% Robert M. Neeld Democratic 36%
2008 Connie Mack IV (inc.) Republican 59% Robert M. Neeld Democratic 25% Burt Saunders Independent 15%
2010 Connie Mack IV (inc.) Republican 69% James L. Roach Democratic 27% William M. St. Claire Independent 4%

Post-congressional career

In 2013, Mack was hired as a partner at lobbying firm Liberty Partners Group, where his father was a chairman emeritus.[27] Following his unsuccessful bid for the Senate, Mack founded two lobbying and consulting firms, Mack Strategies and Liberty International Group. In March 2014, he registered to become a lobbyist for American Task Force Argentina. As of September 2014, he was an executive vice president of public relations firm Levick as well as a registered lobbyist for Levick, Doral Financial and Las Vegas Sands.[28] Mack has also worked extensively as a lobbyist for the government of Hungary.[2][29]

Personal life

Mack and Ann Galluzzo were married in 1996 and divorced in 2006. They have a son named Connie Mack V. In 2007, while representing his Florida district in the U.S. House of Representatives, Mack married then-U.S. Representative from California Mary Bono (R-CA), former wife of Glenn Baxley and widow of Sonny Bono.[30] They were the third married couple to serve in the House of Representatives simultaneously.[31] Mack and Mary divorced in 2013.[32] He married Jennifer Key in 2018.

gollark: You could use a dispenser for pearls
gollark: @TehRockettek Yes, do what lemmmy did months ago.
gollark: I suspect they do bitcoin protocol processing stuff, but you can probably convert krist blocks into format-compatible bitcoin ones somehow and mine those.
gollark: It is actually hard*wared*, not hard*coded*.
gollark: No, wait — invest in this hot new cryptocurrency called krist.

References
  1. Siegel, Elyse (November 6, 2012). "Bill Nelson Projected Winner Of Florida Senate Race". Huffington Post.
  2. "Diplomatic Dust-Up Means Big Bucks For Former GOP Congressman Connie Mack IV". Huffington Post. November 20, 2014.
  3. Kingsley, Patrick (2018-08-15). "Hungary's Leader Was Shunned by Obama, but Has a Friend in Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-26.
  4. Biography – About Connie Mack – Congressman Connie Mack Archived 2011-10-20 at the Wayback Machine
  5. "mack". ancestry.com.
  6. Archived March 7, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
  7. "George LeMieux says Connie Mack 'took 7 1/2 years to finish college'". @politifact.
  8. "Meet Connie Mack IV, who says he's a 'proud, mainstream conservative'". 2012-10-28. Archived from the original on 2016-05-31. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
  9. Caputo, Marc (February 17, 2012). "Connie Mack preaches penny-pinching on campaign trail, but has past of debt and liens". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on June 2, 2012. Note: Archived link only works with JavaScript disabled. The Miami Herald blog Naked Politics also has primary source documents linked in this story, "Connie Mack preaches penny-pinching, but has a court-record past of debt and liens (and fights)."
  10. "Our Campaigns - FL State House 091 Race - Nov 07, 2000". ourcampaigns.com.
  11. "Our Campaigns - FL State House 091 Race - Nov 05, 2002". ourcampaigns.com.
  12. Sandler, Michael (April 15, 2003). "Workers' comp bill stripped, replaced". St. Petersburg Times.
  13. "Connie Mack IV to Run for U.S. House". TheLedger.com.
  14. "Younger Mack to seek dad's old House seat Series: AROUND THE STATE". St. Petersburg Times. October 8, 2003.
  15. "Our Campaigns - FL - District 14 - R Primary Race - Aug 31, 2004". ourcampaigns.com.
  16. "Our Campaigns - FL - District 14 Race - Nov 02, 2004". ourcampaigns.com.
  17. "Our Campaigns - FL - District 14 Race - Nov 07, 2006". ourcampaigns.com.
  18. "Our Campaigns - FL - District 14 Race - Nov 04, 2008". ourcampaigns.com.
  19. Our Campaigns – FL – District 14 Race – Nov 02, 2010
  20. Connie Mack IV on the Issues
  21. RedState <"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-05. Retrieved 2008-04-23.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>
  22. Congressman works to counter socialist air time, on Connie Mack's HOR website <"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-16. Retrieved 2009-02-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)>
  23. Levy-Baker, Cooper Rep. Mack once again stands up for WikiLeaks Archived 2012-07-20 at Archive.today, Florida Independent
  24. Smith, Adam (March 25, 2011). "Connie Mack will not run for U.S. Senate". St. Petersburg Times. Archived from the original on August 24, 2011. Retrieved March 25, 2011.
  25. Catanese, Dave (October 26, 2011). "Connie Mack to enter Fla. Senate Race". Politico. Retrieved October 26, 2011.
  26. "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 2007-07-25. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  27. "Former Rep. Connie Mack joins lobby firm". TheHill.
  28. Ho, Catherine (September 28, 2014). "Crisis communications firm Levick continues push to grow lobbying business, hires former Fla. congressman". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  29. Goad, Ben (16 September 2015). "Hungary taps ex-congressman as US spokesman". The Hill. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  30. Slind-Flor, Victoria (March 20, 2013). "Biogen, HTC, Boston, MIT, Mary Bono: Intellectual Property". Bloomberg Business.
  31. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/reliable-source/wp/2013/05/29/connie-mack-and-mary-bono-divorce-life-really-changed-after-elections-losses/
  32. Edwards, Breanna (May 24, 2013). "Connie, Mary Bono Mack divorcing". Politico.
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Porter Goss		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Florida's 14th congressional district
2005–2013		 Succeeded by
Kathy Castor
Party political offices
Preceded by
Katherine Harris		 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from Florida
(Class 1)
2012		 Succeeded by
Rick Scott
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