Michael Huffington

Michael Huffington (born September 3, 1947) is an American politician, bisexual LGBT activist,[2] and film producer. He was a member of the Republican Party, and a congressman for one term, 1993–1995, from California. Huffington was married to Arianna Huffington, the Greek-born co-founder of HuffPost, from 1986 to 1997.

Michael Huffington
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 22nd district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Bob Lagomarsino (Redistricting)
Succeeded by	Andrea Seastrand
Personal details
Born	Roy Michael Huffington Jr.[1] (1947-09-03) September 3, 1947 Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Arianna Stassinopoúlou ​ ( m. 1986; div. 1997)
Children	2
Education	Stanford University (BA, BS) Harvard University (MBA)

Early years

Huffington was born in Dallas, Texas, to Celeste Phyllis (Gough) and Roy Michael Huffington, the founder of the natural gas exploration company, Roy M. Huffington, Inc. (HUFFCO).

In 1965, Huffington graduated from Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, where he received the Central States Amateur Rowing Association Medal when he rowed on the light weight crew. After graduation he was elected to the Culver Chapter of the Cum Laude Society. In 1970, he received a BS degree in engineering and a BA degree in economics concurrently from Stanford University. Huffington was a member of the varsity crew, student senator, and co-president of his senior class. In 1972, he received an MBA in finance from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Huffington's wealth is derived from a merchant bank he started and his share of the family's Houston oil, gas and real estate firm that was sold to Taiwan interests in 1990. His father, Roy M. Huffington, made a fortune through natural gas interests in Indonesia.[3]

Politics

Huffington's interest in politics began in 1968, when he was a summer intern in Washington, D.C. for freshman Congressman George H. W. Bush.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan appointed Huffington as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy, with responsibility for conventional arms control negotiations. He was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

In 1992, Huffington was elected to the House of Representatives from California's 22nd District (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties). He spent a record $5.4 million on his campaign, 95% of it his own money. He spent about $3.5 million in the Republican primary, in which he defeated veteran incumbent Robert J. Lagomarsino.[3][4] Huffington later defeated then Santa Barbara County Supervisor, Gloria Ochoa, in the general election. He donated his entire congressional salary to the Partnership for Children of Santa Barbara County in 1993, and to the Partnership for Children of San Luis Obispo County in 1994.

In 1994, after one term in the House, Huffington spent $28 million in a bid for the seat in the United States Senate held by Dianne Feinstein. She had won the seat in a special election two years earlier against John F. Seymour, who has been appointed in 1991 to fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Governor-elect Pete Wilson. In the Republican primary, Huffington defeated William E. Dannemeyer. At the time, Huffington's campaign was the most expensive in a non-presidential election in American history. He lost to Feinstein in the general election by 1.9 percent of the vote.[5]

During 1998, Huffington was co-chairman (with actor and director Rob Reiner) of Proposition 10 in California, which increased the state excise tax on cigarettes by 50 cents per pack. The resulting multi-hundred million dollars of tax revenue was used for prenatal care and for the health care and education of children under six years of age.

In the 2003 California recall election, Huffington endorsed Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger. His ex-wife, Arianna Huffington, was an opposing candidate. She withdrew before the election, although her name remained on the ballot.

On June 29, 2006, Huffington co-chaired the Log Cabin Republicans "The Courage To Lead: An Evening With The Governor" dinner that honored California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Huffington also personally contributed $1 for every $2 contributed to the Log Cabin Republicans (a 501(c)(4) tax designated organization) for that dinner.

In 2006, Huffington became the director of It's My Party Too,[6] a group founded by former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. A moderate Republican organization with libertarian leanings, it advocated fiscal conservatism, social progressivism, environmental protection and limited government interference in personal matters. In 2007, It's My Party Too evolved into the Republican Leadership Council.[7]

In 2013, Huffington was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief in support of same-sex marriage, submitted to the Supreme Court during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.[8]

Personal life

Huffington married Arianna Huffington, a Greek-born writer and lecturer, on April 12, 1986.[9] They had two daughters[10] and divorced in 1997.[11] In December 2006, he became a blogger for The Huffington Post,[12] which was co-founded by his ex-wife in 2005.[13]

Huffington publicly disclosed that he is bisexual in 1998.[2]

Since that time, Huffington has made a number of contributions to LGBT causes. Later that year, he provided the initial grant that launched SOIN (Sexual Orientation Issues in the News)[14] at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. Then in 2005, Huffington helped to establish a summer fellowship program for LGBT students at Stanford University.[15] He also spoke at the National Equality March rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on October 11, 2009.[16]

According to a 2004 Los Angeles Times interview, Huffington is celibate.[17]

Huffington was raised Presbyterian, became Episcopalian at age 38, and ultimately joined the Greek Orthodox Church in 1996 after a visit to Istanbul, Turkey.[17] Between 2007 and 2012, Huffington gave $2.5 million to establish the Huffington Ecumenical Institute at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in order to promote dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.[18][19] Concerning the Institute's mission, Huffington said, "My dream is that someday I'll get to see members of the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church be able to take communion in each other's churches."[20]

Film production

Huffington found a post-political career as a film producer.[21] From 1991 to 2000, he was co-owner of Crest Films Limited.

Among his other production credits:

• Huffington was an executive producer of Hold Me Down, a 2017 American drama short film about the struggles of a 19-year-old single mother in The Bronx, written and directed by Niclas Gillis.
• Huffington was a financial contributor to Out of the Past,[22] a documentary that won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.
• Huffington executive produced three short films at the University of Southern California: "The Promise" in 1998,[23] "Lost and Found" in 1999, and "Nuclear Family" in 2000.[24]
• He was an executive producer of the 2000 television series, The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne.[25]
• He was an executive producer of the 2007 AFI film Santa Croce,[26] which was distributed worldwide on through the iTunes Store and Shorts International.
• He was an executive producer of For the Bible Tells Me So,[27] a documentary that premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
• He was an executive producer of A Jihad for Love,[28] a documentary that premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.
• He was executive producer of We're All Angels,[29] a 2007 documentary about gay Christian pop singers Jason and deMarco, which premiered on Showtime on June 12, 2008.[30]
• He was an executive producer of Bi the Way,[31] a documentary about bisexuality in America that premiered at the 2008 SXSW Film Festival.
• He was an executive producer of American Primitive,[32] which premiered at the 2009 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
• He was a producer of Father vs. Son,[33] a comedy that premiered at WorldFest 2010 and won The Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best World Premiere – Feature Films.
• He was a producer of Dissolution,[34] which premiered at the 2010 Jerusalem International Film Festival and won the Best Drama Award.
• He was a producer of After The Fire[35] directed by Gudio Verweyen, inspired by the Pulitzer Prize story and New York Times bestseller After The Fire by Robin G. Fisher.
• Under the banner of his own production company Huffington Pictures,[36] Huffington was a producer for the 2013 film Geography Club, directed by Gary Entin and based on Brent Hartinger's book of the same name.[37][38]

Electoral history

1994 California United States Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein (incumbent)	3,979,152	46.7	−7.6
	Republican	Michael Huffington	3,817,025	44.8	+6.8
	Peace and Freedom	Elizabeth Cervantes Barron	255,301	3.0	+0.2
	Libertarian	Richard Benjamin Boddie	179,100	2.1	−0.6
	American Independent	Paul Meeuwenberg	142,771	1.7	−0.9
	Green	Barbara Blong	140,567	1.7	+1.7
Total votes			8,513,916
Majority			162,127	1.9	−14.4
Turnout
	Democratic hold		Swing	−14.4

1992 United States House of Representatives elections[39]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael Huffington	131,242	52.5
	Democratic	Gloria Ochoa	87,328	34.9
	Green	Mindy Lorenz	23,699	9.5
	Libertarian	William Howard Dilbeck	7,553	3.0
	No party	Bialosky (write-in)	104	0.1
Total votes			249,926	100.0
Turnout
	Republican hold

See also

• List of LGBT members of the United States Congress

References

1. "Roy Michael Jr. Huffington: Texas Birth Index, 1903-1997", FamilySearch, retrieved July 12, 2019
2. King, Ryan James (2006-05-22). "Michael Huffington: The long-awaited Advocate interview". Advocate. Retrieved January 11, 2013.
3. Miller, Alan C. (October 28, 1992). "Congressional Hopeful Sets Campaign Spending Record". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 14, 2016.
4. "What Money Can Buy". Time. June 20, 1994. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
5. 1994 United States Senate election in California
6. "Advisory Board - Michael Huffington". It's My Party Too. Archived from the original on November 17, 2006.
7. Welcome to the Republican Leadership Council! | Republican Leadership Council
8. John Avlon (February 28, 2013). "The Pro-Freedom Republicans Are Coming: 131 Sign Gay-Marriage Brief". The Daily Beast. Retrieved May 24, 2013.
9. "Arianna Stassinopoulos, Author, Wed to R. Michael Huffington, Executive", The New York Times, April 13, 1986, retrieved October 25, 2009
10. Rita Wilson (July 15, 2012). "Arianna Huffington Turns 62". The Huffington Post. Retrieved September 2, 2012.
11. Michael Huffington (January 16, 2007). "My Road to Damascus Led to the Sundance Film Festival". The Huffington Post.
12. "Michael Huffington". The Huffington Post.
13. "The Huffington Post". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved March 3, 2009.
14. Sexual Orientation Issues in the News - Gay Issues Media Press Coverage Journalism Education Lesbian Homosexual LGBT Annenberg USC Archived May 3, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
15. Stanford Pride Archived October 8, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
16. "Gay Rights Rally Washington DC October 11, 2009 pt.21". YouTube. October 11, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
17. Robin Abcarian (April 20, 2004). "His core value hasn't changed". Los Angeles Times.
18. Abdollah, Tami (March 17, 2007). "Promoting dialogue between faith traditions". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
19. Loyola Marymount University. "Huffington Ecumenical Institute". Retrieved November 5, 2015.
20. "$5 million promised for new Huffington Ecumenical Institute". Argonaut News Online. Southland Publishing. March 15, 2007. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
21. Michael Huffington on IMDb
22. Out of the Past (1998)
23. The Promise (1998) - Full cast and crew
24. "Главная страница". Minimovie.com. Archived from the original on July 14, 2011. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
25. "Jules Verne: Secret Adventures of Jules Verne - Andrew Nash". Julesverne.ca. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
26. "iTunes - Movies - Santa Croce". Phobos.apple.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
27. "For the Bible Tells Me So (official website)".
28. A JIHAD FOR LOVE:::A Film by Parvez Sharma Archived November 24, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
29. We're All Angels on IMDb
30. Showtime : Schedules : Daily Schedule Archived June 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
31. "Bi the Way (official website)".
32. American Primitive on IMDb
33. Father vs. Son on IMDb
34. "Dissolution - Movie info: cast, reviews, trailer on". Mubi.com. Retrieved March 29, 2012.
35. "After the Fire: Official Movie Site".
36. "Huffington Pictures website". Retrieved March 7, 2015.
37. "IMDb Geography Club (2013) - full credits". Retrieved March 7, 2015.
38. "IMDb Geography Club (2013) - company credits". Retrieved March 7, 2015.
39. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 3, 1992" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. 1993.

External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Michael Huffington on IMDb
• Works by or about Michael Huffington in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Robert J. Lagomarsino	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 22nd congressional district 1993–1995	Succeeded by Andrea Seastrand
Party political offices
Preceded by John F. Seymour	Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from California (Class 1) 1994	Succeeded by Tom Campbell