Pennsylvania: Tenth District

Rep. Christopher Carney (D)

Christopher Carney (D) Elected 2006, 1st term up
Born:	03-02-1959, Cedar Rapids, IA
Home:	Dimock
Education:	Cornell College, B.S. 1981, U. of WY, M.A. 1983, U. of NE, Ph.D. 1993
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Jennifer)
Military Career:	Naval Reserve, 1995-present.
Professional Career:	Prof., PA St. U.-Worthington, 1992-2006.
DC Office	416 CHOB, 20515 202-225-3731 Fax: 202-225-9594 Website: carney.house.gov
State Offices	Clarks Summit:570-585-9988; Williamsport:570-327-1902;
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The northeast corner of Pennsylvania is a land of crevassed valleys and rugged mountains, criss-crossed by giant viaducts built for the railroads linking the East Coast with the Great Lakes and the mines to the big cities that heated their houses with the region’s anthracite coal. Except for a row of anthracite coal cities from Scranton to Wilkes-Barre, this part of Pennsylvania still has a wild look to it: the superstructure of railroads and Interstate 80 pass through an area that seems otherwise little touched by recent prosperity. This is a land of numerous long-established small towns, with solidly built courthouses and banks and elderly citizens—a part of the Northeast that seems worlds away from the region’s huge central cities and growing suburbs. The biggest towns here are Lewisburg, home of Bucknell University and a major federal penitentiary, and Williamsport, home of the Little League World Series. Only at the eastern edge is there significant growth. Pike County on the Delaware River grew 94% from 1990 to 2004, attracting many tired of paying high taxes in New Jersey and New York. The local Pocono mountains also are a destination for weekenders and, for a few days each November, for bear hunters. In the winter months, hunters in increasing numbers turn to tracking coyote in the fresh snow. Torrential rains hit the region particularly hard in July 2006 causing flood damage severe enough to designate much of the district as federal disaster areas.

The 10th Congressional District of Pennsylvania includes all of northeast Pennsylvania except for Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and fast-growing Monroe County, which are in the 11th District. The area’s most consequential congressman was probably David Wilmot who in the 1840s introduced the Wilmot Proviso barring slavery from the New Mexico and California Territories acquired in the Mexican War; this raised the issue of slavery in the territories which led proximately to the Civil War. Wilmot was a founder of the Republican party and was elected to the Senate; most people in this part of Pennsylvania have been Republicans ever since.

The new congressman from the 10th District is Christopher Carney, a Democrat elected in 2006. Carney was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, studied at nearby Cornell College, the University of Wyoming and the University of Nebraska. In 1992 Carney moved his family to Pennsylvania to take a job as an associate professor at Penn State University’s Scranton campus. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, Carney was called up to go to Afghanistan, but instead ended up at the Pentagon analyzing CIA intelligence for Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith in search of connections between al-Qaeda and Iraq. His conclusion, which he continues to defend, was that there were “high-level” contacts between the two, but he said the Bush administration took the evidence too far when Defense Secretary Rumsfeld declared the connection was “bulletproof.” Carney told the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader he decided to run for Congress after he saw Republican Congressman Don Sherwood at a gas station, preparing to go to Washington to vote on the end-of-life case of Terri Schiavo. “This was the Republicans trying to capitalize on this family’s misery and it made me mad. I’m Irish and I had a couple hundred more miles to go before I was home, and actually somewhere right around Wilkes-Barre I decided, ‘Dammit, I’m going to do this.’”

Sherwood represented a reliably Republican district, but the seat was put into play after the Times Leader reported in April 2005 that D.C. police had been called to Sherwood’s Capitol Hill apartment in September 2004 by a 29-year-old woman who accused him of punching and choking her. Sherwood said he was giving her a back rub. Sherwood’s accuser later said she had a five-year affair with the married congressman. He described her as a “casual acquaintance,” but issued an apology “for the pain and embarrassment I have caused my family and my supporters.” In June 2005, the woman filed suit against Sherwood, seeking $5.5 million in damages, and the lawsuit was settled in November 2005, reportedly for $500,000. As a result of his indiscretion, Sherwood faced an unusually competitive challenge in the May Republican primary from an underfunded candidate who ran on family values and held the incumbent to just 56%-44%. “I got it. I got the message,” Sherwood said afterward. In an attempt to steer the campaign back to safer territory in this conservative district, Sherwood portrayed Carney as a supporter of tax increases and accused Carney of deceiving voters on his position in favor of abortion rights. A cancer survivor, Carney also supported stem cell research. Carney criticized Bush’s execution of the war and advocated the redeployment of a U.S. battalion for each equivalent Iraqi security force trained as a replacement. Because of Carney’s opposition to the war, activists were willing to overlook his role in helping to make the White House case in Iraq; Pennsylvania Republicans, meanwhile, sent out a mailer in October blaming him for the war. “Chris Carney failed our nation once,” the direct mail piece read. “Don’t give Chris Carney a chance to FAIL us again.”

Carney avoided direct mention of Sherwood’s affair for most of the campaign until late September when he aired a TV ad that featured a one-time Sherwood supporter holding a photo of his 26-year-old stepdaughter. “How can I tell her I support Don Sherwood and feel good about myself?” he asked. The Mark Foley congressional page scandal that unfolded in late September also served to refocus attention on Sherwood’s own scandal. In October Sherwood issued a direct apology to the district for the affair and denied that any abuse occurred. “Should you forgive me, you can count on me to continue fighting for you and your family,” Sherwood said in a TV ad. The incumbent also sent out a mailer featuring his wife, Carol, criticizing Carney for being negative about their family.

John Boehner, Dick Cheney and George W. Bush all visited the district, with the latter telling voters that Sherwood was “the right man to represent” the 10th. Voters disagreed: Carney won 53%-47% with his winning margins coming from Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. After his concession speech, Sherwood told reporters, "You won't see me again in politics."

John Murtha, who had campaigned with Carney, promised him a seat on the Appropriations Committee, on which Sherwood had also served, but Murtha’s ability to deliver faded when he lost his bid for majority leader. Democrats instead named Carney as chairman of the Homeland Security oversight committee. Carney remains a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserve and serves one weekend each month at the Pentagon.

Republicans are certain to target this district in 2008. The party's top recruit, U.S. Attorney Tom Marino, declined to run. But Dan Meuser, a wealthy wheelchair manufacturing company executive, and Luzerne County businessman Chris Hackett were seriously considering running.

Committees

• Homeland Security (15th of 19 D)
  Management, Investigations & Oversight (Chmn.); Intelligence, Information Sharing & Terrorism Risk Assessment.
• Transportation & Infrastructure (34th of 41 D)
  Economic Development, Public Buildings & Emergency Management; Highways & Transit.

Presidential Vote

District Demographics (More Info)

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 8
• Area size: 6,663 square miles
• Urban Population: 44.6%
• Rural Population: 55.4%
• Population 2000: 646,534
• Population 2005 (est): 648,945
• Median Income: $35,996
• Poverty Status: 10.3%
• Military Veterans: 15.3%
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 95.5% White; 1.9% Black; 0.5% Asian; 0.1% Native Am.; 0.0% Hawaiian; 0.6% Two+ races; 0.1% Other; 1.4% Hispanic Origin;
• Ancestry: 18.5% German%; 11.0% Irish%; 7.4% Italian%;
• Occupation: Blue collar 31.1%; White collar 52.6%; Gray collar 16.4%;