Mel Watt

Mel Watt
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 12th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1993
Preceded by	None (District Re-established After 1990 Census)
Personal details
Born	August 26, 1945 (1945-08-26) (age 66) Steele Creek, North Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Eulada Watt
Children	Brian Watt Jason Watt
Residence	Charlotte, North Carolina
Alma mater	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Yale University
Occupation	attorney
Religion	Presbyterian

Melvin Luther (Mel) Watt (born August 26, 1945) is the United States House of Representatives for North Carolina's 12th congressional district, serving since 1993. He is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life, education and career

Watt was born in Steele Creek, located in Mecklenburg County,^[1] and is a graduate of York Road High School in Charlotte. He was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967^[2] with a BS degree in Business Administration and was the president of the business honors fraternity as a result of having the highest academic average in the business school.^{[citation needed]} In 1970, he received a JD degree from Yale University Law School^[2] and was a published member of the Yale Law Journal. He has been awarded honorary degrees from North Carolina A&T State University, Johnson C. Smith University, Bennett College and Fisk University.^[3]

He was elected to the House in 1992 by defeating Barbara Gore Washington (R) and Curtis Wade Krumel (L).

Law career

Watt practiced law from 1970 to 1992, specializing in minority business and economic development law in a general practice law firm best known for its civil rights reputation.^{[citation needed]} He has been a partner in several small businesses.^[2]

Early political career

Watt was the campaign manager of Harvey Gantt's campaigns for City Council, for Mayor of Charlotte and for the United States Senate. Watt served one term in the North Carolina Senate (1985–86) where he was called “the conscience of the Senate.”^{[citation needed]} He did not seek a second term in the state Senate and announced that he would not consider running for elective office again until his children completed high school.^[3]

U.S. House of Representatives

Committee assignments

• Committee on Financial Services
  • Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit
  • Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity
• Committee on the Judiciary
  • Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law
  • Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet (Ranking Member)

He previously served on the Joint Economic Committee.

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Black Caucus
• Congressional Progressive Caucus
• International Conservation Caucus

Watt was unanimously elected and served as the Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus (2005–2006).

Since 1995, he has been the starting pitcher for the Democratic baseball team in the annual Congressional Baseball Game and was named most valuable player in 1995, 1996 and 2000.^[3]

In 2003 Watt opposed efforts by the George W. Bush administration and Congressional Republicans to increase regulatory oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.^[4] "I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing", Mr. Watt said.^[4] Watt said that "Brad Miller and I were at the forefront of that more than anybody else in America" in trying to prevent the financial crisis, despite the fact that Watt's stated position was against an increase and more oversight for high risk lending.^[5]

Controversies

Gerrymandered district

The 12th district, in its original configuration, was criticized as a gerrymandered district. It was originally drawn in 1992^[6] as a 64% black majority district stretching from Gastonia to Durham. It was very long and thin as it followed Interstate 85 almost exactly.^[7][8] The Wall Street Journal called the district "political pornography" and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor called the district's shape "bizarre" during the course of the eventual United States Supreme Court case involving the district, Shaw v. Reno. The district was thrown out as unconstitutional in 1996 and has been redrawn several times. Regardless of the district's configuration, Watt has had virtually no difficulty winning re-election in the always heavily Democratic district.

Ralph Nader incident

In 2004, Ralph Nader attended a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus, where he alleges that Congressman Watt twice uttered an "obscene racial epithet" towards him. It was alleged that Watt said: "You're just another arrogant white man — telling us what we can do — it's all about your ego — another f--king arrogant white man." Although Nader wrote a letter to the Caucus and to Watt asking for an apology, none was offered.^[9]

Opposition to Federal Reserve auditing

In 2009, fellow congressman Ron Paul reported to Bloomberg that while Paul's bill HR 1207, which mandates an audit of the Federal Reserve, was in subcommittee, Watt had substantially altered the substance of the bill, a move which had "gutted" the bill's protections.^[10] According to Bloomberg News, on October 20, "The bill, with 308 co-sponsors, has been stripped of provisions that would remove Fed exemptions from audits of transactions with foreign central banks, monetary policy deliberations, transactions made under the direction of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and communications between the Board, the reserve banks and staff, Paul said today." Paul said there is "nothing left" in the bill after Watt's actions.^[10]

Paul responded when he and Alan Grayson of Florida passed a competing amendment hours before the bill cleared the House Financial Services Committee to restore the bill's original language and undo Watt's attempts to weaken its effects. Watt won support from Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts and the Congressional Black Caucus, both of which backed his amendment. Eight of the ten Black Caucus members on the committee voted against the Paul-Grayson amendment. Watt and Frank voted to inhibit the bill's approval. With pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus to delay consideration of the bill by the full House of Representatives, it is unclear when HR 1207 will face a final vote.^[11]

The country's largest bank Bank of America is headquartered in Charlotte in Watt's congressional district and has threatened to leave. The Sunlight Foundation reported that 45% of Watt's campaign contributions for 2009 are from corporations in the real estate, insurance and finance industries, the seventh-highest percentage of any member of Congress.^[12][13] Watt’s largest contributors included American Express (NYSE: AXP), Wachovia, Bank of America and the American Bankers Association.

Ethics Investigation

Congressman Watts was formally investigated by the Office of Congressional Ethics over a series of fundraising events he was involved in. On December 9, 2009 Watt held a fundraiser and soon after withdrew a proposal he had introduced to subject auto dealers to more stringent regulations. The fundraiser brought donors mainly from large finance companies such as Goldman Sachs.^[14] Watt was later cleared of charges or wrongdoing.^[15]

In what the nonpartisan Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington called “disgraceful”^[16], Watt introduce legislation to slash funding for the Office of Congressional Ethics.^[17]

Political campaigns

In 1992, Watt was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's newly created 12th Congressional District and became one of only two African American members elected to Congress from North Carolina in the 20th century, the other being Eva M. Clayton.

See also

• North Carolina Democratic Party

References

1. ^ "Members of Congress / Melvin Watt". The U. S. Congress Votes Database (The Washington Post). http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/w000207/. Retrieved 2010-01-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Fisher challenges Watt again in 12th Congressional District". Davidson County Dispatch. 2006-10-30. http://www.the-dispatch.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061030/NEWS/610300330/1005. Retrieved 2008-10-16. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Watt's House website
4. ^ ^{a b} September 13, 2003 New York Times
5. ^ "Watt and Cobb battle for 12th District seat". Davidson County Dispatch. 2008-10-16. http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20081016/ARTICLES/810160319/1005. Retrieved 2008-10-16. 
6. ^ senate.leg.state.mn.us
7. ^ politicsnj.com
8. ^ "State Profile -- North Carolina". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/NC/NC00.shtml. Retrieved May 12, 2010. 
9. ^ Nichols, Hans and Peter Savodnik (July 14, 2004) "Nader Angers Congressional Black Caucus with Demand for Apology." Commondreams.org.
10. ^ ^{a b} Ivry, Bob (October 20, 2009) "Federal Reserve Policy Audit Legislation ‘Gutted,’ Paul Says" Bloomberg News.
11. ^ Dayen, David (November 19, 2009) "Paul-Grayson 'Audit The Fed' Bill Passes Financial Services Committee" FireDogLake.
12. ^ Blumenthal, Paul (October 15, 2009) "Chamber of Commerce Deploys Former Government Officials to Lobby On Financial Regulation" Sunlight Foundation.
13. ^ Blumenthal, Paul (October 9, 2009) "Top Financial Services Committee Members Rely Heavily On Finance Campaign Contributions" Sunlight Foundation.
14. ^ 8 House members investigated over fundraisers held near financial reform vote. Washington Post. June 16, 2010
15. ^ Mel Watt cleared by panel. The Charlotte Observer
16. ^ [http://www.citizensforethics.org/blog/c/mel-watt Watt’s disgraceful attempt to destroy the OCE
17. ^ Dem seeks to slash funding for ethics office set up by Pelosi. The Hill

External links

• Congressman Mel Watt official U.S. House site
• Mel Watt for Congress official campaign site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Congressional profile at GovTrack
• Congressional profile at OpenCongress
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Financial information at OpenSecrets.org
• Staff salaries, trips and personal finance at LegiStorm.com
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Appearances on C-SPAN programs
• Congressman Watt Elected to Be Chair of the CBC civilrights.org, December 13, 2004

United States House of Representatives
New district	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 12th congressional district 1993–present	Incumbent
Preceded by Elijah Cummings	Chairman of Congressional Black Caucus 2005–2007	Succeeded by Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
United States order of precedence
Preceded by Nydia Velázquez D-New York	United States Representatives by seniority 93rd	Succeeded by Lynn Woolsey D-California

Persondata
Name	Watt, Mel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 26, 1945
Place of birth	Steele Creek, North Carolina
Date of death
Place of death