John Pappageorge

John Pappageorge (born July 19, 1931) [ Michigan Leglislature, "State Representative John Pappageorge," http://www.legislature.mi.gov/(S(fsecftn13sid5az4tza3ixm0))/documents/publications/manual/2003-2004/2003-mm-0233-0233-Pappageorge.pdf (accessed August 16, 2008).] is a member of the Michigan State Senate. [ Michigan Senate, "Senator John Pappageorge," http://www.senate.michigan.gov/gop/senators/about.asp?District=13 (accessed August 16, 2008).]

Biography

John George Pappageorge was born to a Greek family on the east side of Detroit, Michigan. [ Michigan Leglislature. Michigan Senate.] Both of his parents died while he was a child. After the death of his parents, Pappageorge was raised for a short period by family friends in Greece. He returned to Detroit’s east side while still a child as the political situation in Europe that would eventually lead to World War II worsened and was raised there through the rest of his childhood and teens.

Pappageorge entered the United States Army after graduating from high school in Detroit, enrolling in the United States Military Academy at West Point. From West Point he received a B.S. in engineering in 1954. [ Project Vote Smart, "Senator John Pappageorge," Project Vote Smart: The Voter's Self Defense System, http://www.votesmart.org/bio.php?can_id=1256 (accessed August 15 2008). Michigan Leglislature. Michigan Senate.] He later obtained a M.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland in 1971 and attended the U.S. Army War College in 1973. [ Project Vote Smart. Michigan Leglislature. Michigan Senate.]

He served 30 years of active duty in the Infantry including two combat tours in Vietnam. [Michigan Senate.] During the second tour, he served as a battalion commander. There he was highly decorated, including receiving the Distinguished Service Medal, Superior Service Medal, four Legions of Merit, the Bronze Star, nine Air Medals, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and the Vietnam Gallantry Cross. He is also Airborne, Ranger, and Pathfinder qualified. [Michigan Leglislature. Michigan Senate.]

While in the Army, Pappageorge served as Special Assistant to General Alexander Haig, who was then the Commander in Chief, U.S. European Command (CinCUSEUR) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) (and later U.S. Secretary of State). Pappageorge conducted shuttle diplomacy between Greece and Turkey that returned Greek forces to NATO's integrated military structure. [ Michigan Senate.] He spent his last four years in the Army, 1981-1984, as a member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Council. [Project Vote Smart. Michigan Leglislature. Michigan Senate.]

He retired as a colonel in 1984, settling in Troy, Michigan in Oakland County. [ Michigan Senate.] After retirement from the Army, Pappageorge became Director of Business and Strategic Planning at General Dynamics Land Systems Division. [Project Vote Smart. Michigan Senate.] From 1989 to 1992, Pappageorge served as an Oakland county commissioner. [Project Vote Smart. Michigan Senate.] He was the Republican candidate for Congress in Michigan's 12th congressional district in 1992, 1994, and 1996 (see below). In 1995, he served as First Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Michigan. [Michigan Senate]

Pappageorge was married for thirty-five years to his first wife, Helen. She passed away in 1993 to pancreatic cancer. [Michigan Senate.] He married Cristina Burnard (now Cristina Pappageorge) in 1997. [Michigan Senate] Pappageorge has a son and two daughters [Project Vote Smart.] . His son George is an Army reserve Lieutenant Colonel who has served in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. [Michigan Senate]

Congressional campaigns

1992 election

In 1992, he ran for the United States House of Representatives against Sander Levin. This was the first serious Republican opposition against Levin, after his congressional district absorbed a Republican-leaning spur of Oakland County in redistricting. Levin won by 7%.

1994 election

Pappageorge ran against Levin for the second time in 1994, this time managing to pull within 5%, despite being outspent more than 3-to-1. [ cite web |title =CNN|work =Michigan's Rep. Sander Levin in a Real Race|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/19/rothenberg/|accessdate=2007-08-07] Pappageorge benefitted from Newt Gingrich's Contract with America and the 1994 Republican Revolution.

1996 election

In his third consecutive run against Levin, he was not able to shore up as much support, losing 57.4%-40.5%.

Michigan House of Representatives

Pappageorge served in the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1999-2004, when he retired due to term limits. [ Capitol Services, "Meet Your Freshmen Leglislators," http://www.capitolservices.org/Fresh_Legisl.pdf (accessed August 16, 2008). Michigan Senate. ] He spent four years on the House Appropriations Committee, and served his final two years as Chair of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and as a member of the Employment Relations, Training and Safety Committee, the Judiciary Committee, the Senior Health, Security, and Retirement Committee, and the Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security Committee. [Michigan Senate.]

1998 election

In 1998, he ran for the Michigan State House 21st District seat, which then encompassed southern Troy, Clawson and northern Royal Oak in Oakland County. He defeated Troy City Councilmember Matt Pryor in the Republican Primary. He went on to defeat Democrat David Richards in the November general election.

2000 election

In 2000, he was re-elected facing nominal opposition with no primary challengers.

2002 election

He was again re-elected in 2002, facing nominal opposition and no primary challengers.

2006 State Senate campaign

Pappagoerge was coaxed by the Michigan Republican Party to run for the 13th District State Senate seat after Sander Levin's son, Andy Levin announced he was going to enter the race. [ cite web |title =Gongwer News Service Michigan (Subscription Required)|work =GONGWER- Volume #45, Report #146 --Tuesday, August 1, 2006|url=http://www.gongwer.com/programming/login.cfm?link=http://www.gongwer.com/programming/news.cfm?&CFID=199968&CFTOKEN=24145773|accessdate=2007-08-07]

Originally, the Republican primary race was supposed to be between former State Representatives Shelley Taub and Robert Gosselin in a moderately safe Republican district. When Levin entered the race, however, Republicans feared that his name recognition and fundraising ability (as the son of an Oakland County Congressman and nephew of Michigan's Senator) in the County could make the seat much more competitive.

After Pappageorge joined the race, Gosselin dropped out in order to run for County Commissioner in Troy.

The competition between Pappageorge and Taub was characterized in the media as fierce. [ cite web |title =Oakland Press|work =Levin says Pappageorge resorting to dirty tricks|url=http://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/102806/loc_2006102836.shtmlhttp://www.theoaklandpress.com/stories/102806/loc_2006102836.shtml|accessdate=2007-08-07] Taub claimed that if she had known that Pappageorge was going to run for the Senate, she would not have run. She put Pappageorge's name as an endorser on about 20,000 fliers that were sent throughout the district. She also claimed that Pappageorge received illegal support from the Senate GOP through the New Century Fund, a political action committee (PAC) without any campaign history that funded campaign material on behalf of Pappageorge.

Pappageorge won the August Republican primary 58.5% to Taub's 41.5%.

Charges of mudslinging and dirty politics continued in the general election between Pappageorge and Levin. The race became hotly contested, with over $2 million spent by the two campaigns, and with negative television ads from each side (a rarity in State Senate races in metro-Detroit).

The Michigan Republican Party, on behalf of Pappageorge's campaign, distributed flyers alleging that Levin had stances on issues, including same-sex marriage, illegal immigration and gun control, that were too liberal for the district. They also accused Levin of being a carpetbagger, as Levin had recently moved back to Michigan after working for the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. Levin's campaign fired back, claiming that Pappageorge cut more than $500 million from schools in Michigan and was fired from the Bush Presidential campaign in 2004.

Pappageorge defeated Levin in November by a slim margin, 776 votes. Pappageorge's margin of victory was less than the number of votes obtained by Green Party candidate Kyle McBee, who received 3,118 votes.

Controversy

In 2004, Pappageorge was quoted in the Detroit Free Press as saying "If we do not suppress the Detroit vote, we're going to have a tough time in this election cycle." [ cite web |title =New York Times|work =Making Votes Count: The Poll Tax Updated |url=http://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/voting/press/nyt/2004-10-07%20NYT%20The%20Poll%20Tax%20Updated.pdf|accessdate=2007-08-07] This remark was interpreted by many as advocating the suppression of minority votes. Detroit's population is more than 80 percent African American, and tends to vote heavily Democratic.

Notes

External links

* [http://www.senate.michigan.gov/gop/senators/pappageorge.asp?District=13 Republican State Senate website]
* [http://www.michiganvotes.org/Legislator.aspx?ID=186 Michigan Votes information on Pappageorge]