Bill Keating (politician): Difference between revisions

William Keating
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 9th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Stephen Lynch
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 10th district
In office January 3, 2011 – January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Bill Delahunt
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
District Attorney of Norfolk County
In office January 3, 1999 – January 3, 2011
Preceded by	Bill Delahunt
Succeeded by	Michael Morrissey
Member of the Massachusetts Senate from the Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth district
In office January 3, 1985 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by	Joseph Timilty
Succeeded by	Jo Ann Sprague
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 8th Norfolk district
In office January 3, 1979 – January 3, 1985
Preceded by	Andrew Card
Succeeded by	Marjorie Clapprood
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 19th Norfolk district
In office January 3, 1977 – January 3, 1979
Preceded by	Laurence Buxbaum
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Personal details
Born	(1952-09-06) September 6, 1952 (age 71) Norwood, Massachusetts, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Boston College (BA, MBA) Suffolk University (JD)
Website	Congressional website

William Richard "Bill" Keating (born September 6, 1952) is an American politician and the U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 9th congressional district. Born and raised in Norwood, Massachusetts, after college he went on to earn his Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctor.

A member of the Democratic Party, prior to being elected to Congress he was elected to both chambers of the Massachusetts General Court: serving in the House from 1977 to 1985, and the Senate from 1985 to 1999. He also served as the District Attorney of Norfolk County from 1999 to 2011.

After winning election in 2010 to the 10th district, due to census redistricting which would have placed him in competition against a fellow Representative, in 2012 he chose to run in the "incumbent-free" 9th district, where he was elected.

Keating was born in Norwood, Massachusetts in 1952 to Anna (née Welch) and William B. Keating. Graduating from Sharon High School, Keating enrolled in Boston College where he received his Bachelor of Arts in 1974, and his Masters of Business Administration in 1982. In 1985 Keating earned his Juris Doctor from Suffolk University Law School and passed the bar exam. Keating later became a partner at the law firm of Keating & Fishman.^[1][2]

In 1977 Keating was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives from the 19th Norfolk district, where he served for a year, and was later elected from the 8th Norfolk district, serving from 1979 to 1984.^[1][3] While serving, Keating voted in favor of making discrimination based on sexual orientation illegal and supported gay marriage rights in Massachusetts.^{[citation needed]} He was a supporter of George Keverian in his successful 1985 effort to overthrow Thomas W. McGee as Speaker of the House.^[4] By the end of his House tenure, Keating became vice chairman of the House Criminal Justice Committee.^[5]

In 1984, state Sen. Joseph F. Timilty resigned his Norfolk and Suffolk seat to pursue a career in private law, and Keating became the only major Democratic contender for the office. In the general election he faced Republican Marion Boch, who promoted a plan for dramatic cuts to legislators' pay and hours, invoking the energy of the Ronald Reagan campaign. Keating focused his campaign on expanding resources for crime prevention and education, tailoring his message to the Boston constituency he would pick up as a senator.^[5] He was successful, winning about 64 percent of the vote, and was sworn in the following January.^[6]

In his first year he was named Senate chairman of the joint Public Safety Committee, where he led the legislative action for a statewide seat belt law pushed by Governor Michael Dukakis.^[7] He authored a drug sentencing reform package signed into law in 1988, lowering thresholds for possession charges and establishing new minimum sentences, including a one-year minimum sentence for first-time possession of cocaine or PCP "with intent to distribute".^[8] The latter provision was widely derided by criminal justice authorities as excessively strict and vaguely worded.^[9]

Redistricting eventually placed Keating in the Norfolk and Bristol seat (1989–1994).^[1][3] As a vice chairman of the joint Criminal Justice Committee, Keating was a lead author of a 1991 sentencing reform bill, signed into law by Governor William Weld, which made it easier to try juveniles as adults and pass harsher sentences in the case of major crimes, especially murder. "What is occuring is a shift away from the rehabilitative stance to a focus on the seriousness of the crime committed by the juvenile," said Keating.^[10][11] In 1992, as co-chairman of the Taxation Committee, he successfully pushed a proposal to phase out the Massachusetts estate tax.^[12][13]

In 1994 Keating led a group of liberals in a failed coup to remove state Senate President William Bulger, a fellow Democrat, from his position. Keating, a staunch liberal relative to the more socially conservative Bulger, sought to reform the Senate rules to greatly reduce the president's power. Bulger, who had held the Senate gavel for 15 years, exerted strict control over the body's operations, but was gradually losing his power base with new crops of Democratic freshman replacing his longtime allies.^[4] Keating's campaign failed, but said during his 2010 election campaign: "The thought that I took on the most powerful person in Massachusetts, risking my whole career, a member of my own party, is something that is resonating in this campaign, that helps define me as independent."^[14]

Further redistricting landed Keating in the Norfolk, Bristol, and Plymouth district from 1995 to 1998.^[1][3] Throughout his Senate tenure Keating served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Chairman of the Committee on Taxation, and Vice Chairman of the Committee on Criminal Justice; he also served as the Senate Chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Chairman of the Steering and Policy Committee.^[2]

From 1999 to 2011, Keating was the District Attorney (DA) of Norfolk County, Massachusetts.^[1][2] While in this post his office established the Foxborough-based Norfolk Advocacy Center, public-private partnership whose mission is to aid abused children. His office was the first in Massachusetts to win a murder conviction in a case that lacked a victim’s body.^[15]

With incumbent Bill Delahunt choosing to retire, Keating declared his candidacy in the 2010 congressional election. On September 14, he won the Democratic primary against state senator Robert O'Leary.^[16] Keating faced Republican state Representative Jeff Perry in the general election. In the wake of the Tea Party movement and the election of Republican U.S. Senator Scott Brown, the campaign was unusually close for a modern Massachusetts race, which would normally skew heavily Democratic. The Keating campaign largely focused on a 1991 incident during Perry's tenure as a police sergeant, in which a teenage girl had been illegally strip-searched by another officer while Perry was on the scene. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee ran a widely aired advertisement highlighting the incident and challenging Perry's character.^[17] With 47 percent of the vote, Keating defeated Perry (42 percent), and two independents, in the November 2 election.^[18]

With the state poised to lose a congressional seat after the 2010 census, lawmakers released a redistricting plan in November 2011 which placed Keating into the same congressional district as Stephen Lynch.^[19] Under the plan, the cities of Quincy and other upper South Shore towns were placed into Lynch's district, potentially forcing a primary between the two lawmakers. Instead of campaigning against his fellow Congressman in the 2012 election, Keating chose to move to his summer home in Cape Cod, to run in an "incumbent-free" district. Keating defeated Bristol County District Attorney Samuel Sutter in the September 6 Democratic primary, and in November 2012 he defeated Republican Christopher Sheldon to win a second term in the U.S. House.

Keating is considered a liberal by national standards. In 2012, the National Journal ranked Keating as "the 84th most liberal member of the House", but second only to Stephen Lynch as the most conservative of the Massachusetts House delegation.^[20]

Issues specific to his Cape Cod–based district, such as maritime policy, have been a major target of Keating's work. In June 2012, he organized the Federal Fishing Advisory Board, a body to research and address fisheries management concerns between lawmakers and industry stakeholders.^[21] In 2012 he and his Massachusetts peers successfully pushed the Commerce Department to issue a federal disaster declaration for fisheries in the northeastern U.S., which would open up the opportunity for financial aid.^[22] In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, he proposed to redirect $111 million of relief funding to fisheries throughout the country, although the proposal was shot down by the House Rules Committee.^[23]

When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission considered a 20-year contract extension for the Pilgrim Nuclear Generating Station in the Cape Cod town of Plymouth in mid-2012, Keating repeatedly took to the press. He at first declined to take a position on the plant's re-authorization, stating, "I wouldn't be the right person to ask and that's why we have regulatory authorities and people with expertise to deal with that."^[24] When the commission voted to renew the license, Keating joined other Massachusetts politicians in deriding the decision as premature.^[25] During a labor strike later in the year, Keating joined U.S. Representative Ed Markey in challenging the qualifications of the plant's replacement workers.^[26]

Along with U.S. Senator John Kerry, Keating helped to finalize the cleanup and sale of portions of a defunct naval air base in South Weymouth to private developers. The deal, reached in November 2011, was a linchpin for the SouthField development project.^[27]

Keating has stressed his opposition to Social Security reductions such as raising the retirement age or privatizing the program,^[28][29] and supported a cost-of-living adjustment announced by the Social Security Administration in 2011.^[30]

In 2011, Keating had a 100% voting record with the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO), backing all 29 endorsed bills.^[31] During 2012, Keating voted in favor of 10 of 12 AFL-CIO backed bills, with the two opposing votes dealing with small business startups and swap dealer exclusions.^[31] Overall, Keating's has support 95% of AFL-CIO endorsed legislation. Keating also received an 0% rating from the anti-union WorkPlaceChoice.org.^[31] He voted “nay” on the NLRB Prohibitions Bill in November 2011.^[32]

Keating sits on the House Homeland Security Committee as well as the Foreign Affairs Committee, where he is the ranking member of the Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats Subcommittee. He joined a Congressional delegation to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq, shortly after the 2011 execution of Osama Bin Laden.^[33] After TSA officers in Boston were accused of racial profiling in 2012, he requested a Homeland Security Committee hearing into the accusations.^[34]

A Women's Advisory Board for the 10th Congressional District was founded by Keating in January 2011, with hopes of gaining insight into how best to serve the women in the 10th District.^[35] From October 18 to October 21, 2011, he hosted "Women's Week" in the district, with events focusing on topics such as breast cancer awareness, domestic violence, and female entrepreneurship.^[36]

Keating is Pro-choice,^[29] and during his tenure in the House has voted against the Protect Life Act and the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.^[37] In 2010, Keating received a rating of 0% from Massachusetts Citizens for Life. In 1997, he was rated 100% by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, and during the same year, he received a 100% rating from the Massachusetts National Organization for Women.^[38]

Keating is a supporter of gay rights, promising to fight Don't Ask Don't Tell and to push nationwide anti-discrimination laws and marriage rights for gays and lesbians.^[39] In July 2011, he recorded a video supporting LGBT youth in Massachusetts in conjunction with other members of Massachusetts’ Congressional Delegation and the It Gets Better Project.^[40]

During his 2010 campaign for the United States House, he promised to increase federal firearm regulations.^[41] His proposed changes included closing a loophole that allows people on the FBI Terrorist Watch List to buy guns and requiring child safety trigger locks on all guns sold in the US.^[41] Keating voted “nay” on the National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011.^[42]

• Foreign Affairs
  • Asia and the Pacific
  • Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats (ranking member)
• Homeland Security
  • Counterterrorism and Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies

Keating and his wife Tevis live in Bourne, Massachusetts. They have two children: Kristen and Patrick.^[1]

• Congressman William Keating official U.S. House site
• Keating campaign website
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Profile at Vote Smart

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