Ellen O'Kane Tauscher is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who was the U.S. Representative for California's 10th congressional district from 1997 until her resignation in 2009 upon joining the State Department, where she served as the Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs until February 2012. She then served as Special Envoy for Strategic Stability and Missile Defense at the State Department until August 31, 2012.Wikipedia
While in Congress, Tauscher was a leading centrist Democrat, and the chairman of the
New Democrat Coalition, a caucus of 65 moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives. She also served as vice-chairwoman of the
Democratic Leadership Council from 2001 to 2005.
Early life and career[edit]
In 1989, Tauscher moved to California and later founded the ChildCare Registry, the first national research service to help parents verify the background of childcare workers.
[5]She also published
The ChildCare Sourcebook and headed the Tauscher Foundation, which provided funds for elementary schools to buy computers and
Internet access.
[6]
Political career[edit]
In 1996, Tauscher was recruited to run against two-term
Republican incumbent
Bill Baker in
California's 10th congressional district, which included several wealthy suburbs in the East Bay. During the campaign, Tauscher emphasized balancing the federal budget, her support for business, the environment, and the military.
[8] She also charged that Baker was too
conservative for the district, particularly given his opposition to
abortion and
gun control.
[9] She narrowly defeated Baker, claiming victory by a margin of 1.45% of the vote.
[10] The race was ranked as the fourth most expensive of that year's 435 House races.
[11]
Tauscher was re-elected in
1998 and
2000 against vigorous Republican opposition. While the 10th district was once considered "solid Republican territory,"
[9] most Bay Area Republicans tend to be more moderate than their counterparts in the rest of California and since the 1990s have been increasingly willing to support Democrats at the national level.
[citation needed]
In 2000, during the statewide redistricting process, some of the more Republican-leaning parts of Tauscher's district were removed and replaced with more Democratic territory near
Berkeley and in
Solano County. She was subsequently re-elected to four more terms, facing no substantive opposition and receiving more than 65 percent of the vote after
2002.
[citation needed]
On March 18, 2009, President Obama nominated Tauscher to the position of
Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. She was confirmed by the
United States Senate on June 25, 2009, by
unanimous consent.
[14]Notwithstanding her appointment, confirmation and acceptance, she served as
Speaker Pro Tempore on June 26, 2009, when the House narrowly passed (219–212) a
cap-and-trade global warming bill.
[15] Tauscher resigned her seat on June 26, 2009, after voting was finished on the
American Clean Energy & Security Act.
[16] Her resignation necessitated a
special election.
[17]Tauscher served as
Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security until her appointment on February 6, 2012, as Special Envoy for Strategic Stability and Missile Defense. Tauscher retired from the State Department on August 31, 2012.
[citation needed]
As Under Secretary of State, Tauscher successfully negotiated the
New START treaty with the Russian Federation in March 2010.
[18] The first major agreement signed with Russia in nearly 20 years, the treaty was signed by Presidents Barack Obama and
Dmitri Medvedev on April 8, 2010, and ratified by the U.S. Senate on December 22, 2010. Tauscher represented the United States at the
U.N. NPT review conference that is held every five years to review the status of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
[19] The 2010 conference was the first in 10 years to result in an consensus agreement. Tauscher was also the lead official in the State Department working on the bilateral agreements with Poland, Romania, and Turkey for the European Phased Adaptive Approach missile defense system, negotiating timely agreements that allowed the President's deployment timeline to be met.
[20]
In 2008, Tauscher was a strong supporter of
Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy for President. She traveled around the country as a surrogate for Clinton's campaign in the primary. In 2013, she was one of the first prominent elected officials to join the Ready for Hillary effort which became one of the largest independent grassroots efforts on behalf of an undeclared Presidential candidate in history.
[21]
Career after politics[edit]
In August 2013, the
Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety elected Tauscher as independent chairperson.
[22] The Alliance is a coalition of some of the largest clothing retailers and brands in North America, including Wal-Mart, Target, the Gap, Costco, and VF Brands. The Alliance is working with the government of Bangladesh, factory owners, and international organizations to improve worker safety for Bangladeshi garment workers.
[citation needed]
Tauscher also served as a strategic advisor to the Washington, D.C. law firm of Baker Donelson on matters of defense, transportation, energy, and health care.
[citation needed]
Political views[edit]
Abortion[edit]
Gun rights[edit]
Tauscher was in favor of more extensive gun control. She expressed her support for the
Second Amendment, but has also said that "we should keep guns out of the hands of criminals and those with history of violence." She called for "common sense gun safety legislation that strikes a balance between Second Amendment protections and protections for the public."
[citation needed]
Iraq war[edit]
LGBT issues[edit]
Tauscher was an early proponent of same-sex marriage, publicly stating in 2004 in response to President George W. Bush's call for a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, "It is clear to me that this is the civil rights issue of the 21st century, and it is unambiguous in my mind that the government cannot discriminate by gender the rights conferred by the state in marriage."
[33] In 2006, she voted against the
Federal Marriage Amendment, which would have
constitutionally defined marriage as being between a man and woman.
[27]
Personal life and death[edit]
Tauscher lived in
Pleasanton and later
Alamo, California, during her Congressional career.
[34][35] Prior to their
divorce in 1999, she was married to William Tauscher, former Chairman and
CEO of
Vanstar Corporation, current
director of
Safeway, Inc.,
[36] and founder of the Tauscher Group, which invests and assists in the management of enterprises in home products,
transportation, security and
real estate.
[37] She had a daughter, Katherine (born 1991).
[6]
In July 2010, Tauscher was diagnosed with Stage 3 esophageal cancer, one of the fastest growing cancers in the United States and one of the deadliest, with a survival rate of 18%.
[39] After a grueling regimen of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery to remove her esophagus, Tauscher was declared cancer-free in December 2010. Following that time, she was active as a board member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) and as Chair of the NCCN Foundation, as well as speaking around the country, advocating for more information, more funding and earlier screening for the disease.
[citation needed]
