JOSEPH M. MCDADE OF SCRANTON - ELECTED 1962

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88B00527R000100130018-8
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 24, 2010
• Sequence Number: 18
• Content Type: BIO

Approved For Release 2010/03/24: CIA-RDP88B00527R000100130018-8
P.nnsylvonio - 10th District
10 Joseph M. McDade (R)
Of Scranton - Elected 1962
Born: Sept. 29, 1931, Scranton, Pa.
Education: U. of Notre Dame, B.A. 1953; U. of Pa.,
LL.B. 1956.
Occupation Lawyer.
Family: Wife, Mary Theresa O'Brien; four children.
Religion: Roman Catholic.
Political Career. No previous office.
Capitol Office: 2370 Rayburn Bldg. 20515; 225-3731.
In Washington: McDade is a creature of
the Appropriations Committee, on which he
has spent all but two of his more than 20 years
in the House, and especially of its Interior
Subcommittee, on which he has served longer
than the chairman, Democrat Sidney R. Yates
of Illinois.
Yates and McDade are one of the more
successful legislative teams in the House. Nei-
ther has strong partisan instincts, and the
appropriations bills they bring to the floor are
as much McDade's product as the chairman's.
Rarely is there much floor opposition on either
side of the aisle, even when the bill exceeds
administration budget requests.
The Interior Subcommittee has control
over most of the money the federal government
spends on energy research, so McDade has had
a lot to say in recent years over how the money
should be spent.
One way he wants it to be spent is on
synthetic fuels. In 1980, before Congress had
approved President Carter's program, McDade
persuaded the committee to place extra money
for synfuels in the Interior appropriations bill,
to "serve notice" that Congress is serious about
the issue.
Another McDade priority is exploration in
Alaska. He placed in the 1981 bill some $31
million for private oil leasing in the state's
National Petroleum Reserve, ignoring objec-
tions from the Interior Committee that the
move was premature.
But the energy source that is most impor-
tant to McDade's Scranton constituency is coal,
and he is in a perfect spot to provide federal
help for the coal boom he hopes will revive his
depressed district. When the Carter adminis-
tration tried to drop $45 million for a new
commercial coal gasification plant, McDade
and the subcommittee put it right back in.
The subcommittee also has control over
the reclamation fund used to restore aban-
doned strip mines, and this is an issue McDade
battled over for years on the House floor. As
written initially in the Interior Committee, the
landmark Strip Mine Control Act set up a
reclamation fee on newly mined coal to pay for
cleaning up the scarred land.
McDade objected to it as a tax that would
raise the price of coal, and tried repeatedly to
replace it with a fund financed through energy
production on the Outer Continental Shelf. He
managed to get that through the House in 1974,
but the bill did not become law that year, and
by 1977, when it was finally signed into law,
sentiment had shifted the other way.
Outside the energy field, McDade's only
consistent speciality is small business; he would
be chairman of the Small Business Committee
if Republicans controlled the House.
In 1982 he successfully promoted legisla-
tion authorizing a special $169 million fund in
the Small Business Administration to make
loans to areas - such as northern Pennsylvania
- where unemployment is 20 percent above
the national average.
McDade can be energetic and excitable
when he becomes involved in an issue, but
because he has taken up so few causes outside
the energy field, he is surprisingly inconspicu-
ous for a man tied for ninth in seniority among
all House Republicans. He is widely regarded
as one of the most talented members of the
GOP contingent, but his decision to stick to
Appropriations and Small Business matters has
denied him much of a role in the broader
politics of the chamber.
Occasionally, however, he can go on an
unexpected crusade. He complained angrily
that the 1980 census was not making any
distinction between legal and illegal aliens, and
that states with large numbers of illegal aliens
would be getting additional House represents-
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Joseph M. McDade, R-Pa.
Pennsylvania 10
The city of Scranton dominated the
politics of northeastern Pennsylvania in the
early part of the century, but as the coal-
and-railroad town declined in population,
Scranton and Democratic Lackawanna
County have had to speak with a quiet
voice. Lackawanna is still Democratic, but
its vote was too small to permit Jimmy
Carter to carry the 10th either in 1976 or
1980.
The Scranton family remains a power
in Lackawanna. William W. Scranton,
known as "the Squire," served as governor
in the 1960s. His son, William III, won the
lieutenant governorship in 1978 and 1982 as
Gov. Richard L. Thornburgh's running
mate.
Despite Scranton's continuing popula-
tion losses (14.2 percent in the 1970s), the
growth in the outlying counties required the
10th to give up about 5,000 people in re-
districting. But the district was virtually
unchanged politically. The 10th lost two-
thirds of mainly Republican Monroe
County, but kept some of its Pocono Moun-
tain resorts such as Buck Hill Falls and
Camelback, plus the Democratic Strouds-
burg area. Sparsely populated Potter
Northeast -
Scranton
County and part of Clinton County were
tacked onto the 10th's western end. Both
are Republican.
The rural counties in the 10th, such as
Potter and Clinton, are made up of woods,
dairy farms and Republicans. Pike, a Po-
cono Mountain county, contains many vaca-
tion cottages and is home to business execu-
tives who commute to New York. This is
where the growth was during the 1970s;
Pike saw its population increase 54 percent.
Lackawanna County still has half the
district's people, despite the prolonged
slump in anthracite mining that has led to
the decline in unemployment and popula-
tion. The county's Democratic majority
casts its vote in Scranton and in such blue-
collar towns as Moosic and Old Forge. The
Republicans cluster in affluent suburbs like
Clarks Summit and Dalton (home of the
Scranton family). Ethnically, the scramble
for political office in this polyglot county
has been between the Italians and the Irish.
Population: 515,442. White 510,782
(99%), Black 2,262 (0.4%). Spanish origin
2,214 (0.4%). 18 and over 376,348 (73%), 65
and over 75,215 (15%). Median age: 33.
tion - at the expense of states like Pennsylva-
nia, which have few of them.
McDade offered an amendment to a 1981
appropriations bill blocking use of the census
figures for reapportionment. Many in the
House viewed it as a quixotic effort, but Mc-
Dade said it would make a good basis for a
court challenge, and he was far from alone in
his concerns. The amendment passed the
House, 222-189, but it did not become law and
reapportionment went forward.
On most votes, McDade is a consistent
moderdte Republican, one of a handful of GOP
members who vote with the Democrats roughly
half the time. In September 1982 he was one of
only 32 Republicans to support a job creation
bill offered by the Democrtic leadership. He
also voted to override President Reagan's veto
of a massive supplemental appropriation.
McDade was a strong supporter of civil
rights during the 1960s and one of 18 House
Republicans who introduced their own civil
rights bill in 1966, focusing on equal treatment
for blacks in the court system. He has always
been an ally of labor; the AFL-CIO consistently
gives him favorable ratings.
At Home: Times were hard in this coal-
producing area long before the recession of the
early 1980s, and McDade has endeared himself
to constituents of both parties with his efforts
to promote the region's economic development.
During the 1970s, he brought in numerous
federal contracts with the help of his friend
from nearby Wilkes-Barre, Rep. Daniel J.
Flood, a Democratic power on the Appropria-
tions Committee.
McDade's Republican affiliation appeals
to the outlying, rural portions of the 10th and
his pro-labor voting record pleases the blue-
collar Democrats in Lackawanna County
(Scranton), the district's focal point. Unions
regularly back McDade, and local Democratic
organizations have stopped endorsing candi-
dates to run against him. As an Irish Catholic,
he has an appeal among Lackawanna's large
ethnic population enjoyed by few Republicans.
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Joseph M. McDade, R-Pa.
In a bid to maintain his following among
Democrats, McDade avoids strong partisan-
ship. When not campaigning for himself, he
usually limits his political appearances at home
to attending an annual Lincoln Day dinner.
That has led to some criticism that he is not
personally visible enough, but it has never been
a political problem for him.
McDade is mentioned as a possibility for
statewide office nearly every two years, but
nothing has ever come of it. In 1966 he was
offered the GOP nomination for lieutenant
governor, but declined. In 1976 and 1980, he
Committees
Small Business (Ranking)
SBA and SBIC Authority, Minority Enterprise and General Small
Business Problems (ranking).
Appropriptions (2nd of 21 Republicans)
Interior (ranking); Defense.
1992 General
Joseph McDade (R)
103,617
(67%)
Robert Rafalko (D)
49,583
(33%)
1862 Primary
Joseph McDade (R)
26,064
(90%)
Ervin Hohensee (A)
3,066
(10%)
1960 General
Joseph McDade (R)
145,703
(77%)
Gene Basslyga (D)
43,152
(23%)
Previous Winning Percentages;
197$
(77%) 1976
(63%)
1974 (65%) 1672 (74%)
1970
(65%) 1W
(67%)
1* (67X) 1694 (51%)
1162
(63X)
District Vote For President
1110 1978
79,276 (39%) D 101.832 (48%)
110,645 (54%) R 105,197 (500/6)
10,128 ( 5%)
Campaign Finance
1162
Receipts
from PACs
hum
McDade (R)
$265,579
$87.720
(33%)
$188,145
Rafalko (D)
$20,007
$1,614
( 6'/.)
$17,481
1960
McDade(R)
$72,703
$37,625
(52%)
$58,582
Voting Studies
Support
Party
Unity
Conservative
Coalition
Year
B
0
B
0
S
0
1862
40
45
36
55
53
41
11941
62
30
55
34
63
25
1940
51
36
50
41
56
35
1979
46
48
53
41
69
26
was an early Senate contender, but chose not to
enter the campaign.
A lawyer and former municipal solicitor in
his home city, McDade succeeded William W.
Scranton, after whose ancestors the city is
named. Scranton had served one House term
and then become governor.
Handpicked by Scranton for the 1962
House nomination, McDade won an unspec-
tacular election victory. In 1964 his winning
margin was narrower yet. By 1966, however, he
had enlisted organized labor behind him, and
his vote never has dipped below 60 percent.
197$ 42 41 49 40 50 37
1977 63 32 48 48 55 37
1976 45 49 36 50 47 43
1975 54 44 46 52 46 53
1974 (Ford) 57 41
1974 66 34 41 59 42 56
1973 40 54 38 55 40 55
1972 57 22 44 43 50 37
1971 67 32 54 40 57 39
1970 74 18 39 53 43 48
1969 70 30 44 55 42 56
1968 67 18 45 49 37 57
1967 65 32 55 44 50 50
1966 62 30 50 41 32 57
1965 70 29 46 50 37 53
1994 63 37 58 40 42 58
1963 49 44 60 31 33 40
S - Support 0 - Opposition
Key Votes
Reagan budget proposal (1981) Y
Legal services reauthorization (1981) K
Disapprove sale of AWACs planes to Saudi Arabia (1981) 7
Index income taxes (1981) Y
Subsidize home mortgage rates (1982) Y
Amend Constitution to require balanced budget (1982) N
Delete MX funding (1982) Y
Retain existing cap on congressional salaries (1982) N
Adopt nuclear freeze (1983) Y
Interest Group Ratings
ADA ACA AFL-CIO CCU$
60 36 75 32
25 55 47 78
44 35 72 71
26 48 68 59
30 54 45 61
40 42 87 29
40 26 62 50
58 33 61 29
43 40 64 40
48 22 82 . 36
38 42 56 38
43 46 73 -
56 39 57 20
47 29 80
50 32 75 -
57 52 67 50
35 52 62 -
32 30 50
66 42 64 -
53 -
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