1. Gary Alvin Franks was born on February 9,1953 and is an American politician who was a member of the US House of Representatives from Connecticut for six years, from 1991 until 1997.
21 Facts About Gary Franks
1. 2.
Gary Franks is the first African-American elected to the US Congress from Connecticut, the first modern black conservative elected to the House of Representatives, and the first black Republican elected since Oscar De Priest's election in 1932.
3.
Gary Franks is one of six children of a brass mill worker and a hospital dietary aide.
4.
Gary Franks was elected president of his class at Sacred Heart High School.
5.
Gary Franks received his Bachelor of Arts from Yale University in 1975.
6.
Gary Franks was captain of the basketball team and a free agent for the New Orleans Jazz NBA team.
7.
Gary Franks served as a member of the Waterbury board of aldermen from 1986 to 1990.
8.
Gary Franks was an unsuccessful candidate for Comptroller of Connecticut in 1986.
9.
Gary Franks was the first African-American Republican elected to the House since Oscar Stanton De Priest, last elected from Chicago's South Side in 1932.
10.
In 1992, Gary Franks won in a three-way election against Democratic candidate James Lawlor from Waterbury and A Connecticut Party candidate Lynn Taborsak from Danbury.
11.
Gary Franks lost in a rematch to Maloney in 1996, as Connecticut came out strongly for the re-election of President Bill Clinton.
12.
Gary Franks served as chairman of the Panel for Defense Conversion, and $20 million were approved for the demolition and cleanup of an old defense manufacturing site in his hometown of Waterbury.
13.
Gary Franks wrote the law that cemented Weir Farm National Historic Site in Ridgefield, Connecticut, as a place under the auspices of the National Park Service.
14.
Gary Franks declared his candidacy for US Senate in 1998, challenging incumbent Senator Chris Dodd.
15.
Gary Franks was defeated by Dodd in the election, receiving just 32 percent of the vote.
16.
Gary Franks has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and is currently a visiting professor at Hampton University and the University of Virginia.
17.
In 2010,13 years after leaving Congress, Gary Franks was profiled by the Waterbury newspaper, the Republican-American, in a piece detailing what the newspaper alleged were his history of unpaid debts, back taxes, and foreclosed properties.
18.
Gary Franks ran as a candidate in favor of welfare reform and an opponent of affirmative action.
19.
Gary Franks was a supporter of the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.
20.
Gary Franks opposed increased taxation and supported a reduced capital gains tax and an amendment to ban desecration of the American flag.
21.
Gary Franks married Donna Williams in 1990; they have two daughters and a son.