44 Facts About Maurice Hinchey

Maurice Dunlea Hinchey was an American politician who served as a US Representative from New York and was a member of the Democratic Party.

Maurice Hinchey retired at the end of his term in January 2013 after 20 years in Congress.

Maurice Hinchey was born in New York City, and later moved to the Hudson Valley where he attended high school and college, Hinchey had previously represented part of the area in the New York State Assembly since 1975.

Maurice Hinchey's mother was of Ukrainian descent and his father was the son of Irish immigrants.

Maurice Hinchey first sought public office in 1972, with an unsuccessful race for the New York State Assembly.

Ulster County was a Republican stronghold, but Maurice Hinchey ran successfully in 1974, becoming the first Democrat to represent Ulster County since 1912.

Maurice Hinchey remained in the Assembly until 1992 and was a member of the 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th and 189th New York State Legislatures.

Maurice Hinchey was particularly noted for his work on protecting the natural environment.

Maurice Hinchey served on the Ways and Means, Rules, Banks, Health, Higher Education, Labor, Energy and Agriculture committees.

Maurice Hinchey's committee gained public attention for its investigation of the infiltration of the waste removal industry by organized crime.

Maurice Hinchey won the Democratic nomination for the district, which had been renumbered the 26th after New York lost three districts as a result of the 1990 census.

In 1994, Maurice Hinchey faced Moppert again; in that year's Republican Revolution wave election, Maurice Hinchey won by only 1,200 votes.

Maurice Hinchey's district was significantly reconfigured when New York lost two congressional seats after the 2000 census.

Maurice Hinchey was threatened with dismemberment of his district or with having to run against a popular and well-established Republican incumbent, either Ben Gilman or Sherwood Boehlert.

Maurice Hinchey's district was renumbered the 22nd and wound a narrow, contorted path across eight counties in the southern part of the state, from the Hudson River through the Catskills and Binghamton to Ithaca, connecting the most politically liberal parts of the Southern Tier and Borscht Belt regions.

Maurice Hinchey ran in historically Republican areas throughout his career.

Maurice Hinchey is best categorized as having been a progressive populist.

Maurice Hinchey bridged the ideological gap with a reputation for supporting many measures to improve integrity in government, by popular advocacy of strong environmental protection, and by diligent constituent services.

Maurice Hinchey sat on the Appropriations Committee, a post that helped him to deliver federal support on programs important to his district.

Maurice Hinchey was one of 31 members of the House who voted to uphold the objection to counting the 20 electoral votes from Ohio in the 2004 United States presidential election put forth by Ohio Rep.

Maurice Hinchey was an original co-sponsor of the Small Business Clean Energy Financing Act.

Maurice Hinchey was a solar energy supporter; he helped organize the non-profit organization called The Solar Energy Consortium.

In 2010 midterm elections, Maurice Hinchey clashed with his opponent over shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing in upstate New York.

Maurice Hinchey supported the Clean Air Act and did not approve of the Bush administration's decision to roll back the New Source Review component of the Act, fearing it would result in increased acid rain and more pollution of the lakes of the area.

Maurice Hinchey appeared in the 2010 documentary Gasland, discussing the FRAC Act, which he co-sponsored.

Maurice Hinchey was a cosponsor of the Freedom of Choice Act and the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which seeks federal protection of free access to women's clinics and he fought Republican attempts to reduce abortion rights.

Maurice Hinchey was an advocate for family planning programs, including the Title X program.

However, Maurice Hinchey opposed late-term abortions except where necessary to protect the health of the mother.

Maurice Hinchey was made an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau on September 4,2009, by the Ambassador of the Netherlands in capacity of Queen Beatrix.

Maurice Hinchey was awarded the Dutch royal order for his work to commemorate the quadricentennial anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration and discovery of the river in New York and for Hinchey's efforts to strengthen the US-Netherlands relationship.

Maurice Hinchey voted to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell in March 2010.

Maurice Hinchey asked Zients for increased federal funding for this recovery program in the 2012 budget.

On October 18,2010, Maurice Hinchey held a Medicare forum to reassure seniors about provisions in the health care bill that would or would not change parts of Social Security and Medicare.

Maurice Hinchey stated that the health care reform bill would increase the efficiency of Medicare; the Act would not cut into Medicare or social security funding.

Maurice Hinchey wrote a letter to President Barack Obama in October 2010 regarding Social Security.

In December 1994, Maurice Hinchey was issued a summons after X-ray machines at Washington National Airport found a loaded.

Maurice Hinchey was informally advised to carry a handgun for personal protection by NYS Law Enforcement investigators when, as Chair of the NYS Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee, he conducted a major investigation into the repeated dumping of toxic waste into an Orange County NY Landfill by Organized Crime.

In January 2012, Maurice Hinchey held a news conference at Senate House in Kingston, where he had announced his first run for Congress two decades earlier, to announce his retirement.

Maurice Hinchey denied his decision to step down had anything to do with the state's pending redistricting but said he wanted to make his intentions clear before the process was completed.

Maurice Hinchey's departure was seen as making it easier for the state's Democratic Party to decide which member of its congressional delegation would have to give up their district since New York had to eliminate two of its seats that year.

Maurice Hinchey's seat was one of two, the other being that of newly elected Republican Bob Turner, eliminated in redistricting.

Maurice Hinchey had three children, one of whom, Michelle, went on to become a New York State Senator.

Shortly after being treated for colon cancer, Maurice Hinchey began experiencing symptoms of frontotemporal dementia, a diagnosis that his family did not make public until 2017.

Maurice Hinchey died from the disease at his home in Saugerties on November 22,2017, at age 79.