Michael Huffington

Michael Huffington (born 1947 September 3 in Dallas, Texas) is an American politician belonging to the Republican party, and a film producer. He was a member of the Congress of the United States for one term, 1993 – 1995, from California. Huffington was married to Arianna Huffington, the Greek-born columnist and progressive activist, from 1986 to 1997; the couple has two daughters.

Education and early life

Huffington graduated from Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana, in 1965 where he received the Central States Amateur Rowing Association Medal when he rowed on the light weight crew. After graduation he was elected to the Culver Chapter of the Cum Laude Society. He received a BS degree in engineering and a BA degree in economics concurrently from Stanford University in 1970. Huffington was a member of the varsity crew, student senator, and co-president of his senior class. After Stanford, he received an MBA in finance from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

In 1972, he started work for The First National Bank of Chicago, and in 1974 he co-founded Simmons & Huffington, Inc.

From 1976 to 1990, he served as vice chairman of Huffco, the family-owned energy business founded by his father Roy M. Huffington.

Political work

Huffington's interest in politics began in 1968, when he was a summer intern for freshman Congressman George H.W. Bush in Washington, D.C.

In 1986, President Reagan appointed Huffington as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Negotiations Policy with responsibility for conventional arms control negotiations. He was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

In 1992, Huffington was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 22nd District (Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties), spending an unprecedented $5.4 million of his personal fortune on his campaign.[1] He defeated veteran incumbent Bob Lagomarsino in the primary. He donated his entire congressional salary to the Partnership for Children of Santa Barbara County in 1993 and to the Partnership for Children of San Luis Obispo County in 1994.

In 1994, after his single term in the House, Huffington used another $28 million dollars of his own money in a bid for a seat in the U.S. Senate. In the Republican primary, he defeated William E. Dannemeyer, a politician, activist, author and an outspoken critic of homosexuality. At the time, Huffington's campaign was the most expensive non-presidential election in American history. It was an actively contested race, lavishly covered by the media, and a year in which the Republicans won control of both houses of Congress. Huffington lost by less than 1.6% of the vote to Dianne Feinstein.

During 1998, Huffington was co-chairman (along with actor/director Rob Reiner) of Proposition 10 in California which raised the price of cigarettes by fifty cents per pack. The resulting multi-hundred million dollars of tax revenue is being used every year to help children from pre-natal to six years of age with their health care and educational needs. Since its passage by the voters in November 1998 the percentage of smokers in the overall population of the state of California has declined.

During the 2003 California Recall, he endorsed Arnold Schwarzenegger over his former wife, Arianna Huffington who was an opposing candidate.

Personal life and political advocacy

In 1998 Huffington disclosed that he was bisexual.

In 2006, Huffington co-chaired the Log Cabin Republicans "The Courage To Lead: An Evening With The Governor" dinner that honored California governor Arnold Schwarzennegger on June 29, 2006. Huffington also personally contributed $1 for every $2 contributed to the Log Cabin Republicans (a 501(c)(4) tax designated organization) for that dinner.

In 2006, Huffington became a Director of It's My Party Too [2]. The group was founded by former Governor Christie Todd Whitman, and advocates for the historic Republican principles of liberty, individual responsibility, and personal freedom.

In December, 2006, he became a blogger on the Huffington Post [3] on a variety of subjects.

In 2007, he became a Director of the Republican Leadership Council which envisions a Republican Party that is unified by the basic tenets of fiscal responsibility and personal freedom, but that allows for diverse opinions on social issues by its members [4].

Film production

Huffington found a post-political career as a film producer [5]. From 1991 to 2000, he was co-owner of Crest Films Limited.

Among his other production credits:

• Huffington was an exective producer of Out of the Past[6], a documentary that won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998.
• Huffington executive produced three shorts at the University of Southern California: "The Promise" in 1998, "Lost and Found" in 1999, and "Nuclear Family" in 2000 which was nominated for the Student Academy Awards [7].
• He was an executive producer of the 2000 television series, The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne[8].
• He was an executive producer of the 2006 AFI[9] film Santa Croce. [10]
• He was an executive producer of For the Bible Tells Me So[11], a documentary which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.
• Huffington is one of the producers of Bi the Way[12], a documentary presently being filmed about bisexuality in America.

External links

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

This article is based on a GNU FDL LGBT Wikia article: Huffington Michael Huffington

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