André Carson

From KeyWiki

Andre Carson is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing the 7th district of Indiana. He is the grandson of the late Julia Carson.

Congressman Carson is married to Mariama Carson, an award winning professional educator in the Pike Township School District.

Education

Congressman Carson is a graduate of Arsenal Technical High School, where his passions for law enforcement and public service first took hold. He's earned a Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice Management from Concordia University-Wisconsin and a Masters in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.^[1]

Career

Before his career as an elected official, Carson devoted himself to law enforcement and protecting Hoosiers across the state. He first served as a Local Board Investigative Officer for the Indiana State Excise Police for nine years covering 22 counties before being detailed to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security's Intelligence Fusion Center in 2006 where he worked in an anti-terrorism unit to protect Indiana and the United States from terrorist threats at home and abroad.^[2]

Political start

Congressman Carson got his political start serving on the Indianapolis City-County Council, where he worked to improve schools, support local businesses, and promote prosperous neighborhoods for families across Indianapolis. He also served as a board member of the Citizens Neighborhood Coalition and the Indianapolis Parks Kennedy-King Park Advisory Board, where he turned his attention to the development of safe parks and thriving community organizations.^[3]

Congress

First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in early 2008 as part of a special election, Congressman André Carson was voted in to his first full term in Congress in November of 2008 and reelected again in 2010.

Congressman Carson serves on the prestigious Financial Services Committee, which oversees all components of the nation's housing and financial services sectors including banking, insurance, real estate, public and assisted housing, and securities. In this role, Carson has worked to tighten federal regulations over financial institutions, helping to pass Wall Street Reform, which ends government bailouts and the risky lending practices that almost destroyed our economy.

He helped pass the historic health care reform law, which provides families and businesses with more health insurance options and makes health care more affordable and accessible for tens-of-millions of Americans. Carson has put Hoosier children first by helping to pass critical legislation that protected thousands of teaching jobs, and he's put his past law enforcement experience to work to make our neighborhoods safer by strengthening the federal COPS program that put an additional 50 police officers on patrol in Indianapolis neighborhoods.^[4]

Planned Parenthood

Carson received $1000 in lobbying funds from Planned Parenthood in 2008.

Congressional Progressive Caucus

As of February 20 2009 Andre Carson was listed as a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.^[5]

Socialist staffer

In 2009, one time Young Democratic Socialists affiliate Irene Schwoeffermann was a shared employee in the office of Rep. Andre Carson.^[6].

Supported Lifting the Gaza Blockade

On Jan. 27, 2010, U.S. Representatives Keith Ellison and Jim McDermott led 52 other members of Congress in signing a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, calling for him to use diplomatic pressure to resolve the blockade affecting Gaza. André Carson was one of the signatories of the letter. ^[7] The entire letter together with a complete list of signatories can be read by clicking here.

DSA support

Central Indiana Democratic Socialists of America chair Brad Lorton wrote on The Nation discussion page August 21, 2011;^[8]

My electoral plans for next year are two fold: (1) Helping Congressman Andre Carson (member of the Progressive Caucus from Indianapolis) get re-elected; (2) Trying to keep Mike Pence from becoming governor.

Lorton wrote on The Nation discussion page December 3, 2011;

Let me make it clear, I agree with you that there are a LOT of nutless, double-talking Demos -- on the other hand there are some good people in the Democratic Party -- even on Capitol Hill -- like John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich, Keith Ellison and Andre Carson (to name a few) -- and Bernie Sanders caucuses with the Democrats. I suspect that it's still worthwhile to work with these folks in the context of immediate struggles.

Staff

The following have worked as staff members for André Carson:^[9]

External links

• Carson's website with the House of Representatives

References