Robert William Ney (born July 5, 1954) is an American former politician who represented Ohio's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 until his resignation on November 3, 2006, after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and making false statements in relation to the Jack Abramoff Indian lobbying scandal. Before he pleaded guilty, Ney was identified in the guilty pleas of Jack Abramoff, former Tom DeLay deputy chief of staff Tony Rudy, former DeLay press secretary Michael Scanlon, and former Ney chief of staff Neil Volz for receiving lavish gifts in exchange for political favors. A Republican, Ney's best-known congressional work was on the election reform efforts founded in the wake of the 2000 election and came controversy over voting in Florida, and his support and backing for the "Stand Up For Steel" advocacy and resulting laws in support of the steel industry in the U.S.
From 2001 to 2006, Ney was Chairman of the House Administration Committee. As chair of that committee, he oversaw operations in the Capitol complex and was sometimes known as the "Mayor of Capitol Hill".
Early life, education, and early career Ney was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, on July 5, 1954, the son of a television cameraman for WTRF-TV. He grew up in Bellaire, Ohio, an industrial town across the Ohio River from Wheeling. He graduated in 1972 from St. John's High School in Bellaire. He attended Ohio University Eastern Campus in Belmont County before transferring to Ohio State University in Columbus. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from OSU in 1976.
After college, he worked at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, taught English in Iran, served as Bellaire safety director, and worked as the health and education program manager of the Ohio Office of Appalachia.
He has two children from a previous marriage, and no children with his second wife, Elizabeth.
Early political career In 1980, at the age of 26, Ney defeated state Representative Wayne Hays, a former U.S. representative who had resigned from Congress in 1976 after a sex scandal. Ney served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1981 to 1983. He was defeated in his reelection bid in November 1982.
After his defeat, Ney managed a home security company in Saudi Arabia. He was appointed to the Ohio Senate in 1984 to replace former state senator Sam Speck, who resigned the 20th District seat to accept a presidential appointment. Ney won the seat in November 1984 and then re-election in 1988 and 1992.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 1994 In November 1994, Ney decided to run for Ohio's 18th congressional district after nine-term incumbent Democrat Douglas Applegate announced his retirement. Ney won the six-candidate Republican primary field with 69% of the vote. The 18th had a considerable Democratic lean, but Ney scored a considerable upset, defeating Democratic State Representative Greg DiDonato 54%–46%.
1996
In 1996, he won re-election to a second term, defeating Democratic State Senator Rob Burch 50%–46%.
1998–2004 He went on to win re-election four more times easily without difficult competition in 1998 (60%), 2000 (64%), 2002 (unopposed), and 2004 (66%).
2006 On January 26, 2006, Ney announced his candidacy for re-election to a seventh term. Even before his indictment, Ney was one of the Republican elected officials whom Democrats highlighted as part of a "culture of corruption" in the 2006 campaign.
For the first time since 1994, he drew a primary challenger. Republican James Brodbelt Harris, a financial analyst from Zanesville, Ohio, decided to challenge him in 2006. Harris did not campaign, and collected less than $5,000 in campaign contributions. On May 2, 2006, Ney defeated him 68%–32%. On the day of the election, Greg Giroux of Congressional Quarterly noted: "I'd be surprised if Harris got more than 20 or 25 percent. That would be a sign that there is a chunk of the Republican base that's disenchanted with the incumbent." Commenting on his situation after the primary, Ney said "I have a healthy campaign account, in contrast to the Democratic Party, which is deeply divided and has a candidate with almost no campaign cash."
Ney's opponent in the November general election was to be Zack Space, a Dover, Ohio lawyer and hotel developer. As of July 2006, Space was considered to be slightly ahead of Ney, with a large percentage of undecided voters. For the first three months of 2006, Ney blamed legal costs for causing his re-election campaign to spend more than it raised. For the April–June period, it was unusually intense campaigning in his rural district that caused the six-term incumbent to spend $52,675 more than donors gave him in the last three months, he said.
On August 7, 2006, state senator Joy Padgett announced that Ney was withdrawing his candidacy in the 2006 election, and that Ney and House Majority Leader John Boehner had asked her to run in his place. Later that day, Ney confirmed in an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that he would not run for re-election to a seventh term, but intended to serve out his term until January 2007. About his future plans, Ney said "I have some options in the nongovernment sector." The Washington Post'''' reported that Boehner met with Ney in early August "to urge him to step aside, reminding him that with a son in college and a daughter nearing college age, he will need money. [...] If he lost his House seat for the party, Boehner is said to have cautioned, Ney could not expect a lucrative career on K Street to pay those tuition bills, along with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees piling up." On August 14, 2006, Ney officially withdrew from the race. Because that occurred before August 19 (80 or more days before the election), Ohio Revised Code 3513.312 applied: "the vacancy in the party nomination so created shall be filled by a special election". If Ney had waited until August 20, section 3513.31 of the Ohio Revised Code would have pertained: Ney's replacement in the November general election would be named by a district committee of the Ohio Republican party.
The special election was held on September 14, and was won by State Senator Joy Padgett with just under half of the fewer than 1600 votes cast.2006 Election results
It is widely believed that Ney's delay in resigning cost Padgett any chance of keeping the seat in Republican hands, as she was routed by Space 62% to 38%.
Tenure Ney's voting record was less fiscally conservative, and more protectionist, than the median amongst Republicans elected in 1994. He did not earn a rating in the 90s from the American Conservative Union until 2004. He was known for bucking his party's leadership on issues important to his mostly blue-collar district, such as championing the needs of the beleaguered steel industry. In 1999, he was a prominent part of the "Stand Up for Steel" campaign, which united the steel industry and steel unions in a fight against low-priced imports. In 2000, he was one of a handful of Republicans who backed an effort to block permanent normal trade status for China. In 2001, Ney was one of three Republicans to vote against the USA Patriot Act (the other two were Butch Otter of Idaho and Ron Paul of Texas). In late 2001, Ney introduced the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) for election reform. In 2005, he voted against President Bush's Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and against Republican budget cuts to Medicaid and after-school programs.
Freedom Fries
Ney also gained notoriety when he mandated, as Chairman of the House Administration Committee, that "French fries" be renamed "freedom fries" on House of Representatives food service menus, to indicate displeasure with France's lack of support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Ney led the effort, along with fellow Republican U.S. Congressman Walter B. Jones, to change the names of "French fries" and "French toast" to "freedom fries" and "freedom toast". His committee had authority over House cafeterias. Ney said at a press conference that "this action today is a small, but symbolic effort to show the strong displeasure of many on Capitol Hill with the actions of our so-called ally, France." Ney did not comment about the opposition to the U.S. and British-led invasion and occupation coming from other nations such as Russia and Germany.House cafeterias change names for 'French' fries and 'French' toast, CNN, Sean Loughlin, March 12, 2003. Retrieved August 23, 2021. In July 2006, after Ney had left the committee, the names were changed back; Ney had no comment.
Abramoff scandal timeline
Ney was subpoenaed in the investigation in November 2005. Michael Scanlon pleaded guilty to conspiring to bribe a member of Congress, identified as Ney, and other public officials. In the agreement, Scanlon admitted to bribing Ney in return for, among other things, the following (described in more detail below): Ney's placing statements in the Congressional Record relating to the SunCruz Casinos scandal; Ney's using his position to attempt to endorse and support a client of Abramoff's as a provider of a wireless telephone infrastructure to the House of Representatives; Ney's agreement to introduce and seek passage of legislation that would lift an existing federal ban against commercial gaming for two different Native American tribes in Texas (clients of Abramoff); Ney's agreement to assist legislation to financially benefit a California tribe.Ex-DeLay Aide In Corruption Ple - November 21, 2005
On January 3, 2006, Abramoff pleaded guilty to three felony counts involving charges stemming principally from his lobbying activities in Washington on behalf of Native American tribes. One of the cases of bribery described in the plea agreement detail involves a person identified as "Representative #1". Ney's spokesman confirmed that Ney is Representative #1.
A press release from the Department of Justice describes the particulars:
Abramoff also admitted that as one means of accomplishing results for their clients, he, Scanlon, and others engaged in a pattern of corruptly providing things of value to public officials, including trips, campaign contributions, and meals and entertainment, with the intent to influence acts by the public officials that would benefit Abramoff and Abramoff’s clients. For example, Abramoff and Scanlon provided things of value to a public official (described as Representative #1) and members of his staff, including, but not limited to, a lavish trip to Scotland to play golf on world-famous courses, tickets to sporting events and other entertainment, regular meals at Abramoff’s upscale restaurant, and campaign contributions for the Representative, his political action committee, his campaign committee, and other political committees on behalf of the Representative. At the same time, and in exchange for these things of value, Scanlon and Abramoff sought and received the Representative’s agreement to perform directly and through others a series of official acts, including but not limited to agreements to support and pass legislation, and agreements to place statements in the Congressional Record.#06-002: 01-03-06 Former Lobbyist Jack Abramoff Pleads Guilty to Charges Involving Corruption, Fraud Conspiracy, and Tax Evasion
Ney said in a statement that "At the time I dealt with Jack Abramoff, I obviously did not know, and had no way of knowing, the self-serving and fraudulent nature of Abramoff's activities". Ney spokesman Brian Walsh said that any official actions Ney had taken were based on "the merits and facts of the situation and not because of any improper influence from Jack Abramoff or anybody else".