Майкл Джерард Фитцпатрик: Американдық саяхатшы және заңгер (1963-2020)

American attorney and politician (1963–2020)

Michael Gerard Fitzpatrick (June 28, 1963 – January 6, 2020) was an American attorney and politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives, representing from 2005 to 2007 and 2011 to 2017. He was first elected to Congress in 2004 and represented the district from 2005 to 2007, but he was defeated by Democrat Patrick Murphy in 2006. He declined to run for his old seat in 2008 but ran again in 2010, and won a rematch with Murphy. He was re elected in 2012 and 2014. A supporter of term limits, he did not seek re election in 2016 and was replaced by his brother Brian. He was considered a moderate Republican, and consistently ranked among the most bipartisan members of Congress.

Fitzpatrick was born in Philadelphia and raised in Bucks County. He earned his J. D. degree from the Dickinson School of Law at Penn State University. He was named business manager of the Dickinson Journal of International Law. After graduating law school in 1988, Fitzpatrick was admitted to the practice of law in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The appointment was not without controversy, however, as some claimed the judges had acted solely on the recommendation of the county Republican Party. As Commissioner, Fitzpatrick oversaw social agencies, coordinated the response of local governments to emergencies, preserved open space, and responded to regional issues. Fitzpatrick supported a $7 million information technology project to upgrade the county's communication and outreach abilities in light of the Information Age.

In May 2006, Fitzpatrick introduced the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006, which requires most schools and libraries to actively restrict minors from access to "Commercial Social Networking Websites" and "Chat Rooms". In late July, the "DOPA Act" overwhelmingly passed the House. Speaking before the vote was taken, Fitzpatrick said, "The social networking sites have become, in a sense, a happy hunting ground for child predators".

Fitzpatrick served on the United States House Committee on Financial Services and the United States House Committee on Small Business.

On January 5, 2011, Fitzpatrick failed to attend the swearing in ceremony for members and attempted to take the oath of office remotely at a reception. However, House rules require that the oath be taken within proximity of the Speaker. Some activists contended the reception was a fundraiser and called for an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. A spokesperson for Fitzpatrick denied the event was a fundraiser and asserted that donations made went to cover the cost of campaign provided buses to Washington. Fitzpatrick supported reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. On January 5, 2016, the House Committee on Financial Services reauthorized the Task Force to Investigate Terrorism Financing with Fitzpatrick as Chairman and Stephen F. Lynch (D MA) as Ranking Member. Over the course of a two year period, the Task Force investigated the financial mechanisms used to fund terrorist activities, specifically the vulnerabilities of the global financial system, trade based money laundering, assistance for developing world, and the sale and trafficking of illicit goods. Since December 2014, Fitzpatrick has been a leading voice in Congress on medical device safety. He has pressed the FDA after dangerous medical devices remained in use after causing serious injury and death. On June 8, 2016, Fitzpatrick and Representative Louise Slaughter (D NY) introduced two bills to reform the medical device review and approval process. The first bill, Ariel Grace's Law, would allow victims of dangerous medical devices to seek legal recourse. The second bill, the Medical Device Guardians Act, would require physicians to identify and report unsafe medical devices and would protect them from having their reports used against them in a civil court. Fitzpatrick was ranked as the 10th most bipartisan member of the U. S. House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress (and the most bipartisan member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania) in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).

Fitzpatrick and his wife Kathleen, a high school science teacher, lived in Levittown, Pennsylvania, with their six children. He was affiliated with the Washington Crossing Council of the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the Temple Lower Bucks Hospital Board of Directors, the Conwell Egan Catholic Board of Advisors, the Knights of Columbus, the Levittown Bristol Kiwanis Club, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and the Brehon Law Society. He was an Eagle Scout from the Bucks County Council and former president of that council, and was honored with the Silver Beaver Award for his services to Scouting. Fitzpatrick was diagnosed with colon cancer in June 2008. He reported five months later that the cancer went into remission after chemotherapy. Fitzpatrick died from melanoma at his home in Levittown on January 6, 2020, at age 56.