Mike Ferguson (New Jersey politician)

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Mike Ferguson
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey's 7th district
Term of office: 2001 - present
Political party:	Republican
Preceded by:	Bob Franks
Succeeded by:	Incumbent
Religion:	Roman Catholic
Born:	June 22, 1970 Ridgewood, New Jersey
Spouse:	Maureen Ferguson

Michael A. "Mike" Ferguson (b. June 22 1970, Ridgewood, New Jersey) has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives for New Jersey's 7th congressional district since 2001.

Ferguson is currently the youngest member of the New Jersey Congressional delegation. Ferguson originally sought office in the 6th Congressional District in 1998, even though he had never lived or voted in the 6th district prior to seeking the Republican nomination. He was defeated by incumbent Frank Pallone. In 1999, Ferguson moved to the 7th district where he defeated Thomas Kean Jr. in the primary and was successfully elected.

Ferguson attended the Delbarton School, the University of Notre Dame and has an M.P.A. from Georgetown University.

Before running for Congress he worked as a teacher at a private school, and worked as a part time instructor at a community college.

Ferguson was Executive Director of the Catholic Campaign for America, whose board members include William Bennett, Tom Monaghan and Mary Ellen Bork (wife of Robert Bork). Other notable members of the Catholic Campaign for America include Rick Santorum and Pat Buchanan. He also served as the executive director of the Better Schools Foundation which was founded by Lamar Alexander and whose purpose was to promote the use of school vouchers.

In June 2003, after a three year dispute with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), Congressman Ferguson agreed to pay $210,000 for a loan which he made to his campaign during his first election of $525,000 from a trust established for the Congressman by his parents. The FEC claimed that this loan from the trust equated to a gift from his parents. According to Federal law, the cap on personal contributions from an individual to a candidate is capped at $25,000 per election cycle. The fine was one of the highest ever paid to the FEC. Ferguson maintained that he did nothing wrong ([1]).

Ferguson received the third most money of all recipients of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's ARMPAC campaign contributions. DeLay is being prosecuted on charges of felony money laundering of campaign finances and conspiracy to launder money. To date, Ferguson has not offered to return any of the $54,403 he received from DeLay or ARMPAC, despite calls from Democrats to do so ([2], [3]).

After the 1999 election, Tom Kean Jr. subsequently sued Mike Ferguson and the Council for Responsible Government (a 527 group headquarted in Virginia). The complaint alleged that Ferguson and the Council illegally coordinated their messaging. The complaint also alleged that the Council funded and distributed a brochure under the guise of non-partisan group while acting as a partisan advocacy group on behalf of Ferguson ([4]). Kean, Jr. prevailed in the lawsuit ^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Sexual Harrassment Controversy

Ferguson was accused of grabbing a young woman at a local college bar in Georgetown. According to the young woman, Ferguson removed his ID pin and handed it to her, saying she could keep it if she would "come back and have a drink with me." Ferguson denied the young woman's version of the event ([5]).