John Faso

Early life, education, and early career

Faso is of Italian and Irish descent, the eldest of five siblings. He attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens, New York and SUNY-Brockport. After college, Faso became a grants officer for Nassau County, New York. Faso graduated from Georgetown University Law Center in 1979. After law school, Faso took government jobs in Washington, D.C., all the while thinking about running for elected office in New York. In 1983, Faso moved to upstate New York, purposely choosing to live in a district where an Assembly seat would soon become open so that he could run. In 1986, the incumbent official retired and Faso won the seat.

Career

After law school, Faso took government jobs in Washington, D.C., all the while thinking about running for elected office in New York. In 1983, Faso moved to upstate New York. In 1986, the incumbent official retired and Faso won the seat.

1987 to 2002

Faso was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1987 to 2002. He received the 1997 Nelson A Rockefeller College Award for distinguished public service. In late 1994, Faso served on George Pataki's transition team, where he chaired the budget committee. He became head of the team that wrote Pataki's first budget as governor.

In 1995, Faso became Ranking Member of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee. He was the original sponsor of charter school legislation and was involved in the passage of Governor Pataki's proposal to create charter schools in New York State in 1998. He supported expanding the current cap on charter schools.

2002 to 2016

From 2003-06, Faso served as a member of the control board working to fix the financial and managerial issues with the City of Buffalo and the Buffalo City School District.

In late 2002, Faso joined the firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; he took a leave of absence to run for governor in 2006, then rejoined the firm.

In 2010, when Faso was a partner and lobbyist at the firm, paid a fine and agreed to be banned for five years from appearing before the state's public pension funds as a result of pay-to-play misconduct. The ban expired in October 2015.

2002 State Comptroller's campaign

Faso's work on the state budget fueled a run for New York Comptroller in 2002. Initially trailing Democrat Alan Hevesi (then-Comptroller of New York City) by a 20-point margin, Faso lost the election by a 50%-47% margin. Faso attacked Hevesi throughout the campaign for being “ethically challenged” and denounced him for politicizing pension funds.

Hevesi was later jailed in a pay-to-play scheme involving New York's state pension fund. Years after Faso defeated Hevesi for being "ethically challanged", Faso's law firm paid $550,000 in fines for its own pension fund pay-to-play scheme.

2006 gubernatorial campaign

In 2005, Faso announced his intention to run for governor. For the Republican nomination, Faso faced former Massachusetts Governor William Weld, former New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels, and Assemblyman Patrick Manning. Weld reportedly offered Faso the chance to join his ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor. Faso received the Conservative Party's endorsement while Weld received the Libertarian Party's nomination.

After a weak showing at the state Republican convention, Weld announced his withdrawal from the race.

In June, the Republican State Convention voted to endorse Faso. Faso's running mate was former Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef. Faso was opposed by Democratic nominee Elliot Spitzer. Spitzer won with 69% of the vote, Faso received 29% of the vote. His loss to Eliot Spitzer was the largest defeat for a major party gubernatorial candidate in the state's history dating back to 1777.

2009 U.S. House campaign

After then-Representative Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the U.S. Senate, a special election was called in 2009 to determine her successor in New York's 20th congressional district. Faso positioned himself against Senator Betty Little and Assemblyman Jim Tedisco in the Republican primary, but eventually withdrew after party support coalesced around Tedisco. Tedisco lost the election to Democrat Scott Murphy, who in turn, lost to Chris Gibson at the next election.

2016 U.S. House campaign

On September 14, 2015, Faso announced he would run for New York's 19th congressional district in the 2016 election. Republican Chris Gibson, the retiring incumbent, endorsed Faso. He won the Republican primary against Andrew Heaney, 67.5% to 32.5%. During the general election, Faso faced Fordham Law professor and anti-corruption activist Zephyr Teachout. Faso defeated Teachout with 54.7%.

Faso was named to the House Budget and House Agriculture Committees as well as the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee where he serves as Vice Chairman of the Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Material Subcommittee.

Previous to this committee assignment, Faso worked as a paid representative of The Constitution Pipeline Co, an energy company that was attempting to build a pipeline to carry fracked gas through much of New York State. The pipeline was opposed by environmental and safety advocates, and the construction of the pipeline was ultimately blocked by the state.

Political positions

As of early May 2017, Faso voted with his party in 92.9% of votes so far in the current session of Congress and voted in line with President Trump's position in 89.7% of votes.

Abortion

In 1987, Faso called Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court decision, a "black mark upon this country."

Faso was quoted in The Washington Post saying he had "no problem" with defunding Planned Parenthood, but urging his fellow Republicans not to do so as part of the proposed repeal of the ACA (Obamacare). Faso later remarked that in regards to Planned Parenthood, stating he prefers the "status quo", though he failed to amend his previous stance.

Healthcare

On May 4, 2017, Faso voted in favor of American Health Care Act, the House Republican bill to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). He faced protests in his congressional district over his position.

Other

In 2010, Faso's law firm, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, paid New York State a $550,000 fine and agreed not to appear before any public pension fund in New York for at least five years. Then-New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo (later elected Governor) charged that the firm had acted as an unlicensed financial broker to help companies win business with the state and city pension funds.

From 2012 to 2015, Faso worked as a public affairs consultant for the Constitution Pipeline Co., an energy company that was attempting to build a pipeline to carry natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York State. The pipeline was controversial because the pipeline would have transported gas extracted from hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Construction of the pipeline was ultimately blocked by the state.

Personal life

Faso has two children, Nicholas and Margaret, and is married to Mary Frances Faso. He is a Roman Catholic.