Timothy F Murphy

Early life, education, and psychologist career

Murphy was born in Cleveland and is a native of Northfield, Ohio, where he attended St. Barnabas Catholic School and Walsh Jesuit High School. He received his Bachelor of Science from Wheeling Jesuit University, his MA from Cleveland State University, and his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Pittsburgh.

Upon leaving school, he became a practicing psychologist and an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh. He also made regular appearances on KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh from 1979 to 1995 as a health care expert.

Murphy co-authored The Angry Child: Regaining Control When Your Child Is Out of Control (2002). The Angry Child won the National Parenting Publications Award and was featured on Book TV, a program of C-SPAN. A few years later, he co-authored Overcoming Passive-Aggression: How to Stop Hidden Anger from Spoiling Your Relationships, Career, and Happiness (2005), both co-authored with Loriann Hoff Oberlin, a writer/author and mental health counselor.

Overcoming Passive-Aggression received abundant reviews, including those from the mental health field. Murphy has been interviewed by reporters from Psychology Today, the Washington Post, USA Today, the CBS Early Show, CNN, CBS Face the Nation, C-SPAN, and others in the media on the topics of mental health, anger management and violence, parenting and relationships.

On September 6, 2017, Murphy publicly admitted to having conducted an extramarital affair with forensic psychologist Shannon Edwards, after a judge upheld a subpoena for Murphy to be deposed in the divorce proceedings by Edwards' husband Dr. Jesse Sally, who contended that Murphy's testimony would be relevant to Edwards' alimony request.

Elections

In 1996, Republican State Senator Mike Fisher decided not to run for re-election in order to run for Pennsylvania Attorney General. Murphy decided to run in Pennsylvania's 37th senate district. He won the Republican primary, defeating John Schnatterly 70%–30%.

In the general election, he defeated State Representative Greg Fajt 55%–45%. In 2000, he won re-election to a second term, defeating Joseph Rudolph 64%–36%.

Tenure

He wrote the Pennsylvania Patient Bill of Rights and supported public funding for medical research. In 2002, the political website PoliticsPA named him to the list of "Smartest Legislators". He resigned his state senate seat on January 3, 2003.

Committee assignments

Elections

After redistricting, Murphy ran for the newly redrawn 18th Congressional District in 2002. The district had previously been the 20th, represented by four-term Democrat Frank Mascara. However, the legislature re-drew the district after the 2000 Census in such a way that a large portion of Mascara's district ended up in the neighboring Johnstown-based 12th District, represented by 28-year incumbent John Murtha. The new district lines were harshly criticized, in part because in some areas portions of several neighborhoods—and even streets—were split between districts. In some areas, one side of the street was in the 18th while the other was in the 12th. In the most extreme example, nearly all of Mascara's hometown of Charleroi was drawn into the 12th district, but Mascara's house stayed in the 18th. After a legal battle, the courts largely upheld Pennsylvania's redistricting plan after some minor modifications. Murphy was a member of the committee that redrew Pennsylvania's congressional map, and rumors abounded that he'd reconfigured the district for himself, even though numerous Democrats were also on the committee. Mascara challenged Murtha in the Democratic primary for the 12th District, since the newly configured 12th was geographically more his district than Murtha's. However, Murtha easily defeated Mascara. This removed a significant barrier to Murphy. Even though Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 70,000 registered voters, it was somewhat friendlier to Republicans than the old 20th had been.

Murphy won the Republican primary unopposed and won the general election, defeating Democrat Jack Machek 60%–40%.

Murphy won re-election to a second term, defeating Mark Boles 63%–37%.

In 2006, Murphy was confronted by KDKA News reporter Andy Sheehan with evidence indicating his District Office employees were illegally working on his campaign. Murphy was challenged by Democrat Chad Kluko, a telecommunications executive, in the November 2006 general election. Murphy won re-election to a third term, defeating Kluko 58%–42%.

Murphy was challenged by Democrat Steve O'Donnell, a Monroeville health care executive. Murphy won re-election to a fourth term, defeating O'Donnell 64%–36%.

Murphy was challenged by Democrat Dan Connolly. Murphy was endorsed by Veterans of Foreign Wars PAC and the US Chamber of Commerce. Murphy won re-election to a fifth term, defeating Connolly 67%–33%.

For the first time in Murphy's career, he was challenged in the Republican primary. Evan Feinberg, also of Upper St Clair, was a 28-year-old political novice and "Tea Party" favorite, was endorsed by Senators Rand Paul and Tom Coburn, FreedomWorks, and ABC Contractors. Murphy had the backing of two pro-life groups: National Right to Life Committee and PA Pro-Life Federation. He was also endorsed by former Governor Tom Ridge, former Congresswoman Melissa Hart, Allegheny County Republican Party Chairman Jim Roddey, State Representative Mark Mustio, State Senate candidate D. Raja, the National Rifle Association, and the Fraternal Order of Police of Allegheny County. Murphy won the primary 63%–33%. In the general election, he won re-election to his sixth term, defeating Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi 64%–36%.

Murphy successfully ran for re-election to a seventh term in the U.S. House in the 2014 election. He was re-nominated unopposed in the Republican primary and was unopposed in the general election, since no candidates filed to run in the Democratic primary.

Murphy was unopposed in the primary and the general election. He was re-elected to his eighth term in the U.S. House.

Tenure

Murphy lives in Upper St. Clair, a suburb of Pittsburgh. However, he is listed on the official House roll as "R-Pittsburgh", although his district does not include any portion of Pittsburgh itself.

On November 26, 2005, Murphy was injured during a traffic accident in Iraq while riding in a van along with fellow Congressmen Jim Marshall and Ike Skelton. The van swerved off the road to avoid an oncoming vehicle and overturned, injuring Murphy and Skelton. The two were airlifted to Ibn Sina Hospital in Baghdad.

After an MRI indicated head and neck injuries, Murphy was flown to the U.S. Military's Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany for further tests, which indicated no permanent damage. After wearing a neck brace for a brief period, Murphy made a full recovery.

He opposed both Wall Street bailouts in 2008, the $820 billion stimulus package supported by President Obama, and the climate change/greenhouse gas initiative bill known as "Cap and Trade."

Murphy was named a "Hero of the Taxpayer" by Americans for Tax Reform. Notably, he voted to increase the debt limit along with historic budget cuts in August 2011. Prior to that, he approved the "short term" debt limit increase.

Murphy supported a House earmark ban in theory but made nearly $14 million in earmark requests in 2010. The progressive lobbying group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) released its third annual report on the most corrupt members of Congress titled "Beyond DeLay: The 22 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and two to watch)". Murphy was included on the list. CREW issued their analysis of Murphy's alleged ethical lapses.

Murphy co-sponsored the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, along with Democratic Representative Tim Ryan of Ohio. The bill, which passed the House of Representatives on September 29, 2010, received bi-partisan support. The final vote was 348–79. The measure would authorize the United States Department of Commerce to impose tariffs and countervailing duties against goods from countries with currencies that it deems are undervalued.

Murphy told WDUQ that the goal is to, “protect domestic manufacturers and the steel industry from countries unwilling to compete fairly in the global marketplace.” He added that by tying China's currency to the dollar and not floating its currency on the open market, China can undercut US manufactures by 40%. In other words, manufacturers in China can make and ship products to the US for less than a manufacturer here can buy the raw materials. The Senate failed to take up the legislation, and Murphy reintroduced the bi-partisan measure in February 2011.

As a member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Murphy was at the forefront of exposing the approximately $500 million taxpayer funded green energy loan scandals involving Solyndra in 2011. In appearances on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° and Fox News Channel, he highlighted the wasteful spending and political associations involved in the now bankrupt solar panel company.

Following the shooting of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ), Murphy and Mental Health Caucus Co-Chair Grace Napolitano (D-CA) spoke with national media about mental health issues. Both members also held briefings for congressional staffers with questions on the Tucson shooting.

In the 114th Congress, Murphy sponsored the Helping Families In Mental Health Crisis Act, a landmark mental health reform bill which, according to Fortune, "increase the availability of psychiatric hospital beds, establish a new assistant secretary for mental health and substance use disorders in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and boost treatment for young mental health patients, among other provisions." The bill was passed by the House in a near-unanimous 422-2 vote, The bill was considered the most significant attempt at mental health reform in decades. The bill was folded into the 21st Century Cures Act and signed into law in December 2016.

Committee assignments

Murphy previously served on the Veterans Affairs and Government Reform committees.

Caucus memberships

Electoral history

*Write-in and minor candidate notes: In 2002, write-ins received 13 votes. In 2006, write-ins received 189 votes.