Molinari, Susan (1958—)

American congresswoman. Born on March 27, 1958, in Staten Island, New York; daughter of representativeGuy Victor Molinari (1928—); graduated from St. Joseph Hill Academy, 1976; State University of New York, Albany, B.A., 1980, M.A., 1982; married representative Bill Paxon (1954—); children: one daughter, Susan Ruby (b. 1996).

Served on Republican National Committee (1983–84); was a member of the New York City Council (1986–90); elected as a Republican to the 101st Congress by special election (March 20, 1990), and to four succeeding Congresses; resigned (1997) to become CBS television anchorwoman; given a visiting fellowship to Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government (1999); formed lobbying group with Michael McCurry, former White House Chief of Staff (1999); wrote book, Representative Mom: Balancing Budgets, Bill and Baby in the U.S. Congress, with Elinor Burkett (1999).

Susan Molinari was born in Staten Island, New York, in March 1958, daughter of representative Guy Molinari and granddaughter of Robert S. Molinari, a member of the New York

state assembly in the mid-1940s. She received her B.A. in 1980 and her M.A. in political communications in 1982 from the State University of New York at Albany.

Molinari first worked in Washington for the Republican Governors Association and the Republican National Committee, before returning to New York City. She won election to the city council in 1985 and served there as minority leader until her resignation in 1990.

When Guy Molinari resigned from the House of Representatives to become Staten Island borough president, Susan Molinari stood for his seat in New York's 14th District. In her campaign for Congress, Molinari emphasized environmental issues of concern to her district, including water pollution, ocean dumping, and protection of wetlands. After a special election on March 20, 1990, Molinari was elected as a Republican to the 101th Congress, and subsequently to the four succeeding Congresses.

Molinari's assignments included the Committee on Public Works and Transportation, the Committee on Small Business, the Committee on Resources and the Environment, and the Committee on the Budget. A co-founder of Republicans for Choice, Molinari achieved national recognition as a symbol of the youthful, moderate face of the much-vaunted "Republican Revolution," along with her husband, fellow Republican representative Bill Paxon. Molinari later described her role in the Republican Party as reminding GOP hard-liners of the complexity of Americans' lives; it was her job, she felt, to "educate the boys." At the age of just 38, Molinari was selected to give the keynote address at the 1996 Republican National Convention.

Molinari's youth, gender, marriage and prominence within the Republican Party brought her sometimes unflattering attention. She received flak after college friends publicly contradicted a 1992 interview in which Molinari claimed that she had never smoked marijuana. Critics castigated her marriage (and the birth of her daughter by Caesarian section just before Mother's Day, 1996) as a political public-relations stunt.

Claiming that she had hit the House's "woman wall," Molinari abruptly resigned from Congress on August 2, 1997, and stunned the Republican Party when, just a month later, she became anchor of the "CBS News Saturday Morning" television program. The show, with co-host Russ Mitchell, struggled to find an audience, and Molinari was fired in the summer of 1999.

Molinari took up a visiting fellowship at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government that autumn and wrote a book, co-authored by Elinor Burkett , titled Representative Mom: Balancing Budgets, Bill and Baby in the U.S. Congress. By the end of 1999, she was heading a political lobbying group with former White House Chief of Staff Michael McCurry, promoting deregulation for broadband Internet technologies.

Paula Morris , D.Phil., Brooklyn, New York