Jack Conway (politician)

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Jack Conway (politician) : biography

July 5, 1969 –

In 2002, while running for the U.S. House of Representatives, Conway supported the Bush tax cuts. During the 2010 primary for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky, Conway told the editorial board of The Courier-Journal that most of the Bush tax cuts should be allowed to expire. In early August 2010 Conway told CN|2 Politics, "I don’t think that a recession is any time to raise taxes. So I think the Bush tax cuts ought to be extended for some period of time, especially the individual taxes, the estate tax provisions, keeping the capital gains tax at 15 percent. I think they ought to be extended".

Labor

Conway supports the Employee Free Choice Act, which includes a provision known as "card check". Conway says, "unions should be recognized if a majority of employees at a workplace sign cards indicating they wish to organize."

Medicare and Social Security

If elected to the Senate, Conway says the first piece of legislation he will introduce would repeal what he calls a "sweetheart deal" for the pharmaceutical industry that currently prohibits Medicare from negotiating for lower prices on prescription drugs. Citing a report from the National Committee on Social Security and Medicare, he says that this alone would save the federal government $200 billion.

Conway opposes privatizing Social Security and thinks these benefits should be maintained and protected from any outside risks associated with the financial markets. Conway opposes raising the retirement age and cutting Social Security benefit levels. In his 2002 run for Congress Conway stated that raising the retirement age and cutting benefit levels "to save Social Security" has to be considered, but retracted these comments by November 2002.

War on Drugs

Conway has stated that "“We need a United States senator who understands that we need federal funding for treatment, we need federal funding for law enforcement investigators, and we need a collaborative approach of federal, state and local (resources) to deal with the drug problem” in Kentucky where prescription drug abuse is of particular concern. Conway has pledged his steadfast support of Operation UNITE, an anti-drug initiative in Kentucky that receives the majority of its funding at the federal level. He has also called for the creation of a network of prescription pill tracking systems across the United States, where each state would adopt a prescription pill tracking program similar to the system in Kentucky.

When asked if he was in favor of hemp farming for Kentucky, Conway replied: "It’s a law enforcement issue. The problem with hemp is, when you’re trying to eradicate marijuana, which is a major law enforcement issue in Kentucky, I know how difficult it can be for law enforcement to make the distinction, and so I think we need to leave that issue to those in law enforcement who are advising us on it. If there’s a difficulty in distinguishing between hemp and marijuana then we shouldn’t have hemp farming in Kentucky, because it’s more of a law enforcement issue about making certain we don’t let a gateway drug get into the marketplace."

Conway indicated in a 2002 Project Vote Smart survey that he does not support decriminalizing the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Personal life and career

Conway was born in Louisville, Kentucky to a Catholic family, the eldest of four siblings. His parents are Tom, a Louisville lawyer, and Barbara Conway.

A graduate of St. Xavier High School, Jack Conway earned his undergraduate degree from Duke University, in 1991 and worked as legislative aide to the U.S. House Banking Committee from 1991 to 1997. He graduated with a Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School in 1995 and worked as legal counsel and deputy cabinet secretary in the administration of Kentucky Governor Paul Patton from 1995 to 2001. Starting in 2001, he worked as a private attorney for Conliffe Sandman Sullivan. On May 20, 2006, Conway married Elizabeth Davenport and they have two daughters named Eva and Alex.