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Kelly Ayotte

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Kelly Ayotte
Attorney General of New Hampshire
In office
June 15, 2004 – July 17, 2009
GovernorCraig Benson (R)
John H. Lynch (D)
Preceded byPeter Heed
Succeeded byMichael Delaney
Personal details
Nationality United States
Political partyRepublican
SpouseJoseph Daley
ChildrenKatherine, Jacob
ResidenceTemplate:City-state
Alma materPennsylvania State University (B.A.)
Villanova University School of Law (J.D.)
WebsiteCampaign Website

Kelly A. Ayotte (born 1968) is an American politician. A Republican, she served as the Attorney General of New Hampshire from 2004 to 2009.[1] She is currently a candidate in the 2010 election for the seat in the United States Senate currently held by Judd Gregg, who is not seeking re-election. She is widely seen as the front-runner for the Republican nomination and leads in aggregate polling against Democratic challengers by over seven percentage points.[2][3][4]

Early life and career

Ayotte was born in Nashua, New Hampshire, to Marc and Kathy Ayotte. After graduating from Nashua High School in 1986, she enrolled at Pennsylvania State University. During college, she was a member of the Delta Gamma sorority and president of the school's Pan-Hellenic Council.[5] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Penn State in 1990. In 1993, she earned a Juris Doctor degree from Villanova University School of Law, where she served as executive editor of the Environmental Law Journal.[6]

Ayotte clerked for Sherman D. Horton, an Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, for one year. From 1994 to 1998, she was an associate at the Manchester law firm of McLane, Graf, Raulerson & Middleton.[7] She then joined the office of the New Hampshire Attorney General as a prosecutor. In 2003, Ayotte became legal counsel to Governor Craig Benson. She returned to the Attorney General's office three months later, becoming Deputy Attorney General.[5]

State Attorney General

In 2004, the year she took office, New Hampshire's law requiring parental notification of a minor's abortion was struck down by a federal appeals court. Ayotte appealed the decision, over the objections of incoming Democratic governor John Lynch. Ayotte personally argued the case before the Supreme Court, resulting in the Court's first decision regarding abortion in five years, Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England (2006), which held that the lower courts should have struck down only the offending portions of the law (namely, insufficient exceptions) rather than invalidating the entire law. The court sided unanimously with Ayotte on this issue, but avoided a substantive ruling on the challenged law or a reconsideration of prior Supreme Court abortion precedent.

Ayotte was cited for her oversight and prosecution of two capital murder cases in 2008, one of which brought a death sentence to convicted killer of Manchester Police Officer Michael Briggs.[8] In 2001 and 2002, when she was an assistant attorney general, she prosecuted another high-profile murder case, the "Dartmouth Murders" in Hanover, New Hampshire: the two young murderers accepted plea bargains and pleaded guilty.

Kelly Ayotte was named as the 2008 New Hampshire Citizen of the Year by the New Hampshire Union Leader.[8]

Ayotte has been criticized for her former office's alleged refusal to investigate whether charges were warranted against mortgage investment firm, Financial Resources Mortgage (FRM)[9] which has been accused of orchestrating a 80-100 million dollar Ponzi scheme. David Catanese of POLITICO[10] has reported that prior to her resignation as Attorney General, her office deleted Ayotte's Email and Calendar data from their computer systems. Less than one week before Ayotte filed to run for Senate her office also issued a memo that excluded any electronic correspondence that was deleted but retained in a backup system from New Hampshire's Right to Know laws.[11]

She currently serves as a board member of the Public Advisory Board at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.[12] Recently after her 2009 resignation from the AG post to pursue the Senate candidacy NHIP executive director Dale Kuehne described her as "very non-partisan, very competent as an Attorney General."[13]

2010 U.S. Senate run

See also: United States Senate election in New Hampshire, 2010

Ayotte resigned as Attorney General on July 7, 2009 to explore a run for U.S. Senate in 2010.[14][15] Incumbent Senator Judd Gregg is retiring. Ayotte is running against lawyer Ovide Lamontagne, businessmen Bill Binnie and Jim Bender in the Republican primary. Congressman Paul Hodes is seeking the seat as a Democrat.

Issues

Abortion

Ayotte is pro-life but believes exemptions should be made in the case of rape, incest, or medical emergency.[16] She supports parental notification for abortion and opposes federal funding for elective abortions in accordance with the Hyde Amendment.

Congressional term limits

The candidate says that while she agrees that many individuals have served in Congress for too long a time it would be impractical to enact term limits without completely reforming the entire Congressional system, particularly the system of seniority that selects individuals for membership on committees and chairmanship of committees. She has stated that if elected she would only remain in Congress while her "enthusiasm and level of ideas" lasted.[17]

Gay Marriage

Ayotte is personally opposed to same-sex marriage and believes marriage should be left up to the respective churches.[16] She resigned as state Attorney General shortly after Governor John Lynch signed a set of three same sex marriage bills into law to which she was opposed.[18]

Gun Rights

Ayotte is in favor of the individual right to bear arms and second amendment rights.[16] However, as New Hampshire Attorney General she went on record opposing certain self defense rights, including so-called "No-duty-to-retreat." [19] She has also come under criticism from gun owners and other conservative groups for supporting the nomination of liberal justice Sonia Sotomayor. [20]

Healthcare

Ayotte opposes a single payer health care system run by the federal government. She opposes restrictions to purchase insurance across statelines, and supports a ban on insurance discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and tort reform. She supports individual state efforts such as SCHIP as well as federal tax credits to reduce the number of uninsured.[21]

Supreme Court

Ayotte has stated that she is is in favor of increasing the diversity of the court by including candidates from executive backgrounds such as former Presidential cabinet members or candidates who come from elected positions to avoid a court exclusively composed of individuals with a judicial background.[22] However, Ayotte opposed the confirmation of former Obama cabinet member and former Dean of Harvard Law School Justice Elena Kagan, asserting that Kagan was unqualified.[23] She has said that she probably would have voted in favor of confirming Justice Sonia Sotomayor.[22]

War in Afghanistan

In September of 2009 she stated that she supports a timetable for withdrawal from Afghanistan.[24]

References

  1. ^ Cook, Robert (2009-07-16). "Ayotte makes resignation official, mum on plans". Foster's Daily Democrat. Retrieved 2009-08-04. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |middle= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "What a Difference a Year Makes: 2010 Senate Outlook". RealClearPolitics. 2009-12-15. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  3. ^ "Election 2010 - New Hampshire Senate - Ayotte vs. Hodes". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  4. ^ http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/new_hampshire/election_2010_new_hampshire_senate
  5. ^ a b Cullen, Fergus (2010-03-27). "Kelly Ayotte's rise combines merit and preparation". New Hampshire Union Leader.
  6. ^ "About Kelly". Kelly Ayotte for U.S. Senate.
  7. ^ "Kelly A. Ayotte (NH)". Project Vote Smart.
  8. ^ a b Fahey, Tom (2008-12-28). "Kelly Ayotte: Woman of convictions". New Hampshire Union Leader. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  9. ^ Kelly Ayotte, Josh McElveen (2010-06-03). Ayotte Says She Will Appear Before FRM Committee. New Hampshire: WMUR-TV. Archived from the original on 2010-06-03. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  10. ^ Catanese, David (2010-05-03). "Fraud case complicates Ayotte bid".
  11. ^ Catanese, David (2010-05-10). "Ayotte: Release my e-mails".
  12. ^ "New Hampshire Institute of Politics : Saint Anselm College". Anselm.edu. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  13. ^ Tom Langford, Dale Kuehne, Kelly Ayotte (2009-07-07). Ayotte resigning to explore Senate run. Manchester, New Hampshire: New England Cable News. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  14. ^ Blake, Aaron (2009-06-17). "Ayotte for NH Senate?". Briefing Room: The Hill's Blog. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  15. ^ "AG Ayotte resigns, eyes Senate run". New Hampshire Union Leader. 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2008-07-08.
  16. ^ a b c Shira Schoenberg (2009-08-12). "Ayotte stresses security". Concord Monitor.
  17. ^ Kelly A. Ayotte (2009-09-08). Kelly Ayotte at the Bedford Republican Committee. Bedford, New Hampshire: Bedford Community Television. Event occurs at 38m24s. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  18. ^ ref name="nh-marriage-law>NH RSA Chapter 475: "Marriages"
  19. ^ "The Conservatives in the Races". RedState. 2009-12-21. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  20. ^ http://www.concordmonitor.com/article/ayotte-stresses-security
  21. ^ John Distatso (2009-09-28). "Ayotte testing political waters, wants neutral legacy". The Union Leader.
  22. ^ a b Kelly A. Ayotte (2009-09-08). Kelly Ayotte at the Bedford Republican Committee. Bedford, New Hampshire: Bedford Community Television. Event occurs at 35m55s. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  23. ^ "Ayotte calls Justice Kagan 'unqualified'", Concord Monitor, 2010-08-07, retrieved 2010-08-09
  24. ^ Kelly A. Ayotte (2009-09-08). Kelly Ayotte at the Bedford Republican Committee. Bedford, New Hampshire: Bedford Community Television. Event occurs at 24m59s. Retrieved 2010-08-09. I feel like we need a responsible plan in Afghanistan that would include that we don't leave the country in a position where Al Qaeda or the Taliban can keep and hold in a place where they are able to commit terrorist acts against us. But I feel like as we've done in Iraq we need to come up with a plan that's responsible in terms of withdrawal and a time table for it and I haven't heard that as much from the administration at this point recognizing that with respect to the losses that we're seeing in Afghanistan now.
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