Mary Bono (née Whitaker and formerly Mary Bono Mack, born October 24, 1961) is an American politician, businesswoman, and lobbyist who served
Palm Springs and most of central and eastern
Riverside County, California
Riverside County is a County (United States), county located in the southern California, southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most ...
, in the
U.S. House of Representatives from 1998 to 2013.
A member of the
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
, Bono was first elected to Congress in 1998 to replace her late husband,
Sonny Bono, who had died in office months earlier. She sat on the
Energy and Commerce Committee
The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more than ...
and was chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade.
In 1998, Bono served on the
House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
that approved
articles of impeachment against President
Bill Clinton. Bono served in Congress until losing her 2012 reelection bid.
In March 2013, Bono became a senior vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based federal affairs firm
Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting. In 2018, she founded the political affairs consulting firm Integritas by Bono.
Early life and education
Bono was born Mary Whitaker in
Cleveland,
Ohio, the daughter of Karen Lee (née Taylor), a chemist, and Dr. Clay Westerfield Whitaker, a physician and World War II veteran. In 1963, the family moved to
South Pasadena, California. She graduated from
South Pasadena High School in 1979, then from the
University of Southern California in 1984
with a Bachelor of Arts in art history. Whitaker was an accomplished
gymnast in her youth
and worked as a cocktail waitress during her early twenties.
In 1986, Whitaker married singer, actor and politician
Sonny Bono. They moved to
Palm Springs, California
Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...
where Sonny Bono served as
mayor from 1988 to 1992 before being elected to the
U.S. House of Representatives in 1994.
The congressman died in a skiing accident on January 5, 1998,
during his second term in Congress, leaving a vacant seat in the House, which Mary Bono would then pursue.
Career
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1998, Mary Bono won the Republican nomination for the special election to succeed her late husband in what was then California's 44th congressional district. She was then elected to Congress on April 7, 1998. Bono won election to a full term on November 3, 1998.
That same year, Bono was added to the
House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
by the Republican leadership in anticipation of the consideration of
impeachment proceedings against President Clinton, thus becoming the only Republican woman on the committee during the
impeachment inquiry against Bill Clinton.
Bono voted along party lines on all four motions for impeachment in both the committee and on the House floor,
despite other moderate Republican House members voting against Articles II, III, and IV.
Bono's service on the House Judiciary panel increased her national profile considerably.
Bono served in Congress for 15 years.
In 2011, her bill, H.R. 2715, was signed into law with bipartisan support to amend and improve the
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The daughter of a veteran, Bono also played a key role in creation of VA clinics in Blythe and Palm Desert, California. In December 2010, she was one of fifteen Republican House members to vote in favor of repealing the
United States military's "
Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on
openly homosexual
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
service members.
[Chris Geidner]
House Passes DADT Repeal Bill
, ''Metro Weekly
''Metro Weekly'' is a free weekly magazine for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in Washington, D.C., United States. It was first published on May 5, 1994. ''Metro Weekly'' includes national and local news, interviews w ...
'' (December 15, 2010).[House Vote 638 – Repeals 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell']
, '' The New York Times'' (December 15, 2010).
After the
2010 United States census
The United States census of 2010 was the twenty-third United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010. The census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators servin ...
, Bono's district was renumbered as the 36th district and made somewhat more Democratic and Hispanic than its predecessor. In a significant upset, Democratic challenger
Raul Ruiz, a physician, defeated her with 53 percent of the vote to Bono's 47.1 percent.
In 2013, Bono was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the ''
Hollingsworth v. Perry
''Hollingsworth v. Perry'' was a series of United States federal court cases that re-legalized same-sex marriage in the state of California. The case began in 2009 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, which found that ...
'' case.
Committee assignments
*
Committee on Energy and Commerce
**
Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade (Chairwoman)
**
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
**
Subcommittee on Environment and Economy
*
United States House Committee on Armed Services
*
United States House Committee on the Judiciary
*
United States House Committee on Small Business
Bono was chairwoman of the House Energy Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. This committee debates legislation related to intellectual property, telecommunications, energy and healthcare. She was the first Republican woman to chair this subcommittee.
She was co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse. In 2012, she formed and chaired the House Women's Policy Committee, which included 24 female Republican lawmakers from 17 states.
Caucus memberships
* America Supports You Caucus
* Intellectual Property Promotion and Piracy Prevention Caucus (Co-chair)
*
International Conservation Caucus
* Recording Arts and Sciences Caucus (Co-chair)
*
Congressional Hispanic Conference
*
Republican Main Street Partnership
Post-congressional career
In March 2013, Bono became a senior vice president at the Washington, D.C.-based federal affairs firm
Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting.
In June 2013, a group of leading telecommunications firms announced formation of the 21st Century Privacy Coalition, which focuses on updating U.S. privacy and data security laws. Mary Bono and Jon Leibowitz, former Federal Trade Commission chairman, were named co-chairs of the coalition. Also in June 2013, Bono helped lead expansion of
Faegre Baker Daniels and Faegre Baker Daniels Consulting into Silicon Valley, in her home state of California.
In August 2013, Bono was a panelist at the ''National Journals Women 2020 event. At that event, she discussed gender inequality and her experiences as a woman in Congress.
In October 2018, following the
Michigan State University
Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...
sex abuse scandal, Bono was named interim president and chief executive officer of
USA Gymnastics. However, she resigned four days later following criticism over her previous role as a lobbyist for USA Gymnastics amid public concern that she had marked out the
Nike logo on her sneakers in protest of Nike's support for NFL quarterback
Colin Kaepernick.
Advocacy and causes
After attending a lecture by mountaineer-turned-humanitarian
Greg Mortenson
Greg Mortenson is an American professional speaker, writer, veteran, and former mountaineer. He is a co-founder and former executive director of the non-profit Central Asia Institute and the founder of the educational charity Pennies for Peace.
...
, Bono worked with him to aid his efforts to build schools for girls in the mountainous regions of Pakistan. Bono is quoted in Mortenson's book ''
Three Cups of Tea
''Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time'' (original hardcover title: ''Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations ... One School at a Time'') is a memoir book by Greg Morte ...
'' as saying "I've learned more from Greg Mortenson about the causes of terrorism than during all our briefings on Capitol Hill."
Personal life
In March 1986, she married actor/singer Sonny Bono. The Bonos moved to Palm Springs, where they owned and operated a restaurant. Sonny Bono served as Mayor of Palm Springs from 1988 to 1992 before being elected to Congress in 1994. The Bonos had two children: Chesare and Chianna. Sonny Bono died on January 5, 1998, in a skiing accident.
After Sonny Bono's death in 1998, Bono began dating Brian Prout, drummer of the country music band
Diamond Rio.
The two became engaged in 2001 but did not marry.
In 2001, Bono married Wyoming businessman Glenn Baxley about 18 months after they met in Mexico. They filed for divorce in 2005.
On December 15, 2007, Bono married Congressman
Connie Mack IV (
R-
FL) in
Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most populous cit ...
. In May 2013, the couple announced they had separated on amicable terms.
They divorced later that year.
In September 2015, Bono married former astronaut and retired Navy rear admiral
Stephen S. Oswald
Stephen Scot Oswald (born June 30, 1951) is an American former pilot and NASA astronaut.
Early life and education
Born June 30, 1951, in Seattle, Washington, but considers Bellingham, Washington, to be his hometown. He graduated from Bellingha ...
.
See also
*
Women in the United States House of Representatives
References
External links
Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack''official campaign site''
*
*
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, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bono, Mary
1961 births
20th-century American women politicians
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
Florida Republicans
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Living people
Mack family
Politicians from Cleveland
People from Palm Springs, California
People from Pasadena, California
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from California
Sonny Bono
Spouses of California politicians
Spouses of Florida politicians
University of Southern California alumni
Women in California politics