Peter T. "Pete" King (born April 5, 1944) is a Republican politician from the U.S. state of New York, currently the U.S. Representative for the state's 3rd Congressional District (map).
King was born in New York, New York and grew up in Sunnyside, Queens. He is of Irish descent, with roots in Galway and Limerick. He graduated from St. Francis College. King served in the National Guard from 1968 to 1973. King served as comptroller of Nassau County, New York from 1981 to 1993. He ran an unsuccessful campaign for New York Attorney General in 1986, losing to Robert Abrams. King was elected to the House of Representatives in 1992. The 3rd congressional district is made up of middle class and upper-middle class communities in eastern Nassau County, such as Hicksville, Levittown, Massapequa, Massapequa Park, Farmingdale, Seaford, and Wantagh, as well as some South Shore Suffolk County towns like Amityville, Copiague, Lindenhurst, West Babylon, Babylon, and West Islip. The district also includes the cities of Long Beach and Glen Cove.
Throughout his career, King has been one of the strongest and most outspoken supporters of the Irish Republican Army. During negotiations in 1998, King carried messages between the IRA and the British government. King was instrumental in convincing President Bill Clinton to grant a visa to Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams in 1994. Later that year, at Clinton's urging, King voted to support the federal Assault Weapons Ban. In 1998, despite his strong conservative views, King was one of only a few House Republicans to vote against the impeachment of Clinton.
King has thought about running for the United States Senate both in 2000 and 2004 (against Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer respectively) but decided against it both times. He was also mentioned by fellow conservatives as possible candidates for Governor of New York and county executive of Nassau County.
King is the only Republican congressman left on Long Island, where Republicans once were the majority party. He has been reelected numerous times by large margins despite being a relatively conservative Republican in a district that has trended more moderate to liberal in recent elections. His conservatism is tempered by a blue-collar appeal and support for traditional values, which resonate with the district's many constituents of Irish and Italian descent. He is seeking re-election in 2006, running against Democratic challenger Dave Mejias.
King, an avid amateur boxer, is known for a very blunt attitude; in 2005 he generated controversy due to his heated replies to some letters from a constituent. He has also clashed with the editorial board of Newsday, the large, powerful newspaper that covers Long Island and the New York region. In June 2005 he was quoted as saying that he supported President George W. Bush's position that there was a connection between Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda.
In 2005, he stated that Valerie Plame deserved to be outed as a supposedly covert CIA operative. King also suggested that the media "be shot" for pursuing the story and identifying White House aide Karl Rove as the then-alleged leaker.
He made headlines in June 2006 when The New York Times revealed that the Bush administration was tracking financial data through SWIFT, an international banking network. King has called on the justice department to investigate the paper for violations of the Espionage Act.
King is currently the Chairman of the United States House Committee on Homeland Security. An outspoken individual, he has been a strong advocate for more Homeland Security funding for New York City although under his tenure as Chairman, New York has lost more funding from the Department of Homeland Security. He was also a strong critic of the Dubai Ports Deal. In late August 2006, King endorsed racial profiling as a law enforcement tool. He proposed that people of "Middle Eastern and South Asian" go through additional security checks due to their ethnicity and religion, saying that all Muslims aren't terrorists but that all recent terrorists are Muslim (Newsday 8/17/2006). King has come under fire on Long Island by civil rights proponents, law enforcement officials, and Newsday's editorial section for this way of thinking, with readers citing recent terrorist acts committed by Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, the arrest of José Padilla, and the capture of John Walker Lindh.
The Drum Major Institute, a liberal think tank, gave an "F" Congressional Scorecard to King in 2005 on on middle-class issues.
He resides in Seaford with his wife. Rosemary. He has two adult children and one grandchild.
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