James Moran

James Moran
U.S. Representative from Virginia's 8th Congressional District From: January 3, 1991-Present
Predecessor	Stanford Parris
Successor	Incumbent (no successor)
Former Mayor of Alexandria, Virginia From: 1985–1990
Predecessor	Charles Beatley
Successor	Pasty Ticer
Information
Party	Democrat
Spouse(s)	Mary Howard (1988–2003) LuAnn L. Bennett (m. 2004)
Religion	Roman Catholic

James Patrick "Jim" Moran, Jr., born May 16, 1945 (age 78), is a Democratic Representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the Eighth Congressional District of Virginia from 1991 to 2015. Moran has announced his retirement and is not seeking re-election to Congress.

Moran is of Irish descent and was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in Boston. He is the son of professional football player James Patrick Moran, Sr. and the brother of former Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian Moran. Moran is Catholic, although his votes on abortion issues have resulted in tensions with the church.

Views on Israel

Moran, who serves as a whip on the House Democrats' leadership team, is very controversial for his history of making anti-semitic remarks. In early March of 2003, he singled out Jews as the reason behind attempting to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq: "If it were not for the strong support of the Jewish community for this war with Iraq we would not be doing this," he [Moran] said at the event, organized by the Greater Reston Interfaith Peace Coalition, according the Reston Connection newspaper. "The leaders of the Jewish community are influential enough that they could change the direction of where this is going, and I think they should."

Moran participated in a mock hearing held by Democrat members of the House Judiciary Committee to consider impeaching President Bush in which a witness testified that the United States toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime for Israel, that Israel should not be considered an ally, and that President Bush was doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Moran had asked the witness if the reason the United States went to war with Iraq was because it was a threat to Israel:

"The session took an awkward turn when witness Ray McGovern, a former intelligence analyst, declared that the United States went to war in Iraq for oil, Israel and military bases craved by administration 'neocons' so 'the United States and Israel could dominate that part of the world.' He said that Israel should not be considered an ally and that Bush was doing the bidding of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Israel is not allowed to be brought up in polite conversation," McGovern said. "The last time I did this, the previous director of Central Intelligence called me anti-Semitic." Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), who prompted the question by wondering whether the true war motive was Iraq's threat to Israel, thanked McGovern for his "candid answer."

Later in 2007, in an interview published in the September-October issue of Tikkun magazine, Moran said that a Jewish-American special interest group "has pushed this war from the beginning...They are so well organized, and their members are extraordinarily powerful -- most of them are quite wealthy -- they have been able to exert power."

ACORN

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to defund ACORN, 345-75 on September 17, 2009. Seventy-five Democrats [Moran] stood with ACORN and voted no. This despite nationwide attention related to voter fraud and recent revelation of ACORN's ties to prostitution including child trafficking and defrauding the IRS.

Links

• Congressman Jim Moran, U.S. House site
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress