2001 NCSE CONGRESSIONAL LEADERSHIP AWARD

Sherwood Boehlert
U.S. Congressman, 23rd Disctrict, New York

Utica native Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-New Hartford), Chairman of the House Science Committee, was first elected to the House of Representatives in November 1982. He is currently serving in his tenth consecutive term representing Central New York. In the 2000 election, he again won all nine counties and received a convincing 60% of the vote in a three-way race. 

Boehlert has served on the Science Committee since 1983, and was elected Chairman in January 2001. The Committee has jurisdiction over all federal nonmilitary scientific and technology research and development programs, on which the federal government spends more than $30 billion a year. The Committee has jurisdiction over NASA, the National Science Foundation, and research and development initiatives within the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Commerce. In addition, the Committee has jurisdiction over civil aviation research and development and marine research. 

Boehlert is the third-ranking member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, serving as Chairman of its Subcommittee on Water Resources and Environment from 1995 to 2000. He remains an active member of that Subcommittee. Boehlert also sits on the Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, and the Subcommittee on Railroads. 

Boehlert was reappointed by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert as a member of the Select Committee on Intelligence, where he is on the front line of important intelligence decisions faced by Congress. Boehlert is a delegate to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, also at the appointment of the Speaker, where he serves as chairman of the Assembly's Scientific and Technology Committee. 

Born on September 28, 1936 in Utica, New York, Boehlert is a graduate of Whitesboro Central High School and Utica College (Bachelor of Science, 1961). Before serving as Oneida County Executive (1979-83), he was manager of public relations at Wyandotte Chemical (1961-64) and served two years in the U.S. Army (1956-58). 

Boehlert served as chief of staff for two area Congressmen, Alexander Pirnie (1964-72) and Donald Mitchell (1973-79), where he became intimately familiar with the people, places and issues of the 23rd District. In honor of his former boss, Boehlert was able to secure passage of legislation in 2000 to rename the Veterans' Outpatient Clinic in Rome as the "Donald J. Mitchell Department of Veterans Affairs Outpatient Clinic." 

An avid New York Yankees fan and movie buff, Boehlert and his wife, Marianne (Willey) Boehlert, make their home in New Hartford, New York. They have four grown children and five grandchildren. When Congress is in session, he returns home each weekend to stay in touch with people he feels fortunate to represent in Washington. 

The 23rd includes all or parts of Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Herkimer, Madison, Montgomery, Oneida, Otsego, and Schoharie counties.

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