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Ed Mezvinsky

(1937 - )

Edward Maurice Mezvinsky is a Jewish American politician and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mezvinsky (born January 17, 1937) was born in Ames, Iowa. He recieved his B.A. from the University of Iowa in 1960, an M.A. in political science from University of California, Berkeley in 1963 and his J.D. from the same university in 1965. Mezvinsky was admitted to the Iowa bar in 1965 and commenced practice in Iowa City.

From 1965 to 1967, Mezvinsky was a legislative assistant to U.S. Representative Neal Smith (Iowa). From 1969 through 1970, he served as a member of the Iowa State house of representatives.

In November 1972, Mezvinsky was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representives. He won re-election once, in 1974, and was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1976.

From 1977 to 1979, he served as the United States representative to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and from 1981 to 1986 as Democratic Party State Chairman of Pennsylvania. In 1990, he ran an unsuccessful campaign for nomination for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania.

In March 2001, Mezvinsky was indicted and later pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 charges of bank fraud, mail fraud and wire fraud. He served prison time and was released in April 2008.


Sources: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress; Wikipedia