Alan Grayson

Grayson was born in the Bronx, New York City, New York, to Dorothy Ann (née Sabin) and Daniel Franklin Grayson. He grew up in Adee Towers, a building financed by the Mitchell–Lama Housing Program, and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1975. Grayson worked his way through Harvard College as a janitor and nightwatchman, and also features reporter for Boston Phoenix. He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Special Concentration in Urban Studies in 1978. Grayson wrote his master's thesis on gerontology. In 1986, he helped found the non-profit Alliance for Aging Research in Washington, D.C., and served as an officer of the organization for more than twenty years. ==Legal career==

Grayson worked as a law clerk at the Colorado Supreme Court in 1983, and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit from 1984 to 1985, where he worked with two judges who later joined the U.S. Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. He was an associate in the Washington, D.C., office of the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson for five years, where he specialized in contract law. In 1991 he founded the law firm Grayson & Kubli, which concentrated on government contract law. He was a lecturer at the George Washington University government contracts program and a frequent speaker on the topic. In the 2000s, he worked as a plaintiffs' attorney specializing in whistleblower fraud cases aimed at Iraq War contractors. One contractor, Custer Battles, employed individuals who were found guilty of making fraudulent statements and submitting fraudulent invoices on two contracts the company had with the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq. On behalf of his clients, Grayson filed suit under the False Claims Act and its qui tam provisions. The jury verdict was more than $13 million, which was upheld on appeal in April 2009. The Iraq War contractor fraud case brought Grayson his first national attention. In 2006, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal described Grayson as "waging a one-man war against contractor fraud in Iraq" and as a "fierce critic of the war in Iraq" whose car displayed bumper stickers such as "Bush lied, people died." ==President of IDT Corp.==

Grayson made his fortune as the co-founder and first president of IDT Corporation (International Discount Telecom). == U.S. House of Representatives ==

Elections 2006 In 2006, Grayson first entered into electoral politics, losing the 2006 Democratic primary for Florida's 8th congressional district to Charlie Stuart, a prominent local businessman and conservative Democrat. Conservative Newsweek columnist George Will called Grayson "America's worst politician". Grayson was also heavily targeted in attack ads funded by groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the 60 Plus Association. 2012 On July 11, 2011, Grayson announced in an e-mail to supporters that he planned to run once again for Congress. Grayson ran unopposed in the Democratic primary for the newly created 9th District in Central Florida. On November 6, 2012, Grayson defeated Todd Long, 63–37%, to return to Congress after a one-term absence. He described his victory as "the biggest comeback in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives." Although he ran in two different districts, Grayson claimed the House historian had told him that the shift from a 56–38% loss in 2010 to a 63–37% victory in 2012 was the biggest comeback in congressional history. 2014 Grayson was challenged in the Democratic primary by Nick Ruiz, a professor from the University of Central Florida. He overcame this challenge comfortably, 74–26%. The Republican challenger in the general election was Carol Platt, with independent Marko Milakovich also standing. Grayson was returned to Congress with 54% of the vote. Tenure 2009–2011 Grayson was the second Democrat to represent Florida's 8th congressional district since its formation after the 1970 census (it was the 5th District from 1973 to 1993 and has been the 8th since 1993). The only other Democrat to represent this district, Bill Gunter, left to run for the United States Senate in 1974 after only one term. Grayson is considered a progressive Democrat. He supported Barack Obama in 2008. He was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which he was vice-chairman. In October 2013, his campaign sent out a fundraising email that compared the Tea Party to the Ku Klux Klan. It used the image of a burning cross as the "T" in Tea Party. Matt Gorman of the National Republican Congressional Committee described the e-mail as "hateful words and imagery". Grayson said he saw "overwhelming evidence that the Tea Party is the home of bigotry and discrimination in America today, just as the KKK was for an earlier generation." Political positions Federal Reserve During his first term in office, Grayson supported Ron Paul's Audit the Fed legislation. Grayson was a co-sponsor of the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009, which would provide additional provisions to audit the Federal Reserve, including removing several key exemptions. After demands from Republicans that he apologize, he defended his comment and in a House floor speech stated, "I apologize to the dead and their families that we haven't voted sooner to end this holocaust in America." He was then further lambasted for his use of the word holocaust by Jewish spokespersons across the nation. Grayson, who is Jewish, apologized to the Anti-Defamation League for those offended by his generic use of holocaust. a website to "memorialize Americans who die because they don't have health insurance". He subsequently read stories of the dead submitted through the Names of the Dead site on the House floor. He has always supported same-sex marriage and said in an interviews in 2013, "the propaganda that somehow gay marriage makes straight marriage bad for everyone is just farcical to me. I just don't understand the logic of it." Grayson voted in support of the Hate Crimes Expansion Act, which expands the definition of hate crimes and strengthens enforcement of hate crime laws. He also voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Grayson supported the Paycheck Fairness Act, a bill that allows victims of wage discrimination to sue for punitive damages. He has rejected what he calls "warmongering", saying: "It's simply not our responsibility. We're not the world's policeman." Instead, he called for a focus on humanitarian efforts and solving domestic problems. He launched DontAttackSyria.com, where he began gathering signatures for his petition calling on Congress to vote against authorizing military action against Syria, and was "whipping votes" in the House. Committee assignments 2013–2017 • Committee on Foreign Affairs • Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia • Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere • Committee on Science, Space and Technology • Subcommittee on Energy • Subcommittee on Environment 2009–2011 • Committee on Financial Services • Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government-Sponsored Enterprises • Committee on Science and Technology • Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight • Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics ==Personal life==

Grayson was ranked as the 11th-wealthiest member of Congress in 2010, based on financial disclosure forms with a net worth of $31.41 million, and a pending claim against the now-defunct Derivium Capital for at least $25 million, according to Roll Call. While pursuing the whistleblower cases, Grayson worked from a home office in Orlando, where he lived with his second wife, Lolita Grayson, and their five children. and Alan Grayson asked a court in Orlando to annul the marriage a year later. In April 2015 the Graysons agreed to settle the dispute and annul their 25-year marriage. Lolita Grayson accused Alan Grayson of domestic abuse that lasted over the decades of their marriage; Alan Grayson denied the charges. On May 31, 2016, Alan Grayson married his third wife, Dr. Dena Minning. In 2016, Minning ran for the US House seat Grayson was vacating to pursue his Senate run. She was defeated in the Democratic primary. In December 2019, Grayson released a book titled High Crimes: The Impeachment of Donald Trump. ==See also==