John Spencer (politician)

John Spencer (born November 17, 1946) is the former Mayor of Yonkers, New York (1996–2003). He was the 2006 Republican nominee for U.S. Senator from New York and lost to incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Early life, military service and education
Spencer was born in Yonkers, New York. He was adopted and raised by the Ginnane family who had eight children of their own. His adoptive mother died when he was eight, his adoptive father six years later. His sister Noreen Ginnane raised him.

After two years at Westchester Community College, he dropped out to join the United States Army during the Vietnam War. He earned an officer's commission as an Infantry Lieutenant and served a tour in Vietnam during 1968 through 1969. He holds the Combat Infantryman Badge and the Bronze Star.

Early career
Spencer married Eileen Looney in 1971, and the couple went on to have two children.

Spencer worked in construction, real estate property management with Cushman & Wakefield, and as Vice President of Real Estate Management with Bankers Trust Co.

He then entered politics as a member of the Yonkers City Council in 1991. He served 6 years on City Council, with 4 years as Republican Majority Leader.

Spencer also was the founder of Spencer Consulting Group, where he uses his personal experience of overcoming alcoholism to help others defeat their addictions.

Mayor of Yonkers
In 1996, John Spencer was sworn in as mayor of Yonkers. The city's finances had been under the oversight of a State Emergency Financial Control Board for more than a decade. Mayor Spencer insisted that the City had met its obligations and called for the removal of the New York State Control Board.

In 1998, control of the city's finances was returned to the city.

His mayoral chief of staff Kathy Spring bore him two children before they married in 2003, while Spencer was still married to his first wife; they later had a third. Spencer did not publicly acknowledge the affair until 2002. Spring's annual salary started at $52,000, and increased to $138,000 by the time Spencer left office.

In November 2003, Spencer could not run for re-election as mayor due to the term limits law that he himself championed and then tried to rescind. Mayor Spencer's deputy mayor Phil Amicone sought the office of Mayor with the support of Spencer, and successfully defeated Assemblyman Michael Spano in a Republican primary, and then went on to defeat Democratic candidate Joe Farmer in the general election.

2006 New York Senate race
In 2005, Spencer announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was seeking re-election to a second term. Politically, Spencer is opposed to abortion and gun control, and a supporter of tighter border security. His support for the Bush administration and its policies is well known, including but not limited to the war in Iraq.

On August 18, 2005, Spencer gave a radio interview where he said Westchester County, New York District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, another candidate for the Republican nomination, didn't have a "Chinaman's chance" of getting the conservative line. Spencer was asked to apologize for the comment after an outcry from the Asian community that the statement was derogatory. Pirro dropped out of the race in December 2005.

On May 31, 2006, Spencer won the endorsement of the state Republican Party organization but did not achieve the threshold of 75 percent he needed to exclude his rival, former Pentagon aide Kathleen Troia “K.T.” McFarland, from the primary ballot. He received 63 percent, and thus faced McFarland in the September 12, 2006 Republican primary, which he won by a margin of almost two to one. Spencer called on McFarland to step aside after the vote, but McFarland told CQPolitics.com she had no intention of withdrawing from the race.

In a June 2006 radio ad, Spencer expressed his disappointment in the national Republicans for not helping his Senate campaign.

In his 2006 election campaign, Spencer came out in favor of a New York Court of Appeals decision rejecting the claim of 42 gay and lesbian couples that same-sex marriage as constitutional right. On Kevin McCullough's talk radio program, Spencer said marriage is "between a man and a woman" and that a constitutional amendment is needed to enshrine that.

Clinton spent $36 million for her re-election, more than any other candidate for Senate in the 2006 elections. Polls during the general election campaign generally showed Clinton with a 20-point lead or better over Spencer. On November 7, 2006, Clinton won easily, garnering 67% of the vote to Spencer's 31%.

In 2006, former Mayor John Spencer was found guilty in Federal Court by unanimous jury verdict of violating the First Amendment rights of former City of Yonkers employee, Joan Gronowski. Gronowski is currently a Yonkers City Councilmember. Spencer's successor, Mayor Phil Amicone, was recently found guilty of the same violation for seizing newspaper boxes in the City of Yonkers. The jury awarded $8M in punitive damages to various plaintiffs.