Rep. Francis Rooney confirms: No third term for Southwest Florida congressman
Michael BraunRep. Francis X. Rooney said Saturday he will not run for re-election as Southwest Florida's congressman in 2020.
Rooney announced his unexpected decision on Fox News during a discussion on his feelings about impeachment proceedings.
Chris Berardi, communications director for Rooney, later confirmed his decision.
During an in-studio interview with Fox News host Leland Vittert, the 19th District congressman said that his not running for re-election was not a move that would "free him up" on impeachment.
"I'm just doing what I was going to do," Rooney told Vittert.
Rooney becomes the first GOP congressman to go as far as he has on impeachment — not a yes (yet) but not a no. His decision not to run for reelection frees the congressman to vote without a rebellion back home.
Political analyst Susan MacManus said that Rooney's move was not shocking to her.
"For people like him with a long history of public service you can get to the point of thinking this isn't worth my time," she said. "People are just getting weary of the bickering."
MacManus said she understood Rooney's thoughts when she saw a post on Twitter Saturday afternoon announcing his "retirement."
"I wasn't shocked," she said. "This is becoming a problem. People who go into public service ... hit a brick wall. For elder statesmen and women like Francis X. Rooney to say 'I've had enough', it speaks volumes about the state of politics."
Just days after media reports said Rooney, 65, was going to run for a third term, he told Vittert that his name could now be added to a roster of Republican politicians not running in 2020.
"I don't really think I want a third term," Rooney told Vittert.
More:Rep. Rooney says Democrats and Trump will learn to work together
And:Rooney roundtable on water quality: a view from the outside
Rooney on impeachment
Rooney clarified to Vittert, however, that his retirement would not make a difference in his reaction to impeachment proceedings. His feeling was that politicians should always do the right thing.
Comments made by White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney were an explicit admission of a quid pro quo with Ukraine, Rooney told Vittert.
"I think Mulvaney clarified, there is a point there," he said, adding that Mulvaney's comments would drive some people to rethink their position on impeachment. "I was shocked at those (comments)," Rooney told Vittert.
He then told the Fox host that he has felt rather isolated even though there were other Republicans who felt the same way on impeachment.
Rooney on the environment
Rooney’s strong pro-environment stance distinguished him from his Republican colleagues.
When campaigning for office, he made this promise in November 2016: “ Francis Rooney will not rest until the release of polluted water from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River is stopped and our waterways are clean.”
Other candidates may have made similar pledges, but few lived up to them as unequivocally as Rooney.
He championed a carbon tax and a ban on offshore oil drilling. Last month, he joined the environment subcommittee of the House science, space, and technology committee.
Following last year’s disastrous red tide/cyanobacteria outbreaks, Rooney made headlines by convening a meeting of federal, state and local leaders to strategize about the crisis. He drew fire by excluding the public, but said that was the only way he could get some of the agencies to agree to attend. Days later, he called another meeting at which citizens were welcome.
After he urged the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to step up its research to understand the effects of blue-green algae, it announced a study of people who make their living on Lake Okeechobee, which is chronically plagued by the toxic blooms.
In recent months, Rooney has floated the idea of removing agriculture from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ water management responsibilities — and to put the health of the state’s coastal estuaries front and center.
Rooney's time in office
Rooney, 65, is a self-made millionaire businessman and a former ambassador to the Holy See nominated by George W. Bush. His anti-tax, free-market approach puts him in the mainstream of Republican theocracy. He has sponsored legislation allowing workers to opt out of paying automatic union fees and requiring students who do not complete their education to repay their federal Pell Grants.
But he has also split from his party by being outspoken about the need to acknowledge and confront climate change and has been a vocal opponent of offshore oil drilling.
In March, he was one of 14 Republicans who broke with his party to join a Democratic effort to stop Trump from declaring a national emergency to fund his border wall.
A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Rooney voiced his displeasure with the president's recent decision to withdraw of U.S. troops from Syria has allowed Turkey to lodge an attack on U.S. Kurdish allies who helped in the fight against the Islamic State terrorist group, also known as ISIS.
“The decision by @realdonaldtrump to withdraw our troops from Syria has made way for a Turkish offensive on the Syrian Kurds and will do lasting harm,” he wrote on Twitter Thursday. “I strongly urge @realdonaldtrump to immediately reverse his decision and support the Kurds.”
And the former ambassador has criticized the administration for what he calls the mistreatment of the diplomatic corps in the wake of revelations about Trump's efforts to pressure Ukraine for dirt on a political rival — the subject of a House-led impeachment inquiry. As a member of the Foreign Affairs committee , he is also a member of one of the three House committees who are leading the inquiry and who are allowed to sit in on the closed-door meetings where witnesses are being deposed and evidence collected.
"I am in favor of finding out all of the factual information available in this process that is already underway," he tweeted Friday, noting that "I did not endorse an impeachment inquiry."
A statement issued Saturday by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, commented on Rooney's retirement.
“As questions swirl around Florida Republicans’ ties to Rudy Giuliani and his Ukraine henchmen, Congressman Rooney clearly wants out," said DCCC spokesman Avery Jaffe. "Rooney should be commended for speaking the truth about President Trump’s abuse of power and separating himself from the rest of the Republican caucus who are unwilling to put country over party and uphold the rule of law.”
There was no formal statement issued by the congressman on his retirement comments.
Reaction in Southwest Florida
Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass, who has had thoughts of running for the 19th seat, said he first wanted to thank Rooney for his service.
"He's been a consistent leader for Southwest Florida," he said.
Pendergrass, who was re-elected in November 2018, said a job such as Southwest Florida's congressman would be a challenge.
"I have been thinking about it," he said. "I don't know if it's the right time." Whomever runs, he said, the area needs a consistent and solid presence in the Capitol.
Cindy Banyai, a political science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, and Democratic candidate for the 19th, said Rooney's move was not unexpected.
"With how much the Republican Party expects its members to stay in line, it’s not surprising that Rooney has decided to retire after his recent comments," she said.
Connect with this reporter: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook) @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter).
Washington Correspondent Ledyard King contributed to this report.
About Francis X. Rooney
- U.S. Congressman for FL-19
- Graduated from Georgetown University in 1975 and Georgetown University Law Center in 1978
- Lives in Naples
- Was named the 2017 Person to Watch by The News-Press