Shelley Berkley

Shelley Berkley
U.S. House, Nevada, District 1
Retired Representative
In office
January 3, 1999-January 3, 2013
Party	Democratic
Predecessor	John E. Ensign (R)
Elections and appointments
Last election	November 2, 2010
First elected	November 3, 1998
Next election	November 6, 2012
Term limits	N/A
Prior offices
Nevada University and Community College System Board of Regents
1990-1998
Nevada Assembly
1982-1984
Education
Bachelor's	University of Nevada, Las Vegas
J.D.	University of San Diego
Personal
Birthday	January 20, 1951
Place of birth	New York City, New York
Profession	Attorney, Higher Education Administrator
Net worth	$15,415,229
Religion	Judaism
Websites
Office website
Campaign website

Rochelle "Shelley" Berkley (b. January 20, 1951) was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from Nevada. Berkley was elected by voters from Nevada's 1st congressional district. Berkley did not seek re-election to the U.S. House in 2012, opting to run for U.S. Senate instead. She was defeated by incumbent Dean Heller (R) on November 6, 2012. She was succeeded in the House by Dina Titus (D) on January 3, 2013.

Based on an analysis of bill sponsorship by GovTrack, Berkley was a "moderate democratic leader".

Biography

The information about this individual is current as of when his or her last campaign ended. See anything that needs updating? Send a correction to our editors

Berkley was born in New York City, New York. She earned a B.A. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1972 and her J.D. from the University of San Diego in 1976.

Career

After obtaining her law degree, Berkley returned to Las Vegas to practice law, often in the employ of casinos and hotels.

Committee assignments

U.S. House

2011-2012

Berkley serves on the following committees:

• House Ways and Means Committee
  • Subcommittee on Social Security
  • Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures

Issues

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Berkley voted for the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. She was one of 172 Democrats that voted in favor of the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257/167 vote on January 1, 2013.

Elections

2012

See also: United States Senate elections in Nevada, 2012

Berkley ran for the U.S. Senate in 2012. She defeated Stephen Brown, Barry Ellsworth, Louis Macias, and Nancy Price in the June 12, 2012 Democratic primary but was defeated by incumbent Dean Heller (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.

The University of Virginia's Center for Politics published an article called Sabato's Crystal Ball on March 22, 2012 detailing the 8 races in the Senate in 2012 that would impact the political fate of which party ended up with control in 2013. The seat rated a toss-up that Sabato's Crystal Ball believed was most likely to depend on the outcome of the Presidential election in November is the Senate seat in Nevada. According to the article, "the size of the Hispanic vote in Nevada come November may be more of a deciding factor in this contest than any SuperPAC."

On July 9, the Washington Post reported that the House Ethics Committee had voted unanimously to launch a formal investigation into allegations that Berkley had used her position to benefit the financial interests of her husband.

The House Ethics Committee announced their investigation of Shelley Berkley after she acted to prevent a federal agency from closing a kidney transplant center to which her husband, Dr. Larry Lehrner, had financial ties.

U.S. Senate, Nevada, General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Shelley Berkley	44.7%	446,080
	Republican	Dean Heller Incumbent	45.9%	457,656
	Independent American Party of Nevada	David Lory VanderBeek	4.9%	48,792
	N/A	None of these candidates	4.5%	45,277
Total Votes				997,805
Source: Nevada Secretary of State "U.S. Senate Results"

2010

On November 2, 2010, Berkley was re-elected to the United States House for a sixth term. She defeated Kenneth A. Wegner (R), Jonathan J. Hansen (Independent American), and Edward George Klapproth (Libertarian).

United States House, Nevada General Election, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Shelley Berkley Incumbent	61.7%	103,246
	Republican	Kenneth A. Wegner	35.3%	58,995
	Independent American	Jonathan J. Hansen	1.7%	2,847
	Libertarian	Edward George Klapproth	1.3%	2,118
Total Votes				167,206

Issues

Campaign themes

2012

On her campaign website, Berkley listed eleven issues:

• Creating Jobs/Economy

• On her website, Berkley said, "At the height of the recession, our nation was shedding nearly one million jobs each month and Nevada’s unemployment rate had skyrocketed to 14.5%. While there have been some improvements, Nevadans are still struggling and there is much work left to be done. Shelley Berkley understands this. That’s why her number one, two and three priorities are jobs, jobs and more jobs."

• Protecting Social Security and Medicare

• On her website, Berkley said, "In Congress, Shelley has opposed every effort to privatize Social Security accounts, which would drain trillions from the program and put Americans’ safety nets at the whim of Wall Street manipulation and foreign market fluctuations. She has stood strong to protect beneficiaries’ cost of living increase because she knows they can make or break a tight budget."

• Housing/Foreclosure

• On her website, Berkley said, "No state’s homeowners have been hit harder by the foreclosure crisis than Nevada. That’s why no one has fought harder than Shelley to help struggling Nevada families stay in their homes and help communities suffering from foreclosures."

• National Security

• On her website, Berkley said, "The death of Osama Bin Laden marked a change in America’s mission in Afghanistan and time for us to begin bringing our brave troops home, shifting more responsibility to the Afghan people. Shelley’s pushed for tough sanctions against oppressive regimes in North Korea, Syria, and Zimbabwe, and believes sanctions are the best tool to curb Iran’s efforts to develop nuclear weapons."

• Veterans

• On her website, Berkley said, "Shelley has stood up for Nevada’s veterans throughout her career in public service. She understands that America’s men and women in uniform have put their lives on the line in service to their country and that they deserve the best equipment and care in order to do their jobs."

• Clean Energy Jobs

• On her website, Berkley said, "Shelley is working to put Nevada on track to become a world leader in solar energy production. Whether it’s building large solar thermal plants or constructing solar panel manufacturing facilities, Shelley has made sure Nevada is forefront in the minds of solar businesses."

• Preservation/Conservation

• On her website, Berkley said, "The increase in renewable energy production throughout the state isn’t just creating jobs; it’s helping keep our air, water and land clean. And, Shelley will continue to promote clean energy and help break our dependence on polluting energy sources."

• Yucca Mountain

• On her website, Berkley said, "Shelley hasn’t just worked to stop the project. She’s worked to solve the problem. Experts and regulators have agreed that spent nuclear material can be secured onsite at nuclear plants for the next 100 years. Shelley has pushed legislation to extend that time period and secure nuclear waste through investments in onsite storage facilities. She’s also fought proposals that would revive wasteful spending for the project, instead advocating for deficit reduction and investment in clean energy technology and jobs."

• Education

• On her website, Berkley said, "As someone who was the first person in her family to attend college due to student loans, Shelley knows the importance of ensuring that all Nevada students have access to the same opportunities that she had. That’s why she’s voted to lower the interest rate on student loans, and has backed efforts to increase the value and number of Pell Grants."

• Health Care

• On her website, Berkley said, "Shelley will continue to work to improve health care reform, and defend against efforts to defund the law that would strip Nevadans of these important benefits."

• Immigration

• On her website, Berkley said, "Shelley is also a strong supporter of the DREAM Act, which would give young people who were brought to this country by their parents through no fault of their own, stayed in school and kept out of trouble the opportunity to earn legal status by getting a college education or serving in the armed forces."

Campaign donors

2012

Candidates for Congress were required to file up to seven main reports with the Federal Election Commission during the 2012 elections season. Below are Berkley's reports.

Shelley Berkeley Campaign Finance Reports
Report	Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions for Reporting Period	Expenditures	Cash on Hand
April Quarterly	April 13, 2012	$375,908.42	$1,364,052.11	$(715,583.42)	$4,407,777.11
Pre-Primary	May 31, 2012	$440,777.16	$651,961.34	$(944,024.72)	$4,115,713.78
July Quarterly	July 13, 2012	$4,115,713.78	$898,067.71	$(985,914.74)	$4,027,866.75
			Running totals
			$2,914,081.16	$(2,645,522.88)

Out-of-state donations

According to an Open Secrets report, Berkley ranked among the top ten senate candidates receiving out-of-state donations during the 2012 election cycle. She received $4,383,123, or 68.4%, of her donations from outside of Nevada.

2010

Breakdown of the source of Berkley's campaign funds before the 2010 election.

Berkley was re-elected to the U.S. House in 2010 for a sixth term. Her campaign committee raised a total of $2,232,438 and spent $1,992,403.

U.S. House, Nevada, 2010 - Shelley Berkley Campaign Contributions
Total Raised	$2,232,438
Total Spent	$1,992,403
Total Raised by General Election Opponent	$72,946
Total Spent by General Election Opponent	$72,482
Top contributors to Shelley Berkley's campaign committee
MGM Resorts International	$40,500
Bergman Walls & Assoc	$31,100
Wynn Resorts	$22,900
Caesars Entertainment	$14,600
Apollo Advisors	$14,400
Top 5 industries that contributed to campaign committee
Health Professionals	$240,753
Casinos/Gambling	$186,566
Pro-Israel	$143,007
Lawyers/Law Firms	$142,433
Real Estate	$110,132

Analysis

Congressional staff salaries

See also: Staff salaries of United States Senators and Representatives

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Berkley paid her congressional staff a total of $1,223,809 in 2011. Overall, Nevada ranks 50th in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.

Staff bonuses

According to an analysis by CNN, Berkley is one of nearly 25% of House members who gave their staff bonuses in 2012. Berkley's staff was given an apparent $1,000.00 in bonus money.

Net worth

See also: Net Worth of United States Senators and Representatives

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Berkley's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between $7,891,261 to $22,939,197. That averages to $15,415,229, which is higher than the average net worth of Democratic House members in 2011 of $5,107,874.16. Her average net worth increased by 12.83% from 2010.

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org - The Center for Responsive Politics, Berkley's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $7,236,882 to $20,087,837. Averaging to a net worth of $13,662,359.50 which was higher than the average net worth of Democrats in 2010 of $4,465,875.

National Journal vote ratings

See also: National Journal vote ratings

2012

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Berkley ranked 163rd in the liberal rankings among members of the U.S. House.

2011

Each year National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of congress voted in the previous year. Berkley was tied with one other member of the U.S. House of Representatives ranking 159th in the liberal rankings among members of the U.S. House.

Percentage voting with party

November 2011

The website Open Congress tracks how often members of Congress vote with the majority of the chamber caucus. According to the website, Shelley Berkley voted with the Democratic Party 90.0% of the time, which ranked 142th among the 192 House Democratic members in November 2011.

Personal

Berkley has two sons: Sam and Max. In March of 1999, Shelley married Dr. Lawrence Lehrner, a practicing Nephrologist in Las Vegas who has two children of his own: David and Stephanie.

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term "Shelley + Berkley + Nevada + House"

All stories may not be relevant to this page due to the nature of the search engine.

Shelley Berkley News Feed

• Update: 1st witness takes stand in Whittemore trial in Reno (watch video) - Reno Gazette-Journal
• 66 Members of Congress Get Most of Their Money From Out of State Donors - PolicyMic
• 1st witness takes stand in Whittemore trial in Reno (watch video) - Reno Gazette Journal
• More than 60 Lawmakers Relied Mostly on Out-of-State Money - Center for Responsive Politics

External links

• U.S. Representative Shelley Berkley official U.S. House site
• Shelley Berkley for Senate official campaign site

• Social media:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
• Biographies:
  • U.S. Congress
• Political profiles:
  • GovTrack
  • OpenCongress
  • Project Vote Smart
• Financial:
  • FEC
  • OpenSecrets.org
  • LegiStorm.com
• Interest group ratings:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Public statements:
  • Project Vote Smart
• Voting record:
  • Project Vote Smart
  • Washington Post
• Media coverage:
  • Washington Post

References

Political offices
Preceded by John Ensign	U.S. House of Representatives Nevada District 1 1999-2013	Succeeded by Dina Titus (D)
Preceded by '	Nevada University and Community College System Board of Regents 1990-1998	Succeeded by '
Preceded by '	Nevada Assembly - Clark County District 1982-1984	Succeeded by '