David Bonior

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = David Bonior

| image = DavidEBonior.jpg

| caption = Bonior in 2004

| office = House Minority Whip

| leader = Dick Gephardt

| term_start = January 3, 1995

| term_end = January 3, 2002

| predecessor = Newt Gingrich

| successor = Nancy Pelosi

| office1 = House Majority Whip

| leader1 = Tom Foley

| term_start1 = September 11, 1991

| term_end1 = January 3, 1995

| predecessor1 = William H. Gray III

| successor1 = Tom DeLay

| office2 = House Democratic Chief Deputy Whip

| leader2 = Jim Wright
Tom Foley

| term_start2 = January 3, 1987

| term_end2 = September 11, 1991

| predecessor2 = Bill Alexander

| successor2 = Butler Derrick
Barbara Kennelly
John Lewis

| state3 = Michigan

| term_start3 = January 3, 1977

| term_end3 = January 3, 2003

| predecessor3 = James G. O'Hara

| successor3 = Candice Miller

| constituency3 = {{ushr|MI|12|12th district}} (1977–1993)
{{ushr|MI|10|10th district}} (1993–2003)

| state_house4 = Michigan

| district4 = 75th

| term_start4 = 1973

| term_end4 = 1977

| predecessor4 = David M. Serotkin

| successor4 = David H. Evans

| birth_name = David Edward Bonior

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1945|6|6}}

| birth_place = Detroit, Michigan, U.S.

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Democratic

| spouse = Judy Bonior

| education = University of Iowa (BA)
Chapman University (MA)

| allegiance = {{flag|United States}}

| branch = {{flag|United States Air Force}}

| serviceyears = 1968–1972

| rank = Staff Sergeant

| module = {{Listen|pos=center|embed=yes|filename=House Minority Whip David Bonior on the Death of Rep. George Crockett Jr.ogg|title=David Bonior's voice|type=speech|description=David Bonior on the death of his former House colleague, George Crockett Jr.
Recorded September 9, 1997}}

| otherparty = Democratic Socialists of America

}}

David Edward Bonior (born June 6, 1945) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. First elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, Bonior served as Democratic whip in the House from 1991 to 2002, during which time Democrats were in both the majority (1991–1995) and minority (1995–2002), making Bonior the third and second highest-ranking Democrat in the House, respectively.

During his tenure in office, Bonior was the public face of Democratic opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),Akers, Mary Ann. [http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/01/where_are_they_now_david_bonio.html Where Are They Now? David Bonior, Bill Clinton] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081010214340/http://blog.washingtonpost.com/sleuth/2008/01/where_are_they_now_david_bonio.html |date=October 10, 2008 }} washingtonpost.com The Sleuth. 2008-01-16. Retrieved 2008-08-08. and was known for his tenacity in opposing Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, against whom Bonior filed more than seventy-five ethics charges.[http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/gen/resources/players/bonior/ CNN-Time All Politics. Players: David A. (sic.) Bonior], 1997-03-03. Retrieved 2008-08-08.

Early life

Bonior was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Irene (Gavreluk) and Edward Bonior.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pLiQ3FEHEfUC&q=Irene%20Gavreluk%20Bonior&pg=PA126|title=Walking to Mackinac|first=David E.|last=Bonior|date=January 1, 2001|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0472087975|access-date=October 24, 2016|via=Google Books}} He traces his family history from Ukraine and Poland.{{dead link|date=October 2016}}{{cite web|title=A Family Journey into Industrial America|url=http://www.macomb.edu/Calendar/2012-09-21+Family+Journey.htm|publisher=Macomb Community College|access-date=7 September 2012}}{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}[http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/1991/499111.shtml GREETINGS, CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203014356/http://www.ukrweekly.com/old/archive/1991/499111.shtml |date=December 3, 2013 }}, The Ukrainian Weekly (8 December 1991) He graduated from Notre Dame High School in Harper Woods, Michigan, in 1963, where he excelled in sports. He received a B.A. from the University of Iowa, where he also played football and became a member of the Iowa Beta chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, in 1967. He received an M.A. from Chapman College in Orange, California, in 1972.

He served in the United States Air Force during the peak of the Vietnam War from 1968 to 1972, though not in Vietnam. He was a founder of the Vietnam Era Veterans Caucus on Capitol Hill and was a strong supporter of the Vietnam veterans' movement.

Political career

Bonior was a Democratic member of the Michigan State House of Representatives from 1973 to 1976. In 1976, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives from Michigan's 12th District (based in Macomb County) for the 95th and to the twelve succeeding Congresses, serving from January 3, 1977, to January 3, 2003. His district was renumbered as the 10th in 1993, after Michigan lost a House seat as a result of the 1990 United States census.

From 1991 to 2002, Bonior was the House Democratic Whip. He served as Majority Whip in the 102nd and 103rd Congresses. He was Minority Whip for the 104th through 107th Congresses. While the Democrats were in the majority, Bonior was the third-ranking Democrat in the House, behind Speaker Tom Foley and House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt. While they were in the minority, Bonior was second-in-command behind Gephardt.

In Congress, Bonior generally had a progressive voting record, but opposed abortion in most cases.{{cite web|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1141/is_1_39/ai_94079351|title=FindArticles.com - CBSi|access-date=October 24, 2016}} In 1991 he strongly supported recognition of Ukraine as an independent nation and was critical of the Bush administration on that matter.

For most of his tenure in Congress, Bonior represented a fairly compact district in Macomb and St. Clair counties northeast of Detroit. However, after the 2000 United States Census, Michigan lost one of its 16 seats in the House of Representatives. The redistricting task process was controlled by the Republican majority in the state legislature, and Bonior's home in Mount Clemens was shifted from the 10th District to the 12th District. That district had long been represented by Democrat Sandy Levin, a longtime friend of Bonior's. At the same time, the state legislature radically altered the 10th, extending it all the way to the Thumb. The new district was considerably more rural and Republican than its predecessor; George W. Bush narrowly won the old version of the 10th federal congressional district, but would have won the new modern version of the federal 10th congressional district by a large margin. By all accounts, the 10th had been redrawn for the popular Republican Michigan Secretary of State and Macomb County resident Candice Miller.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

Due to this, Bonior did not run for reelection to the House, and chose to run for Governor of Michigan, stepping down as House Democratic Whip in January 2002; Nancy Pelosi of California succeeded him as Whip. He lost in a heavily contested Democratic Party primary between former Governor James Blanchard, and then-Michigan Attorney General and eventual party nominee Jennifer Granholm, who went on to win the general election. As expected, Miller easily won Bonior's House seat and held it until eventually retiring in 2016. Proving how Republican-dominated the new district is, no Democratic nominee has won more than 40% of the vote since Bonior retired.{{Cite web |title=Michigan's 10th Congressional District |url=https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan%27s_10th_Congressional_District |access-date=2023-01-15 |website=Ballotpedia |language=en}}

Post-congressional career

Following his retirement from the House, Bonior became a professor of labor studies at Wayne State University,Wayne State University Public Relations. [http://www.media.wayne.edu/2003/02/19/former-us-congressman-david-bonior-donates-personal-papers-to-wayne-state-universitys-walter-p-reuther-library Former U.S. Congressman David Bonior donates personal papers to Wayne State University's Walter P. Reuther Library]. 2003-02-19. Retrieved 2008-08-08. and founded American Rights at Work, a union advocacy organization, of which he currently serves as chairman.American Rights at Work. [http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/david-bonior.html David Bonior] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011222948/http://www.americanrightsatwork.org/david-bonior.html |date=October 11, 2008 }}. Retrieved 2008-08-08. In 2006, former Senator John Edwards chose Bonior to run his campaign for the presidency in 2008.Christensen, Rob. [http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/520248.html Edwards aide seen as pit bull] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080613055010/http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/520248.html |date=June 13, 2008 }}. Raleigh News & Observer 2006-12-11. Retrieved 2008-08-08 Bonior served as campaign manager for the duration of Edwards' candidacy. Upon the election of Barack Obama in November 2008, Bonior was a member of the President-Elect's economic advisory board.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/us/politics/08transition.html?ei=5070&emc=eta1 |title=Obama Seeks Speedy Action on Economy |last1=Zeleny |first1=Jeff |author-link=Jeff Zeleny |last2=Calmes |first2=Jackie |date=7 November 2008 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=4 February 2015}}

File:MI 10th congressional district (106th Congress).PNG

He has also become a restaurateur, owning and operating the restaurants Agua 301 and Zest.{{cite web |url=http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2015-02-04/how_congress_has_shaped_d_c_s_dining_culture |title=How Congress Has Shaped D.C.'s Dining Culture |last=Nnamdi |first=Kojo |author-link=Kojo Nnamdi |date=4 February 2015 |work=The Kojo Nnamdi Show |publisher=WAMU |access-date=4 February 2015}}

Bonior is a member of the ReFormers Caucus of Issue One.{{cite web|url=https://www.issueone.org/reformers/|title=ReFormers Caucus - Issue One|access-date=October 24, 2016}}

Bonior and his wife were described as "longtime" members of the Democratic Socialists of America in 2015.{{cite web|url=https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/detroitdsa/pages/70/attachments/original/1441479259/March_2015_DSA_Newsletter.pdf?1441479259|title=DSA Hosts Book Signing Event for Bonior Memoir|date=March 2015|first=David|last=Green|work=Democratic Socialists of America|access-date=November 26, 2018}}