Jeff Trandahl

Jeff Trandahl
32nd Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives
In office January 6, 1999 – November 18, 2005
Preceded by	Robin H. Carle
Succeeded by	Karen L. Haas
Personal details
Born	September 15, 1964 Spearfish, South Dakota
Alma mater	University of Maryland Kennedy School of Government

Jeffrey Joseph Trandahl (born September 15, 1964) served as the thirty-second Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected Clerk on January 6, 1999 and held office until November 18, 2005. After leaving office, he was appointed CEO and Executive Director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, a non-profit conservation organization created by Congress in 1984.

Personal

Trandahl is a native of Spearfish, South Dakota, and graduated from Spearfish High School in 1983. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland in 1987 and a Certificate in Management from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.^[1]

Career

Trandahl began his congressional career in 1983 as an aide to Senator James Abdnor (R-SD). From 1987-1990 and from 1990-1995, he was affiliated with the offices of Congresswoman Virginia Smith (R-NE) and Congressman Pat Roberts (R-KS) and with the Committees on Appropriations and House Administration, respectively. In 1995, he joined the Office of the Clerk and served in various capacities. He was also the Acting Chief Administrative Officer of the House of Representatives from 1996-1997.^[2]

On November 18, 2005, Trandahl resigned as Clerk to accept a position as the executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.^[3] He was succeeded by Karen L. Haas.

Trandahl was a board member of Human Rights Campaign. HRC is a national LGBT rights group.^[3][4][5]

Mark Foley scandal

Trandahl was the Clerk of the House during the time in which allegations against then-Representative Mark Foley by former House pages are said to have occurred. Trandahl confronted Foley at that time since it is the Clerk of the House's responsibility to effectively administer the House page system.^[3] He took great care to assure the safety of the pages.^[2] Later, he testified before the House Ethics Committee that he had warned the Speaker's office several times of his concerns about Congressman Foley's behavior toward them.^[6]

Miscellaneous

In 2015, Trandahl signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in favor of nationally legalizing same-sex marriage.^[7]

References

1. Harlan, Bill (2005-10-08). "Spearfish native lands key conservation job". Rapid City Journal (Rapid City, South Dakota). Retrieved 2007-08-18.
2. Zeleny, Jeff (October 18, 2006). "Ex-House Clerk May Be a Key in Foley's Case". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
3. "Trandahl breaks silence on Foley scandal". Washington Blade. 2007-06-06. Archived from the original on 2007-08-14. Retrieved 2007-08-18.
4. "Form 990 - Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax 2005" (PDF). Human Rights Campaign. p. 24. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
5. "HRC Board". Human Rights Campaign. Retrieved 2009-08-20.
6. Zeleny, Jeff (October 20, 2006). "Former Clerk Tells Panel He Alerted Speaker’s Office to Foley Concerns". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-20. Mr. Trandahl, who left his job as House clerk last year to take a nongovernment position, has told friends that he occasionally raised alarms about Mr. Foley’s advances toward high school students who had come to Washington to work on Capitol Hill. He has told former colleagues that neither he, nor anyone else, knew about the explicit e-mail exchanges between Mr. Foley and former pages. People with knowledge of Mr. Trandahl’s testimony said Mr. Trandahl corroborated previous testimony that top aides to the speaker, including his chief counsel, Ted Van Der Meid, had been advised of complaints about Mr. Foley for at least three years.