William J. Murphy (Rhode Island)
William Murphy (b. January 4, 1963) is a former Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing District 26 from 1993 to 2010.
Murphy served as Speaker of the House from January 7, 2003, until his resignation from the post in February 2010.[1]
Career
From 1993 to 2011, Murphy (D) represented House District 26 in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. In 2003, Murphy was elected speaker of the Rhode Island House.[2] Murphy served as speaker until 2010.
In 2010, Murphy left the House to return to his law firm. In 2012, Murphy registered with the Rhode Island Secretary of State as a lobbyist.[3][4] Murphy has lobbied in both the Rhode Island General Assembly and the Office of the Governor of Rhode Island for groups such as Twin Rivers Casino, the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers and Advance America Cash Advance Centers.[5][6][7]
According to Go Local Prov, an online website covering news and events in Providence, R.I.:[8]
| “ |
In Rhode Island, the Speaker of the House is supposedly the most powerful politician, but today, the former Speaker may be the most powerful. Bill Murphy, the predecessor to Gordon Fox, is now tied to every circle of power in Rhode Island's inner workings. [9] |
” |
Scott Mackay of Rhode Island NPR characterized Murphy as "one of the state's top...criminal defense lawyers."[10]
Gordon Fox
Murphy served as defense counsel for former speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives Gordon Fox (D-R.I.).[11] Fox resigned as speaker one day after investigators raided his home and office in relation to a criminal investigation.[12] On March 3, 2015, Fox plead guilty to taking bribes, wire fraud and filing a false tax return. As part of his plea agreement, Fox admitted to taking $52,500 in bribes and using over $108,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses.[13][10] Fox began a three year federal prison term in July 2015.[14]
Committee assignments
While a member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, Murphy served on the following committees:
- Legislative Services, Chair
Elections
2010
Murphy did not seek re-election in 2010.
2008
In 2008, Murphy was re-elected to the Rhode Island House District 26. Murphy (D) ran unopposed and finished with 4,323 votes.[15] Murphy raised $294,965 for his campaign fund.[16][17]
| Rhode Island House District 26 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
 William Murphy (D)
|
4,323 | |||
Campaign finance summary
Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.
Personal
Murphy and his wife, Stacey Lynn, have two children.[18]
Media
Top influencers by state
- See also: Top influencers by state
Influencers in American politics are power players who help get candidates elected, put through policy proposals, cause ideological changes, and affect popular perceptions. They can take on many forms: politicians, lobbyists, advisors, donors, corporations, industry groups, labor unions, single-issue organizations, nonprofits, to name a few.
In 2015, Ballotpedia identified William J. Murphy (Rhode Island) as a top influencer by state. We identified top influencers across the country through several means, including the following:
- Local knowledge of our professional staff
- Surveys of activists, thought leaders and journalists from across the country and political spectrum
- Outreach to political journalists in each state who helped refine our lists
Recent news
This section displays the most recent stories in a Google News search for the term "William + Murphy + Rhode + Island + House"
- All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
External links
- Legislative profile from Project Vote Smart
- Biography from Project Vote Smart
- Campaign Contributions: 2008, 2006, 2004, 2002, 1998, 1996, 1994
- Murphy and Fay LLP website
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Providence Journal, "R.I. House Speaker Murphy resigns; Fox to take helm," February 11, 2010(Archived)
- ↑ Rhode Island General Assembly, "Opening day speech of House Speaker William J. Murphy, Esquire after his election on the opening day of the 2003-2004 legislative session of the General Assembly," January 7, 2003.
- ↑ Rhode Island Secretary of State, "Lobbying Database," accessed November 18, 2015
- ↑ To access a complete record of William Murphy's lobbying activity since 2012, go the Rhode Island Secretary of State's Lobby Tracker website and type "Murphy" under "Lobbyist" for every legislative session since 2012.
- ↑ Providence Journal, "Former R.I. House speaker joins Twin River lobbying team," February 24, 2013
- ↑ Providence Journal, "Advocates of ‘payday lending reform’ drop lobbyist Fischer," May 1, 2014
- ↑ Providence Journal, "Business is always brisk for lobbyists at R.I. State House," March 2, 2015
- ↑ Go Local Prov, "The talented Mr. Murphy," May 27, 2014
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Rhode Island NPR, "Fox broke Statehouse iron rule," March 3, 2015
- ↑ Providence Journal, "Former Speaker Murphy representing his embattled successor, Gordon Fox," April 16, 2014
- ↑ Providence Journal, "Gordon Fox resigns as House speaker day after investigators raid home, office," accessed March 24, 2014
- ↑ New York Times, "Gordon Fox Pleads Guilty in Rhode Island Corruption Case," accessed March 10, 2015
- ↑ Providence Journal, "Former R.I. House speaker Gordon Fox to begin three-year prison term," July 6, 2015
- ↑ Follow the Money, "Rhode Island House election results, 2008," accessed June 10, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2008 contributions to William Murphy," accessed November 25, 2014
- ↑ State of Rhode Island Board of Elections, "2008 Statewide General Election Results," accessed November 25, 2014
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by ' |
Rhode Island House of Representatives - District 26 1993–2010 |
Succeeded by Patricia Morgan (R) |
| ||||||||||
