John Hall (musician)

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John Hall

Representative-elect from New York's 19th district
Term of office: term begins 2007
Political party:	Democrat
Succeeding:	Sue W. Kelly
Religion:	Roman Catholic
Born:	July 23, 1948 Baltimore, Maryland
Spouse:	Pamela Hall

For other people named John Hall, see John Hall.

John Hall (born July 23, 1948 in Baltimore, Maryland) is currently the Congressman-elect for New York's 19th congressional district in the United States. He was a rock musician who co-founded the 1970s band Orleans.

1 Musical career
2 Political career
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Musical career

Hall was a student at the University of Notre Dame when he quit to devote himself to music. Songwriting and session time with such artists as Janis Joplin, Seals & Crofts and Bonnie Raitt preceded his founding of Orleans in January 1972 in Ulster County, New York with Wells Kelly and Larry Hoppen. Lance Hoppen, Larry's brother, joined the band later in that year. The band's work included an album, Waking and Dreaming, with a cover on which all the band members, including Hall, posed shirtless.^[1]

In 1977, Hall left to begin a solo career and became active in the anti-nuclear movement, co-founding Musicians United for Safe Energy. Another group, the John Hall Band, released two albums, but disbanded after limited chart success. Hall spent the next few decades writing songs for other artists and reunited with Orleans in 1990, 1996, and 2000. In 2005 he released the album Rock Me On the Water.

Waking and Dreaming, featuring the band Orleans with Hal at center

[edit] Political career

In late October 2004, Hall publicly commented that the presidential campaign of George W. Bush never received permission to use the Orleans song "Still the One" at campaign events. The campaign responded by dropping the song from their playlist.

He has been involved with Mid-Hudson Nuclear Opponents, who successfully fought the siting of a nuclear power plant on the Hudson River in Greene County. While living in Saugerties, Hall co-founded Saugerties Concerned Citizens, and helped write the town's first zoning law. When Ulster County announced plans for a 200 acre solid waste dump on the historic Winston Farm, Hall led the opposition. This effort culminated in his 1989 election to the Ulster County Legislature. In the late nineties, after three successive school budgets were rejected by the voters, John ran for, and was elected twice to, the Saugerties Board of Education. His fellow trustees elected him president, and budgets were passed each year of Hall's tenure.^[2]

Hall ran in the September 2006 primary race as a Democrat in New York's 19th congressional district. He won the primary, with a commanding 48% in a 4-way race, and faced incumbent Sue Kelly in the November election. Hall defeated Kelly with 51% of the vote, carrying the incumbent's home county of Westchester to pull off the upset. He was assisted in this bid by the $500,000 donated by Adam Rose, an openly gay real-estate developer who inherited his fortune from his father, to an independent left-wing group called Majority Action. This group ran negative advertisements against Sue Kelly calling her a "coddler of pedophiles" in reference to the Mark Foley scandal. Rose described his motivation as revenge for Kelly's opposition to gay marriage (she supported civil unions). John Hall supports gay marriage[1].

According to an article in the Hudson Valley newspaper Times Herald-Record, two days after his primary victory, Hall, in an online chat with the progressive blog Firedoglake, was asked about his position on a possible impeachment of President George W. Bush. Hall stopped short of endorsing impeachment "before hearing evidence", but added that "Whether impeachment or censure, some action must be taken to circumscribe the powers of the presidency." When pressed on the issue, "he candidly reminded the probing blogger: 'I'm trying to get elected in a historically Republican district.'"^[3]

Hall was interviewed by Comedy Central-based satirist Stephen Colbert on October 19, 2006 for a "Better Know A District" segment of his popular comedy show, The Colbert Report; Hall's main political opponent, incumbent Sue Kelly, turned down the opportunity to be interviewed. As a centerpiece of the interview, Colbert eventually convinced Hall to harmonize with him on the Orleans song "Dance With Me." He made a brief encore appearance on The Colbert Report the day after his election, November 8, joining Colbert in a harmonized rendition of the National Anthem.