* In September 2000, Woolsey sponsored H.R. 4892, “The Scouting for All Act,” which called for a revocation of the congressional charter held by the Boy Scouts of America since 1916. “We’re not saying the Boy Scouts are bad,” Woolsey explained. “We’re saying that intolerance is bad” — a reference to the fact that the Boy Scouts did not wish to include homosexuals either as members or as troop leaders.
* In 2003, Woolsey served on the advisory committee of the Progressive Majority, a political networking group dedicated to electing leftist candidates to public office. (As of September 2003, the Progressive Majority‘s advisory committee also included such notables as Tammy Baldwin, Sherrod Brown, Jon Corzine, John Conyers, Peter DeFazio, Rosa DeLauro, Lane Evans, Bob Filner, Barney Frank, Raul Grijalva, Luis Gutierrez, Jesse Jackson Jr., Sheila Jackson Lee, Barbara Lee, Jerrold Nadler, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Nancy Pelosi, Jan Schakowsky, Hilda Solis, Pete Stark, Maxine Waters, and Henry Waxman. For a complete list of the advisory committee’s members at that time, click here.)
* On December 2, 2003, Woolsey wrote a letter (on her official congressional stationery) on behalf of a 20-year-old admitted rapist named Stewart Pearson, who had recently volunteered for Woolsey’s congressional campaign and was the son of a senior aide in her office. In the letter, Woolsey asked the presiding judge to consider mitigating circumstances and to impose a light sentence. Wrote the congresswoman: “Stewart Pearson is a young man from a supportive family. I believe he has a promising life ahead of him, and I urge you to consider these factors when deciding on a suitable sentence.” The judge ultimately sentenced Pearson to the maximum of eight years in prison. When reports of Woolsey’s letter became public, she apologized for having written it.
* In 2005, Woolsey contributed an essay to the book Stop the Next War Now, published by Code Pink, which also included essays by such notables as Medea Benjamin, Phyllis Bennis, Becky Bond, Leslie Cagan, Barbara Ehrenreich, Jodie Evans, Eve Ensler, Randall Forsberg, Kit Gage, Janeane Garofalo, Amy Goodman, Julia Butterfly Hill, Arianna Huffington, Naomi Klein, Barbara Lee, Wangari Maathai, Cynthia McKinney, Nancy Pelosi, Arundhati Roy, Cindy Sheehan, Helen Thomas, Katrina vanden Heuvel, and Alice Walker.
* In May 2005, Woolsey was one of only 22 House Members who chose to vote against HR 193, a bill that: (a) expressed support for “the historic meeting of the Assembly to Promote the Civil Society in Cuba,” which was slated to take place later that month in Havana; (b) urged “the Administration and international community to actively oppose any attempts by the Castro regime to repress or punish the organizers and participants of the Assembly”; and (c) affirmed that the House “shares the pro-democracy ideals of the Assembly … and believes that this Assembly and others will hasten the day of freedom and democracy for the people of Cuba.” To view a list of all 22 congressional opponents of this measure, click here.
* In July 2006, Woolsey joined Rep. John Conyers and activist Tom Hayden in addressing the Peace Action National Congress at Wayne State University.
* In July 2006, Woolsey participated in “Troops Home Fast,” a 28-day hunger strike against the Iraq War. Sponsored by Code Pink, this action was conducted as a “rolling fast,” where each participant abstained from eating for one day. Among the other participants were such luminaries as Ed Asner, Danny Glover, Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney, Willie Nelson, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Cindy Sheehan, and Maxine Waters.
* On December 6, 2006—three days before the 25th anniversary of the murder of Philadelphia Police Officer Daniel Faulkner by former Black Panther Party member Mumia Abu-Jamal—Woolsey was one of 31 U.S. House Members (all Democrats) who voted against a resolution “condemning the decision of St. Denis, France, to name a street in honor of … Abu-Jamal.” To view a list of all 31 House members who voted this way, click here.
* Woolsey was one of 27 Members of Congress to co-sponsor H. Res. 333, which Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced on April 24, 2007. This bill set forth articles of impeachment against Vice President DickCheney, for having “purposely manipulated the intelligence process” to “deceive” American citizens and Congress alike “about a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and about an alleged relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, to justify the use of the U.S. Armed Forces against Iraq in a manner damaging to U.S. national security interests.”
* In December 2007, Woolsey was one of nine House Democratswho voted against a resolution to formally recognize the importance of “Christmas and the Christian faith.” Earlier that year, by contrast, she had voted to “recognize the commencement of [the Islamic holy month] Ramadan” and the Hindu religious holiday Diwali.