Matthew Zeller

Last updated
Matt Zeller
Matt Zeller Headshot.jpg
Democratic nominee for
U.S. House of Representatives from New Yorks's 29th district
Election date
November 2, 2010
Opponent(s) Tom Reed (R)
Incumbent Eric Massa (D)
Personal details
Born Rochester, New York
Political party Democratic
Residence Chantilly, Virginia
Alma mater Hamilton College (B.A., 2004),
Maxwell School of Syracuse University (MPA, 2006
Maxwell School of Syracuse University (MA-IR, 2006)
Occupation No One Left Behind [1]
Awards Purple Heart ribbon.svg Purple Heart
Army Commendation Medal ribbon.svg Army Commendation Medal
Afghanistan Campaign ribbon.svg Afghanistan Campaign Medal
Global War on Terrorism Service ribbon.svg Global War on Terrorism Service Medal
Army Reserve Achievement ribbon.svg Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal
ResMedRib.svg Armed Forces Reserve Medal with "M" device
Outstanding Volunteer Service ribbon.svg Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal
National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg National Defense Service Medal
Army Overseas Service Ribbon.svg Army Overseas Service Ribbon
Army Service Ribbon.svg Army Service Ribbon
NATO Medal ISAF ribbon bar.svg NATO Non-Article 5 medal with "ISAF" device
Combat Action Badge.svg Combat Action Badge
German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency.jpg German Armed Forces Badge for Military Proficiency Gold
Website Zeller for Congress
Watches Without Time
Military service
Service/branch United States Department of the Army Seal.svg United States Army
Rank US-O4 insignia.svg Major

Matthew C. Zeller, is an American author, politician, and businessman. He is the CEO of No One Left Behind. He is a United States Army veteran of the Afghan War and he ran for Congress in 2010 as the Democratic nominee for New York's 29th congressional district. [2]

No One Left Behind is a 501(c)(3) organization established by Matthew Zeller in October 2013. It seeks to ensure the U.S. Department of State upholds its promises of Special Immigrant Visas (SIV) to combat zone translators who worked with U.S. and NATO troops during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as provides financial and housing assistance to individuals and families who have emigrated to the United States under the SIV program.

United States Army Land warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the United States of America was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.

Veteran person who served in a countrys armed forces, especially those persons who served in a countrys armed forces during a period of war

A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who has served and is no longer serving in the armed forces. Those veterans that have had direct exposure to acts of military conflict may also be referred to as war veterans. A combat veteran is a person who has fought in combat during a war or a skirmish against a declared enemy and may still be serving in the military.

Contents

Early life and education

Zeller grew up in Rochester, New York and attended Allendale Columbia School in Pittsford. [3] He is a 2004 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Hamilton College with a major in government. [4] In 2005, he graduated first in his class from the Army's Military Intelligence Officer's basic course. [4] He earned master's degrees in public administration and international relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in 2006. [4] He is also a graduate of the Army's Combat Advisor's course. [4]

Rochester, New York City in New York, United States

Rochester is a city on the southern shore of Lake Ontario in western New York. With a population of 208,046 residents, Rochester is the seat of Monroe County and the third most populous city in New York state, after New York City and Buffalo. The metropolitan area has a population of just over 1 million people. It is about 73 miles (117 km) east of Buffalo and 87 miles (140 km) west of Syracuse.

Allendale Columbia School is an independent, nonsectarian, college preparatory school for students in nursery through twelfth grade in Rochester, New York, USA. The Columbia School for girls, established in 1890 by Caroline Milliman and Alida Lattimore, and the Allendale School for boys, established in 1926 by a group of Rochester businessmen, merged in 1972 to form the current co-educational school. Allendale Columbia students come from 28 different school districts in the greater Rochester, New York region, as well as from 10 different countries.. The school was named by Worth magazine as of one the top 100 feeder schools to Ivy League universities. It was also ranked as the best private high school in Monroe County by Niche and The Post-Standard.

Public administration public leadership of public affairs directly responsible for executive action

Public administration is the implementation of government policy and also an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil servants for working in the public service. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" whose fundamental goal is to "advance management and policies so that government can function". Some of the various definitions which have been offered for the term are: "the management of public programs"; the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"; and "the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies themselves, the various inputs that have produced them, and the inputs necessary to produce alternative policies."

Career

He was deployed to Afghanistan in April, 2008 where he served at Forward Operating Base Vulcan in Ghazni Province as an embedded combat advisor to the Afghan National Army and Police and his unit's Intelligence Officer, Operations Officer, Air Logistics Officer, and head of all humanitarian aid and assistance missions.

Afghanistan A landlocked south-central Asian country

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in South-Central Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and in the far northeast, China. Its territory covers 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi) and much of it is covered by the Hindu Kush mountain range, which experiences very cold winters. The north consists of fertile plains, while the south-west consists of deserts where temperatures can get very hot in summers. Kabul serves as the capital and its largest city.

Ghazni Province Province in Afghanistan

Ghazni is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in central Afghanistan, towards the east. The province contains 19 districts, encompassing over a thousand villages and roughly 1.3 million people. The city of Ghazni serves as the capital. It lies on the important Kabul–Kandahar Highway, and has historically functioned as an important trade center. The Ghazni Airport is located next to the city of Ghazni and provides limited domestic flights to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.

Upon Zeller's return from Afghanistan, he returned to work as an officer of the CIA. [5]

Central Intelligence Agency National intelligence agency of the United States

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT). As one of the principal members of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States.

Zeller decided to return to New York to run for office upon hearing news that Eric Massa was retiring. [6] However, after his unsuccessful campaign, Zeller returned to Washington DC, citing a lack of job opportunities. [7]

Eric Massa American politician

Eric James Joseph Massa is a former U.S. Representative for the 29th Congressional District of New York, who served in Congress from January 2009 until his resignation in March 2010. Massa resigned during a pending House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Massa identified his declining health and the ongoing ethics investigation as the reasons for his resignation; however, he later said that there was a conspiracy "to oust him because he had voted against overhauling health care."

2010 U.S. Congressional campaign

Zeller ran in the 2010 special election to fill Eric Massa's seat in the 29th Congressional District of New York. He lost to Republican, Conservative and Independence Party nominee Tom Reed.

Tom Reed (politician) American politician

Thomas W. Reed II is an American attorney and politician who serves as the U.S. Representative for New York's 23rd congressional district. A Republican, Reed first joined the U.S. House after winning a special election to replace Eric Massa in 2010. Reed previously served one term as the Mayor of Corning, New York.

Political positions

Zeller is a former Republican who supported the first Presidential campaign of John McCain in 2000. [8] He describes himself as pro-choice and believes that abortions should be safe, legal, and rare. He has not indicated how he would have voted on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and has not taken a stand on the individual mandate, but he is against repealing the legislation. [9] He speaks favorably of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and opposes privatization of Social Security, [10] and he supports the Employee Free Choice Act. [11] Environmentally, he opposes drilling in the Marcellus Formation. [12] He also favored repealing don’t ask, don’t tell. [13] He is supportive of the current operations in Afghanistan, and he supports the creation of a Palestinian State. [6]

Post-2010 Election

In 2012, Zeller was named an Adjunct Fellow of the American Security Project [14] and a Fellow of the Truman National Security Project. [15] Throughout 2012 and 2013 he spoke about his experiences in Afghanistan and his run for Congress at colleges and universities around the nation.

Post-war support for Afghan translators

Zeller was instrumental in rallying public support to pressure the US Embassy in Kabul to grant a US visa to his former interpreter in Kabul, Janis Shinwari, as part of the Afghan Allies Protection Act. [16] [17] Shinwari's visa request was granted in September 2013. [18] [19]

Shortly thereafter Zeller founded No One Left Behind, an organization that advocates for the continuation and expansion of the Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) program for Afghan and Iraqi interpreters, and provides financial, material, and career assistance to individuals and families who have moved to the United States under the SIV program. [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27]

Publications

In 2006, the United States House of Representatives asked Zeller and several of his Maxwell School colleagues to evaluate the United States' Pandemic Influenza Response Plan. Zeller and his colleagues subsequently authored "Are We Ready? A Practical Examination of the Strategic National Stockpile in Response to Public Health Crises". Congress enacted many of the report's recommendations in 2007. [28]

In 2012, Zeller authored Watches Without Time , an account of his experiences training for and serving in Afghanistan as an embedded combat adviser to the Afghan National Security Forces. [29]

References

  1. ↑ William McGurn (22 May 2015). "Operation Lost in Translation". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  2. ↑ Kraushaar, Josh. "Dems tap candidate for Massa seat." Politico
  3. ↑ "Allendale Columbia | Our Alumni are Doing Great Things". allendalecolumbia.org. Retrieved 2016-05-13.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Terreri, Jill (7 April 2010). "Dems choose Matthew Zeller, Allendale Columbia grad, to run for Massa's seat". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  5. ↑ With his hat in the ring, Zeller showing the man under the brim. Archived 2011-07-10 at the Wayback Machine The Evening Tribune. (Hornell, NY). Retrieved 2010-05-09.
  6. 1 2 Miller, Rick (2010-06-09). Visit home compelled Zeller to run. Olean Times Herald. Retrieved 2010-06-09.
  7. ↑ Poole, Andrew (March 7, 2012). Zeller not ruling out another run at Congressional seat Archived 2012-07-29 at Archive.today . Hornell Evening Tribune. Retrieved March 7, 2012.
  8. ↑ Terreri, Jill (2010-04-07). Democrats pick Rochester native Zeller to run for Massa's seat. Gannett. Retrieved 2010-04-19.
  9. ↑ Terreri, Jill (2010-04-27). 29th District candidate Zeller cites family roots in Southern Tier. Gannett. Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  10. ↑ "News - Zeller opposes privatizing Social Security". Olean Times Herald. Retrieved 2010-08-23.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2012-03-21.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
  12. ↑ Recotta, Bob (2010-04-28). From soldier to politician: Democratic candidate Zeller talks to The Leader Archived 2010-10-01 at the Wayback Machine . The Leader (Corning, NY). Retrieved 2010-05-03.
  13. ↑ "Rochester City Newspaper". City Newspaper. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  14. ↑ "Matt Zeller". American Security Project. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  15. ↑ http://trumanproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2013-Associate-Fellows-Bios.pdf
  16. ↑ "Afghan aide targeted by the Taliban fears US may leave him behind". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  17. ↑ Dobbin, Sean (31 October 2013). "Returning the favor". Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Gannett. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  18. ↑ "Army aide threatened by Taliban finally gets US visa". news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  19. ↑ Janis Shinwari - Matthew Geller; Brothers in Arms - and in Life, chapter in PEOPLE American Heroes: Inspirational Stories of Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Good. Time, Inc. 2016. ISBN   1683302982.|access-date= requires |url= (help)
  20. ↑ "About" . Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  21. ↑ Winston, Hella (10 February 2017). "A 'Blessed' Sabbath For Iraqi Translator". The Jewish Week.
  22. ↑ CNN Hero Matt Zeller - CNN Video , retrieved 2018-10-11
  23. ↑ Sam, Richard (12 October 2015). "'A corps of volunteers for every refugee' -- The East Bay welcoming Afghans, Iraqis fleeing the Taliban". Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  24. ↑ Denn, Will (2014). "No One Left Behind". Kennedy School Review. 14: 56. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  25. ↑ Klein, Daniel (11 September 2018). "For Years, the U.S. Failed to Protect Thousands Who Risked Everything in Iraq and Afghanistan". The Atlantic . Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  26. ↑ "Power Player Plus: Matt Zeller". Fox News. 28 January 2018. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  27. ↑ Klairmont, Laura (11 October 2018). "These war heroes face another kind of danger". CNN. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  28. ↑ "42 U.S. Code § 247d–6b - Strategic National Stockpile and security countermeasure procurements". LII / Legal Information Institute. Retrieved 4 January 2019.
  29. ↑ Evans, Ryan (4 November 2018). "Counterinsurgency was never about Afghanistan (book review)". Foreigh Policy. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
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