About George Phillips
Candidate for Congress
George Phillips was the Republican and Conservative candidate for Congress in 2008. George was able to impress voters throughout the district during debates, press events and other campaign stops.
On a very limited budget and in a difficult year for Republicans, George was able to gain a very respectable 43% in his home region of the Southern Tier. His work in the eight county district helped lay the groundwork for another run in 2010.
Early Life & College
George was born and raised in Endwell near Binghamton, NY. He was active in sports and extracurricular activities throughout high school, graduating from Seton Catholic Central in 1994.
George obtained the Thomas Watson Scholarship from IBM, which helped him pay for college at Villanova University. He also worked for three summers during college in manufacturing at IBM’s plant in Endicott.
Upon graduating from Villanova summa cum laude in 1998, George was accepted to the University of Notre Dame’s volunteer teacher training program. He taught high school in Louisiana for two years and obtain a Master’s Degree from Notre Dame in 2000.
Work in Congress
In Washington, DC, George taught for a brief time as a long term substitute in inner city DC Public Schools before landing a position with Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey in 2001, then the Chairman of House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and Vice Chairman of the House International Relations Committee.
George worked on foreign affairs, business, immigration and senior issues for Congressman Smith. He was fortunate to handle part of Smith’s foreign affairs portfolio in the days following the 9/11 terrorists attacks and assisted on several bills that were signed into law, including the Victims of Trafficking Protection Act.
Work in Education & Family
In 2005, George returned to the Binghamton area to teach Social Studies and Theology classes at his alma mater, Seton Catholic Central. He also teaches government at Broome Community College.
In 2005, he also married Diana Quintero. They have a young son George Joseph, and live in a house in Endwell near George’s parents.
Work on Fairness Doctrine
George’s opponent, Congressman Maurice Hinchey has been a long-time champion of the so-called “Fairness Doctrine,” a policy that would blatantly violate free speech rights of talk radio hosts by mandating that they give equal time to all viewpoints.
With Hinchey going recently going on CNN to say that he would be pushing legislation on the Fairness Doctrine soon, George designed to launch a new website called “Stop the Fairness Doctrine Now” to generate support against this move to limit the freedom of speech.