Pat Meehan

Patrick Leo Meehan (born October 20, 1955) is a former American Republican Party politician and federal prosecutor from Pennsylvania who represented parts of Delaware, Chester, Montgomery, Berks, and Lancaster counties in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 until his resignation in 2018.

He succeeded Democrat Joe Sestak, who ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate.

He attended Bowdoin College in Maine, graduating in 1978 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

While at Bowdoin, Meehan was a standout hockey player and went on to work as a National Hockey League referee from 1979 to 1982.

Meehan's career in public service and politics began in 1979 when he worked with Republican candidate David Marston on his Philadelphia mayoral campaign.

A year later, he worked on Roy Zimmerman's campaign for Pennsylvania Attorney General.

Meehan went on to serve as Special Counsel to U.S. Senator Arlen Specter.

He was a campaign manager for U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, Philadelphia D.A. Ron Castille, and State Attorney General Ernie Preate.

Meehan attended Temple Law School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1986 with his Juris Doctor degree.

After graduating from law school in 1986, Meehan went to work as an associate at the law firm Dilworth Paxson LLP.

In 1995 and 1999, Meehan was elected the District Attorney of Delaware County as a Republican.

During Meehan's tenure, his staff prosecuted several high-profile cases, including the Du Pont Murder Trial, (a case involving the murder of Olympic wrestler David Schultz by his millionaire benefactor John Eleuthère du Pont) and the 1996 murder of a 22-year-old college student named Aimee Willard (who was abducted from Route 476 and found in an abandoned lot in North Philadelphia).

While serving as District Attorney, Meehan set up the Special Victims Unit for Domestic Violence in Delaware County, offering victims protection from their alleged abusers by allowing the prosecution to occur without the victims testifying in open court.

As D.A., he also focused on protecting youth by expanding the Youth Aid Panel program for first time offenders and creating a truancy project to limit youth-related crime during the day.

Meehan established the United States Department of Justice's Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) in Pennsylvania.

The ICAC is a special unit of detectives who investigate online predators on the web and bring them to justice; it has become a model across the country.

A graduate of Bowdoin College and Temple University, Meehan previously served as United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (2001–2008) and as district attorney of Delaware County, Pennsylvania (1996–2001).

Meehan became the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on September 17, 2001, six days after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

He was appointed by President George W. Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate.

Meehan headed an office of over 200 lawyers and staff backed up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Office.

As U.S. Attorney, Meehan made terrorism, gang-related crime, child internet safety, and public corruption priorities for his criminal division.

Public corruption in Philadelphia in particular was brought to the spotlight in 2003 when an FBI electronic listening device was found in the Philadelphia Mayor's office.

In light of the September 11 terrorist attacks, Meehan formed the Anti-Terrorism Task Force (ATTF), later renamed the Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council (ATAC) in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to evaluate and prevent future terrorist attacks.

This initiative was done in partnership with local, state and federal law enforcement and emergency responders.

The ATAC has led large-scale exercises on biological attacks and the poisoning of the food supply in partnership with Saint Joseph's University in order to help Eastern Pennsylvania prepare for terrorist attacks.

Recognizing the expansion of gang-related activity in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, Meehan sought a $2.5 million Department of Justice grant to fight and prevent gang violence for the region.

The unique "Route 222 Corridor Anti-Gang Initiative" brought together elected officials and law enforcement personnel with community groups to fight gangs in a rural area unfamiliar with big-city gang violence.

The money was divided among enforcement, prevention and rehabilitation.

The program aimed not only to increase arrests, but also to fund school programs and community centers to educate youth about alternatives to gang life.

Continuing the work he began while he was Delaware County D.A., Meehan made child safety on the internet a priority, sponsoring internet safety training seminars with Web Wise Kids and visiting local schools.

Meehan's office prosecuted substandard nursing homes and elder care facilities, and nefarious lenders who offered ill-advised loans to disadvantaged homeowners.

The U.S. Attorney's Office under Meehan was nationally recognized for its work in the field of health-care fraud.

The office won more than half a billion dollars in settlements against some of the largest pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy benefit managers, ensuring better self-policing and oversight by the industry.

He announced on July 16, 2008, that he was joining the Philadelphia law firm of Conrad O'Brien Gellman & Rohn.

Though he has been active in a wide variety of areas, it has been several high-profile public corruption cases that have put Meehan in the headlines.

Meehan has said, "Pay to play cannot be standard operating procedure in city government."

In January 2018, following the revelation that he used taxpayers' money to settle a sexual harassment claim brought by a female staff member, Meehan announced that he would retire from Congress at the end of his current term, and not seek re-election in 2018.

On April 27, 2018, Meehan resigned and said he would pay back the taxpayer funds used for the settlement.

Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon won both a special and general election on the day of that year's midterms in November to succeed him.

Born and raised in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania by his parents Leo and Julia, Meehan is one of four siblings.