Phil English
Phillip Sheridan English (b. June 20, 1956) is a Congressmen from the U.S. State of Pennsylvania.
English was born in Erie, Pennsylvania and he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. While in college, he served as Chairman of the Pennsylvania College Republicans. U.S. Senator Rick Santorum has said before that while he was attending Penn State University, English knocked on his dorm room door early one morning and told him he was going to start a College Republicans organization there. At age 20 he still holds a record (which was later tied in 2000) for being the youngest Pennsylvania Alternate Delegate to a Republican National Convention, set in 1976.
English served as Erie, PA City Controller from 1985-1989. In 1988 he was the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania Treasurer but was defeated by Democrat Catherine Baker Knoll. He stayed in politics and served as Chief of Staff for then State Senator Melissa Hart.
English was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1994 to the House seat that Tom Ridge had vacated in his successful run for Governor.
As a freshman member being elected from a marginal district, English was at first considered vulnerable. English won a seat the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in his freshman year which no Republican freshman since George Bush had done. English was re-elected in a close race in 1996 but he hasn't had serious competition in his last three re-election races.
Now severing in his fifth term, English quietly has been moving up the seniority ladder in the House and on the Ways and Means Committee. Being only age 48 in 2004, English shows a lot of potential for moving up in the House Leadership.
