Forsythe was the representative for New Jersey’s 13th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1983 to 1984.
He was previously the representative for New Jersey’s 6th congressional district as a Republican from 1969 to 1982.
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Forsythe is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1984 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Forsythe sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 15, 1979 to Oct 11, 1984. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Forsythe was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.J.Res. 84 (97th): A joint resolution designating the week of October 4 through October 10, 1981, as “National Diabetes Week”.
- H.R. 3292 (96th): Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act of 1980
- H.J.Res. 463 (96th): A joint resolution designating the week of October 5 through October 11, 1980, as “National Diabetes Week”.
- H.J.Res. 209 (96th): A joint resolution designating the week of October 8 through October 14, 1979, as “National Diabetes Week”.
- H.R. 7397 (93rd): A bill for the relief of Viola Burroughs.
- H.R. 5266 (93rd): For the relief of Ursula E. Moore.
Does 6 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Forsythe sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Private Legislation (29%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (21%) Environmental Protection (14%) Government Operations and Politics (11%) Energy (11%) Taxation (7%) Animals (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Forsythe recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.J.Res. 511 (98th): A joint resolution designating the one-year period beginning July 1, 1984 and …
- H.J.Res. 410 (98th): A joint resolution to declare June 4-10, 1984, as National Fishing Week.
- H.J.Res. 362 (98th): A joint resolution to declare June 4-10, 1984, as National Fisheries Week.
- H.R. 3806 (98th): United States Fisheries Development Corporation Act
- H.R. 3645 (98th): A bill for the relief of Alejandro Ravancho and Zenaida Ravancho.
- H.R. 3381 (98th): National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Organic Act
- H.R. 3156 (98th): Merchant Marine Act of 1983
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Nov 1970 to Mar 1984, Forsythe missed 1,052 of 7,247 roll call votes, which is 14.5%. This is much worse than the median of 7.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Mar 1984. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
