Moffett, Toby, 1944-

Variant names

Dates:

Birth 1944-08-18

Birth 1944

Birth 1944-08-18

Gender:

Male

Nationality: Americans,

Language: English,

Biographical notes:

Anthony John "Toby" Moffett, Jr. (born August 18, 1944) is a former American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Connecticut's 6th congressional district from 1975 to 1983.

Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, he was raised in Suffield, Connecticut, graduating from Suffield High School there before earning an A.B. from Syracuse University, 1966 and an M.A. from Boston College. Moffett served as Director of the Office of Students and Youth in the Office of Education within the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1969 to 1970, but quit to protest the Vietnam War. Aligned with consumer activist Ralph Nader, Moffett founded the Connecticut Citizen Action Group and parlayed this to a victory in 1974 for the seat vacated in the U.S. House of Representatives for Connecticut's 6th congressional district seat when Ella T. Grasso ran for governor. He unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker in 1982. Moffett unsuccessfully attempted a political comeback in 1986 seeking to gain the Democratic nomination over incumbent Governor William O'Neill. In 1990, he moved to the town of Newtown to seek election to the open congressional seat in Connecticut's 5th congressional district; Moffett lost to Republican Gary Franks.

After serving in Congress, Moffett worked as a news anchor, producer and investigative journalist, and spent nearly a decade as a syndicated statewide columnist. In 1999, he was nominated by President Clinton to be U.S. Ambassador to Argentina (although he had unanimous Senate backing, he ultimately did not become ambassador because the process had taken almost a year). Moffett worked at Monsanto as an international lobbyist from 1998 to 2000. He is now a Washington consultant, and Chairman of The Moffett Group, representing for-profit and nonprofit entities, including large renewable energy developers and several foreign governments and a consultant for the law firm Mayer Brown LLP.