Marc L. Spitzer

Biographical Information

The following is a portion of the biography from ALIS for the 44th Arizona State Legislature (1999-2000): 
 
Marc Spitzer's political tradition in Arizona dates back to the 19th Century, when his great-grandfather was a Republican activist in Bisbee.  Part of the Spitzer family cross-migrated back east and Marc was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1957.  Marc learned middle class values from his father, who labored in a smelting plant, and his mother, a public school teacher.
 
Marc graduated second in his class from Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, earning Phi Beta Kappa and academic scholarships.  Marc graduated with honors from the University of Michigan Law School in 1982 and fulfilled a dream later that year when he passed the Arizona Bar exam and was admitted to practice law in this state.
 
Marc continued his family's tradition of political involvement serving as leader of the Arizona Young Republicans, a precinct committeeman and officer in Republican District 18 and a member of the Maricopa County and Arizona State Republican Committees.
 
Professionally, Marc is a tax lawyer with KPMG/Peat Marwick representing taxpayers against the Internal Revenue Service. Marc handles taxpayer cases from audit through administrative appeals, tax court, appeals to the Ninth Circuit and once, to the United States Supreme Court.  Since 1988, Marc has been certified by the Arizona State Bar as a specialist in tax law.
 
Marc represents indigent taxpayers on a pro bono basis and works with numerous charitable and civic organizations as both lawyer and volunteer.  From his service on charitable boards, Marc has become familiar with the law of non-profit associations.
 
In 1992 Marc was persuaded to run for the State Senate in District 18, North-Central Phoenix.  Marc survived a difficult primary battle and became one of those rare challengers to unseat an incumbent member of the Arizona Senate.  Marc was re-elected in 1994 and 1996; in each case his margin of victory exceeded thirty percent.  In his second term Marc served as chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and authored the largest tax cut in Arizona history.  In November 1996 Marc Spitzer was elected by his peers to the position of Senate Majority Leader.
 
Marc's greatest victory, political or otherwise, occurred on October 10, 1992 when he married the former Jacqueline Raub, a Phoenix native and graduate of Washington High.  Marc has one child, Bennett Alexander.  

Attorney-at-law in private practice representing taxpayers against the Internal Revenue Service since 1982.
Now associated with KPMG/Peat Marwick.

Married to Jacqueline, a third-generation Arizonan who grew up in North-Central Phoenix and graduated from Washington High.
One child, Bennett Alexander.

Elected to the Arizona Senate in 1992, named "Most Effective Freshman
Senator" by Arizona Republic in 1994.

The following is a biography from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission:

Marc Spitzer was nominated by President George W. Bush to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and confirmed by the U.S. Senate for a term expiring June 30, 2011.

Commissioner Spitzer believes the FERC's primary missions are to ensure that America's ratepayers have safe, economic, and reliable supplies of electricity and natural gas; and transparent, robust and competitive wholesale energy markets. Commissioner Spitzer believes that successful regulation of FERC-jurisdictional industries requires a balancing of all competing interests to ensure just and reasonable rates.

As Chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC), he focused on policies encouraging expansion of natural gas infrastructure, specifically distribution and storage; creating a demand side management policy; enhancing the ACC's renewables standard; and advancing consumer privacy concerns in telecommunications. As Chairman, he established a legacy of balancing competing interests, while ensuring Arizonans received safe, economical and reliable utility services.

The expansion of and improvements to the bulk transmission system and the nation's natural gas pipeline system are high priorities for Commissioner Spitzer. He also believes those enhancements are essential to the dispatch of environmentally friendly resources as well as ensuring reliability and efficiency. Commissioner Spitzer also believes that the expanded enforcement authority provided by EPAct 2005 will help deter market manipulation and other anticompetitive behavior and will enhance FERC's ability to appropriately penalize those who are culpable.

Commissioner Spitzer was elected in 2000 to the ACC and in 2002 was elected Chairman by his colleagues. He received recognition for his leadership of the Arizona Commission from 2003-2005.

At the FERC, Commissioner Spitzer is building on his record in Arizona on environmental issues. Demand response, energy efficiency, and access to the grid by alternative resources were major focuses of Commissioner Spitzer in retail rate cases and policy decisions before the Arizona Commission. Commissioner Spitzer believes that EPAct 2005 supports his commitment to those issues, which are germane to both Federal and State regulators.

In 1992, after many associations with civic, philanthropic and political causes, he was elected to the Arizona State Senate for District 18. Commissioner Spitzer served in the Legislature as Chair of the Judiciary and Finance Committees and was elected by his peers to the position of Senate Majority Leader in 1996.

As an attorney since 1982, Commissioner Spitzer represented taxpayers in proceedings involving the Internal Revenue Service. He was first certified as a Specialist in tax law by the Arizona Bar in 1987.

Commissioner Spitzer was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and grew up in Philadelphia.

After graduation from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, he attended the University of Michigan, School of Law.

Commissioner Spitzer considers his greatest accomplishments political or otherwise, his marriage to the former Jacqueline Raub of Phoenix and his son, Bennett Alexander.

Education

Law Degree, University of Michigan, (n.d.)

Bachelors: Pol Sci/ History, Dickinson College (n.d.)

Employment

Arizona Legislative Service

Sources

Birth: AZ Leg Bio, 1999 Guide to the 44th Legislature (green book); Middle Initial: AZ Leg Bio