User:Ctplayer/Janet Peckinpaugh

Janet Peckinpaugh (b. 1951) is an American television anchor, reporter, business owner, and two-time political candidate in the State of Connecticut.

Personal Life Peckinpaugh was born in Ohio to working parents, and says that she had a very good childhood. She attended college in Indiana, at Indiana University, and recieved her first job as a staffer for the Democratic National Committee at age 23 in Washington DC. After holding the job for a short period of time, she headed for Virginia, where she recieved her first on-air job as a radio station host. She married her husband shortly after college, and had a rough relationship with him that ended with divorce. Peckinpaugh now claims that she was abused by her husband and divorce was the only way out. Regardless, they had one child, Alex, who is currently a Junior at Harvard University.

Television Career After leaving Virginia as a radio stati on host, Peckinpaugh was signed on as a reporter and anchor for Channel 8 WTNH News based out of New Haven, Connecticut in 1984. News of her arrival made it to the front page of The Hartford Courant, and she quickly became a popular figure in the State of Connecticut and television. By 1987, Peckinpaugh made it to Channel 3 WFSB, based out of Hartford. She was a successful evening news host and was making several hundred thousand dollars a year. In 1995, Janet Peckinpaugh was dismissed from WFSB, in order to be replaced by "younger women". The release of Peckinpaugh fired controversy and anger, and shortly after, a lawsuit was filed. The highly publicized lawsuit spanned over a relatively long time, and the main focus was sexual discrimination. She famously accused popular television anchor Al Terzi of innapropriatly touching her back at their time on WTNH. Eventually, Peckinpaugh was successful in her lawsuit, and was awarded 8 million dollars (which later was reduced by several million). Following the lawsuit, Janet was unemployed for several years, until recieving a job as an anchor at the Hartford NBC affiliate (Channel 30) in the early 2000's. Peckinpaugh only stayed on NBC 30 for several years due to low wages and unusual shifts. Peckinpaugh is still regarded as popular figure and is said to have been one of the most well-known TV acnhors in Connecticut, with name recognition somewhere between 80 and 90 percent in Connecticut. During the highlight of her career, she famously interviewed four president of the United States.

Post Television Career Upon leaving NBC, Peckinpaugh founded her own business in her hometown of Essex, CT. The business, Peckinpaugh Media Group, was designed to advise, guide, and create media productions such as commericials for various businesses. The business was modestly successful over the few years that it ran, and has produced several well-known commericials over the past years, several of which have featured Peckinpaugh. The business became inactive in April of 2010, upon Peckinpaugh's entrance into politics.

Political Career In the early months of 2010, Peckinpaugh took a keen intrest into politics. Her good friend, fellow business owner, and Lieutenant Governor candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley named Janet as her campaign manager. She held this title for several months before resigning it to enter politics herself. She officialy switched her party affiliation from Unaffiliated to Republican in March of 2010, and declared her candidacy for Congress in Connecticut's 2nd district(after specualtion) at the end of April. She claimed that she had recieved valuable experience from her years in journalism, often discussing and covering many issues. She also believed name recognition would significantly help. Janet ran as and was often viewed as a classic New England Republican, and is a self-proclaimed fiscal conservative and social moderate. With only weeks to go before the GOP state convention, and three other candidates including Matt Daly, Daria Novak, and Doug Dubitsky, she threw together a campaign team and picked up scattered support from around the 65 town district. At the convention, she beat out Doug Dubitsky and Matt Daly to finish second to Daria Novak. She had more than enough support to qualify for the August primary, and declared her intent to do so immediatly after the convention. Of the four GOP candidates, Matt Daly was the only one not to enter the primary. Until the August primary, Peckinpaugh focused on meeting voters, raising money, and visiting all of the towns in the district. She quickly became a popular republican candidate. On August 10th, she handily defeated Daria Novak and the other candidates by over 10 percent of the vote. She was the only congressional candidate in Connecticut to beat the nominated candidate. Following the primary, she went on to challenge the democratic two-term incumbent, Joe Courtney. She continued to travel the district and meet voters, but struggled to raise money. Courtney aired several ads, while Peckinpaugh could only afford to air one, just for a week. The two frequently debated and sparred, and both had support from different groups. However, given the strong democratic tendencies of CT's 2nd district, Janet lost the general election by around 12 percent of the vote on November 2nd. In January of 2011, Janet declared her candidacy for the State Assembly in a February special election. The seat she ran for had been vacated by democrat Jamie Spallone. She ran a very strong campaign against Essex first selectman Phil Miller, and lost by just over 200 votes.

Charitable Work Peckinpaugh is very active in her community and the State of Connecticut. She is an advocate to stop the abuse of women, and serves on the board of directors for Connecticut Girl Scouts.