Joseph Paul Kolter was a Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the United States House of Representatives

United States House of Representatives

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...

 for Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

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Joe Kolter was born in McDonald, Ohio

McDonald, Ohio

McDonald is a village in Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,481 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:McDonald is located at ....

. He graduated from Geneva College

Geneva College

Geneva College is a Christian liberal arts college in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, United States, north of Pittsburgh. Founded in 1848, in Northwood, Ohio, the college moved to its present location in 1880, where it continues to educate a student body of about 1400 traditional undergraduates in...

 in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania

Beaver Falls is a city in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 8,987 at the 2010 census. It is located 31 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, and on the Beaver River, six miles from its confluence with the Ohio River...

, and served in the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 from 1944 to 1947. He was a New Brighton

New Brighton, Pennsylvania

New Brighton is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States, located along the Beaver River northwest of Pittsburgh. There are deposits of coal and clay in the vicinity. In the past, articles produced here included pottery, bricks, sewer pipe, glass, flour, twine, lead kegs,...

 city councilman from 1961 to 1965, and a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two year terms from single member districts....

, 1969–1982.

He was elected as a Democrat to the 98th

98th United States Congress

The Ninety-eighth United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1983 to January 3, 1985, during the third and...

 and to the four succeeding Congresses serving from January 3, 1983, to January 3, 1993. He was defeated in the 1992 Democratic primary by Ron Klink

Ron Klink

Ronald "Ron" Klink is a Democratic politician and former United States Representative from Pennsylvania.Klink was born in Canton, Ohio, and graduated from Meyersdale High School in Pennsylvania in 1969. Klink originally worked behind the scenes at WTAJ-TV in Altoona, Pennsylvania...

.

During his time in Congress, Kolter was publicly quoted as saying that the Nicaraguan Contras

Contras

The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...

 were "controlled by a man named Uno." UNO was the acronym for the Contras

Contras

The contras is a label given to the various rebel groups opposing Nicaragua's FSLN Sandinista Junta of National Reconstruction government following the July 1979 overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle's dictatorship...

' umbrella organization, the United Nicaraguan Opposition

United Nicaraguan Opposition

The United Nicaraguan Opposition was a Nicaraguan rebel umbrella group formed in 1985, led by the triumvirate of Adolfo Calero, Alfonso Robelo, and Arturo Cruz...

 (Spanish: Unidad Nicaragüense Oppositora.)

Kolter was implicated in the Congressional Post Office scandal

Congressional Post Office Scandal

The Congressional Post Office scandal refers to the discovery of corruption among various Congressional Post Office employees and members of the United States House of Representatives, investigated 1991–1995, climaxing in the conviction of House Ways and Means Committee chairman Dan...

, that also involved Dan Rostenkowski

Dan Rostenkowski

Daniel David "Dan" Rostenkowski was a United States Representative from Illinois, serving from 1959 to 1995. Raised in a blue-collar neighborhood on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Rostenkowski rose to become one of the most powerful legislators in Washington. He was a member of the Democratic Party...

. He was indicted and sentenced to 6 months in prison.