Was she (molinari) particularly well known for something ? That name rings a bell but can't remember why !
Susan Molinari - In the House of Representatives:
While in the House of Representatives, Molinari's ideology tended to be more moderate than the main line of the Republican Party, in which the conservative Southern wing of the party was clearly ascendant. On issues of crime and punishment, she favored extended use of the federal death penalty and restrictions. She favored reduction of Social Security taxes, middle class tax cuts, and tax credits for families; these were policies consistent with traditional fiscal conservatism. She signed on to the Republicans' 1994 Contract with America, which promised a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and opposed the placing of U.S. troops under U.N. command. Concerning social policy, she leaned more liberal than many of her Republican colleagues. Unlike her father, an outspoken opponent of abortion, Molinari is pro-choice. She also sided with the Democrats in voting for the Family and Medical Leave Act, a cornerstone of Bill Clinton's social policy. She offset these positions with her own standing as a new mother, framing her outlook in terms of "family values," and in fact energetically campaigned for fellow Republicans with whom she disagreed on both abortion and FMLA. In her autobiography she intimated that the tense ideological atmosphere within the Republican Party after they won majority in the House and the shrewd but polarizing Georgian Newt Gingrich became Speaker contributed to her unease. Molinari gave the keynote speech at the 1996 Republican National Convention, but resigned the House in June 1997 to take a job as a television journalist for CBS. Molinari was replaced by Republican Vito Fossella in a 1997 Special Election. Fossella's voting record is much more conservative than hers.