Robert Wexler

Robert Ira Wexler (born January 2, 1961) is an American politician and lawyer from Florida. He is the president of the Washington-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. Wexler was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Florida's 19th congressional district, from 1997 until his resignation on January 3, 2010.

Wexler was born in Queens, New York to Ben and Sandra Wexler. He and his family moved to South Florida when he was ten. Wexler graduated from Hollywood Hills High School in Hollywood, Florida and later attended Emory University for a year. He transferred to the University of Florida, where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1982. Wexler received his J.D. degree from The George Washington University Law School in 1985 and was a lawyer in private practice with Shutts & Bowen before serving in the House.^{[citation needed]}

Wexler served in the Florida Senate from 1990 to 1996 before being elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in the 1996 election, filling the open seat vacated by fellow Democrat Harry Johnston. He has been reelected six times, never facing serious opposition in one of the most Democratic districts in Florida. On January 3, 2010, he resigned to become executive director of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation, a Washington-based think tank.

In April 1997, Wexler asked that an investigation be started to determine why the price of matzoh, the unleavened bread that is a staple at Jewish tables during Passover, varied so much throughout the country. "It's the biggest thing since the Jewish people escaped from Pharaoh and Egypt", Wexler said while also advising his constituents to "Get your family and friends to buy five-pound boxes in the Bronx and FedEx it down here."

In an e-mail to supporters on November 7, 2007, Representative Robert Wexler, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, stated about H.Res. 333:

I will urge the Judiciary Committee to schedule impeachment hearings immediately and not let this issue languish as it has over the last six months. Only through hearings can we bring begin to correct the abuses of Dick Cheney and the Bush Administration; and, if it is determined in these hearings that Vice President Cheney has committed High Crimes and Misdemeanors, he should be impeached and removed from office.

In mid December 2007, Congressman Wexler launched a website (Wexlerwantshearings.com) to promote his effort for impeachment hearings. The site included a YouTube video where he explained his position and a petition for like-minded people to sign. Wexler set a goal of getting 50,000 Americans to join his cause. In just two weeks, over 200,000 people signed the petition and over 70,000 people watched his YouTube video.^{[citation needed]}

After the release of the book What Happened by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan in June 2008, Wexler went on record as saying he would like McClellan to testify under oath about what Wexler depicted as crimes of the Bush administration. The Bush administration had claimed that such proceedings would be a violation of executive privilege. At the time, Wexler was a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Scott McClellan offered his testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on June 20, 2008.