Julie Belaga

Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts,[2] Belaga moved to Connecticut with her family in 1965. She received an education degree from Syracuse University.

Belaga became involved in local politics in Connecticut. She served as Chairman of the Westport Planning and Zoning Commission from 1972 to 1976.

She was elected to the Connecticut House of Representatives in 1976, and served there from 1977 until 1987. She had major legislative successes on a number of critical environmental issues. She took the lead in drafting and implementing Connecticut's coastal management laws that protect coastline and valuable resources. She served on Connecticut's water supply task force and led the fight to assure safe drinking water in Connecticut. She played an active role in the development of Connecticut's hazardous waste management service and was instrumental in realigning and reforming the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority.

In 1986 Ms. Belaga chose not to seek re-election to her seat in order to seek the 1986 Republican nomination for governor. At the Republican state party convention in July 1986, Ms. Belaga did not receive the party nomination but received sufficient votes to qualify for a primary in September. At the convention, she was supported by liberal Republican leader and 1962 gubernatorial candidate John deKoven Alsop of Avon, Connecticut, whose town was the first to cast its votes and who memorably announced his vote with the statement "the best man for the job is a woman". (Upon his death in 2000, Alsop was called by the Hartford Courant "one of Connecticut's finest sons".[3] Alsop and both of his parents had all served in the Connecticut General Assembly; his grandfather, a Democrat, had served as lieutenant governor; his brothers were Washington political columnists Joseph Alsop and Stewart Alsop; he was a grandnephew of President Theodore Roosevelt and a descendant of President James Monroe.[4]) Ms. Belaga subsequently captured the party nomination with victory in a three-way gubernatorial primary (beating State Senators Richard Bozzuto and Gerald Labriola) in September 1986, but lost the November election to Democratic Governor William A. O'Neill.

In 1989 Belaga was appointed by Republican President George H. W. Bush as Region 1 (New England) Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). She was later appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton to the Export-Import Bank, a testament to the esteem in which she was held by leaders in both political parties throughout her career.

• List of U.S. political appointments that crossed party lines

• EPA biography