Cheryl Avioli (formerly Cheryl Ritchko-Buley) was a Commissioner of the New York State Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities and telecommunications for the State of New York. She is also a former Chairwoman of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board. She was appointed to be a PSC Commissioner for a six-year term in 2006 by Governor George Pataki. [1] [2] Pataki previously named her to be a Commissioner of the Racing and Wagering Board in 2000, for a six-year term. [3] She was the first woman named to be a racing commissioner in New York. In 2004, Pataki appointed her the first woman Racing and Wagering Board Chairwoman, making her the state's top regulator of horse racing and casino gambling.
While on the PSC, Avioli presided over New York's Energy Efficiency Portfolio standard. [4] She also served on the Department of Energy's National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency. [5]
Avioli resigned from the Public Service Commission in September 2008 to "get married and move to Kentucky". [6] [7] She lives in Nicholasville and occasionally contributes op-eds to local newspapers. [8]
Herman Carl McCall is an American politician of the Democratic Party. A former New York State Comptroller and New York State Senator, McCall was the Democratic candidate for Governor of New York in 2002. McCall was the first African-American to be elected New York State Comptroller. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, and is on the board of directors of several corporations. From October 17, 2011, until his retirement on June 30, 2019, McCall was chairman of the State University of New York Board of Trustees.
George Elmer Pataki is an American politician who served as the 53rd Governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the Mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984. Pataki was the third Republican since 1923 to win New York's governorship, after Thomas E. Dewey and Nelson Rockefeller.
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
Rebecca Harms is a German politician who served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2004 until 2019. She is a member of the Alliance '90/The Greens, part of the European Green Party. From 2010 until 2016 she served as president of The Greens–European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament.
William Ballard "Sam" Hoyt III is an American politician from New York. A Democrat, Hoyt is an economic development professional and was a member of the New York State Assembly from 1992 to 2011. He represented the 144th Assembly district, consisting of part of Buffalo, New York, and all of Grand Island, New York, from 1992 to 2011. Hoyt was first elected to succeed his late father, William Hoyt. He resigned from office in 2011 after a sexual harassment suit and he previously was the subject of an ethics investigation in 2008 concerning a two-year sexual relationship with a 23-year-old assembly intern, named Lori Gradwell.
Mary O'Connor Donohue is an American retired educator, attorney, politician and Judge of the New York Court of Claims, who served as the lieutenant governor of New York from 1999 to 2006. Donohue was first elected lieutenant governor in 1998, and was re-elected in 2002.
The lieutenant governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket with the governor for a four-year term. Official duties dictated to the lieutenant governor under the present New York Constitution are to serve as president of the state senate, serve as acting governor in the absence of the governor from the state or the disability of the governor, or to become governor in the event of the governor's death, resignation or removal from office via impeachment. Additional statutory duties of the lieutenant governor are to serve on the New York Court for the Trial of Impeachments, the State Defense Council, and on the board of trustees of the College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The lieutenant governor of New York is the highest-paid lieutenant governor in the country.
Nancy A. Naples is an American government official and former investment banker. Naples was formerly Commissioner of Motor Vehicles in New York; she was appointed State Motor Vehicles Commissioner by then-Governor George Pataki in January 2006 following a 12-year political career in Western New York. She served as a Cabinet member for the final year of Pataki's term. Naples was also formerly a member of the Board of Directors of Amtrak.
Mary Lou Rath is an American politician who served as a member of New York State Senate from 1993 to 2008. A Republican, she represented the state's 61st district, which consisted of parts of Erie County and all of Genesee County.
Helen Diane Foster represented District 16 in the New York City Council, which comprises the neighborhoods of Morrisania, Highbridge, and Morris Heights for 11 years. She was the first Black woman to be elected within Bronx County. She served as the commissioner for the New York State Division of Human Rights from September 2013 until April 2019 and was appointed to the post by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Paul David Tonko is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for New York's 20th congressional district since 2013. He represented the 21st congressional district from 2009 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Tonko has been called a staunch progressive. After the 2020 redistricting cycle and effective for the 118th Congress, the 20th district will include all of Albany County, Saratoga County and Schenectady County, as well as part of Rensselaer County.
Patricia L. Acampora was appointed as a commissioner of the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) on June 16, 2005, by Gov. George Pataki, for a term ending on February 1, 2009. In December 2006, Pataki named Acampora to chair the PSC, a position she held until January 2008, when Gov. Eliot Spitzer appointed Garry A. Brown as chairman.
Toby Ann Stavisky is an American politician serving as a member of the New York State Senate, having held a seat since 1999. She represents the 11th district, which comprises parts of Queens.
Kathleen A. Donovan is an American Republican Party politician, who served as County Executive of Bergen County, New Jersey. She previously served as County Clerk of Bergen County, New Jersey for four terms, and one term in the New Jersey General Assembly. Donovan unsuccessfully sought support to run for Bergen County Executive in the 2002 Republican primary, and lost a campaign for the 2006 Republican nomination for County Executive. She ran again for County Executive in 2010, where she defeated incumbent Dennis McNerney, only to lose re-election in 2014 to Democratic challenger Jim Tedesco. Donovan is the last Republican to serve as County Executive of Bergen County, New Jersey.
Richard E. "Rick" Dutrow Jr. is an American thoroughbred racehorse trainer. A winner of multiple stakes races including three victories in the Breeders' Cup, Dutrow campaigned Big Brown to his wins in the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational in 2008 en route to champion three-year-old male honors.
Irma Muse Dixon is a social worker, manager, and African-American politician, the first to be elected to the Louisiana Public Service Commission (PSC). Dixon represented the Third District on the PSC from 1992 through 2004.
Bärbel Höhn is a German politician for Alliance '90/The Greens. She was elected to the Bundestag in the 2005 national elections, after serving as State Minister of Agriculture of North Rhine-Westphalia from 1995 to 2005.
Susan Phillips Read is a former judge on New York State's Court of Appeals, having been appointed by Republican Governor George Pataki in 2003 for a 14-year term. Her selection made the appointive high court the first in the United States to comprise a majority of women. She resigned from the bench effective August 24, 2015.
The 2018 United States Senate election in New York took place on November 6, 2018. Incumbent U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was re-elected to a second full term, defeating Republican Chele Chiavacci Farley with over 67% of the vote. Gillibrand carried a majority of the state's counties and 26 of the state's 27 congressional districts, including five that elected Republicans the same night.
Kathryn A. Garcia is an American public official serving as Director of State Operations for the state of New York. She served as commissioner for the New York City Sanitation Department from 2014 to 2020 and was a candidate in the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, losing by 0.8 percentage points to Eric Adams.