 | This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification .(August 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
Francine DelMonte (D-Lewiston) is a former member of the New York State Assembly [1] who represented the former 138th Assembly District in New York State. She lost the Democratic primary to former Niagara Falls City Councilman, John Accardo (D-Niagara Falls) in September 2010. She ultimately ran on the Working Families Party line. She was succeeded by former Niagara County Legislator John Ceretto (R-Lewiston). The 138th District encompassed several municipalities including the towns of Lewiston, Cambria, Wilson, Porter, Niagara, Wheatfield, Newfane, and Hartland, the City of Niagara Falls, and the Tuscarora Indian Reservation in Lewiston.
Lewiston is a town in Niagara County, New York United States. The population was 16,262 at the 2010 census. The town and its contained village are named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York.
The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly, with each of the 150 Assembly districts having an average population of 128,652. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits.
The Working Families Party (WFP) is a minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in New York, Connecticut, Oregon, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, Nevada, West Virginia, New Mexico, Ohio, and Illinois.
Before serving the 138th District, she was a reporter for the Niagara Gazette . She then served as Chief of Staff for then-Assemblyman Joseph Pillittere. When Pillittere announced his retirement in 1998, DelMonte announced her candidacy. DelMonte lost the Democratic Party primary to then-Niagara County Legislator Renae Kimble and ultimately ran on a third-party line, where she and Kimble were defeated by Robert Daly, who ran on the Republican Party line. Robert Daly replaced Pillittere in January 1998, and Renae Kimble continued serving as a Niagara County Legislator in Niagara Falls until she retired in 2011. DelMonte ran successfully, with the endorsement of the Democratic Party, in 2000, defeating the incumbent Daly.
The Niagara Gazette, also referred to as The Gazette, is a morning daily newspaper published in Niagara Falls, New York, United States, which covers several parts of Niagara County, including the Town of Niagara, and the City of Niagara Falls.
The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
While in the Assembly, DelMonte authored legislation creating the Niagara Wine Trail, which supports the growing wine industry by attracting thousands of visitors each year. DelMonte has fought for the continued growth of the wine trail and has supported this growing industry.
DelMonte also introduced legislation to create the Underground Railroad Heritage Commission to provide an opportunity for students and families to learn about the role Niagara Falls played during the Civil War, possibly increasing heritage tourism in Niagara Falls with the construction of a new museum and rail terminal.
The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early to mid-19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape into free states, Canada and Nova Scotia with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists, both black and white, free and enslaved, who aided the fugitives. Various other routes led to Mexico or overseas. An earlier escape route running south toward Florida, then a Spanish possession, existed from the late 17th century until Florida became a United States territory in 1821. However, the network now generally known as the Underground Railroad was formed in the late 1700s, and it ran north to the free states and Canada, and reached its height between 1850 and 1860. One estimate suggests that by 1850, 100,000 slaves had escaped via the "Railroad".
The American Civil War was a war fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865, between the North and the South. The Civil War is the most studied and written about episode in U.S. history. Primarily as a result of the long-standing controversy over the enslavement of black people, war broke out in April 1861 when secessionist forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina shortly after Abraham Lincoln had been inaugurated as the President of the United States. The loyalists of the Union in the North proclaimed support for the Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States in the South, who advocated for states' rights to uphold slavery.
Niagara Falls also hosts the Seneca Niagara Casino, the state's first urban based Native American casino. Assemblywoman DelMonte championed controversial legislation authorizing the governor to negotiate a compact with the Seneca Nation.
She has also helped secure a portion of the funding for the construction of a new terminal at the Niagara Falls International Airport and secured a $6.6 million grant for Niagara County Community College to create a new culinary arts facility for downtown Niagara Falls within the former Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet. Originally, she was against the proposal for a new airport due to the opinion of Ex-Niagara Falls Mayor Vince Anello.
Niagara Falls International Airport is 4 mi (6.4 km) east of downtown Niagara Falls, in Niagara County, New York. Owned and operated by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, the airport is a joint civil-military airfield and shares its runways with the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. A new terminal building opened in 2009.
Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet was an enclosed outlet mall in downtown Niagara Falls, New York, that operated from 1982 to 2000. Its design was unusual in that it was contained within its own parking ramp, and opened directly into the now-demolished Wintergarden indoor botanical garden on its southern end. It was built, owned, and managed by the Cordish Company until October 2010, when CEO David Cordish personally donated the abandoned mall to Niagara County Community College for use as a culinary institute, student-run restaurant, and a Barnes & Noble bookstore. The Institute and bookstore opened in 2012.
Assemblywoman DelMonte is an advocate on environmental issues in her district. She has sponsored legislation that prohibits the transport of PCB's from the Hudson River cleanup to the CWM waste disposal site in the Town of Porter.
DelMonte graduated from Buffalo State College and completed course work for a Master of Arts degree from SUNY Albany. She is a lifelong resident of Niagara County. DelMonte was a member of the Agriculture, Economic Development, Racing and Wagering, Energy, Tourism, and Transportation committees. DelMonte was also the Chair of the Assembly Commission on Science and Technology.
