Karen Burstein

Last updated

Karen S. Burstein (born July 20, 1942) is an American Democratic Party politician, attorney, civil servant, and former judge from the State of New York. She served in the New York State Senate, worked in the administration of Gov. Mario Cuomo, chaired the New York State Civil Service Commission, became Auditor General of New York City, and then served as a Judge of the New York City Family Court. Burstein was the Democratic nominee for Attorney General of New York in 1994, but was defeated.

Contents

Early life and education

Burstein was born on July 20, 1942 [1] in Nassau County, New York, the daughter of international lawyer Herbert Burstein and New York State Supreme Court Justice Beatrice S. Burstein (1915–2001). [2] Burstein's mother was the first woman State Supreme Court Justice on Long Island. [3] Burstein grew up in Baldwin and Lawrence, New York. [3] She was the first female student body president at the Woodmere Academy. [3] A 1964 graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Burstein also was the first white full-time student at Fisk University. Burstein taught in newly integrated Tennessee high schools and protested the Vietnam War. [3] She graduated from Fordham Law School [4] in 1971. [3]

Burstein's sister, Ellen, was a television news reporter who died at the age of 59 after suffering from multiple sclerosis. [5]

Career

A Democrat, Burstein unsuccessfully ran for Congress on Long Island in 1970 on an antiwar platform. [6] She was elected to the New York State Senate in 1972 and was named chairwoman of the New York State Consumer Protection Board in 1980. [3] In 1983, she was appointed president of the New York State Civil Service Commission. [7] [3] In 1987, Burstein was appointed Auditor General of New York City by New York City Mayor Ed Koch. New York City Mayor David Dinkins appointed Burstein to a judgeship on the New York City Family Court in 1990. [3] [8]

Burstein resigned her Family Court judgeship in 1994 to seek the Democratic nomination for New York Attorney General. [8] In the primary, she faced Attorney General G. Oliver Koppell, Brooklyn D.A. Charles Hynes, and former prosecutor Eliot Spitzer. She won the primary and faced former U.S. Attorney Dennis Vacco of Buffalo in the general election. A week before the election, Staten Island Borough President Guy Molinari opined that Burstein would not be qualified to serve as Attorney General because she is a lesbian. Vacco narrowly defeated Burstein. [9] The New York Times called Molinari's remarks "gutter politics." [10]

Burstein unsuccessfully sought a New York County Surrogate's Court judgeship in 1996. [11]

Personal life

Burstein married Eric Lane in 1972. [4] The couple later divorced. [12] In 1990, during a judicial swearing-in ceremony, Burstein publicly acknowledged her female romantic partner. [13] As of 1994, Burstein publicly identified as a lesbian. [3]

Karen Burstein is the sister of John Burstein, who portrays the fictional character Slim Goodbody. [14]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guy Molinari</span> American politician (1928–2018)

Gaetano Victor Molinari was an American lawyer and Republican politician from New York city. He represented Staten Island in the United States House of Representatives for four terms (1981–1989) and then served 12 years as Staten Island borough president (1990–2002). His daughter, Susan Molinari, also served as a U.S. Representative.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Koppell</span> New York politician

Gabriel Oliver Koppell is an American lawyer and politician from New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a former member of the New York City Council and the former New York Attorney General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Vacco</span> American lawyer and politician

Dennis C. Vacco is an American lawyer and Republican Party politician. He graduated with a B.A. from Colgate University in 1974, a J.D. from the University at Buffalo Law School in 1978, and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1979. He is to date the last Republican to serve as New York Attorney General.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denise O'Donnell</span> American politician and lawyer

Denise O'Donnell is an attorney who served as director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance, as New York State commissioner of criminal justice services, and assistant secretary to the Governor for Criminal Justice in the Cabinet of Governor David Paterson. She previously held the roles in the Cabinet of former Governor Eliot Spitzer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Abrams</span> American lawyer and politician

Robert Abrams is an American attorney and politician. He served as the attorney general of New York from 1979 to 1993 and was the Democratic nominee for the 1992 United States Senate election in New York.

Leslie Crocker Snyder is an American lawyer and former judge, most notable for her challenge of Robert Morgenthau in the Democratic Party primary for the Manhattan District Attorney election in 2005. Morgenthau did not seek re-election in 2009. Snyder ran again. Once again she finished second, this time losing to Cyrus Vance, Jr. by a wide margin.

Ruth Ida Abrams was the first female justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, where she served from 1978 to 2000, and the first female appellate justice in Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alabama Republican Party</span> Alabama affiliate of the Republican Party

The Alabama Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in Alabama. It is the dominant political party in Alabama. The state party is governed by the Alabama Republican Executive Committee. The committee usually meets twice a year. As of the February 23, 2019 meeting in Birmingham, the committee is composed of 463 members. Most of the committee's members are elected in district elections across Alabama. The district members are elected in the Republican Primary once every four years, with the most recent election for the committee having been on June 5, 2018. The new committee takes office following the general election in November 2018. In addition, all 67 county GOP chairmen have automatic seats as voting members. The state chairman can appoint 10 members. Each county committee can appoint bonus members based on a formula that theoretically could add 312 seats, although that formula currently calls for only about 50 seats.

Eliot Spitzer has made several attempts at public office. His first campaign was for the Democratic nomination for New York Attorney General in 1994 that was won by Karen Burstein. He won this office in 1998 and 2002, and was elected Governor of New York in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliot Spitzer</span> Governor of New York from 2007 to 2008

Eliot Laurence Spitzer is an American politician and attorney who served as the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. A member of the Democratic Party, he was also the 63rd attorney general of New York from 1999 to 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nitza Quiñones Alejandro</span> American judge (born 1951)

Nitza Ileana Quiñones Alejandro is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Quiñones Alejandro is the first lesbian Latina to be appointed to serve as a federal judge.

Robert Thomas Johnson is an American attorney and jurist serving as a justice of the New York State Supreme Court in the county of the Bronx. He was previously a New York City Criminal Court judge, an acting justice of the New York State Supreme Court, and a long-time Bronx County district attorney in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darcel Clark</span> American attorney and prosecutor

Darcel Denise Clark is an American attorney and prosecutor who has served as the Bronx County District Attorney since 2016. Clark is the first woman to hold that office, and the first woman of color to serve as a district attorney in the history of the State of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Freier</span> American judge and community activist

Rachel "Ruchie" Freier is a New York Supreme Court justice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Cook County, Illinois, elections</span>

The Cook County, Illinois, general election was held on November 6, 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1994 New York Attorney General election</span>

The 1994 New York Attorney General election took place on November 8, 1994. Republican nominee Dennis Vacco narrowly defeated Democratic nominee Karen Burstein. As of 2023, this is the last time a Republican was elected Attorney General of New York.

Lydia E. York is an American attorney, accountant, and Democratic politician who is the Delaware Auditor of Accounts. York is the first African American woman to be elected to an executive office in Delaware. She was first elected in the 2022 general election after winning the 2022 Democratic primary, where she defeated incumbent auditor Kathy McGuiness in a 42-point landslide.

Cassandra A. Johnson is an American attorney and judge. A Democrat, she served as a Housing Court judge and court employee before being elected to the New York City Civil Court and the New York Supreme Court.

References

  1. ↑ WOMAN IN THE NEWS; NEW CIVIL SERVICE CHIEF in the New York Times on June 27, 1983
  2. ↑ State Justice Beatrice S. Burstein Is Dead at 85 in the New York Times on January 9, 2001
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Fisher, Ian (August 7, 1994). "Burstein Brings an Edge to Attorney General's Race". The New York Times. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Eric Lane Weds Karen Burstein". The New York Times. November 20, 1972.
  5. ↑ Writer, Lisa Jankowski, Sentinel Staff. "IN WORK AND LIFE, ELLEN MACFARLANE WAS EPITOME OF 'GRACE UNDER PRESSURE'". OrlandoSentinel.com.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Silver, Roy R. (October 24, 1970). "Woman,28, Is Fighting for Wydler's L.I. House Seat". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Goldman, Ari L. (June 27, 1983). "Woman in the News; New Civil Service Chief". The New York Times.
  8. 1 2 Fisher, Ian (May 23, 1994). "Liberal Party Backs Bid for Attorney General". The New York Times.
  9. ↑ Newman, Maria (November 9, 1994). "THE 1994 ELECTIONS: NEW YORK STATE ATTORNEY GENERAL; Vacco Comes From Behind To Win Against Burstein". The New York Times.
  10. ↑ "Guy Molinari, From the Gutter". The New York Times. October 12, 1994.
  11. ↑ Gelder, Lawrence Van (September 12, 1996). "Burstein Says Primary Defeat Could Be Her Last Campaign". The New York Times.
  12. ↑ Dullea, Georgia (September 28, 1981). "Getting to Be Good Friends, After Divorce". The New York Times.
  13. ↑ "One Candidate's Lifestyle Becomes Other's Ax to Grind". Chicago Tribune .
  14. ↑ Klemesrud, Judy (April 16, 1975). "This Song and Dance Routine Is Really a Class in Anatomy". The New York Times . Archived from the original on January 11, 2022. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
New York State Senate
Preceded by New York State Senate
9th District
1973–1978		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by Democratic nominee for
Attorney General of New York
1994		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.