★PREFERRED CANDIDATE★
RODNEYSE BICHOTTE– DEM
Candidate Questionnaire
Age: 39
Occupation: Democratic District Leader
Education: SUNY Buffalo (BA); Illinois Institute of Technology (MA); Northwestern University (MBA)
Read more:
Campaign website
Campaign Finance Filings
Candidate News Links
-Bichotte Gets Her Shot
-Bichotte Applauds Supreme Court Ruling On Health Care Law
Rodneyse Bichotte, the Democratic Leader in Brooklyn’s 42nd Assembly District, was born and raised in the Flatbush community of Brooklyn. A product of Brooklyn public schools, she has worked as a public school math teacher, an engineer, and an investment banker. She supports the city public matching model for campaign finance reform at the state level, and second passage of the redistricting reform constitutional amendment. Bichotte stated that she could work with Citizens Union to reverse the low voter participation in her district. If elected, she promises to help the immigrant community by dealing with the pressing issues of housing, high unemployment, equal services, and to advocate for the DREAM Act. She plans to lower the high unemployment rate by giving tax benefits and incentives to small business owners, especially for job training programs and youth hiring. Bichotte believes that she fully understands the needs of her district and thus can bring about necessary change. She also says she wants to write legislation to benefit all New Yorkers, not just those in her district. Citizens Union prefers her, believing that the district needs new leadership and that she will bring fresh, new energy to the legislature and new ideas for addressing the pressing needs in her district.
RHODA JACOBS – DEM
Candidate Questionnaire
Age: 75
Occupation: Member, NYS Assembly
Education: N/A
Official website
Campaign Finance Filings
Candidate News Links
-Jacobs One of Those Who Took Pension on Top of Pay
-Jacobs Double Dips on Albany Rent Money
Rhoda Jacobs, a 34-year incumbent Assembly member, currently serves as the Assistant Speaker of the New York State Assembly. She believes that her experience within the assembly enables her to serve her constituents better, through both legislation and constituent services. Jacobs cited increased transparency in government as a priority reform issue. She supports state campaign finance reform, stating that she profusely dislikes fundraising and wants to see a system in which money has less of a corrupting power in politics. She also supports a constitutional amendment creating an independent redistricting commission for New York State. On non-reform issues, she is extremely focused on health care, especially women’s health, and is concerned about job losses due to hospital consolidation in her district. However, Jacobs takes little initiative as a legislator, tending mostly to recycle old bills that don’t get passed. While she voices support for Citizens Union’s agenda and she clearly advocates for her constituents in Albany, her long service does not translate into being as pro-active a leader on reform or other legislation or in representing her constituents in a way that New Yorkers should expect given her experience.