Carolyn Maloney
So the next time you brush past a young midtown tourist on their first trip to New York you should think about Carolyn Maloney. She might be one of our Congresswomen, but she’s not from from New York City or State, but North Carolina, and before it was suddenly blue. In 1970 after finishing up her undergrad, all it took was one visit to convince her that New York City was where she belonged. Over the next twelve years she served the city as a teacher, then a Board of Education administrator, and eventually took a staff gig at the State Legislature. Finally, in 1982, she decided she had to run for office – City Council – and she won.
“When I was growing up, I never dreamed of going to Congress. The options for women were very limited. I thought I would be a teacher, librarian or a nurse.”
Carolyn Maloney has never lost a race in her political life, not when she ran against a fifteen year incumbent in 1992 for New York’s 14th Congressional District, and not when the Republican revolution of 1994 tried to take the seat back. When the GOP ran someone again in 2004, she took more than 80% of the vote. For some context, New York’s 14th CD consists of much of the East Side of Manhattan, especially the Upper East Side, as well as parts of Queens, and had been a Republican stronghold for almost sixty years before Maloney came along.
‘It’s time we realized that these nontraditional families contribute just as much to our society as everybody else.” – Carolyn Maloney on the rights of same-sex couples, in 1990, a bit ahead of the curve eh?
Throughout her career, Maloney’s core issues have been women’s rights, the economy, and financial services legislation. She is currently the ranking House Democrat on the Joint Economic Committee, as well as serving on both the Committee on Oversight and Govt. Reform and the Committee on Financial Services. Her response to 9/11 was to help secure $20 billion in federal funds for Lower Manhattan, as well as teaming up with other legislators to streamline US intelligence services, and making sure first responders continue to receive the health care they deserve. She is also responsible for a creating a law which made rape kit results available in a national database, making it easier for law enforcement agencies to prosecute rapists (and Lifetime even made a movie about it). When you take your first ride on the Second Avenue subway in 2015 – she helped bring home the money for it. And she’s working on a couple bills that would protect consumers from credit card companies and excessive bank fees.
“Other” – mysterious name for her political beliefs as listed on her Facebook page (go say Hi)
If you’re feeling listy, check out her full accomplishments. And if you want to see how well she held up on The Colbert Report, you really should.
Rep. Maloney is also an occasional Huffpost Blogger, and an author, recently publishing a book about the current state of women’s rights entitled “Rumors Of Our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated”
