By Carol Tannenhauser
New York State Senator Brian A. Benjamin, who represents District 30, encompassing Central Harlem, East Harlem, and a section of the Upper West Side, has been chosen by Governor Kathy Hochul as New York State’s 78th lieutenant governor. Benjamin, a Democrat, will replace Hochul, who became governor following allegations of sexual misconduct against her predecessor, Andrew Cuomo.
“Benjamin will be the second Black man to hold the lieutenant governor’s job (David Paterson was the first), joining a history-making administration led by the first woman to serve as the state’s chief executive,” NY1 reported.
Senator Benjamin represents a cut-out piece of the UWS, reaching as far south as West 87th Street, up to West 110th. He currently serves as the chairman of the Budget and Revenue Committee, and Senior Assistant Majority Leader of the NYS Senate. He ran for NYC Comptroller in the recent Democratic primary, coming in fourth.
Benjamin, 44, was born in Harlem to “a Caribbean mother who came to this country seeking new opportunities,” according to the senate website. “Though they didn’t have a college education, his parents were fortunate enough to find well-paying union jobs, which allowed them to provide Brian and his siblings with a middle class upbringing. After graduating from high school in New York City, Brian sought the quality education his parents had dreamed of providing him with, earning his undergraduate degree in Public Policy from Brown University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.” Benjamin then spent three years in investment banking, before returning to Harlem to help build affordable housing.
“Benjamin is known as a progressive Democrat, vocal on criminal justice issues, police reform, ending cash bail and discovery and parole reform,” NY1 wrote. “During the race for comptroller, he said he is in support of a movement to defund the police.”
Now, uhm….. who are the Republicans running for Governor?
I’m probably wrong, but as Lieutenant Governor, wouldn’t she have been aware of what Andrew Cuomo was doing? I mean, maybe not when it comes to sexual harassment, but with the nursing home deaths and other things. It’s almost as if she is trying to pretend that she wasn’t around and had no idea what he was doing, but will change everything now that she is in charge.
That’s exactly right – she wasn’t around. The Lt. Gov position is very ceremonial and she was not involved with a lot os decision making or day to day business, according to news reports. She stated that was something she wanted to change and she wants her relationship with Benjamin to be more as partners.
She has already begun the process of effecting greater transparency, including adding 12,000 deaths to the State’s Covid number to reflect some if not all of the nursing home deaths that Cuomo covered up.
She just got there. Give her a little time to “do the right thing.” She seems to want to.
I’ll never quite understand how district borders are determined.
Re: “his parents were fortunate enough to find well-paying union jobs, which allowed them to provide Brian and his siblings with a middle class upbringing.”
YES! Just one more example of how unions are one factor in building a strong middle class, aided by free or low-cost public education, like CUNY (City University of New York) for their children.
You don’t know all the facts. I would bet anything that his parents’ union jobs were for civil service jobs, not jobs in private industry.
We have practically no choice but to support civil service unions as taxpayers simply pay these union salaries.
However, the economy has changed since the 1950s and private unions have arguably caused far more harm than good for the middle class. Unions are not even universally supported by workers as witnessed by the recent rejection of unionization of Amazon workers in Alabama.
Furthermore, Brown did not attend CUNY. He attended Brown and Harvard, likely on full scholarships.
Re: 1.”private unions have arguably caused far more harm than good for the middle class.”
Really? Would love to see some demonstrable proof of that!
2. “Unions are not even universally supported by workers as witnessed by the recent rejection of unionization of Amazon workers in Alabama.
Sad fact is that the South is vehemently anti-union! Proof: read “Why Organized Labor Struggles in the American South”
Labor laws cover the key points unions used to be needed to protect. All unions do today is make business less nimble and less competitive which causes the unionized labor to lose its jobs. Not helpful to the people union supposedly helping. Intelligent workers have realized this.
And the UFT?
Would you get rid of the police and firefighter unions?
I wonder if she considered any white men for the job? Hochul is just another woke Democrat politician that has contributed to our deteriorating city.
Any reason you assume she didn’t consider white men? Any reason you assume a black man was ONLY chosen because he’s black? Maybe your comment reveals a whole lot more about you than about Hochul?
This is honestly a more serious question than you might imagine. My wife works for a very high profile bank, and has insight to some hiring practices. She has been told that specific positions will be filled with candidates that check one or multiple boxes that HR is looking for. Essentially not to bother interviewing certain candidates, as they wont be considered.
Call it “diversifying” or “inclusion”, I can assure you there is an agenda for hiring in this day and age for most high profile roles in companies. Perhaps this is needed, perhaps not, but it is very much a thing. And I can tell you from experience, a white, cisgender middle aged man, is not who many companies are looking to hire if they want to diversify, especially in roles like senior banking and government, that have historically been run by such persons.
Except one of those boxes is NEVER older workers of any race. Ageism is A OK apparently.
Let’s try this again:
“During the race for comptroller, he said he is in support of a movement to defund the police.”
So the new Governor shifted a disciple of the Mayor from NYC to Albany?
Have New Yorkers learned as a result of this pandemic that knowing who you are voting for Governor is just as important as knowing who you are voting for President?
Not only is Brian Benjamin all about Brian Benjamin, but his campaign spending improprieties are well documented. This was a terrible choice.
Mr. Benjamin supports defunding the police and no bail. Echoes of Andrew Cuomo…Enough said.
Isn’t this the guy who wants to de-fund the police?
I think we should support the police. Not defund.
You can do both. Dig deeper.
Brian Benjimin will only make a bad situation worse.
He is a step in the wrong direction.