Adele Cohen
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Adele H. Cohen (born July 19, 1942) is an American lawyer and former politician. She is a 1964 graduate of
Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...
.


Participation in politics


1991 race for New York City Council

After having failed in her first attempt to run for office against incumbent City Councilman Samuel Horowitz in the 33rd district of New York City in 1989, Cohen made her second run for office in the 1991 Democratic primary election for
New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...
District 48 in Southern Brooklyn, which had been created as part of the expansion of the city council membership prior to the election. She ran in a tightly contested six-way Democratic primary that included both
Anthony Weiner Anthony David Weiner (; born September 4, 1964) is an American former politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 until his resignation in 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he consistently carried the district with at l ...
, the future Congressman who was then a congressional aide to U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, and Michael Garson, who was endorsed by the
Kings County Democratic County Committee The Brooklyn Democratic Party, officially the Kings County Democratic County Committee, is the county committee of the Democratic Party in the New York City borough of Brooklyn (Kings County). It is the most local level of party governance in New ...
, representing a labor-dominated coalition known as the Majority Coalition for a New New York. Controversy erupted in the last weeks of the campaign, however, when Weiner's campaign anonymously spread leaflets around the district which alleged ties between Cohen and the so-called " Jackson- Dinkins agenda." The leaflets referred to the
Crown Heights riots The Crown Heights riot was a race riot that took place from August 19 to August 21, 1991, in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, New York City. Black residents attacked orthodox Jewish residents, damaged their homes, and looted businesses. Th ...
earlier in the year, which suggested that Jesse Jackson (who became notorious for his earlier remarks about New York City as "
Hymietown Jesse Louis Jackson (Given name, né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist Minister of religion, minister, and Politics of the United States, politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic Party (United S ...
") and mayor David Dinkins as having been beholden to the predominantly-African-American rioters, and thus endangering white residents. Dinkins, during the campaign, described the leaflet as "hateful". When Weiner admitted his campaign's distribution of the leaflets, he stated that he "didn't want the source to be confused with the message"; ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' issued an editorial which rebuked Weiner's "hit-and-run tactics". Cohen lost the primary to Weiner by 195 votes. Weiner also won the November election, widely considered a formality with no opposition in the heavily Democratic district. The next year, Cohen was selected as the state chairwoman of the
National Women's Political Caucus The National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC), or the Caucus, describes itself as a multi-partisan grassroots organization in the United States dedicated to recruiting, training, and supporting women who seek elected and appointed offices at all ...
. She ran again for the City Council's 27th District against Howard L. Lasher in 1997, but lost in the three-way Democratic primary.


State Assembly

In 1998, Cohen ran for the
New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...
's 46th district in the special election to succeed outgoing assemblyman Jules Polonetsky, with the nomination of the Democratic,
Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
and
Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...
parties and she won against Joseph A. Kovac, a nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties. She served as an assemblywoman until she returned to private law practice in 2006. Initially a member of the Standing Committee on Insurance, she served from 2005 to 2006 as chairwoman of the Assembly Commission on Science and Technology during her time in office.


Personal life

Cohen is a 1964 graduate of
Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...
. She later pursued a J.D. degree from the
New York Law School New York Law School (NYLS) is a private law school in Tribeca, New York City. NYLS has a full-time day program and a part-time evening program. NYLS's faculty includes 54 full-time and 59 adjunct professors. Notable faculty members include E ...
after her children grew up, gaining it in 1987. She then became a lawyer for District Council 37. She is married to Steven, a former principal of P.S. X012 Lewis and Clark School, and has three children, Gene Robert (b. 1966), Deborah and Ronald (b. 1964). Gene was a director of Graphnet in Teaneck, N.J., and a graduate of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
; Ronald is an assistant professor of chemistry, geology and geophysics at the
University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
and graduated from
Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Adele Jewish American state legislators in New York (state) 1942 births New York (state) lawyers Brooklyn College alumni Members of the New York State Assembly Place of birth missing (living people) Politicians from Brooklyn New York Law School alumni Women state legislators in New York (state) Living people American women lawyers Jewish women politicians 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women