Gail S. Shaffer (born August 1, 1948) is an American politician and activist who served as the 59th

Secretary of State of New York The secretary of state of New York is a cabinet officer in the government of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York who leads the New York State Department of State, Department of State (NYSDOS). The current secretary of state of New York ...

under

Mario Cuomo Mario Matthew Cuomo (, ; June 15, 1932 – January 1, 2015) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd governor of New York for three terms, from 1983 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party, Cuomo previously served as t ...

. Shaffer grew up on a family farm in

Blenheim, New York Blenheim is a town in Schoharie County, New York, United States. The population was 377 at the 2010 census. The town was named after a land patent, which itself was named after the Battle of Blenheim. The Town of Blenheim is in the southwestern pa ...

. She graduated from Gilboa-Conesville Central School in 1966 as

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...

. Awarded a full scholarship to

Elmira College Elmira College is a private college in Elmira, New York. Founded as a college for women in 1855, it is the oldest existing college granting degrees to women that were the equivalent of those given to men. Elmira College became coeducational in a ...

, she graduated as class valedictorian in 1970, and a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

member, with a B.A. ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' in Political Science. She studied abroad for her junior year at

Sciences Po , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public university, Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , a ...

. She also spent a semester of her senior year on a

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Career

Shaffer began her career in publishing before entering politics in the 1970s. She served as a

town supervisor The administrative divisions of New York are the various units of government that provide local services in the State of New York. The state is divided into boroughs, counties, cities, townships called "towns", and villages. (The only borou ...

for two years and then became special assistant to

Peter A. A. Berle Peter Adolf Augustus Berle (December 8, 1937 – November 1, 2007) was a lawyer, conservationist and member of the New York Assembly. Early life Berle was born on December 8, 1937 in New York City to Adolf A. Berle, Adolf Augustus Berle, Jr. (18 ...

. She later served as the Executive Director of the Rural Affairs Council, which was chaired by then-Lieutenant Governor,

. Shaffer was elected in 1980, as a Democrat representing a five-county, predominantly Republican district to 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 ...

serving in 1981 and 1982, In November 1982, she was re-elected with 68% of the vote, but did not take her seat in the

185th New York State Legislature The 185th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5, 1983, to December 31, 1984, during the first and second years of Mario Cuomo's governorship, in Albany. Backgrou ...

. She was instead appointed by Governor

, and took office on January 1, 1983. The longest-tenured Secretary of State in New York history, she served twelve years during Cuomo's three terms as governor January 1, 1983 – January 4, 1995, when she was replaced by Republican

Alexander Treadwell Alexander Ferguson "Sandy" Treadwell (born March 25, 1946) is an American politician, journalist, and artist. He was Secretary of State of New York, as well as New York's representative on the Republican National Committee. He was also a writer f ...

. She was a delegate to the 1988, 1992 and 2004

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

s. She went into the private sector, serving as national President and CEO of the

Business and Professional Women's Foundation Business and Professional Women's Foundation (BPW) is an organization that promotes workforce development programs and workplace policies to acknowledge the needs of working women, communities, and businesses. It supports the National Federation ...

from 1997 to 2001, focused on economic equity for women, including workplace issues such as pay equity, family leave, fair minimum wage, Social Security, and pension reform. Returning to New York, she served as President and CEO of the Brooklyn Historical Society from 2001 to 2003. She returned to her family farm where she still resides, and became a freelance writer on public policy issues. In September 2015, Shaffer ran for town supervisor of the

. Shaffer was defeated by incumbent attorney Shawn J. Smith in the Democratic Caucus held on September 10, 2015. Although Shaffer remains a Democrat, she was endorsed by the town's Republican party for Supervisor. She was narrowly defeated by Smith (by 10 votes) in the general election. Shaffer remains an active Democrat, as a member of the Schoharie County Democratic Committee, and continues as an activist on issues including government reform, environmental quality, women's rights, civil rights, consumer rights and economic equity.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaffer, Gail S 1948 births Living people Town supervisors in New York (state) Members of the New York State Assembly Secretaries of State of New York (state) Women state legislators in New York (state) 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians New York (state) Democrats New York (state) Republicans