Liam J. McLaughlin (born January 16, 1968) is the former Council President of the

Yonkers City Council The Yonkers City Council is the legislative branch of the city of Yonkers, New York. and uses a strong Mayor-Council government. The city elects six councilmen, each serving four year terms and an at-large member which is called the City Council ...

. He is a practicing attorney and partner at McLaughlin & Zerafa, LLP, an estates and

trusts A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the "settl ...

firm. On November 7, 2017 McLaughlin lost his re-election bid in a Democratic upset against attorney and

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

veteran Mike Khader. McLaughlin now is serving as Inspector General for the City of Yonkers.

Early career and background

McLaughlin grew up in

Yonkers Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York (state), New York, after New York City and Buffalo, New York, Buffalo. The popul ...

, New York and attended Cardinal Spellman High School and Fordham University where he received a bachelor's degree in accounting in 1989. He became an auditor at

Ernst and Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewaterh ...

and went on to receive a Juris Doctor from

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 ...

in 1996.

Political career

Involved with a local neighborhood association, as well as the

Ancient Order of Hibernians The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH; ) is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be male, Catholic, and either born in Ireland or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in N ...

, McLaughlin first ran for the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

in Yonkers, New York's fourth largest city and one of the "Big Five" cities in the State, in a 1997 election for the fourth district council seat. He scored an impressive 38% of the vote as a third-party candidate on the Conservative Party of New York State line. He won the seat outright during the 1999 general election after winning the

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

primary and served from 2000 to 2010, including service as Minority Leader and Majority Leader. He ran for the New York State Senate in 2010 after being

term-limited A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

off the Council against State Senator

Andrea Stewart-Cousins Andrea Alice Stewart-Cousins (née Stewart; born September 2, 1950) is an American politician and educator from Yonkers, New York. A member of the Democratic Party, Stewart-Cousins has represented District 35 in the New York State Senate since ...

, garnering 45% of the vote. He then returned to private law practice and served as an adjunct professor at Manhattan College. In 2013, he was elected Council President. His first local law gave a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

tax exemption Tax exemption is the reduction or removal of a liability to make a compulsory payment that would otherwise be imposed by a ruling power upon persons, property, income, or transactions. Tax-exempt status may provide complete relief from taxes, redu ...

to military

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...

, which made Yonkers the first major city in New York to offer that benefit to service members. While Republicans across the nation surged to power on the coat tails on Donald Trump, McLaughlin was tossed out of office, beaten by Mike Khader, a son of Jordanian immigrants. With McLaughlin's defeat, the Yonkers City Council has changed to Democratic control. Khader won handily, defeating McLaughlin 54% to 46%.http://videos.news12.com/2017GenElecLIWC/results.htm#Westchester County

Electoral history

Yonkers City Council

New York State Senate

Yonkers City Council President

External links

Official Biography

Law Office

Notes

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Liam Living people Fordham University alumni New York (state) Republicans Lawyers from Yonkers, New York Politicians from Yonkers, New York 1968 births