Diane J. Savino (born September 28, 1963) is a Democratic politician representing the 23rd Senate District in the New York State Senate, in northern Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park and Coney Island. Savino is a member of the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of eight Democratic state senators who oppose the mainstream Democratic conference leadership and have reached a power-sharing agreement with the Republican Party in the Senate.
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Early life and career
Savino was born in Astoria, Queens. She began her career in public service as a caseworker for New York City's Child Welfare Administration, providing direct assistance to abused and neglected children. She was an active member of her local labor union, the Social Service Employees Union, Local 371, DC 37 of AFSCME, and became the Vice President for Political Action & Legislative Affairs
State Senate career
In 2004, she was elected to represent the 23rd Senatorial District and has been re-elected five times since.
On December 2, 2009, Savino voted for same sex marriage legislation, which failed to pass the Senate. Her speech on same-sex marriage became popular on the Internet. Subsequently in 2011, the same-sex marriage bill passed to become law.
In 2011, Savino joined a small breakaway group of NY Democrats, Jeffrey D. Klein, David J. Valesky, and David Carlucci, called the IDC (Independent Democratic Conference) that shared control of the Senate with the Republican conference despite a Democratic majority.
When the Republican Conference won enough seats for outright control of the Senate in 2014 Savino and the rest of the IDC chose to remain aligned with them.
As a member of the IDC, Savino votes for the Republicans' leadership slate in the state senate, and is rewarded by the Republican party with a stipend, known as a "lulu," worth $13,500 a year, designated by Legislative Law 5-1 for the chairman of the Codes committee. Republicans named her only vice-chairwoman of that committee, however, reserving the chairmanship for one of their own, and in order to send money to Savino, payroll officials falsified state documents.
Savino's environmental record is mixed. Each year, EPL/Environmental Advocates tracks the environmental voting records of the New York State Legislature on bills that could help or harm our air, land, and water and publishes them in our annual scorecard, known as the Voters' Guide. In 2009 and 2010, Savino earned 77 and 81 points out of a 100. In 2011, she earned 78 points, but in 2012, Savino earned just 38 points.
Personal
Savino dated fellow independent Democratic state senator Jeffrey Klein. She lives by herself in Staten Island. The Italian American politician is known for her early to bed, early to rise lifestyle and weekly commutes every Sunday afternoon to Albany during the legislative session. She is a self-admitted "neurotic cleaner". Assemblyman Matthew Titone once tricked her into cleaning his apartment.
Election results for state senate
- Diane J. Savino was first elected to the state senate in 2004 with 39,833 votes; her Republican opponent, Al Curtis, received 23,361 votes
- In 2008, Savino was re-elected for District 23 with 46,386 votes. Her Republican opponent, Richard Thomas, received 12,621 votes.
- In 2012, she was again elected, with 50,553 votes, whilst her Republican opponent, Lisa Grey, received 15,131 votes.
- In both the 2010 and 2014 elections, Savino won the general election by acclamation.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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