Christopher Jacobs (politician)

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Christopher Jacobs is the former Secretary of State of New York and was briefly a candidate for the Republican nomination for Lieutenant Governor of New York. He was the running mate of former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld.

Secretary Jacobs is a member of the prominent Jacobs family in Buffalo, which owns the Delaware North Companies, including the Boston Bruins hockey team. He is a nephew of businessman Jeremy Jacobs. Secretary Jacobs along with his wife Patti and step-son, Maximus, currently reside in Buffalo. He is a graduate of Boston College, holds a masters degree from American University, and a law degree from the University at Buffalo. He served as Deputy Commissioner of Environment and Planning in the administration of Erie County Executive Joel Giambra. He is a developer in Buffalo, where he has been active in redeveloping Main Street in downtown Buffalo.

Secretary Jacobs has been involved in numerous community activities in Buffalo, especially in the area of education. He is an advocate for the creation of charter schools. Jacobs co-founded the BISON Scholarsip Fund (Buffalo Inner-city Scholarship Opportunity Network) in 1995. The BISON Fund provides scholarships to City of Buffalo residents to attend private grade schools. His community work includes promoting other educational activities in local income areas of Buffalo. In 2004, he was elected as an at-large member of the Buffalo Board of Education.

In February 2006, Secretary Jacobs was the Republican nominee in a special election for the State Senate for a seat representing Buffalo and Niagara Falls. He waged a strong campaign in this heavily Democratic district and narrowly lost to Democrat Marc Coppola. In 1995, Secretary Jacobs lost a race for the Erie County Legislature.

There are reports that Secretary Jacobs is considering a bid for Erie County Executive in 2007.

[edit] New York Secretary of State

He was appointed to the secretary of state's office in April 2006 by Governor George Pataki. As secretary of state, Secretary Jacobs was in charge of preserving state records, registering corporations, administering local government policies, working on coastal development programs, regulating professions such as real estate, hair dressers and cosmetics, regulating cemeteries, overseeing state ethics, regulating boxing, and overseeing open government policies. As secretary of state, he served as the Chairman of the New York State Real Estate Board and as Chairman of the Wireless 911 Emergency System Board.

During his time as secretary of state, Secretary Jacobs took an active role in the development of the Niagara River Greenway, which is a new park being developed along the Niagara River. In addition as secretary, he toured the state promoting local government issues and fire safety. He handed out several grants statewide to promote downtowns and coastel development. While serving as secretary of state, he continued to served as a member of the Buffalo Board of Education.

[edit] Campaign for Lieutenant Governor

Weld announced his selection of Secretary Jacobs as a running mate on May 31, 2006, the opening day of the Republican State Convention on Long Island. Weld's choice of Secretary Jacobs was considered a surprise, since Secretary Jacobs is not well known statewide. Prior to Weld's announcement, newspapers speculated that Weld would either choose Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks or Hempstead Town Supervisor Kate Murray for lieutenant governor.

Weld said he selected Secretary Jacobs because of Jacobs' work on education issues and upstate economic development. He said he wanted highlight economic development in upstate New York during his campaign and Secretary Jacobs' background in Buffalo would be a benefit. In addition, he praised Secretary Jacobs' education advocacy. Weld praised Secretary Jacobs for being an "Albany outsider" and that the two were "strangers to the halls of Albany.'" Ironically, Weld had previously been governor of Massachusetts, while Secretary Jacobs' family owns the Boston Bruins. At the time he was selected as Weld's running mate, Secretary Jacobs had been serving as secretary of state for six weeks.

Following his selection by Weld, newspapers reported that Secretary Jacobs had switched in the late 1990s from being a Republican to being a Democrat. He then switched back to the Republican Party a year later. Secretary Jacobs indicated he made the party switch for personal and not political reasons. In addition, newspapers reported that in the summer of 2004, Secretary Jacobs donated $250 to the gubernatorial campaign of Democratic State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. Secretary Jacobs said he made the donation before Weld announced that he was running for governor and now supported Weld for governor.

The week before Secretary Jacobs' selection by Weld, former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso announced his selection of Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef as his running mate. Secretary Jacobs faced Vanderhoef during the Republican State Convention to be designated to be on the September primary ballot for lieutenant governor. The third candidate, Tim Demler, supervisor of the Town of Wheatfield, withdrew, during the convention, for the good of the party to try and avoid a divisive primary. Demler had been running for lieutenant governor independent of any candidate for governor.

The state convention placed both Secretary Jacobs and Vanderhoef on the primary ballot by a voice vote. The convention also designated Faso for governor over Weld, but gave Weld a spot on the primary ballot. Though he announced that he and Secretary Jacobs would launch their primary campaign with a statewide bus tour starting in Buffalo, on June 6, Weld dropped out of the governor's race and endorsed Faso.

On June 8, Secretary Jacobs announced he was withdrawing from the lieutenant governor's race and backing Vanderhoef.

Preceded by Frank Milano (acting)

Secretary of State of New York April 19, 2006 – January 1, 2007

Succeeded by Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez

Secretaries of State of New York (since 1903)
O'Brien • Whalen • Koenig • Laxansky • May • Hugo • Lyons • Hamilton • Knapp • Moses • Flynn • Walsh • Curren • DeSapio • Simon • Lomenzo • Ghezzi • Cuomo • Paterson • Schaffer • Treadwell • Daniels • Milano • Jacobs • Cortes-Vazquez