Mark B. Cohen

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Mark B. Cohen is a state legislator in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Democratic Party. Cohen has held leadership leadership positions in the House Democratic Caucus since January 1990 and is currently the Democratic Majority Caucus Chairman. He is second in seniority in the House, second among elected House leaders in seniority as a House leader, and the most senior elected legislative leader from Philadelphia.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2007-2008 legislative session, Cohen serves as a member of the House Rules Committee, the Committee on Committees, the State Government Committee, the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, and the Game and Fisheries Committee. He is also a member of Speaker Dennis M. O'Brien's Commission on Legislative Reform, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the House Democratic Policy Committee, and the Philadelphia Delegation of the House.^{[citation needed]}

Cohen is also the most active Daily Kos diarist and commenter among elective officials who write in their own names. He is also the most active phillyblog thread starter and poster among elective officials who write in their own names.

1 Personal
2 Political career
3 Criticism
4 Publications and Interviews
5 See also
6 External link
7 References

[edit] Personal

Married to the former Mona Getzes, a Philadelphia special education teacher, he lives with his wife and daughter Amanda, in the Castor Garden section of Northeast Philadelphia.

Cohen has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Lebanon Valley College. He also holds a juris doctor from Widener University School of Law and worked successfully to bring a Widener Law School campus to Harrisburg, the state capital.

His father is David Cohen, a longtime Councilman-at-Large in Philadelphia, and his mother is Florence Cohen, a political and civic activist. As a result, according to Cohen's account in the Daily Kos ^[1] Cohen became involved in politics and community service very early in life, door to door canvassing with his father for Democrats beginning at age 5 and tutoring students in North Philadelphia and helping lead a book drive for students in Mississippi at age 15.

He was an active volunteer and strategist for each of his father's 11 campaigns for Philadelphia municipal office--eight successful and three unsuccessful--from 1967 through 2003. As he recalled in the Daily Kos ^[2], he helped initiate, develop and promote many of his father's City Council initiatives, from opposing the U.S. Supreme Court nomination of G. Harold Carswell in 1970, to rewriting the Philadelphia City Council rules in 1980, to cutting wage taxes for low income Philadelphians in 2004.

He became an officer of the College Young Democrats at the University of Pennsylvania and served as Co-Chairman of Philadelphia Students for Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He was an intern in 1967 for Congressman William J. Green and later in 1968 for Senator Joseph S. Clark. He served as an aide to Milton Shapp's gubernatorial campaign in 1970 and as a member of the Youth Advisory Council of Governor Raymond P. Shafer. He was active in the Philadelphia planning committee for the 1970 White House Conference on Children and Youth. As the Daily Pennsylvanian, the independent student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, reported contemporaneously in the Fall of 1969, he was one of the first 14 students elected to the University Council of the University of Pennsylvania, an important advisory committee to University President Gaylord P. Harnwell.

Cohen is an active reviewer of nonfiction books for amazon.com.^[3]

[edit] Political career

Cohen was elected in a special election in May 1974 before his 25th birthday. Cohen represents the 202nd House District which encompasses Northeast Philadelphia west of Bustleton Avenue and south of Krewstown Road down to the border of LaSalle University and Central High School of Philadelphia

Cohen takes an interest in labor relations issues and served as the Chairman of the House Labor Relations Committee from 1983 to 1990. He is a member of the executive board of the National Labor Caucus of State Legislatures. Cohen is known as a strong supporter of a higher minimum wage. He sponsored bills in 1987 and 1988 which led to raising the Pennsylvania minimum wage above the Federal wage for the first time. In 2005 and 2006, he initiated legislation which raised the state minimum wage to $7.15 per hour effective July 1, 2007.

He continues to seek further increases in the minimum wage; the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported on February 9, 2007 ^[4] that he seeks to raise the mininimum wage in Pennsylvania to $8.15 in 2008, $8.75 in 2009, and $9.35 in 2010, with annual cost of living increases beginning in 2011.

Cohen's labor relations work included efforts to shore up the state unemployment compensation system, to reduce the backlog and the wait for claimants in the state workman's compensation system, protection for whistleblowers employed by state government, and creation of a state right to know policy for workers and community residents impacted by dangerous workplace chemicals.

As an attorney, Cohen has sought to expand funding for legal aid for the poor. He is also an opponent of limiting judicial tort awards and other consumer remedies.

Cohen is a Democratic committeeperson for the 53rd Ward, 16th Division in Philadelphia, a member of the Democratic State Committee representing Northeast Philadelphia, and was elected as a delegate pledged to Howard Dean for the 2004 Democratic National Convention. An early 2007 supporter of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, he continues to participate in various political organizations including Democracy for America and the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee.

[edit] Criticism

The Philadelphia Inquirer criticised Cohen for his taxpayer-funded expenses in 2006. The paper pointed out that Cohen had billed his taxpayer-funded expense account for $28,200 in the prior two years for books and $3,050 for magazine and newspaper subscriptions. This was more than some individual schools in cash-starved Philadelphia School District had spent for library books in the same period, during which time period library resources were being heavily spent on internet and computer literacy. Cattabiani, Mario. "Cohen hits the books: $28,200 worth", Philadelphia Inquirer, 2006-04-02.

Cohen--a strong supporter of aid to libraries who has obtained numerous grants for school libraries within and near his legislative district--replied that he was a "voracious reader" and felt that the books did help him become a more effective legislator. Indeed, the non-fiction books he purchased were generally scholarly titles and policy works including Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America and Comeback Cities: A Blueprint for Urban Neighborhood Revival.

Cohen was able to pay for the book purchases though other office economies. He has, for instance, never paid for rental furniture for his district office--which can cost thousands of dollars a year--choosing instead to buy furniture for his district offices at personal expense. Throughout his years in the General Assembly, he has filed publicly available monthly expense accounts, none of which have ever had any expenditures for furniture rental.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Publications and Interviews

"Looking Back, and Looking Ahead As Pennsylvania Legislative Session Begins Slowly and Methodically," by State Rep Mark Cohen Dem PA^[5]
Interview with Dr. Daniel E. Loeb,Philadelphia Jewish Voice, February 2007^[6]