Debi Rose

Deborah "Debi" Rose is a Democratic City Council member in New York City. She was elected to the 49th Council District, in northern Staten Island, New York. In the September 2009 Democratic primary, Rose defeated incumbent Kenneth Mitchell by 16 percentage points.^[1] She defeated Mitchell (Conservative Party of New York) and Timothy Kuhn (Republican Party) by a wide margin in the November 2009 General Election.

Personal background

Rose is of African-American ethnicity and she was born in Staten Island. Prior to running for the city council seat, she spent several years advocating on school funding issues and health issues. She was elected in 1996 to the now-defunct New York City Board of Education. She has been a member of the Staten Island Mental Health Society and the American Cancer Society - Women's Breast Partnership. She established the Staten Island Black Women's Health Initiative.^[2][3] Rose currently serves as the chairperson of the New York City Council Committee on Civil Rights.^[4]

Campaign Controversy

Rose was the subject of a lawsuit filed by five Staten Island voters. The voters alleged that Rose was under billed for a services provided by Data and Field Services(DFS), a political company created by the Working Families Party. DFS provides such services as phone banking, polling and get-out-the-vote efforts. Rose should have paid DFS $100,000, but the lawsuit alleged that her campaign was under billed because she was endorsed by the Working Families Party, which violates election laws.^[5] Rose's campaign settled by paying DFS $8,525, and did not have to acknowledge any wrong doing on the behalf of her campaign or DFS.^[6]

References