Ben Kallos

Ben Kallos
Member of the New York City Council from the 5th District
Incumbent
Assumed office
January 1, 2014
Preceded by Jessica Lappin
Constituency Upper East Side
Personal details
Born February 5, 1981
Nationality American
Political party Democratic
Residence New York City, New York, U.S.
Alma mater University at Albany
University at Buffalo Law School
Profession lawyer and politician
Website Ben Kallos campaign website

Benjamin "Ben" Kallos (born February 5, 1981) is an American lawyer and politician.[1][2]

A graduate of SUNY Buffalo School of Law, he has served as a Manhattan Community Board Public Member, and Statewide Coordination Committee Chair for the New York Democratic Lawyers Council. He was also Chief of Staff for New York State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, Director of Policy for former New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green, and Executive Director of the good government group New Roosevelt.

On September 10, 2013, he defeated Micah Kellner in the New York City Council election primaries. As the Democratic candidate for the 5th New York City Council District, representing Manhattan's Upper East Side in the 2013 general election, he won the general election on November 5, 2013 and assumed office on January 1, 2014.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

Early life and education

Kallos' grandparents were from Hungary, and immigrated to New York in the 1950s.[10] He knew he wanted to enter public service since he was 12.[10] He attended Rabbi Arthur Schneier Park East Day School,[11] and then attended public schools for high school, college, and law school because, he said, he couldn’t afford an Ivy League education.[10]

He grew up on the East Side of Manhattan, but for high school he attended Bronx High School of Science.[10] He has been recognized as a technology entrepreneur since attending Bronx Science.[12][13] When he was 15 years old, he established a consulting business named "Kallos Consulting", charging $15–20 an hour.[14]

He obtained his law degree at SUNY Buffalo School of Law.[10] There, he was Executive Managing Editor of the Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal.[15]

Early career

Kallos then worked in private practice, and subsequently served as a Manhattan Community Board Public Member, and Statewide Coordination Committee Chair for the New York Democratic Lawyers Council. He was also Chief of Staff for New York State Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, Director of Policy for former New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green, and Executive Director of the good government group New Roosevelt.[10] In 2006, Kallos was appointed to Community Board 8 Manhattan.[16][17][18]

New York Democratic Lawyers Council

While working as an attorney Kallos became involved with and serves as Statewide Coordination Committee Chair for the New York Democratic Lawyers Council, organizing and training over 4,000 attorneys and 350 law students, to help protect the rights of any voter, irrespective of party, to vote in any election.[19][20] In 2007, while a member of the Council, he drafted a memo to board of elections opposing Microsoft-based voting machines.[10] Microsoft at the time was seeking to have voting machines in the country switch over to Microsoft-based voting machines, and according to Kallos people were talking about Bill Gates as a possible presidential candidate, which frightened him.[10]

Chief of Staff for Assemblyman Jonathan Bing

Through his work on the Council he met Jonathan Bing, a New York State Assemblyman for the 73rd District, who hired Kallos as his Chief of Staff from 2007–09.[10][21] He worked on legislation, including a bill to improve NYC Select Bus Service, and one to toughen crane regulations.[10]

Director of Policy for Mark Green

Kallos then became the Director of Policy for former New York City Public Advocate Mark J. Green, who in 2009 ran to become Public Advocate, but was defeated in a runoff election by Bill de Blasio.[10][22] He worked with Green on "100 Ideas for a Better City".[23][24][11]

Executive Director of New Roosevelt

In 2009 Kallos became the Executive Director of the good government group New Roosevelt, a reform-minded political action committee founded by Bill Samuels.[25] While working for it, he focused on unseating New York State Senate senator Pedro Espada, who was later indicted on federal embezzlement and theft charges in 2010.[10]

Other activities

He has founded or collaborated on several online initiatives including OpenLegislation.org to put New York State Assembly and New York State Senate attendance and voting records online for free for the first time,[26] WikiLaw.org (merged with JurisPedia.org) to make the law more accessible,[27] and VoterSearch.org to enable 20 million New Yorkers to verify their voter registration,[28] after learning that 2,000,000 voters had been dropped from the voter rolls.[29]

2013 City Council primary

He ran in the Democratic primary for the 5th New York City Council District, representing Manhattan's Upper East Side.[30][31][32][33][10][34]

On August 31, 2013, the New York Times endorsed Kallos in the Democratic Primary, saying, "Ben Kallos brings fresh ideas and merits this seat."[35]

Kallos’ campaign was helped along when allegations of sexual harassment arose against his rival Micah Kellner. On September 10, 2013, he won the primary for the Democratic nomination for City Council in the New York City Council election primaries, with 46% of the vote to Kellner’s 39% and Ed Hartzog’s 15%[10][36] and won the election on November 5.

References

  1. ↑ Campbell, Colin (March 1, 2012). "Benjamin Kallos Announces Upper East Side Council Campaign [Video]". Politicker. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  2. ↑ Paybarah, Azi (January 21, 2009). "Kallos Departing Bing’s Staff for Council Run". The New York Observer. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Colin (April 25, 2012). "The Redistricting Lawsuit’s Lawyer Discusses Its Impact in Harlem and More". New York Observer: Politicker.
  4. ↑ Campbell, Colin (April 25, 2012). "Benjamin Kallos Praises Potential Rival Micah Kellner’s Record". Politicker. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  5. ↑ "Benjamin Kallos". Huffington Post. December 12, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  6. ↑ Chris Bragg (January 24, 2012). "Consultant Ben Kallos To Run For Lappin’s Seat". City&State. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  7. ↑ Paybarah, Azi (January 21, 2009). "A Candidate for Lappin’s Seat". The New York Observer. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  8. ↑ Victoria Bekiempis (September 11, 2013). "Ben Kallos Cruises to Win in UES City Council Primary". DNAinfo New York. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  9. ↑ Kallos wins www.decidenyc.com
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 Daniel Fitzsimmons (September 18, 2013). "The Education of Ben Kallos". New York Press. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Rising Stars 40 Under 40: Ben Kallos". City&State. September 19, 2011. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  12. ↑ Lohr, Steve (May 6, 1996). "An After-School Job That's Not Kids' Stuff;Wanted: Web Designers and Programmers; $25/hr.; Need Parents' Consent". New York Times.
  13. ↑ Eliza Fawcett (August 20, 2013). "UES Council Candidate Uses Tech Background to Connect with Voters". DNAinfo New York. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  14. ↑ Adrian A. Paradis (1998). Opportunities in Part-Time and Summer Jobs Careers. McGraw Hill. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Buffalo intellectual property law journal" 2. 2003. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Manhattan Community Board 8 website".
  17. ↑ "Candidates Weigh in on Major East Side Issues". Nypress.com. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  18. ↑ Celeste Katz (January 31, 2013). "After Daily News Story On Youth's Roosevelt Island Beating, Ben Kallos Calls For Investigation". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 7, 2013.
  19. ↑ "New York Democratic Lawyers Council".
  20. ↑ Celeste Katz (December 10, 2012). "Kurland And Kallos: A Tale Of Two Lawyers (Running For City Council)". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  21. ↑ "Kallos Departing Bing's Staff for Council Run". The New York Observer. January 21, 2009. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  22. ↑ Paybarah, Azi (June 15, 2009). "Another Transparency Web Site". The New York Observer. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
  23. ↑ Rivoli, Dan (April 16, 2009). "Kallos Joins Green Campaign". Our Town East Side: Upper East Side News & Community.
  24. ↑ Phillips, Anna (November 2, 2009). "Would a UFT endorsement for Thompson make a difference?". Gotham Schools. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  25. ↑ Benjamin, Liz (April 12, 2010). "Bill ‘Nice Guy’ Samuels For LG". YNN's Capital Tonight.
  26. ↑ Paybarah, Azi (June 15, 2009). "Another Transparency Web Site". New York Observer.
  27. ↑ "Jurispedia Sysops".
  28. ↑ "Rising Stars 40 Under 40: Ben Kallos". City&State. September 19, 2011.
  29. ↑ Karlin, Rick (October 21, 2008). "Vanishing Voters". Times Union: Capitol Confidential.
  30. ↑ "Capitol Confidential » Benjamin Kallos to Run for Upper East Side Council Seat". Times Union. January 24, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  31. ↑ Celeste Katz (July 24, 2013). "After Foe Cops To Improper Messages To Staffer, Ben Kallos Gets NOW-NYC Council Nod". New York Daily News. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  32. ↑ Zachary Stieber (September 11, 2013). "Ben Kallos Wins City Council Democratic Primary for Manhattan's District 5". The Epoch Times. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  33. ↑ "For New York City Council", New York Times, August 30, 2013
  34. ↑ Aaron Short (September 10, 2013). "Kallos Hopeful of Upset on Upper East Side". City&State. Retrieved October 5, 2013.
  35. ↑ The Editorial Board (August 31, 2013). "For New York City Council". The New York Times. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  36. ↑ "Kallos Wins Primary", Zachary Stieber, The Epoch Times, September 10, 2013.

External links