Daniel Squadron

Daniel Squadron (born November 9, 1979) is a Democratic member of the New York State Senate for the 26th district.

He attended the Fieldston School and Yale University and worked as a staffer on Congressman Anthony Weiner's 2005 mayoral campaign.^[1] He served as an aide to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, helping the New York senator with his book Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time (2007). He was elected a New York State Senator in 2008, and was a candidate in the 2013 race for New York Public Advocate.^[2][3]

Early life

Daniel Squadron was born in 1979.^[4] His mother is Anne Strickland Squadron,^[5] and his father was Howard Squadron^{[1][5][6][7][8]} of Squadron, Ellenoff, Plesent & Sheinfeld. His brother, Bill Squadron, was the head of Bloomberg Sports.^[8][9]

Squadron attended the private Fieldston School and graduated from Yale University in 2003. During his junior year, he cofounded and managed a bar in the Upper West Side.^[10]

Career

Early career

Squadron served as a consultant to New York City's Department of Education for six months and spent a few years as a special assistant to U.S. Senator Charles Schumer.^[11] It was during this time that he helped the New York senator on the book: Positively American: Winning Back the Middle-Class Majority One Family at a Time.^[12]

State Senate

Squadron ran for the 25th district of the New York State Senate in 2008.^[11] He received the endorsements of Schumer, Congressman Anthony Weiner, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.^[13] Assisted by family friends, Schumer supporters and an aggressive campaign strategy,^[14] Squadron defeated incumbent state senator Martin Connor and took 54% of the vote.^[15] Squadron campaigned on a platform of preventing residential development of Brooklyn Bridge Park. He negotiated a deal that did not fully eliminate housing in the park but reduced it in size and scope and has been credited with reducing and delaying the amount of luxury housing and returning $11 million in capital funding that had been cut from the park's budget by the city.^[16][17]

In 2010, he voted to expand and regulate charter schools in New York State, helping to pass the education law amendments that allowed for this.^[18] In January 2011, the New York Daily News reported that he had exceeded the rent limit imposed by state senate leadership on his lower Broadway office by $100,000 over a period of two years.^[19] On November 6, 2012, Squadron was elected to the state senate again, this time to represent the 26th district.^[18] He beat his Republican opponent, J. Haro, 86% to 14%.^[20]

Squadron won reelection in 2014 in a landslide over Republican candidate Wave Chan;^[21] and he ran unopposed in 2016, running on both the Democratic and Working Families Party lines.^[22]

On August 9, 2017, Squadron announced his resignation from the Senate in an opinion piece published in the Daily News. ^[23] He cited "heavily invested special interests" and "cynical political deals", adding: "And the status quo has proven extraordinarily durable: It barely shuddered when the leaders of both legislative chambers [Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver] were convicted of corruption."

Race for New York City public advocate

In the race for Public Advocate, Squadron had the endorsements of mentor Senator Chuck Schumer, former Public Advocates Betsy Gotbaum and Mark Green.^[24] Squadron also received support from Brooklyn developers Joe Sitt, Bruce Ratner and individual campaign contributions from Suroosh Alvi, Shane Smith, Eddy Moretti and Alex Detrick.^[25]

Squadron placed second in the primary and advanced to an October 2013 runoff primary,^[24][26] which he lost to Letitia James, by 59% to 41%.^[27]

Personal life

Squadron is married to Elizabeth Weinstein, a former director in Mayor Bloomberg's Office of Operations.^[28] The couple were set up by Schumer and his wife, Iris Weinshall, for whom Weinstein worked as chief of staff at the New York City Department of Transportation.^[29][29] Squadron lives in Carroll Gardens with his wife and two sons.^[18][30]

According to Squadron, a trust fund, established for him and 18 other family members was lost in the Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme. Squadron and his relatives have also been named in one of a series of 1,000 "clawback" claims "filed by a Madoff bankruptcy trustee" but Squadron and his relatives have "not been accused of any wrongdoing".^[31][32]

References

External links

• New York State Senate: Daniel L. Squadron
• Profile at Project Vote Smart