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Adele H. Cohen (born July 19, 1942) is an American lawyer and former politician. She is a 1964 graduate of Brooklyn College.

Participation in politics

1991 race for New York City Council

After having failed in her first attempt to run for office against incumbent City Councilman Samuel Horowitz in the 33rd district of New York City in 1989, Cohen made her second run for office in the 1991 Democratic primary election for New York City Council District 48 in Southern Brooklyn, which had been created as part of the expansion of the city council membership prior to the election. She ran in a tightly contested six-way Democratic primary that included both Anthony Weiner, the future Congressman who was then a congressional aide to U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer, and Michael Garson, who was endorsed by the Kings County Democratic County Committee, representing a labor-dominated coalition known as the Majority Coalition for a New New York.

Controversy erupted in the last weeks of the campaign, however, when Weiner's campaign anonymously spread leaflets around the district which alleged ties between Cohen and the so-called "Jackson-Dinkins agenda." The leaflets referred to the Crown Heights riots earlier in the year, which suggested that Jesse Jackson (who became notorious for his earlier remarks about New York City as "Hymietown") and mayor David Dinkins as having been beholden to the predominantly-African-American rioters, and thus endangering white residents. Dinkins, during the campaign, described the leaflet as "hateful". When Weiner admitted his campaign's distribution of the leaflets, he stated that he "didn't want the source to be confused with the message"; The New York Times issued an editorial which rebuked Weiner's "hit-and-run tactics". Cohen lost the primary to Weiner by 195 votes. Weiner also won the November election, widely considered a formality with no opposition in the heavily Democratic district.

The next year, Cohen was selected as the state chairwoman of the National Women's Political Caucus. She ran again for the City Council's 27th District against Howard L. Lasher in 1997, but lost in the three-way Democratic primary.

State Assembly

In 1998, Cohen ran for the New York State Assembly's 46th district in the special election to succeed outgoing assemblyman Jules Polonetsky, with the nomination of the Democratic, Independence and Liberal parties and she won against Joseph A. Kovac, a nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties. She served as an assemblywoman until she returned to private law practice in 2006. Initially a member of the Standing Committee on Insurance, she served from 2005 to 2006 as chairwoman of the Assembly Commission on Science and Technology during her time in office.

Personal life

Cohen is a 1964 graduate of Brooklyn College. She later pursued a J.D. degree from the New York Law School after her children grew up, gaining it in 1987. She then became a lawyer for District Council 37. She is married to Steven, a former principal of P.S. X012 Lewis and Clark School, and has three children, Gene Robert (b. 1966), Deborah and Ronald (b. 1964). Gene was a director of Graphnet in Teaneck, N.J., and a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Ronald is an assistant professor of chemistry, geology and geophysics at the University of California at Berkeley and graduated from Wesleyan University.

References

1. U.S. Public Records Index Vol 1 & 2 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010.
2. "Distinguished CUNY Alumnae / Women 's Leadership in America History". Cuny.edu. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
3. Lubasch, Arnold H. (September 3, 1989). "34 Incumbents on Council Running, Two-Thirds Unopposed in Primaries". New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
4. Finder, Alan (November 8, 1989). "The 1989 Elections – Charter – Overhaul of New York City Charter Is Approved, Polls Show". New York Times. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
5. "Candidates Crowd the Field in Primary for Council". New York Times. November 9, 1991. Retrieved April 18, 2017.
6. Gwen Ifill (August 21, 1991). "Liberal Coalition Pushes Goals in Council Races". New York Times.
7. Steve Kornacki (June 10, 2011). "The woman Anthony Weiner smeared speaks out". Salon. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011.
8. Kevin Sack (September 12, 1991). "Campaign Trail; A Primary-Eve Dance: The Candidate Dodge". The New York Times.
9. "Topics of The Times – Smears and Fears". The New York Times. September 15, 1991.
10. Steve Kornacki (June 7, 2011). "The dirty trick that launched Anthony Weiner's career". Salon.
11. Robert D. McFadden (October 27, 1992). "Dinkins Appointee Withdraws Over Allegation of Harassment". The New York Times.
12. Jonathan P. Hicks (August 28, 1997). "Brooklyn Councilman, a Political Fixture, Faces Fight in Primary". The New York Times.
13. "Cohen, Adele". Our Campaigns.
14. "Women and Technology In The 21st Century - A Report on the Assembly Roundtables on Women and Technology". Assembly.state.ny.us. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
15. "2005 Update from the Legislative Commission on Science and Technology". Assembly.state.ny.us. March 11, 2005. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
16. "Distinguished CUNY Alumnae / Women's Leadership in American History". cuny.edu. Archived from the original on August 17, 2009. Retrieved August 7, 2016.
17. "Ms. Stempel Wed To G. R. Cohen". The New York Times. September 15, 1991.
18. "Weddings – Kristie Boering, Ronald Cohen". The New York Times. January 18, 1998.

• Jewish American state legislators in New York (state)
• 1942 births
• New York (state) lawyers
• Brooklyn College alumni
• Members of the New York State Assembly
• Politicians from Brooklyn
• New York Law School alumni
• Women state legislators in New York (state)
• Living people
• American women lawyers
• Jewish American women in politics
• 21st-century American Jews
• 21st-century American women politicians
• 21st-century members of the New York State Legislature
• 20th-century members of the New York State Legislature
• 20th-century American women politicians