Liz Krueger Profile Since 2001, Senator Liz Krueger has been a strong advocate for tenants’ rights, affordable housing, improved access to health care and prescription drug coverage, social services more open government and campaign finance reform, LGBT rights, more equitable funding for public education, including higher education, and animal welfare.

As Chair of the Senate Minority Task Force on Legislative and Budgetary Reform, Krueger has been a leader in the effort to develop a more democratic and deliberative legislative process. In her first term in the Senate, she was a leader in the successful fight to pass the Women’s Health and Wellness Act. Senator Krueger’s legislative initiatives include: a bill to support recycling and expand the bottle bill; a bill which would repeal the Urstadt Law and restore local control over New York City housing policy; legislation that would expand access to the Senior Citizen’s Rent Increase Exemption; bills that would require a voter-verified paper trail for any new voting technology and eliminate the full-face ballot requirement; and legislation expanding access to food stamps and safety net assistance for needy families and individuals. Krueger is also the former Chair of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC). Under her leadership, the DSCC successfully gained four seats for the Democratic Minority in two elections. She has dedicated her career to issues relating to poverty, and she is a nationally recognized expert on the problems of hunger and homelessness, and the lack of affordable housing, healthcare, and job training. Senator Krueger served as Chair of the New York City Food Stamp Task Force; Co-Facilitator of the New York City Welfare Reform Network; on the board of the City-Wide Task Force on Housing Court; and as a board member of the NYC Federal Emergency Management Agency Emergency Food and Shelter Program administered by the United Way of Greater New York. Liz Krueger has been active in the development of the NYC Coalition for Real Jobs and the NYC Medicaid Managed Care Task Force. She served as Chair of the New York Human Resources Administration Income Support Advisory Council; Co-Chair of the Manhattan Borough President’s Task Force on Education, Employment and Welfare; and Board Chair of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. For 15 years, she was the Associate Director of the Community Food Resource Center (CFRC) where she was responsible for directing its efforts to expand access to government programs for low-income New Yorkers. She helped monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of Federal and State programs in New York City, identifying barriers to participation, and fighting for improvements in the effectiveness of these programs. Prior to joining CFRC, Krueger was the founding Director of the New York City Food Bank, building that organization into one that now serves over 1,100 emergency food programs, senior centers, day-care centers, and other community-based programs serving an estimated 5.4 million meals each year. A graduate of Northwestern University, with a Bachelors degree in Social Policy and Human Development, Senator Krueger also holds a Masters degree from the University of Chicago’s Harris Graduate School of Public Policy. Senator Krueger lives on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with her husband, Dr. John E. Seley, a professor of Urban Planning and Geography at The CUNY Graduate Center and Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs.

(1) How's the job?

My job as a State Senator is always challenging, sometimes frustrating, and extremely rewarding. I fundamentally believe we must change and bring into the 21st century both the Legislature and the operation of government in Albany, and I feel very optimistic that 2007 will be a banner year for my agenda. Being a legislator offers a bully pulpit to raise issues of importance to me and my district, as well as the opportunity to help individual constituents navigate the complexities of government.

All Together Now: Common Sense for a New Economy by Jared Bernstein.