State Senator Ken LaValle, representing New York’s 1st District, has been in office longer than I’ve been alive and this past Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting the woman who has a good chance of unseating him. Attorney Regina Calcaterra has spent the past year and a half campaigning against LaValle and she spoke to the NRI staff about the importance to her of our Five Pillars of Reform and the challenges she overcame as a child.

Growing up in a home that could barely be described as a single-parent one (her mother struggled for years with alcohol and drug addiction and frequently abandoned her children for long periods of time) Regina legally emancipated herself, worked through college and law school, and forged a reputation as a lawyer unafraid to take on corporate corruption.

After leading litigation against Worldcom and AIG, she now wants to leave her mark on New York (but not too soon; she promised to never have any public buildings named after her while she was still alive, unlike her opponent). A strong supporter of marriage equality and equal rights for the LGBT community, Regina sees the skills she learned practicing law as critical to defeating a man who ran unopposed in his last election. She clearly showed a great interest in, and knowledge of, the things we stand for and I know that Senator LaValle is going to have a rough few months ahead of him.

-Phil Hoffman