Press Coverage

Ben Kallos (NYC Council Candidate for the 5th district which includes Roosevelt Island), shares this January 30, 2013 letter he sent to NY State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott regarding the alleged brutality incident.

Ben Kallos (NYC Council Candidate for the 5th district which includes Roosevelt Island), shares this January 30, 2013 letter he sent to NY State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott regarding the alleged brutality incident.

Following a Daily News story on a man whose family says he was nearly beaten to death by Roosevelt Island Public Safety Department officers, City Council candidate Benjamin Kallos wants to know: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Over the weekend, a movement calling itself 'Money-Out Voters-In" held a "day of action" targeting the campaign-funding issues around Super PACs and the Supreme Court's "people-as-corporations" ruling in the Citizens United case.

Former Public Advocate–and candidate for almost every office in New York–Mark Green,endorsed fellow East Sider Ben Kallos to replace Councilwoman Jessica Lappin, herself campaigning for Manhattan Borough President.

Former NYC Public Advocate Mark Green endorsed his former staffer Ben Kallos’ NYC Council bid.

Across town, Kallos -- who seeks to succeed Councilwoman Jessica Lappin -- has a letter circulating from Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 President Harry Farrell urging other labor leaders to join the Kallos campaign.

"In four years when we go back to the table with Con Edison we want City Council Member Benjamin Kallos standing alongside us to ensure another victory," Farrell writes, calling Kallos "a particularly vigorous advocate for broad and strong prevailing wage legislation."

Kallos is a familiar face in political circles, having served as Mark Green's policy director, chief of staff to former Assemblyman Jonathan Bing and executive director of Bill Samuels' New Roosevelt group.

Kallos scrolls through several political sites before pulling up votersearch.org, a free website he launched five years ago—one of the first to combine state voter records with online search functions.

The site contains a simple interface requiring a user’s first and last name, birthday and zip code, before it spits back an individual’s registration status, election districts and the location of the voter’s county board of elections.

Voter sites have evolved significantly since then.

...

Kallos has been busy building VotersGive.com, a site that allows candidates to create a website that meets campaign finance reporting requirements and gives voters a more substantive portrait of politicians’ backgrounds.

Six New York City Council candidates, including Kallos, have signed up with VotersGive, which Kallos hopes will compete with more established sites including NationBuilder and ActBlue.

“Candidates approached me and said ‘We need a website,’” he explained. “I built it for free, and anyone can use it for free and have a website by that day. This is a democracy platform. I even offered it to my opponents.”

Democratic Party NY City Council Candidate Ben Kallos invites Roosevelt Island residents to join him on Tuesday October 23 from 6-8 PM at the Riverwalk Bar & Grill. It's an opportunity to meet and discuss important issues facing Roosevelt Island and NYC with Mr. Kallos who hopes to succeed our current NYC Council Member Jessica Lappin as she is expected to run for Manhattan Borough President.

Benjamin Kallos (class of '98) and Professor Chris Malone (Chairman of Political Science at Pace University) taught a lesson to seniors about voting and elections. Mr. Kallos is a candidate for City Council; Professor Malone is the Legislative Director to NY State Senator Gustavo Rivera.

A batch of City Council hopefuls have signed letters such as the one below in favor of paid sick days legislation, marking one more group adding its voice to the chorus of those who want to see the worker-friendly proposal get to the Council floor.