Obama’s 2012 National Veterans & Military Families / New York State Director Endorses City Council Candidate Ben Kallos

Praises Candidate “dedicated to excellence, he’s got the experience, and the desire, and the drive
to make sure that every day he’s waking up to improve the lives on New York City’s residents.”

New York, N.Y. – Rob Diamond, President Barack Obama’s 2012 National Veterans and Military Families Vote Director as well as New York State Director, endorsed Ben Kallos for City Council on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Roosevelt Island.  In a video released today, Diamond recognized Kallos for his accomplishments in the area of “voter protection” and praised him for “running a campaign dedicated to excellence,” continuing “he’s got the experience, and the desire, and the drive to make sure that every day he’s waking up to improve the lives on New York City’s residents.”

This endorsement is a first as many wonder what is next for the 2012 national and regional leadership of Organizing for America (OFA).

Watch the video on YouTube or at KallosForCouncil.com:

Diamond’s remarks in full:

Hi, I’m Rob Diamond, the former State Director for the Obama for America Campaign here in New York.

I’m proud to talk to you today about why I’m endorsing Ben Kallos to be the next City Councilmen for New York City’s District Five.

Ben has been a colleague and friend for a number of years and someone whose work I have admired deeply, particularly in the area of voter protection.

Ben's work making sure that citizens can exercise the right to vote has been one of the best work in the state and the country.

Ben helped found the Democratic Lawyers Council and served as the statewide coordinator during its last election cycle.

When Ben joined that organization, seven years ago, it only had fifty members, and now boasts nearly five thousand.

Ben helped pilot a program around New York State for College Democrats helping make sure that our students can exercise their right to vote, the program has been a model for this country, and has been adopted by the College Democrats across the country.

Ben’s running a campaign dedicated to excellence, he’s got the experience, and the desire, and the drive to make sure that every day he’s waking up to improve the lives of New York City’s residents.

That’s why I am proud to support my neighbor, my friend and a great colleague, Ben Kallos to be the next City Councilmen for New York City’s District Five.  Thank You

Prior to serving President Barack Obama as National Veterans and Military Families Vote Director as well as New York State Director, Rob Diamond served for seven years as an officer in the United States Navy. A Surface Warfare Officer by training, he was stationed onboard the guided missile destroyer USS BULKELEY (DDG-84) and completed deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.  Robert served as the aide to the Navy's Chief of Legislative Affairs in the Pentagon, and as a Navy liaison officer to the U.S. House of Representatives.  He is a Security Fellow with the Truman National Security Project and a graduate of the United States Naval Academy.  He speaks and publishes regularly on issues related to national security, the military and veterans affairs including on the Huffington Post.

The two became friends while Ben Kallos served as State-wide Coordination Chair of New York Democratic Lawyers Council as they worked together to protect the vote in New York State and nationally.

Ben Kallos has been a member of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council (NYDLC) since 2006, when he joined the Steering Committee and where he currently serves as Statewide Coordination Committee Chair.  In this role Kallos is responsible for creating several New Yrok State projects that have become the model and rolled out nationwide, including:

• New York Democratic Law Students Council co-founded by Kallos with Costa Constantinides in 2006 as a coalition to protect the vote by fifteen (15) New York State Law Schools: Albany Law School, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Brooklyn Law School, City University of New York School of Law at Queens College, Columbia Law School, Cornell Law School, Fordham University School of Law, Hofstra University School of Law, New York Law School, New York University School of Law, Pace Law School, St. John's University School of Law, Syracuse University College of Law, Touro College Law Center, and University at Buffalo Law School.  Kallos continues to advise the state-wide organization as well as its national counterpart Law School Democrats of America.
• VoterSearch.org in 2007 to allow any New York State resident to verify their voter registration, later rolled out by the New York State Board of Elections, MoeOn.org as VotePoke and most recently President Barack Obama as GottaRegister.com.
• Election incident reporting at NYDLC.org in 2008 to allow voter protection advocates to report, monitor, track and solve election day incidents rolled out national by the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute at ATLAS in 2010.
• College Campus Voter Protection Coordinator program piloted with College Democrats of New York (CDNY) in 2010 provided voter protection training to college students whose voting is often the target of suppression.  This program received awards from the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute and was rolled out nationwide by College Democrats of America (CDA) for the 2012 elections.

In 2012, Kallos also launched a multipronged project around youth voting that included registration of high school seniors throughout New York City, teaching civics classes designed by Vote18.org and Rock the Votes’ DemocracyClass.org, mock voting for students using sample ballots provided by the New York City Board of Elections, and a social media campaign to encourage parents to bring their children to vote at VoteWithKids.com.

You can learn more about New York Democratic Lawyers Council at NYDLC.org and Ben Kallos at KallosForCouncil.com.

###