Peekskill Democratic Chair Resigning Due to Job

From the Daily Peekskill on Monday, January 30, 2012

PEEKSKILL, N.Y. -- Current city Democratic committee chair and former county legislature candidate Michael Kane will be leaving the post - and the city - later this month.

Kane is a Network Technician at AT&T and a member of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), where he serves as a shop steward for the union. He has been informed that he will be transferred to an office in Camden, N.J., which sits across the river from Philadelphia. He begins the new position on Feb. 20.

"I'm not sure where I'm going to live yet," Kane said Monday morning. "I'm not happy about it but it's better than not having a job at all.”

The chair said he was proud of CWA’s negotiating team and understand how hard it was to work in good faith with large companies such as AT&T. His current contract, signed in 2009, had a job offer guarantee, something Kane said he was grateful for.

Kane replaced former chair and current Peekskill Council member Darren Rigger in 2010. He also ran unsuccessfully for the District 1 County Legislator seat against incumbent Republican John Testa last fall.

Democrats have swept council and mayoral races for consecutive election cycles in the city despite strong county Republican performances in recent years.

"Though I am forced to leave, I know that the city party is in good hands,” Kane said. “Peekskill is a shining light for Democrats in Westchester and New York State."