Photo c/o AP/Bebeto Matthews
While The Chronicle is a boro-wide publication, much of our readership and writership hails from the East Bronx, where Senator Jeff Klein has been a well known representative in the Assembly and then Senate since 1994. With Riverdale resident and former NYS Attorney General Oliver Koppell finally set to announce a challenge against Klein, East Bronx residents will be hearing alot from Koppell in the coming months, as the campaign heats up an mailboxes start to fill up with information informing voters about the race. So, if you haven’t heard of Koppell, here’s some of the basics:
-born December 15, 1940 in the Bronx, attended Bronx elementary schools, the Bronx High School of Science, Harvard College and Harvard Law School
– founded Let’s Go Travel Guides while at Harvard
–married to Lorraine Coyle Koppell, an attorney who narrowly lost a race for the New York State Senate in 2000 to Guy Velella
– elected to the Council in 2001, and defeated Ari Hoffnung by a 3 to 1 margin in 2005
– in 2009, Koppell defeated challenger, Tony Perez Casino winning 65% of the vote
-member of the New York State Assembly in from 1970 to 1994, served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee
-passed the New York bottle bill
-ran for Bronx Borough President, but was defeated in the Democratic primary by the incumbent, Stanley Simon
– elected by the New York State Legislature in 1993 to fill the unexpired term of New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams, who resigned. As attorney general, Koppell successfully brought a lawsuit to allow drivers under the age of 25 to obtain rental cars in the State of New York. In 1994, Koppell sought a full term as attorney general, but lost to Judge Karen Burstein in the Democratic Primary. He finished second, ahead of Brooklyn District Attorney Charles “Joe” Hynes and prosecutor Eliot Spitzer
-again sought the Democratic nomination for state attorney general in 1998, finished third
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