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Behar, 45, also is involved with two brokerage firms on Long Island.
He is president of Democrats for New Politics, campaigned actively for Barack Obama and Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows) and has led voter registration drives and graffiti cleanups in the community. Behar also serves as Avella’s representative to Community Boards 7 and 11.
Behar is a graduate of SUNY Albany; earned his master’s degree at Tulane University and law degree at Georgetown University.
Tom Cooke, 38, is a disabled veteran who serves as board chairman of the United Spinal Association, a nonprofit group dedicated to improving the quality of life for Americans with spinal cord injuries.
Cooke thinks he would be the best person to hold the City Council seat for three reasons: First, because, unlike several of his opponents, he isn’t an attorney; second, because he has experience overseeing budgets while serving on the board of the United Spinal Association; and third, because he’s the only candidate who has served in the armed forces.
Cooke’s military career was cut short when he was paralyzed in a non-military auto accident in Germany at age 19. Since then he graduated from Queens College and earned a master’s degree at Sarah Lawrence College.
Jerry Iannece, 50, is a lifelong Queens resident, best known for serving as chairman of Community Board 11 for five years, ending in 2007 and re-elected earlier this year. He is also past president of the Bayside Hills Civic Association.
He calls his biggest accomplishment the $125 million Oakland Ravine Project, which prevented flooding to a large area of Bayside, created over 50 acres of new park and wetlands and will eventually involve making improvements to Oakland Lake.
A lawyer and former assistant district attorney, Iannece also coaches local baseball and basketball teams.
“What sets me apart from the other Democrats is everything,” he said. “What have they done, where have they been in the community? I’m the only one with real commitment and roots in the district.”
Iannece has received numerous endorsements from community groups, unions and the Queens Democratic organization. He is a graduate of NYU and St. John’s School of Law.
Kevin Kim, 39, most recently worked for Congressman Gary Ackerman (D-Queens) as deputy director of community affairs. Kim grew up in Bayside Terrace where he attended P.S. 150, I.S. 25 and Townsend Harris High School in Flushing.
He went on to receive a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Stanford University and returned to New York for law school, attending Columbia, where he was a senior editor of the Columbia Law Review.
After a corporate law career that included founding his own firm, he went to work for Ackerman, experience he says that prepared him to become councilman.
Debra Markell, 49, points to her experience working as a community board district manager and for the mayor’s Community Assistance Unit as reasons to vote for her.
Markell serves as district manager of Community Board 2 in Woodside. From 1998 until 2008 she worked as Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Queens borough director of the Community Assistance Unit.
“From my past experience, I know how to make partnerships,” she said. “I’ll be able to do it.”
Markell grew up in North Flushing and lives in Whitestone with her husband, where she is president of Waterside Estates, part of the Cresthaven Homeowners Association. She is a former member of Community Board 7 in Flushing, served as president of the Mitchell Linden Civic Association for four years and is former president of the 109th Precinct Community Council in Flushing.
What separates her from the other candidates, she said, is that she’s an individual: “I’m not one of the boys and I would be the first woman elected to represent District 19.”
Paul Vallone, 42, has a familiar name that is better known in Astoria than in District 19. His father, Peter, is former City Council speaker, while his brother, Peter Jr., is councilman in Astoria.
Vallone believes strong leadership makes for strong candidates and elected officials. “You need a strong council member to address the economy and work with City Hall,” he said.
Although he has lived in Flushing for almost 25 years, many people assume Vallone resides in Astoria. “My law office is there and I was involved in a lot of civic activities there, but I have raised my kids in Flushing,” he said.
He did acknowledge only changing his voting location from Astoria to Flushing in 2003.
Vallone currently serves as president of the Astoria/LIC Kiwanis Club and is a former board member of Community Board 1 in Astoria. Closer to home, he is a member of one of the Democratic clubs in Flushing, St. Andrew Avellino parish, the 109th Precinct Community Council and the Broadway Flushing Homeowner’s Association.
