Christine Quinn Popular Books

Christine Quinn Biography & Facts

Christine Callaghan Quinn (born July 25, 1966) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she formerly served as the Speaker of the New York City Council. The third person to hold this office, she was the first female and first openly gay speaker. She ran to succeed Michael Bloomberg as the city's mayor in the 2013 mayoral election, but lost the Democratic primary. Quinn is a political contributor on CNN and MSNBC. Early life, education, and early political career Quinn was born in Glen Cove, New York, one of two daughters of Mary (née Callaghan) and Lawrence Quinn. Her mother died of breast cancer in 1982. She attended School of the Holy Child in the village of Old Westbury on Long Island in New York, and graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1988. Her maternal grandmother, Ellen (née Shine) Callaghan, was a survivor of the sinking of the RMS Titanic.She served as head of the Housing Justice Campaign for the Association of Neighborhood and Housing Development. Quinn entered politics to manage the City Council campaign of Thomas Duane in 1991, after which she served as Duane's chief of staff for five years. She later became the executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, and was appointed a member of the NYC Police/Community Relations Task Force by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. New York City Council In a 1999 special election, Quinn ran for New York City Council in the 3rd district. The 3rd district covers the Manhattan neighborhoods of Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and Hell's Kitchen, as well as parts of West Village, SoHo and Murray Hill. Quinn became the Democratic nominee and defeated Republican Joseph Mauriello, 89%-11%.In 2001 Quinn won a full term on the City Council, defeating Republican Michelle Bouchard 75%-25%. Because the district lines were redrawn after the 2000 census, her term lasted only two years. She was reelected in 2003 after the districts were redrawn according to population shifts (all council districts must have an equal number of residents). In 2005 she was reelected to a four-year term unopposed. In 2009 she was reelected to a third term with 81% of the vote. Pre-speakership While on the City Council, Quinn served as Chair of the Health Committee. She sponsored the Equal Benefits Bill and the Health Care Security Act, which requires that city contractors provide parity in benefits between married spouses and registered domestic partners. This bill (along with the Health Care Security Act, which ensures health care for grocery workers) passed over Mayor Michael Bloomberg's veto. Quinn also "shepherded" a ban on indoor smoking at commercial establishments through the City Council; the bill passed 42–7. Speaker of the New York City Council Quinn was elected Speaker of the New York City Council in January 2006 and reelected in 2010. She is the first female and first openly gay person to hold this position. Ahmadinejad visit Preceding the controversial lecture by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University in 2007, Quinn wrote to the school requesting that his invitation to speak be withdrawn due to his support of state-sponsored terrorism and hate speech, the latter particularly with regard to the Holocaust. Her request was denied. Controversy regarding Council funds Under New York City law, the City Council Speaker has authority over the yearly City Council funds, worth almost $400 million (in 2012), to distribute among 51 members. This discretionary funding system, sometimes called the "slush fund", has been criticized, with some councilmembers alleging Quinn to have cut funding to their districts as a form of political retaliation. She repeatedly denied these allegations.In April 2008 the New York Post reported that Quinn's office had appropriated millions of dollars to organizations that did not exist, and that the money was then secretly routed to organizations favored by individual councilmembers. In a news conference that followed Quinn said, "I had no knowledge of it; I did not know this was the practice". She said she had found out about it only a few months earlier, alerted authorities, and ordered staffers to stop the practice, but that they did not listen. Quinn hired a criminal defense lawyer to represent her in the federal and city investigations. Records showed that nearly 25% of those "secret slush" funds went to organizations in Quinn's district and that two of the biggest recipients had contributed to Quinn's 2009 mayoral run. In September 2011 one of the city council's lawyers reported that the federal "investigation has been closed without taking up any action," but only after two councilmen were indicted at the cost of $100,000 to the city. Food stamps Under Quinn's leadership, the New York City Council led efforts to make Greenmarkets accept food stamps. She also opposed requiring applicants for food stamps to be electronically fingerprinted. New York State stopped fingerprinting food-stamp recipients in 2007, but the practice continued in New York City under the Bloomberg administration. Humanitarian efforts On December 26, 2012, Quinn wrote a letter to President Obama formally requesting that he commute Jonathan Pollard's lifetime sentence for providing classified information to Israel. She wrote, "I know I share similar views with many past and current American elected officials," and asked Obama to "use [his] constitutional power to treat Mr. Pollard the way others have been treated by our nation's justice system." LGBT issues Quinn was a vigorous LGBT advocate during her tenure on the City Council. In 2006 she boycotted the annual St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York due to the policy of the parade's sponsor, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, against gays marching openly. The same year she tried unsuccessfully to broker a deal with the organizers to allow her to wear a gay pride pin. Subsequently, she was named 2008 Irish-American of the Year by the New York-based Irish Echo and has boycotted the parade every year since, marching instead in St. Patrick's Day parades in other cities around the world.In November 2009 Quinn urged the New York Senate to pass same-sex marriage legislation, saying that "she and her partner, lawyer Kim Catullo, [would] not get married until they [could do so] in New York. Near tears, she added: 'This is literally a moment when people can stand up and say that everybody's family matters, that everybody's home is a blessed place and that everybody has the same rights.'"On July 28, 2012, Quinn sent a letter demanding that the president of NYU end its relationship with Chick-Fil-A, because of the stance of the company's CEO, Dan Cathy, against same-sex marriage. Term limits According to New York, "[for] years, Quinn opposed term limits, a position that helped her get elected speaker by fellow Council members in 2005. Once in the job, though, she commissioned a poll, and it showed that the public opposed tinkering with them..... Discover the Christine Quinn popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Christine Quinn books.

Best Seller Christine Quinn Books of 2024

  • Down the Track synopsis, comments

    Down the Track

    Stella Quinn

    Digging up the past isn't easy ... Sweet, funny and feelgood, the unmissable rural romance from the bestselling author of A Home Among the Snow Gums and The Vet From Snowy River.Dr...

  • Gum Tree Gully synopsis, comments

    Gum Tree Gully

    Mandy Magro

    Bestselling Australian romance author Mandy Magro tells a heartwarming story of homecoming and love against all the odds.Would you give up everything for love?Samantha Evans may ha...

  • Silver Wattle synopsis, comments

    Silver Wattle

    Belinda Alexandra

    A dazzling novel about two exceptional sisters set in the Australian film world of the 1920s, from the author of WHITE GARDENIA and TUSCAN ROSE.A dazzling novel about two exception...

  • Under Construction synopsis, comments

    Under Construction

    Chrishell Stause

    For fans of Open Book and Sell It Like Serhant, a heartfelt, humorous personal memoir and relatable guide to overcoming obstacles, wising up about romance, and getting ahead in you...

  • Lead with Soul synopsis, comments

    Lead with Soul

    Christine J Quinn

    "As you show up authentically and connect with your soul, your true calling, followers will outperform expectations and the workplace will thrive." Claim your power and show up as ...

  • Secrets of Riverside synopsis, comments

    Secrets of Riverside

    Mandy Magro

    Can love conquer all? A moving story of overcoming the past and second chances from bestselling Australian romance author Mandy Magro.Can their love heal the shadows of the past?Af...

  • Sapphire Skies synopsis, comments

    Sapphire Skies

    Belinda Alexandra

    A love greater than war. A beautiful woman lost. A mystery unsolved ... until now. The epic new saga from one of Australia's best loved storytellers.2000: the wreckage of a downed ...