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Maffei, Dan

CANDIDATE DETAILS

Affiliation


<-	2009-01-01

Name

Dan Maffei

Address

DeWitt, New York , United States

dan@maffeiforcongress.com

Website

[Link]

Born

July 04, 1968 (56 years)

Contributor

FBL

Last Modifed

Mr. Matt
Mar 05, 2013 06:40pm

Tags

French - Married - Catholic - Straight -

Info

Dan Maffei is running for Congress because he feels America is on the wrong path and Upstate New York is paying the price. Dan believes that the current "business as usual" in Washington is a detriment to middle-income families. He says that a new approach and fresh ideas are what is needed to fulfill the promise of opportunity for Upstate New York and for all Americans, not just the privileged few.

Dan’s family history runs four generations deep in Upstate New York. One of his grandfathers came to Syracuse to stay with relatives while becoming the first of his line to attend college and medical school. Dan’s other grandfather was the son of an Italian immigrant to Syracuse, attended Syracuse University, worked for General Motors and eventually opened up a small electroplating plant with his brothers.

Born in Syracuse on July 4, 1968, Dan is a proud graduate of Syracuse’s public schools. As a Nottingham High student, Dan worked for the school district as a computer programmer. His work included writing software programs for children with disabilities – turning his knowledge into an opportunity for disabled children to take advantage of what was then a new technology.

After high school, Dan earned money for college by working in his grandfather’s factory in Syracuse. Dan continued his education, earning a Bachelor's Degree in History from Brown University and Masters Degrees from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Dan Maffei understands that one of the most important issues facing Upstate New York is the ability of the region to retain its college graduates. He feels that Upstate New York communities will grow stronger when younger Upstate New Yorkers make their homes in our villages, towns and cities. Upon graduating from Columbia, Dan came home and sought a way to use his education to communicate both the challenges of this region and the strength of community members. As a reporter/producer for Syracuse's Channel 9 News, Dan worked on numerous stories including the closing of important factories, job loss, the need for more high-tech development, and the economic and environmental pressures on farming, hunting and fishing. Dan’s reporting brought him into contact with industry leaders, elected officials, labor leaders, crime fighters, teachers, community activists, and working moms and dads.

In 1996, U.S. Senator and former New York Knick, Bill Bradley hired Dan as his Press Secretary. Dan’s work for Senator Bradley opened up a new door when Bradley recommended Dan to his friend and colleague, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. The late Senator Moynihan encouraged Dan to work on issues important to his home in Upstate New York including the preservation of essential military bases, transportation legislation, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, teaching hospitals’ funding, and the clean up of Onondaga Lake.

Dan then went to work for the ranking leader of New York’s Congressional delegation, Representative Charles Rangel -- specifically as a senior member of the influential House Ways and Means Committee staff. Dan was an outspoken advocate for bringing fairness back to our tax system, particularly for the millions of working families who were left behind by President Bush’s tax cuts for the rich. When Republican leaders tried to pass an international tax bill that would have only encouraged New York jobs to move overseas, Dan spearheaded the media campaign that forced Republican leaders to include tax incentives to keep manufacturing jobs in America.

Dan became an expert on health care and Social Security issues. He exposed the problems with the Republican Medicare reform bill including the provision protecting the big pharmaceutical companies from having to negotiate lower prices and the unfair ban on cheaper drugs for seniors from Canada. Dan remains one of the key strategists in the campaign to defend Social Security from Republican’s dangerous attempt to privatize the system.

In 2005, Syracuse Mayor Matt Driscoll asked Dan to coordinate his re-election campaign. Despite well-funded opposition supported by big developers and Republican politicians such as George Pataki and Jim Walsh, the Mayor’s campaign won the day capped by an unprecedented get-out-the-vote effort.

Dan Maffei is a homeowner in DeWitt, just east of Syracuse. He is a self-employed business owner and frequent guest lecturer at numerous universities, including Syracuse University’s Maxwell School and S.I. Newhouse School. He is a member of the DeWitt Democratic Committee, parishioner at Holy Cross Church and a former active member of NABET Local 211, part of the Communications Workers of America.

He has two younger brothers and a younger sister. His mother, a school psychologist, lives in DeWitt. His father, recently retired from Onondaga County Social Services, and stepmother live in Syracuse.

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