Alec Brook-Krasny Politician
Alec Brook-Krasny (Russian: Алек Брук-Красный) (born March 2, 1958, Moscow, former Soviet Union) is an American Jewish politician and the first Soviet-born Russian language speaker to become a New York State Assembly member elected for the 46th District on November 7, 2006. He is affiliated with the Democratic Party. He currently serves on the Housing, Aging, Cities, Election Law, and Governmental Employees Committees in the Assembly.He emigrated to the USA in 1989 from Moscow where he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Consumer Technology (currently Russian state university for tourism and services) in 1983. After a few decades in New York, he became a manager and started his own successful business, called Funorama, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. He later was appointed to the Community Board and quickly rose to the position of Community Board Treasurer.His first political campaign was in 2000 for the State Assembly. Though he lost to the party-backed incumbent, he won a record number of votes as the city's most viable write-in candidate. In 2001, he ran for the City Council. Though he won the endorsememt of the New York Times, he lost to Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. That same year, Brook-Krasny became the founding Executive Director of The Council of Jewish Émigré Community Organizations (COJECO), a central coordinating body for 33 community-based, Russian-speaking émigré organizations in New York.In 2006, State Assemblywoman Adele Cohen retired and Brook-Krasny declared his candidacy. Running a fierce campaign against fellow local activist Ari Kagan, Brook-Krasny reached out to many non-Jewish voters and secured the endorsements of many local newspapers and elected officials. He won in a close election.