Category Archives: Politics

Role Models for International Women’s Day: Michellene Davis, Christine Stearns and Trish Zita

News, Politics

Just in time for International Women’s Day, three out of the ten people named to the ROI Power List Influencers of 2019 are women! Michellene Davis, Christine Stearns and Trish Zita were recognized for their unique and valuable contributions to the government.

Of these women, Michellene Davis is the only minority woman who was recognized as an Influencer. Michellene Davis is a trailblazer with an impressive list of accomplishments: a noted trial attorney, she created the New Jersey’s Department of the Treasury’s Office of Supplier Diversity and Division of Minority and Women-owned Businesses and was the youngest lottery CEO for the state of New Jersey. Michellene Davis is a public advocate and lobbyist who is also an inspirational speaker.

Christine Stearns is an attorney and healthcare lobbyist who specializes in the healthcare industry. She is an attorney who serves on the board of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute and the Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice. In 2005, she co-chaired the Governor of New Jersey’s Health Care and Senior Service Policy Group.

Trish Zita is the co-founder of the Kaufman Zita Group and the firm’s managing business partner. A powerful and effective lobbyist, she also represents companies as well as non-profit organizations. She was selected by Governor Phil Murphy to serve on the Environment and Energy Transition Committee and has received several awards for her work.

These three women set an inspiring example of leadership.

Publicizing New Yorkers’ State Tax Returns

Politics

Should a proposed legislation go ahead in New York, the country’s bigwigs could soon be forced to publicize their state tax returns.

The Tax Returns Uniformly Made Public Act (aka appropriately nicknamed the TRUMP Act) — would require the state to publicly post state tax returns of anyone elected in a statewide election to federal or state office.  The data would then be available to everyone online.

Senator Brad Hoylman (who sponsored the bill) also introduced another bill which would mean New Yorkers on a statewide ballot would have to release their federal tax returns as well.  Hoylman believes that “New York has the responsibility to ensure that voters know if presidential candidates have potential conflicts of interest before they cast their ballot.”

Will Bloomberg Run for President?

Politics

white-houseThe question on everyone New Yorkers’ lips is, will Michael Bloomberg run for President? According to Gabriel Sherman, absolutely not. Why? Simply because no matter how much theorizing, the guy “isn’t on board.” There is very little to suggest that he is making any real moves to run for President.

Business-wise it might make sense though for Bloomberg to run. According to billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman, “He’s all the best of Trump without the worst of Trump. I would do everything in my power to get this guy elected.”

In addition, back in 2013 Bloomberg was quoted as saying he was “100 percent” sure running independently would be impossible.

It might be good for business if he did succeed though. He does – after all – have a background in business, having established a financial data-services firm and graduated from Harvard University with a Masters in Business.