Jane Corwin - State Assembly

State Assembly

Corwin has said she entered politics in 2008 because she "could not stand idly by and watch state government spend away our children's future." During her first campaign for the Assembly, she said the State needed to adopt a business-like approach, cut spending, cut taxes, end "unfunded mandates" and improve the business environment. She won the primary for the 142nd Assembly District seat against three other Republican candidates including incumbent Assemblyman Mike Cole, who had the Republican party endorsement, but who had been censured for fraternizing with an intern one year earlier. Corwin went on to defeat Working Families Party candidate Jeffrey Bono in the November 2008 general election, receiving 89 percent of the vote. She ran uncontested in the November 2010 general election, receiving endorsements from the Conservative and Independence parties of New York State.

While in the State Assembly, Corwin was appointed chair of the Assembly Minority Manufacturing Task Force and became ranking minority member of the Corporations, Authorities and Commissions Committee. She opposed a bill that would legalize gay marriage. She also opposed a loosening of state drug laws that would reduce long prison terms and give judges more leeway in sentencing, and voted "no" on a bill that required the unshackling of prisoners while giving birth. Based on her Assembly voting record on fiscal matters, the state Conservative Party placed her near the top in its 2009 and 2010 annual rankings of Assembly members.