Bio

About Rachel

Rachel has practiced law in New York since 1982. She was an associate with two large New York City law firms for eight years, then set up her own practice in 1989.

In 1996, Rachel founded Eco Books, selling environmental books online at www.ecobooks.com. From 1999 to 2002, she operated Eco Books as a storefront bookstore in Brooklyn.

Rachel lived in New York City for 21 years before moving to the Finger Lakes region in 2002. In 2002, she ran for Congress as the Green Party candidate for the 29th congressional district.

Rachel became active in the Green Party in 1995. She is currently a member of the state committee of the Green Party of New York. She has served on the state executive committee and on the national committee of the Green Party of the United States. She co-founded the Park Slope Greens in 1997 and the Steuben Greens in 2002, and is currently secretary of the Steuben County Green Party.

In addition to the Green Party, Rachel is active in the Sierra Club, the Bath Peace and Justice Group, the Finger Lakes Progressive Coalition, the Steuben County League of Women Voters and Southern Tier Farm to You. She is a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York. Rachel serves as an at-large member of the executive committee of the Atlantic Chapter of the Sierra Club and is a member of the corporate accountability committee and the confronting corporate power task force of the national Sierra Club.

Rachel is a graduate of Harvard University (AB 1973) and the University of Texas School of Law (JD 1981). She lives on an organic farm in Hammondsport near Keuka Lake.

Rachel was a plaintiff in Green Party of New York v. New York State Board of Elections. The Brennan Center represented the Green Party and individual Greens in this fight to protect the right of voters to register with the Green Party on voter registration forms. In December 2002, the District Court issued a temporary restraining order in favor of the Green Party. In May 2003, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson issued a preliminary injunction that required New York State to revise its voter registration application to allow voters to continue to register in the Green Party through at least the 2006 gubernatorial election and required county boards of election to maintain and record new voters’ Green Party affiliation preferences. On Sept. 18, 2003, Judge Gleeson modified the Court’s earlier injunction to require that the State Board of Elections provide a line for registrants to enroll in any political party that successfully placed a candidate on the ballot in the most recent gubernatorial election. This ruling means that, at this time, voters must be allowed to enroll in, and elections officials must maintain records for, the Libertarian, Marijuana Reform, Liberal, and Right to Life Parties in addition to the Green Party. In November 2004, the Second Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decision.

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