NEW AD HIGHLIGHTS ADAM’S SCHLEIFER’S EXPERIENCE AND ABILITY IN CONGRESS TO GET THINGS DONE FOR ALL

Spencer June 17, 2020

New Ad Highlights Adam Schleifer's Experience and Ability To Get Things Done For All In Congress

New Ad Points to Schleifer’s Personal Background and Experience as Proof that He Can Take on Trump, Increase Affordable Health Care, and Protect our Environment

WHITE PLAINS – Adam P. Schleifer, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 17th Congressional District, released a new television ad that highlights his professional record and points to the important priorities he will take on if elected to Congress. Schleifer’s ad makes the case that he will be an effective and independent member of Congress because of his experience protecting Medicare and fighting against fraudsters, polluters, and gun-runners while serving under Governor Cuomo as consumer protection regulator and later as a federal prosecutor under the Obama Administration.  

Schleifer’s latest television begins with images and vignettes of the individuals and experiences that influenced him during his upbringing and professional career. Specifically, it opens with a picture of his grandparents, who survived the Holocaust, and with footage of Adam with his younger brother, who has special needs. It then pivots to discussing Adam’s accomplishments as a federal prosecutor before turning to an image of Schleifer with Governor Cuomo, under whom Schleifer served from 2013-2016 in New York’s Department of Financial Services (NY DFS).   

The remainder of the ad highlights several priorities that Schleifer will fight for, including leading us out of the health and economic crisis, holding Trump and his administration accountable, bringing high-quality health care, and protecting our environment. The ad also reminds voters that Schleifer has refused corporate PACs and would be “unbought” by special interests in Congress. 

Schleifer led the first successful investigation and enforcement action against an “online lead generator” and its celebrity spokesperson, who were promoting illegal and predatory payday loans.  Schleifer also had an instrumental role in the nation’s first-ever state enforcement action brought by New York under the federal Dodd-Frank Act, which shut down a predatory subprime auto lender.  In addition, Schleifer took on improper practices in New York’s medical-malpractice and healthcare industries, and drafted parts of the consent order imposing a $485 million penalty in a major investigation into illegal foreign-currency trading practices. 

Finally, the ad closes with a note from Schleifer calling upon the country to come together to get things done.

Up until he announced his run for Congress last winter, Schleifer was an Assistant United States Attorney, where he led investigations into and successfully prosecuted major financial frauds and other serious crimes.  These cases have included handling initial appearances in the Los Angeles portion of the “Operation Varsity Blues” prosecution of college-admissions fraud, as well as prosecuting healthcare fraud, Ponzi, and other investment schemes, including those targeting a religious institution and its elderly members.  

As a federal prosecutor, Schleifer also participated in the reopened investigation into the Guadalajara Cartel’s murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena, and prosecuted sexual predators and sexual extorters while also working with victims of those terrible crimes.  He charged and tried environmental crimes, including an elaborate “smog fraud” designed to circumvent the EPA and dirty California’s air, as well as an arson on federal land at the famed Joshua Tree.  Schleifer also took dozens of handguns and assault weapons out of the hands of dangerous and violent criminals by prosecuting numerous federal felony firearm offenses.

The ad can be viewed HERE.

Grandson of Holocaust survivors. Brother of a young man with special needs. Federal prosecutor who protected Medicare and fought fraudsters, polluters, and gun-runners. Consumer protection regulator for Governor Cuomo.

We know who he’ll fight for because we know what he’s already done.

In Congress, Adam Schleifer will lead a recovery for all of us by holding Trump 

accountable; bringing us quality, affordable healthcare; and, protecting our planet.

Unbought by PACs, the only interest he serves is yours.

I’m Adam Schleifer and I approve this message because it’s time to come together to get things done.

About Adam Schleifer:

Adam Schleifer is running for Congress to serve the people of New York’s 17th District encompassing Rockland County and northern and central Westchester County.  Adam, 38, graduated from Chappaqua’s public schools in 1999 and went on to attend Cornell University and Columbia University Law School, where he served as a Senior & Staff Development Editor on the Columbia Law Review.  After graduating from law school, Schleifer served two years as a federal law clerk, first in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Schleifer then built a career at one of the nation’s leading law firms before reentering public service, first as a New York State consumer-protection regulator, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Schleifer has prosecuted regulatory and federal-criminal actions against predatory payday and subprime auto lenders; taken dangerous and illegal weapons out of communities; prosecuted crimes of sexual violence and predation; and protected our clean air by prosecuting a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.  Adam Schleifer and his wife, Nicole, are residents of New Castle.

Read more about Adam Schleifer at www.AdamSchleifer.com.

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Adam Schleifer Releases Plan To Federally Legalize Marijuana

Spencer June 15, 2020

Adam Schleifer Releases Plan To Federally Legalize Marijuana

Schleifer Says Federal Legalization Will Improve Criminal Justice and Raise Revenues

In Congress, Schleifer Will Push for the Federal Legalization of Marijuana to Add American Jobs in Place of Dangerous Drug Cartels, Generate Tax Revenue, and Increase Regulation for Quality and Safety

Schleifer: “Federally legalizing marijuana is an important step to remedy the criminal justice system and generate much-needed tax revenue.”

Adam P. Schleifer, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in New York’s 17th District, announced his support to federally legalize marijuana.  As a former federal prosecutor who took on fraud cases and major international drug cartels, Schleifer understands the need to federally legalize marijuana to curb illegal marijuana trade including dangerous cartels, generate tax revenues, create jobs, and protect public health and safety.  Schleifer’s plan includes removing marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act and federally decriminalizing the possession and licensed distribution of marijuana.  Additionally, Schleifer will reform the tax code and related federal statutes affecting the financial treatment of marijuana, its proceeds and the access to credit it needs to function legitimately.  Lastly, Schleifer calls for amending international treaties that would otherwise put the US out of compliance under federal legalization of marijuana. 

“Federally legalizing marijuana is an important step to remedy the criminal justice system and generate much-needed tax revenue,” said Schleifer.  “We should let American farmers, and not international drug cartels, meet the demand for marijuana under the framework of federal safety and purity regulation by the FDA.  Federal legalization would generate important tax dollars while reducing the financial inefficiencies and fraud that are endemic to our existing state-by-state patchwork system.”

Schleifer’s plan includes federally decriminalizing the possession and licensed distribution of marijuana in order to reduce arrests and, instead, focus on generating tax revenue and creating American jobs.  Enforcing marijuana possession laws costs police $3.6 billion dollars each year, with Black Americans disproportionately targeted by police for possession.  This is both unnecessary and unfair for a substance with the health and safety profile of a product that has some medical applications and is probably less physically-addictive and dangerous than alcohol.  Rather than spending billions of dollars each year in tax revenue, the legalization of marijuana would generate an estimated $131.8 billion in federal tax revenue and add 1.1 million jobs by 2025.  By legalizing marijuana, the unfair treatment in arrests of people of color could be drastically reduced, in addition to generating billions of dollars in tax revenue.

Schleifer would remove of marijuana from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act to increase medical research capabilities.  In 1970, with the passing of the Controlled Substances Act, marijuana was temporarily placed in the most restrictive categorization – Schedule I – mostly because the administration did not know how to schedule it.  Other drugs in this classification include heroin, LSD, and ecstasy, all highly addictive and dangerous substances.  However, marijuana has been shown to help with serious pain control, manage nausea and to treat glaucoma.  Under the current classification, scientists are limited in their research.  Rescheduling marijuana will allow for safe research and testing through federal safety and purity regulation by the FDA, improving public health.

The plan also would reform the tax code and related federal statutes affecting the financial treatment of marijuana, its proceeds and the access to credit it needs to function legitimately.  As Schleifer describes in his interview with Tom Firestone of Baker McKenzie, severe restrictions exist for those in the cannabis industry, including the inability to deduct typical expenses when calculating tax obligation.  As a federal prosecutor who prosecuted fraud-related cases, Schleifer has witnessed the consequences of this tax code, including tax fraud and pressures to cut costs, leading to negative effects on quality control in the industry.  With the federal legalization of marijuana, these issues of tax fraud can be reduced, and those working in the industry can make a decent living off a drug that has thus far been shown to be less addictive than alcohol.

Lastly, Schleifer is calling on the administration to amend the relevant international treaties and our obligations under them to allow for our continued participation in these treaties that would currently be breached under federally legalized marijuana.  Schleifer will work with our international partners to amend these restrictions that could benefit all parties involved.  This opportunity is more attainable than ever, considering many countries have now legalized marijuana for recreational or medical use or decriminalized its possession.

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Evelyn Farkas Aligned Super PAC Enters Congressional Race with Tens of Thousands of Dollars for Negative Advertising

Spencer June 11, 2020

Evelyn Farkas Aligned Super PAC Enters Congressional Race with Tens of Thousands of Dollars for Negative Advertising

Farkas Campaign is the First in Multi-Candidate Field to Go Negative; Was Called Out by Fellow Candidate for Orchestrating “Cheap Shots” Earlier This Week

Peekskill Democratic Chairwoman Drew Claxton: “Democrats Need to Come Together to Defeat Trump Not Use Super PAC Money to Attack Democrats.”

The Schleifer campaign called out Evelyn Farkas today for being the first campaign in the race to go negative after it was revealed by the FEC that a Super PAC was launching tens of thousands of dollars in negative attack ads against Adam Schleifer. The Farkas campaign, whose contributors are a who’s who of Beltway insiders, lobbyists, and defense industry contractors is the first campaign to go negative in the race. Just this week she was called out by another candidate for orchestrating a “cheap shot” against Schleifer.

“Evelyn Farkas is everything that’s wrong with Washington. Her campaign contributors are a who’s who of the military-industrial complex, K-Street lobbyists, and those who profiteer off of war – it’s why she has even generated support for her campaign from architects of the Iraq War in the Bush administration,” said Schleifer campaign manager Ilana Maier. “Evelyn Farkas is everything the special interests want in a member of Congress and she is deftly schooled in the art of dirty Washington politics.”

The FEC reported on Tuesday night that a super PAC that has been spending money bolstering the Farkas campaign was about to launch tens of thousands of dollars in attack ads in opposition to Schleifer. The group has already spent thousands of dollars seeking to bolster Farkas’s campaign.

“Democrats need to come together to defeat Donald Trump, not use super PACs to attack fellow Democrats,” said Peekskill Democratic Party Chairman Drew Claxton. “I am highly disappointed in the way Evelyn Farkas is conducting her campaign.”

“I would urge Ms. Farkas to conduct a campaign all Democrats can be proud of. Stay out of the mud and make her case why voters should support her,” said Peekskill Deputy Mayor Vivian McKenzie.

The FEC filing for the Farkas expenditure can be found here (Women Vote is an independent expenditure): https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00473918/1410633/se

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Former Prosecutor and Congressional Candidate — Releases Plan To Reform Policing in America

Spencer June 11, 2020

Adam Schleifer -- Former Prosecutor and Congressional Candidate -- Releases Plan to Reform Policing in America

Schleifer Will Push Federal Legislation that Holds Law Enforcement Accountable for Misconduct, Mandates Accurate Federal Database For Police-Involved Deaths, and Scales Effective Implicit-Bias Trainings

Schleifer: “The Status Quo is Not an Option”

White Plains, NY – Days after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, Adam P. Schleifer, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in New York’s 17th District, unveiled his plan to reform policing in America. As a former federal prosecutor, Schleifer understands, as President Obama recently noted, that the focus of police reform must be at the state and local level, but his plan empowers the federal government to play a greater role in reining in excess force and reducing police brutality against people of color.

Schleifer’s plan consists of a combination of criminal legislation and incentives to reduce violence and strengthen police-community relations. The plan focuses on three core tenets: holding officers more accountable for unnecessary violence; tracking police disciplinary history through an accurate federal database of police-involved deaths; and targeting funding to research and scale effective implicit-bias trainings.

“The status quo is not an option,” said Schleifer. “Police reform is a necessity to protect Black Americans and bring greater community cohesion to our country,” Schleifer said. “One of my top priorities in Congress will be to pass legislation that defines abuses when law enforcement act under the color of law and holds bad actors accountable.”

Schleifer continued: “250 years after the unrealized promise of the Declaration of Independence; 150 years after the end of slavery, ‘its badges,’ and the amendments we passed in a failed attempt to move past our nation’s original sin; 50 years after MLK awoke our consciousness and moral imagination by helping all Americans see the ‘sweltering heat’ of racial injustice: We see today as clearly as ever that we have so much further to go to realize the unmet vision of our constitution.”

1. Schleifer’s proposed legislation defines police abuses and would hold rogue officers accountable for unnecessary violence. His legislation lowers the barriers to investigate and prosecute police officers for misconduct. Currently, federal law provides “qualified immunity” to government officials, including law enforcement officials, which protects them from being sued for actions performed within their official capacity. The law of qualified immunity has mutated into an unworkable, unfair, and counterintuitive set of barriers that denies justice in some cases even when courts conclude a violation has occurred. Schleifer would sponsor legislation overriding this doctrine and replacing it with workable, fair, and clear standards for liability that promote clarity, justice, and safety. Additionally, Schleifer will call on the DOJ to enumerate harmful restraints outside of acceptable police practice that could trigger civil or criminal liability.

2. Schleifer would pass legislation that establishes a national database through the Department of Justice to track these crimes and police disciplinary history so that law enforcement agencies can sufficiently vet applications for new officers, regardless of where they may have previously served. It is unacceptable that an officer fired for abuse be able to get the same job two towns over.

3. Schleifer would fund new research and training programs to reduce police-related killings of unarmed persons. Schleifer would target federal funding to study and scale the most effective implicit bias training programs and tools available to law enforcement. Schleifer notes that while a number of implicit bias trainings are offered nationally to increase an officer’s awareness of their own racial biases, few of these have been rigorously tested for their overall efficacy. Schleifer would incentivize law enforcement to take up these programs if they did not already by tying it to federal funding for other programs, like for body-worn cameras.

About Adam Schleifer:

Adam Schleifer, 38, graduated from Chappaqua’s public schools in 1999 and went on to attend Cornell University and Columbia University Law School, where he served as a Senior & Staff Development Editor on the Columbia Law Review. After graduating from law school, Schleifer served two years as a federal law clerk, first in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Schleifer then built a career at one of the nation’s leading law firms before reentering public service, first as a New York State consumer-protection regulator, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney. Schleifer has prosecuted regulatory and federal-criminal actions against predatory payday and subprime auto lenders; taken dangerous and illegal weapons out of communities; prosecuted crimes of sexual violence and predation; and protected our clean air by prosecuting a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. Adam Schleifer and his wife, Nicole, are residents of New Castle.

Read more about Adam Schleifer at www.AdamSchleifer.com

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Opinion: Response to Journal News Column

Spencer June 9, 2020

Adam Schleifer: Response to Journal News Column

On June 4th, my opponents in this congressional race attacked us with a broadside against the “pharmaceutical” industry and demanded that our campaign immediately sign onto a pledge they drafted. The record of communications made clear they had collectively spent days concocting this coordinated attack and then asked us to sign onto a pledge with exactly one hour to respond. Before we could even examine the contents of their “pledge,” the Journal News published a story that we “won’t sign” a pledge while giving none of that background.

My father, Dr. Len Schleifer, co-founded Regeneron, a Westchester-based biotechnology company whose brilliant and hardworking scientists struggled for twenty-five years to develop treatments and life-saving cures to disease, before it ever saw any success as a company. After developing a cure for a form of blindness in 2012, they have become one of Westchester’s greatest success stories, turning basic science into lifesaving therapeutics and creating thousands of high-tech jobs for residents of Westchester and Rockland Counties. And while I am not a scientist nor an employee of Regeneron, I sure am proud of all the lives the amazing people at Regeneron have saved and the great work they have done. For those who do not know, they have already developed cures and treatments for Ebola, heart disease, cancer, asthma, and blindness, among other diseases. And right now, their great work and employees are working day in and out to find a vaccine and treatment to fight COVID-19. Indeed, the company is a leading candidate in the race for a cure for our current pandemic, and I hope even my opponents in this campaign are rooting for their success in that endeavor. I know millions of Americans are.

My opponents’ “pledge” was offered not on the merits of ensuring that any industry doesn’t have undue influence over a member of Congress, but as a cynical political ploy to attack our campaign as it gains momentum. If my opponents approached the question of how to ensure industry does not have influence over policymaking from a place of integrity, they would have announced their own divestment for financial interests they have in companies that build weapons of war and profit off of bombs; they would have sworn off the thousands of dollars they receive from corporate PACs and from family members representing coal and fracking companies and, ironically, “big pharma”; and they would have sworn off funding received from predatory payday lenders. None of this have they done.

As I have said multiple times at forums throughout this race, including the Westchester Young Democrats, if elected to Congress, I would put in place whatever measures necessary and appropriate, including a blind trust for holdings, to further demonstrate the fierce independence I have brought to every job I have ever had.

While my opponents play politics and talk the typical talk, I want to remind them that I am the only one in this race who’s actually walked the walk. As a former federal prosecutor and consumer protection regulator, I am the only person in this race to have protected our healthcare system by taking on abuse in the medical-malpractice insurance industry and by prosecuting Medicare fraud. And I am deeply committed to protecting Americans from price-gouging and other healthcare abuses. That is why I’ve pushed so vocally from the beginning for policies that protect and expand Obamacare to ensure that Americans who have insurance they like can keep it, and those who don’t have insurance have access to a public option; that out-of-pocket expenditures for prescription drugs are capped; that insurance companies are required to cover preventative care, fertility services, and other important treatments; and, that drug prices are controlled and realigned with preventative outcomes.

Let’s stop the games and focus on what the scientists and all the other hardworking folks in this district know really counts: getting real things done for real people.

Adam P. Schleifer is a former New York State banking, insurance, and consumer protection regulator and federal prosecutor; he is a candidate for Congress in New York’s 17th Congressional District.

Schleifer Releases Plan To Bring Economic Justice To Working- and Middle-Class Families

Spencer June 8, 2020

SCHLEIFER RELEASES PLAN TO BRING ECONOMIC JUSTICE TO WORKING- AND MIDDLE-CLASS FAMILIES

Schleifer Announces Support for Paid Family Leave, Small Business Investment, Unions, Universal Pre-K, and Social Security Enhancement

Schleifer: “Working and middle-class families are the backbone of our economy.”

White Plains, NY – Adam P. Schleifer, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in New York’s 17th District, announced his plan for economic justice in the United States.  Schleifer’s plan advances economic and social policy ideas that will help millions of Americans, from hardworking families and the elderly to the disability community.  In his plan, Schleifer calls for establishing paid leave for all working Americans; directing federal funds to support 21st-century small businesses; protecting Social Security benefits, especially for disabled Americans; strengthening unions; and implementing universal pre-K for all children who wish to attend.  

“Working and middle-class families are the backbone of our economy, but we have not always treated them as such,” Schleifer comments.  “My plan will bring justice to these families and unlock greater economic opportunity for them and our country.”

In Congress, Schleifer will support legislation like the FAMILY Act, sponsored by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2019, which provides workers with paid leave to attend to serious personal illnesses, the birth or adoption of a child, and sick loved ones.  Schleifer notes that lack of paid family and medical leave can result in financial hardship for workers, discrimination toward women, and negative health outcomes for both workers who return too quickly from injuries and newly born or adopted children.  Schleifer’s plan for federal paid leave will promote families’ financial security and independence, increase worker retention, empower equal employment opportunities for men and women, and advance positive health outcomes.  

Schleifer will route federal funds to incubate and support 21st-century small businesses creating new jobs, especially those that are minority-owned and addressing climate change.  In Congress, Schleifer would oppose cuts to agencies like the Economic Development Administration (EDA), the Minority Business Development Administration (MBDA), the Community Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI), and the Small Business Administration (SBA), all of which have been eliminated or cut in President Trump’s recent budget proposal. Schleifer recognizes that the elimination and partial defunding of such vital agencies and programs would be detrimental to America’s small businesses, slow pay growth, and increase the grip that large corporations have on everyday Americans. Additionally, Schleifer plans to increase the amount of federal contracting funds awarded to minority-owned businesses, which would bring capital and jobs to underrepresented communities. Finally, Schleifer would increase funding for federal incentive programs that allocate grants to small businesses developing solutions to address our environmental crisis, including those building renewable energy methods.

In addition to these measures, Schleifer will strengthen unions and ensure that workers have the means to fight for fair wages and benefits.  In Congress, Schleifer would support the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which safeguards workers’ right to unionize and collectively bargain, and stand up to so-called “right to work” laws.  Schleifer notes that such actions are important given the decline in union membership over the past 30 year, falling from a high of more than 20 percent around 1985 to less than 11 percent in recent years.  

Schleifer will also implement a strong universal pre-K program that provides children with quality education, regardless of socioeconomic status.  His plan would create an option for parents to send their 3- or 4-year-old child to a full-day, full-year public pre-K taught by credentialed teachers.  Schleifer notes that demand for pre-K has outpaced supply in many places, leaving families unable to enroll their children in a high-quality and affordable pre-K classroom.  In Nyack, for example, only 20 percent of 4-year-olds are able to access pre-K despite the strong cognitive and non-cognitive benefits associated with attending a high-quality pre-K program.  Schleifer’s plan would address challenges like these by directing more funds to state and local governments to support the expansion of pre-K programming in their communities. 

Finally, Schleifer will expand economic opportunities for Americans by undoing the Trump tax cuts and protecting important Social Security benefits currently under threat from his administration.  As detailed in his tax plan, Schliefer would repeal the Trump state and local tax deduction cap that limits how much money Westchester and Rockland county families can deduct from their federal tax obligation.  Schleifer would also shield Social Security benefits for the 178 million Americans covered under the program, including retired workers, disabled Americans, and survivors of deceased workers.  In his recent budget presented earlier this year, President Trump proposed slashing $45 billion in Social Security benefits, including Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income that serve disabled children and adults.  As noted in his Rights for Persons with Disabilities plan, Schleifer will work in Congress to increase these benefits and expand economic opportunities for people with disabilities.

About Adam Schleifer:

Adam Schleifer, 38, graduated from Chappaqua’s public schools in 1999 and went on to attend Cornell University and Columbia University Law School, where he served as a Senior & Staff Development Editor on the Columbia Law Review.  After graduating from law school, Schleifer served two years as a federal law clerk, first in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Schleifer then built a career at one of the nation’s leading law firms before reentering public service, first as a New York State consumer-protection regulator, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Schleifer has prosecuted regulatory and federal-criminal actions against predatory payday and subprime auto lenders; taken dangerous and illegal weapons out of communities; prosecuted crimes of sexual violence and predation; and protected our clean air by prosecuting a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.  Adam Schleifer and his wife, Nicole, are residents of New Castle.

Read more about Adam Schleifer at www.AdamSchleifer.com

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New Schleifer Ad: Westchester and Rockland Residents Make The Case That Adam Schleifer Gets Things Done

Spencer June 5, 2020

New Schleifer Ad: Westchester and Rockland Residents Make The Case That Adam Schleifer Gets Things Done

Rockland and Westchester Voters Emphasize His Experience Under President Obama and Under Governor Cuomo Taking on Fraudsters and Making our Communities Safer

WHITE PLAINS – Adam P. Schleifer, Democratic candidate for Congress in New York’s 17th Congressional District, released a new television ad that highlights his ability to get things done for the people of Rockland and Westchester Counties.  Schleifer’s ad highlights his experience as a federal prosecutor in the Obama Administration and consumer protection regulator under Governor Cuomo, during which time he took on fraud and people who tried to cheat the system. 

Schleifer’s latest television ad features a number of Westchester and Rockland county residents discussing his record and how that will translate into results for people in the district.  It opens with a young mother, Heather from Chappaqua, mentioning Schleifer’s strong record as a federal prosecutor where he took guns off the streets and how he will continue to make our neighborhoods safe in Congress.  It then pivots to Terin and her family from Cortlandt Manor highlighting Schleifer’s experience protecting Medicare from fraud and abuse, coupled with another man, Jarron from Sleepy Hollow, stating that Schleifer will lower health care and drug prescription costs. 

The ad then cuts to a picture of Schleifer with Governor Cuomo, under whom Schleifer worked from 2013-2016 when he served in New York’s Department of Financial Services (NY DFS).  The final voter, Alan from Ramapo, highlights Schleifer’s experience serving as a Special Associate Counsel at NY DFS where he led successful enforcement actions against predatory payday and subprime auto lenders.  

Schleifer led the first successful investigation and enforcement action against an “online lead generator” and its celebrity spokesperson, who were promoting illegal and predatory payday loans.  Schleifer also had an instrumental role in the nation’s first-ever state enforcement action brought by New York under the federal Dodd-Frank Act, which shut down a predatory subprime auto lender.  In addition, Schleifer took on improper practices in New York’s medical-malpractice and healthcare industries, and drafted parts of the consent order imposing a $485 million penalty in a major investigation into illegal foreign-currency trading practices. 

Finally, the ad closes with a note from Schleifer calling upon the country to come together to get things done.

Up until he announced his run for Congress last winter, Schleifer was an Assistant United States Attorney, where he led investigations into and successfully prosecuted major financial frauds and other serious crimes.  These cases have included handling initial appearances in the Los Angeles portion of the “Operation Varsity Blues” prosecution of college-admissions fraud, as well as prosecuting healthcare fraud, Ponzi, and other investment schemes, including those targeting a religious institution and its elderly members.  

As a federal prosecutor, Schleifer also participated in the reopened investigation into the Guadalajara Cartel’s murder of DEA Special Agent Enrique Camarena, and prosecuted sexual predators and sexual extorters while also working with victims of those terrible crimes.  He charged and tried environmental crimes, including an elaborate “smog fraud” designed to circumvent the EPA and dirty California’s air, as well as an arson on federal land at the famed Joshua Tree.  Schleifer also took dozens of handguns and assault weapons out of the hands of dangerous and violent criminals by prosecuting numerous federal felony firearm offenses.

The ad can be viewed HERE.

The full transcript of Schleifer’s ad appears below:

As a federal prosecutor in the Obama Administration, Adam Schleifer took illegal guns off our streets.  In Congress, he’ll make neighborhoods safer.

Adam Schleifer protected Medicare when people tried to cheat the system.  He’ll make healthcare affordable and lower prescription drug costs.

Adam Schleifer worked for Governor Cuomo to protect consumers from predatory lenders.  He’ll hold Trump and his cronies accountable.

I’m Adam Schleifer. I approve this message because it’s time to come together and get things done.

About Adam Schleifer:

Adam Schleifer is running for Congress to serve the people of New York’s 17th District encompassing Rockland County and northern and central Westchester County.  Adam, 38, graduated from Chappaqua’s public schools in 1999 and went on to attend Cornell University and Columbia University Law School, where he served as a Senior & Staff Development Editor on the Columbia Law Review.  After graduating from law school, Schleifer served two years as a federal law clerk, first in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Schleifer then built a career at one of the nation’s leading law firms before reentering public service, first as a New York State consumer-protection regulator, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Schleifer has prosecuted regulatory and federal-criminal actions against predatory payday and subprime auto lenders; taken dangerous and illegal weapons out of communities; prosecuted crimes of sexual violence and predation; and protected our clean air by prosecuting a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.  Adam Schleifer and his wife, Nicole, are residents of New Castle.

Read more about Adam Schleifer at www.AdamSchleifer.com.

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Schleifer Releases Plan for Promoting Economic Opportunity, Inclusion, and Justice for Persons with Disabilities in Rockland and Westchester

Spencer June 5, 2020

Schleifer Releases Plan for Promoting Economic Opportunity, Inclusion, and Justice for Persons with Disabilities in Rockland and Westchester

Schleifer Will Increase Federal Benefits for Disability Community, Fight Civil Rights Abuses and Discrimination in Schools and Workplace, and Invest in ADA-Compliant Infrastructure

Schleifer: “As the brother of someone with special needs, ensuring the rights of people with disabilities is personal for me.” 

White Plains, NY – On the eve of the 30th anniversary of the American Disability Act (ADA), Adam P. Schleifer, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in New York’s 17th District, announced his plan to promote economic opportunity, inclusion, and justice for persons with disabilities throughout Rockland and Westchester Counties.  Schleifer’s plan enumerates challenges that the disability community has faced for years — including in federal income benefits, health care, education, civil rights, and public infrastructure — and offers concrete and meaningful solutions to overcome them.  Schleifer’s plan will increase financial benefits and savings limits for recipients of Social Security Income (SSI), and overturn benefit waiting periods for newly eligible recipients of Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI).  Schleifer will also draw on his experience as a former federal prosecutor to enforce civil rights laws that protect people with disabilities in schools and the workplace, and invest in infrastructure to comply with ADA regulations. 

“As the brother of someone with special needs, ensuring the rights of people with disabilities is personal for me,” Schleifer comments. “People like my brother are productive and hard-working, and deserve the appropriate accommodations to thrive in school and in the workplace.  I will work every day in Congress to ensure that the disability community has the same rights, freedoms, and privileges that are afforded to me and other able-bodied Americans.”  

Schleifer’s plan comes at a critical time for people with disabilities. Today, a quarter of Americans live with a disability while a quarter of 20-year-olds will become disabled before retirement age.  Adults with disabilities are more than twice as likely to live in poverty and twice as likely to be unemployed as those without a disability.   Meanwhile, graduation rates for students with disabilities are 18 points lower than the graduation rate for students without disabilities.  

To address these challenges, Schleifer’s plan starts by creating more economic opportunity for caretakers and people with disabilities by increasing savings, benefit, and earnings limits.  Schleifer would raise monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) monthly benefits for recipients, the vast majority of whom have a severe disability, as a means of lifting more people with disabilities out of poverty.  Schleifer notes that more than half of recipients depend on SSI benefits as their sole source of income, yet, the current SSI monthly benefit of $771 means that many recipients still live under the federal poverty line.  Schleifer also notes that SSI places a $2,000 limit on how much individual recipients can save without losing their benefits.  Schleifer would propose eliminating this cap to give SSI recipients more flexibility to save for necessary expenses while worrying less about losing benefits as a result.  Finally, Schleifer will raise the monthly earnings threshold of $1,260 for non-blind individuals and phase out benefits at a fair rate when earnings exceed this threshold.  Currently, any non-blind individual earning more than $1,260 per month loses all of their SSDI and SSI benefits, disincentivizing many disabled Americans from entering the workforce. 

In health care, Schleifer would repeal waiting periods that delay payments and health insurance to newly eligible SSDI recipients.  Currently, federal law requires a 5 month waiting period before getting benefits after receiving SSDI eligibility and a 24 month waiting period before accessing Medicare.  For individuals with mental disabilities, Schleifer’s plan also calls upon private insurance companies to provide sufficient mental health services, noting that private insurance companies paid 13 to 14 percent less for mental health care in 2014 than Medicare for identical services.  Finally, Schleifer would support temporarily raising the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) by 12 percentage points, as proposed in former Vice President’s Joe Biden’s plan, so that states have the necessary resources to fund critical health insurance programs like Medicaid that serve the disability community.   

In education, Schleifer would fight for students with disabilities by pushing for greater enforcement of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), a law that requires districts to provide adequate services to students with disabilities to succeed in school.  A 2018 report by the National Council on Disability found that the federal government is failing to meet its financial obligation to support students with disabilities, paying out less than half of what it promised when it was passed.  Schleifer would call upon the federal government to pay its fair share so that states have the full resources they need to educate students with disabilities.  

Additionally, Schleifer would protect the civil rights of and fight for equal opportunities for people with disabilities in schools and in the workplace.  He calls upon the president to revive the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and its important role in enforcing civil rights protections in our schools.  He also calls for ending corporal punishment, restraint, and seclusion in schools.  Indeed, Schleifer notes that students with disabilities make up 12 percent of the student population, but represent 58 percent of those placed in seclusion or involuntary confinement.  He would enforce the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Olmstead v. L.C. Supreme Court decision, which said people with disabilities have the right to live in their communities and cannot be segregated because of their disabilities.  As detailed in his gender equality plan, Schleifer would increase funding for the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to eliminate discrimination against job applicants and employees with disabilities.  Finally, he would offer incentives for businesses to hire employees with disabilities and support funding for sensitivity and educational training for employers and neurotypical employees in the workplace. 

Finally, Schleifer calls for greater investments in critical infrastructure to comply with ADA regulations and make schools, public housing, transit systems, and other infrastructure more accessible to people with disabilities.  These investments are in line with Schleifer’s housing and infrastructure and transportation plans, released earlier in May. 

About Adam Schleifer:

Adam Schleifer, 38, graduated from Chappaqua’s public schools in 1999 and went on to attend Cornell University and Columbia University Law School, where he served as a Senior & Staff Development Editor on the Columbia Law Review.  After graduating from law school, Schleifer served two years as a federal law clerk, first in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, and then in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Schleifer then built a career at one of the nation’s leading law firms before reentering public service, first as a New York State consumer-protection regulator, and then as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Schleifer has prosecuted regulatory and federal-criminal actions against predatory payday and subprime auto lenders; taken dangerous and illegal weapons out of communities; prosecuted crimes of sexual violence and predation; and protected our clean air by prosecuting a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.  Adam Schleifer and his wife, Nicole, are residents of New Castle.

Read more about Adam Schleifer at www.AdamSchleifer.com

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Opinion: LGBTQ+ New Yorkers Deserve More than Just Acceptance in Congress, They Deserve Solidarity

Spencer June 4, 2020

Opinion: LGBTQ+ New Yorkers Deserve More than Just Acceptance in Congress, They Deserve Solidarity

As published in Columbia Public Policy Review on June 1st, 2020

June marks the five-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark case which pronounced that our constitution’s fundamental principles of equal protection and due process of law guarantee marriage equality (and all the important rights and opportunities that flow therefrom) to all persons, including those in our LGBTQ+ community. As we mark that historic milestone, we should note, in this season of presidential politics, that it has also been a mere eight years since the Democratic Party first included marriage equality in its national platform. So, let us not forget, nor take for granted, how far the arc has bent, and how far it still needs to bend, toward complete justice and equality for the LGBTQ+ community.

Twenty years ago, not a single state permitted same-sex marriage. The Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell were the law of the land. When I was growing up, legal discrimination kept thousands in the shadows, forcing them to live with the fear that being open about their identity and the identities of their loved ones would invite not only social ostracization, but legal liability, economic devastation, and physical harm.

In this time of pandemic, it should also be emphasized that, when I was a young boy in New York City in the 1980s, a viral plague struck not only my city, but also my family. Years passed, it seemed, without sufficient mobilization and attention, until a young boy from Indiana and a global basketball icon in Los Angeles fell ill—America just couldn’t empathize with the scope of the HIV public-health disaster until the virus had a face that wasn’t part of the LGBTQ+ community.

As the grandson of Holocaust survivors and brother of a young man with special needs, I am especially attuned to the corrosive winds of discrimination and bigotry. But I am also heartened by how we all rally together to protest injustice and hate, as we saw in the recent Women’s Marches and in the counter-protests in Charlottesville.

Two recent events in Rockland County, NY have further emphasized that hopefulness to me, even though both followed on the heels of a violent criminal attack. First, in December, we saw a despicable act of antisemitic violence against Hannukah worshippers in Monsey, New York. Soon thereafter, however, the United States Department of Justice, which I had previously proudly served as a federal prosecutor, brought criminal charges against the perpetrator of that heinous crime. And what was the law under which those charges were brought? The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 (HCPA).

In other words, a federal law passed in part to honor the tragic victim of a homophobic hate crime was being enforced to protect and vindicate the rights of victims of an antisemetic hate crime. What an apt application of Martin Luther King Jr.’s teaching that an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Second, and just a few months later, a woman was senselessly and fatally stabbed in Spring Valley, New York during her shift at the desk of the Finkelstein Memorial Library. When I visited the makeshift memorial erected in her honor, I saw members of the African American, Haitian, and Hassidic communities of Spring Valley congregating in mourning, celebrating her life, and condemning that crime in solidarity. We are finally realizing that we are all part of the same broad fabric.

That’s why my support of the LGBTQ+ community is about more than just acceptance. It is about solidarity. That was the vision that I carried as a federal prosecutor and Assistant United States Attorney, where I prosecuted, among other crimes, crimes of sexual violence, predation, and blackmail. And that is the vision I will have as the congressperson for New York’s 17th Congressional District.

First, I will work to codify LGBTQ+ equality into law by passing the Equality Act, which will ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in sectors like employment, housing, credit. Today, half of LGBTQ+ people live in a state where it is legally permissible for an employer to fire, pass over for a promotion, or harass them without legal repercussions. In housing, one study found same-sex couples experienced discrimination in 27 percent of housing rental, sales, and financing tests. The Equality Act will not rid discrimination from our communities forever, but it will outlaw legal discrimination, and that is a helpful and necessary, though insufficient, start.

Second, I’ll foster a greater sense of inclusion and belonging among the LGBTQ+ community through federally-funded research and services that support their well-being. We will ensure our health-insurance system includes a strong and competitive public option, which provides essential health services while also pushing for all healthcare insurance plans to cover fertility services, which are especially vital for same-sex couples seeking to have biological children.

I’ll also vote for increased funding to curb bullying of LGBTQ+ students and support runaway and homeless LGBTQ+ youth, who are 120 percent more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ peers. And, I’ll devote more research funding to the National Institute of Health to study HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment options, including current options like Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), while ensuring that the pricing and payment mechanics for these vital treatments are accessible to all.

Finally, I’ll fight to rectify injustices that still persist. We will outlaw the gay panic defense, an insidious legal tactic that attempts to explain and excuse a defendant’s violent actions on the basis that they were provoked by an alleged and unwanted same-sex sexual advance. I will call on the President to lift the ban on transgender and transsexual individuals from serving in the military. And, I will ensure enforcement of existing hate-crime legislation, like the HCPA.

The trajectory of the movement to achieve full LGBTQ+ equality, inclusion, and justice is headed in the right direction, but we as a nation can do much more. That is why I am proud to be endorsed by Former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a trailblazer, progressive changemaker, and tireless advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. And that is why I believe that twenty years from today we will be able to look back together with satisfaction on all that we will have accomplished together between now and then, with our children hardly able to believe we once lived in a time where the great American promise of equality and inclusion didn’t extend to each and every one of us.

Adam’s Comments To NAACP’s Peekskill Chapter Protest & Dialogue

Spencer May 30, 2020

Adam's Comments To NAACP’s Peekskill Chapter Protest & Dialogue

250 years after the unrealized promise of the Declaration of Independence;

150 years after the end of slavery, “its badges,” and the amendments we passed in a failed attempt to move past our nation’s original sin;

50 years after MLK awoke our consciousness and moral imagination by helping all Americans see the “sweltering heat” of racial injustice:

We see today as clearly as ever that we have so much further to go to realize the unmet vision of our constitution.

Thank you to Peekskill’s NAACP Chapter for convening a thoughtful and uplifting protest and constructive dialog today. I was honored to participate.

Full Transcript of Comments:

It’s been clear for too long. We’ve been hearing, Oh, you know, it was just a a mistake. Oh, it was a panic. Oh, somebody was running one way and somebody made the wrong split second decision. I think we saw with George Floyd, I think we saw with Ahmaud Arbary. I think we saw with Mr. Cooper who narrowly escaped the same thing in central park last week, that these are not mistakes, that we have a culture.
 
We’ve talked, as Martin said, it’s been how many years? 150 years since the end of slavery, and we used to talk, I learned in law school about the badges of slavery and the 13th amendment and the 14th Amendment and the constitutional changes that we made in the law that never reached the people that we never got justice, that the union troops left the South, and another hundred years went by until 1970 for black folks to be able to vote and  exercise their rights in half of this country.
 
And so today here we are and we need to say, and we see here, we all unite and we understand that injustice anywhere injustice to a black man in Minnesota is a threat to justice everywhere. It’s a threat to a white person in Peekskill. It’s a threat to everyone everywhere. Here we are. We’re standing and we’re saying together that we’re not going to tolerate that and we’re going to call out what it is.
 
When we see a man looking like he could have been on his iPhone or sipping a cup of coffee, extinguish the light of another person underneath his knee, not even bat an eyelash. Three of his colleagues sworn to uphold the constitution and do justice and protect our people looking around like it’s a nice day.
 
That can’t happen. Yeah, so I’m proud that we’ve said today we’re not going to tolerate that, that we are going to say we are mad and we’re not going to take it anymore, but we’re going to do it in a constructive way. We’re going to get together and we’re going to call on our law enforcement to charge that man with murder.
 
There’s some young folks I’ve met in my campaign. I haven’t met all of you. You know what you’re all doing here is exactly what we needed to be doing because nothing’s going to change if we just say, stay from the outside and say, we don’t like this. We don’t like this. That’s the first step, but it’s not the last step.
 
We know we’re going to have justice when we have people like my mentor and my hero, Lawrence Middleton, when I was a prosecutor in the US Attorney’s office who prosecuted the police who beat Rodney King, that’s my mentor and my hero, a black man who grew up in the South under the the sweltering injustice as they say, racism in Norfolk, Virginia.
 
You went to Los Angeles, and he prosecuted the officers who beat Rodney King, and he made a difference. He became a lawyer and he stood for justice and he said, justice counts for everybody in this country. Justice doesn’t count just for one race or one group of people.
 
It counts for everybody. And that was who my boss was, and that’s who I learned from. And I have so much hope that there are people here today that can follow in his footsteps and lead us to the country that we deserve. And the promise, the unmet promises of the Constitution is that Joe Biden said last week, you know, for a lot of time in America, you’ve never lived up to the promise of our founders and our
constitution.
 
Let’s be honest, by the way, a lot of them didn’t mean it when they said it.
Thomas Jefferson didn’t mean it when he said, all men are created equal. He meant his kind of men were created equal. But now here we are and we’re ready to redeem that promise of and make those words mean something and that’s why we’re all here together today. So thank you very much.
 
Let’s make our constitution mean something here. Mean justice, mean freedom, mean equal opportunity for everybody in this country. Thank you.