She’s a highly unusual chief deputy executive for Suffolk County. Regina Calcaterra is the first woman to hold the post. She’s an East Ender and thoroughly appreciative of life in eastern Suffolk. And her background growing up in Suffolk is extraordinary – living in foster homes and homeless shelters and worse.
She was chosen by the new county executive, Democrat Steve Bellone, as his top aide after he was impressed by the work she did as co-chair of his transition committee.

Although Ms. Calcaterra, 44, had to give up a higher-paying job as managing partner in a 55-attorney New York City law firm, she did so in deep appreciation of what “public servants in Suffolk County did for me.”
“The social workers and teachers, the foster parents and crossing guards, the police officers and judges — they helped me so,” she recalled.

“I should have been a statistic,” she said.

Her single mother suffered from drug and alcohol abuse. There were five children, each with a different father.

“We lived all over Suffolk County,” she recalled.

This sometimes involved sleeping in a car and living “on the streets.”

Sometimes her mother “would leave us for a while.”

“The kids would be raising each other,” she added.

At 14, she petitioned a court for emancipation so she could stay in one high school, Centereach High, and graduate from it.

“All these people who touched us” helped enable her “not to fall through the cracks” and “understand that the only way out of poverty was education.”

Ms. Calcaterra put herself through college — graduating as a political science major from SUNY New Paltz. She worked for the Eastern Paralyzed Veterans of America advocating for disabled veterans and participating in the national drive for passage of the Americans with Disabilities Rights Act of 1990.

She served as legislative director for the New York City comptroller’s office promoting laws to prevent fraud in government. At 25, she began attending — at night after work — Seton Hall University School of Law.

The law firm she left to take the chief deputy county executive’s job, Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, is internationally recognized for going after corporate fraud. Among Ms. Calcaterra’s biggest legal victories there was representing the New York State Retirement Fund in a lawsuit against WorldCom, Inc. that resulted in a $6.13 billion recovery.

She has been very active in helping young people who are in situations like the one in which she grew up. She is a board member of You Gotta Believe, a group which works to get older foster children adopted.

Ms. Calcaterra returned to Suffolk from New York City in 2006 and settled in the North Fork hamlet of New Suffolk — buying “a cottage I fell in love with. I love the farmland, the vineyards, the waters, the beaches.”

Coming home is like “being on vacation.” She lives with two cocker spaniels, Maggie and Oscar, and a cat, Milo.

Her mother died of cancer in 1999. Only in recent times did she meet her father after having brought and won the first case of its kind in the U.S. allowing an adult child to determine parentage through DNA testing.
She met Mr. Bellone in 2010 when she was nominated as a Democrat to run for the State Senate. He was Babylon Town supervisor then and she was “tremendously impressed with what he accomplished in Babylon, his vision, his ethics.” She considers her main role as “implementing Steve’s agenda.”

She’s excited to be in the middle of Suffolk County government. “When you work in public service, you have the opportunity to make significant changes for the better.”

And she is thrilled to work for a county that has given her so much.

Last month, with the news about Samantha Garvey, the homeless Brentwood High School senior becoming a semi-finalist in the Intel Science Talent Search, she instantly and most happily worked with Mr. Bellone in organizing a rent-subsidized home for the Garvey family.

This article also appeared in the Shelter Island Reporter, Southampton Press and LI Politics.

Keys to Samantha Garvey's Future

NEWSDAY
January 28, 2012
by KEITH HERBERT AND SARAH CRICHTON

Intel competition semifinalist Samantha Garvey has a home again.

Less than a month after she and her family had to relocate to a homeless shelter, Garvey moved Saturday into a new home in Bay Shore.

At a ceremony in front of the new home, Garvey, with her parents, brother, sister and science teacher, stepped across the threshold of the county-owned home, putting the label “homeless” — that had helped propel her into national stardom — firmly into the past.

The Brentwood High School senior, 18, said she was overwhelmed by the outpouring of generosity shown the family.

“I was homeless and I didn’t have a house and because of the kindness of all these strangers, I do — I have a house!” she said in front of the 2-story, three-bedroom home.

“I couldn’t have gotten here without education — you make the best of it because it’s the end of so many things,” she told a bevy of media, officials and local business owners who made donations to refurbish and furnish the house.

The family gathered out front for the official handover of keys by Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, who praised Garvey’s maturity in the wake of a “whirlwind” few weeks since she was named a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search — at which time the family’s economic plight and homelessness came to light.

In the days that followed, she crisscrossed the country for a daytime television talk show taping and has been the guest of Rep. Steve Israel (D-Dix Hills) at the State of the Union address in Washington, D.C. Garvey was not among the five LI Intel semifinalists named national finalists on Tuesday.

The house the family is moving into is one of five county-owned properties currently given to low-income families as affordable housing, said chief deputy county executive Regina Calcaterra, who was instrumental in having the home readied for the family and who spent periods of her own childhood homeless and in foster care.

As with all the properties, Samantha’s parents, Leo and Olga Garvey, will pay 30 percent of their total income in rent, minus the cost of utilities, Calcaterra said. Leo Garvey drives a cab and Olga Garvey works as a nurse’s aide, officials said.

The high school senior will not get her own room, however — that privilege falls to Kenneth, her 13-year-old younger brother; Samantha will share a room with her sister and Kenneth’s twin, Erika.

December 1, 2011 by RICK BRAND / rick.brand@newsday.com

Suffolk County Executive-elect Steve Bellone has chosen corporate fraud attorney Regina Calcaterra, who as a child lived in homeless shelters and foster homes in the county, as his chief deputy.

Calcaterra, 44, co-director of Bellone’s transition team and an unsuccessful candidate for state senate last year, would be the first woman to hold the top post. She accepted the job earlier this week.

Bellone said Calcaterra will earn about the same as County Executive Steve Levy’s remaining chief deputy, Edward Dumas, who makes $170,642. While Levy had two chief deputies, Calcaterra will be Bellone’s sole top aide.

“I wanted to be part of the team to change Suffolk . . . government for the better,” she said. “This is a government that raised me. I know the role government plays in people’s lives.”

Bellone said he chose Calcaterra after seeing her in action during the transition. “After the 15th memo detailing every step before we take over, I decided this is the person who would be perfect,” Bellone said.

One of five children, Calcaterra, of New Suffolk, lived in shelters and foster homes. Her mother suffered from drug and alcohol abuse, and at age 14 Calcaterra petitioned a court for emancipation so she could stay in one school to graduate.

Calcaterra is managing partner of the New York office of Barrack, Rodos & Bacine, a 55-attorney firm. Previously, she served as deputy general counsel to the New York City retirement system and as a lobbyist for former New York City Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

John Jay LaValle, Suffolk GOP chairman, recalled Calcaterra as “very bright” when they attended Centereach High School in the mid-1980s.

Party officials say Calcaterra had worked on Bellone’s campaign since late last year, using her New York City connections to help Bellone raise money. She also wrote policy papers and made connections for Bellone with East End farming and fishing industries.

“She played an integral role in setting up those meetings,” said Joe Gergela, executive director of the Long Island Farm Bureau. “She’s bright, she’s balanced and she gets it on the issues that concern us.”

BEFORE THE LEGISLATIVE TASK FORCE ON DEMOGRAPHIC RESEARCH AND REAPPORTIONMENT REGARDING REDISTRICTING

October 5, 2011
Farmingdale, NY

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Task Force:

My name is Regina Calcaterra and I am a resident of New Suffolk in the Town of Southold, in the County of Suffolk, a county where I was born and raised. I am a partner in the law firm Barrack, Rodos & Bacine where I litigate against egregious and complex corporate fraud and actually bring back billions of dollars to our public pension funds and wronged investors.

I am testifying on my own behalf today in this hearing because I believe the process of reapportionment must be non-partisan and, for the people of Eastern Suffolk County, focus on three primary criteria:
First, the maps for new legislative districts must make geographic sense;
Second, the critical industries to Eastern Suffolk County’s economy must be protected from political gerrymandering, and not split and weakened, so that they continue to be heard with a clear voice in Albany and;
Third, special attention must be paid to leaving communities intact.

According to the Census, the districts that significantly represent Eastern Suffolk County, such as the First Congressional District, the First Senatorial District and the First Assembly District were all among the fastest growing districts in all of New York State. The Town of Riverhead has been the fastest growing town on all of Long Island.

Demographically, the Hispanic Community has been a leader in growth. Economically, Eastern Suffolk County’s Agriculture community has remained a leading industry and employer.

The First Senatorial District, from a geographic and practical perspective, presents a unique situation for this panel.

This is one of the most populated districts in New York State, and has experienced some of its fastest growth. Yet, from a geographic perspective, it remains among the largest in terms of square miles. A state Senate district of this size, with this geography, is challenged to meet the needs of its people as effectively as it should compared to the size of other state Senate districts. As of now, more than 20,000 of its residents must be placed into a new district to bring population parity to the First Senatorial District. And since you cannot cede Montauk to England, the lines must be moved from West to East.

This must be done with care and respect for voting rights as outlined in the U.S. Constitution. This must be done with geographic sensibility.

And, importantly, it must be done with respect for the taxpayer. Last year, Gannett News Service reported that the state senator from the first senate district led all 212 legislators in spending on constituent mail – more than $350,000 worth at the time – with the excuse that there were so many households in the First Senatorial District that he found it necessary.

In fact the First Senatorial district experienced the highest population increase within its borders than all other state senate districts thus bringing it the present population of over 341,000, which is now the third most populous in the state followed by sixteen senate districts that have between 320,000 and 336,000 and the remaining forty-five trail behind with fourteen of them actually having less than 300,000 which is at least a 10% difference in population then the highest populated districts.

To the extent that the First Senatorial District must lose population to achieve parity with other districts throughout New York, it should be reduced in size geographically by moving vertical lines from West to East; at the same time, communities should be left intact where possible. Those who live in the same school districts, towns, neighborhoods and hamlets, where possible, should not be split. Currently, for example, part of Selden is situated in the First Senatorial District and part in the Second Senatorial District. There are times when this may not be avoided but, frankly, I ask that you simply try harder to keep communities together.

Eastern Suffolk County is also unique from an economic perspective. The heart of this region is the most active agricultural community in all of New York State.

There are hundreds of farms in Suffolk County, and most of them are in the First Senatorial District where I reside. They are responsible for more than $300 million per year in local commerce, not including tourism from the North Fork’s renowned wine industry.

With our farms taking up more than 35,000 acres in Suffolk County’s East End, dividing those farms between Senate districts would weaken our agricultural communities political voice in Albany at the very time our economy demands their voice be heard loud and clear.

These I believe are the most important considerations one should take when conducting reapportionment for Eastern Suffolk County. As a resident of this part of state, I hope that the commission will pay close attention to the important economic and representational topics I have discussed.

As a resident of New York State, there are more general reapportionment topics about which I wish to testify.

Most alarmingly, we’re now hearing that the Republican Senate Majority is considering the addition of a 63rd Senate Seat. And recently it has come to my attention that the additions of 64th and 65th senate seats have also been floated as ideas.

Members of this task force: With layoffs of 3,500 state workers pending, with a state economy that is still staggering and with every single school district in the First Senatorial District experiencing cuts in state aid this year, the idea of ADDING even one additional seat to the state Senate is profoundly disrespectful to all state taxpayers. I ask you to take this off the table as an option immediately. In fact, based upon the recent Census data where New York lost over 1.5 million residents. If we calculate our senate districts by an average of 320,000 voters each, we can stand to eliminate at least four senate seats this reapportionment cycle. Because of this reality, any attempt to ADD more senators could only be seen as an act of political expediency, rather than a legal, democratic reform.

There is also a lawsuit pending in state Supreme Court on the issue of whether districts upstate in which prisons are located should include prisoners from various parts of New York, including Suffolk County, as residents of those counties. What strikes me as noteworthy about that lawsuit is the plaintiff’s classification of senate districts as “Republican districts” or “Democratic districts.” First of all, this completely disregards the tens of thousands of voters who are members of third parties or simply unaffiliated with any political party. And second of all: political parties do not own legislative districts. The people do.

Finally, with all due respect to this Commission, as a voter and taxpayer, the best solution for reapportionment is to take it out of the hands of elected politicians and create an independent redistricting commission now not ten years from now. Legislative leaders have the power to call a special session right now, today, and place such a bill before the Legislature for a vote with the requirement that an independent commission complete its work in 30 days. We could have new legislative lines drawn, independently, by Thanksgiving.

With the course you are on now, you are risking a veto by the governor and having district lines determined by the courts and again will be adding to the public’s perception of a fraudulent corrupt Albany. This does not help democracy.

To close, I want to take this opportunity to echo those who say voters should select their legislators, and legislators should not get to pick their voters.

Thank you for your time.

Companies that participated in Mortgage Backed Securities Fraud that contributed to the 2008 Global Economic Meltdown

Regina was a member of the litigation team that represented the Ohio State Teachers Retirement Fund as lead plaintiff in In re Merrill Lynch Securities Litigation, before the Honorable Jed Rakoff in the Southern District of New York, which $475 million has been recovered for injured investors.

Regina is presently a member of the litigation team representing the Michigan Employees’ Retirement System (and other Michigan pension funds) as lead plaintiff, and the Maine State Employees’ Retirement System as named plaintiff, in In re AIG Securities Litigation, before the Honorable Laura Taylor Swain in the Southern District of New York.

Companies that Falsified Financial Statements that Caused Shareholders to Lose Billions

Regina was member of the highly successful team that represented the New York State Common Retirement Fund as lead plaintiff in the US securities class action in In re WorldCom, Inc. Securities Litigation, in which $6.13 billion was recovered for injured investors. Ms. Calcaterra was also a member of the successful trial team that took WorldCom’s auditor, Arthur Andersen to trial before the Honorable Denise Cote in the Southern District of New York.

Regina was a member of the highly successful team that represented the New York State Common Retirement Fund as lead plaintiff in the US securities class action in In re McKesson, Inc. Securities Litigation, before the Honorable Ronald M. Whyte in the Northern District of California, in which $1.0425 billion has been recovered for injured investors

Antonetta’s sacrifices more than paid off many times as reflected in Gerry’s many extraordinary achievements from building a strong family with her husband John, to her early rise as a Queens Assistant District Attorney heading up the Sex Crimes Unit, then when she became a US Congresswoman and then later when she was chosen, in 1984, as the first woman to be nominated as a Vice Presidential candidate for a major party.

While writing the story of her mother’s struggles and the path that Antonetta took upon arrival to the United States, Gerry sought Regina’s assistance in researching the history of Italian immigrants from 1880 onward to ensure that the book accurately reflected the Italian immigrant movement to the US and specifically New York.

Gerry Ferraro thanks “Regina Calcaterra for her excellent work researching the history of the Italian American community” in the Acknowledgements section of the book.

Maurizio Molinari’s newly published book, Gli italiani di New York (The Italians of New York), chronicles historical and contemporary noteworthy Italians in New York. In the section covering Italian Politicians in Gli Italiani di New York, the author addresses Regina Calcaterra’s 2010 state Senate candidacy and her advocacy for homeless and foster children as a model of the passionate political leaders of Italian heritage in New York. Regina also shares this section with other noteworthy NY Italian heritage politicians and public policy makers such as Governor Andrew Cuomo, former Governors Mario Cuomo and George Pataki, State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, former NYC Mayor Rudolph Guiliani and NYC Public Advocate Bill DiBlasio. Maurizio Molinari has previously published several other books including one on President Obama titled Il paese di Obama and another on former President George W. Bush titled George W. Bush e la missione americana.

Political storm clouds are hovering around the process of redistricting both statewide – especially in regard to the State Senate and Congress and locally here on Long Island – in terms of the egregious overreach by the Nassau County Legislature. The real question becomes will the process of redistricting be done with the people’s interests or the politicians’ in the forefront? Or more simply, will the voters get to pick their politicians or the politicians get to pick their voters?

Redistricting takes place every ten years after the Census is completed to address population shifts. It was our founders’ way of making sure a bedrock principle of democracy – equal representation in government – was constitutionally protected. Besides addressing issues of population changes, and ensuring compliance with federal law, other goals that should be set are crafting legislative or congressional districts that are contiguous and that municipalities fall within one single legislative or congressional district rather than divided among many.

However, these principles are often ignored, and the usual focus in redrawing legislative and congressional districts is ensuring incumbent protection. This is because in New York incumbents are in charge of redrawing their own districts. However, at least seven states have removed the legislature from this role and created independent redistricting commissions. If the concept of an independent redistricting commission rings vaguely familiar it is because it was a 2010 campaign promise that all nine Long Island state senators promised when running for office but disregarded once elected. Why? Because they would prefer to have a preordained election outcome that they can control by reducing truly contested elections to a minimum.

This year, New York legislators have a historic opportunity to transform and invigorate our democracy. Several proposals put forth in Albany, including by one of its biggest champions Governor Cuomo, would form a non-partisan redistricting commission. The essence of the reform is to create a process for drawing legislative districts according to geographic contiguity and common sense in regard to community boundaries, rather than with hidden partisan and pro incumbent agendas. This reform would put the public first, without obsessing about preserving one party or another’s political power. More competitive elections would be a refreshing by-product of this process.

In fact, a reform group called NY Uprising spearheaded by former NYC Mayor Ed Koch, won signed pledges from almost all State Senators and most Assemblymembers, to vote for non-partisan redistricting this year, including all presently elected Long Island Senators. This action prompted Mayor Koch to herald the candidates as Champions of Reform where the candidates then touted this new title to the electorate via press release, press conferences, and their own campaign websites and social media pages. Not surprisingly, post-election, all of Long Island State Senators reneged on their pledges for non-partisan redistricting in 2012. They are instead insisting that the reform not occur, unless it is done via a constitutional amendment, which cannot take effect any earlier than 2022. Apparently after the election they no longer felt they needed voters or editorials boards heralding them as Champions of Reform. They are now dubbed Enemies of Reform by Mayor Koch.

The current system of self-serving gerrymandering all too often leaves legislators beholden for their re-election to their legislative leaders, whose hands hold the redistricting pen and the lobbyists who fill the leaders coffers, rather than observing the will and interests of the voters who elected them.

The dysfunction in Albany is a direct outcome of legislators being subservient to these political elites, rather than acting as independent public servants rooted in their communities. On issue after issue such as job creation, property tax caps, marriage equality, economic development, SUNY tuition differentials and mandate relief, a public consensus exists to enact these laws via recent public opinion polls, but they are systematically tossed aside as too controversial. So rather than the state legislature utilizing their time in truly fighting for changes and laws that voters want, they focus on maintaining their political fiefdoms, thus almost guaranteeing their re-election regardless of their failure to act as the electorate wishes.

Reapportionment shouldn’t be about protecting political fiefdoms. It should be about making our government responsible, accessible, fair and effective for the people of the state of New York. Our problems are far too serious for anything else.

I expect the Governor to stay true to his reform beliefs opposing partisan gerrymandering and for incumbent legislators to remain resistant to truly reforming reapportionment. If this remains true, I hope Governor Cuomo has his veto pen ready to remind our state legislators that they were elected to enact reform now, not a decade down the road.

Link to Article: http://northfork.patch.com/blog_posts/redistricting-the-political-impact-of-the-census