Claire Shulman: Difference between revisions

Shulman was born in [[Brooklyn]] on February 23, 1926. She graduated from [[Adelphi University]] and was a registered nurse before getting into politics.<ref name="NYT obit"/> She met her future husband, Mel Shulman, a doctor, while both were working at [[Queens Hospital Center]]. <ref>{{cite news|title=Claire Shulman Queens Borough President|url=https://qns.com/story/1999/09/02/claire-shulman-queens-borough-president/|date=September 2, 1999|accessdate=August 17, 2020|work=QNS.com|publisher=TimesLedger Newspapers}}</ref>

Shulman first became involved in community life when she joined the Bayside Mother's Club in 1955.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title='She was a trailblazer': Queens mourns loss of former Borough President Claire Shulman|url=https://qns.com/story/2020/08/16/breaking-former-queens-borough-president-claire-shulman-dies-at-94/|access-date=August 17, 2020|website=QNS.com|language=en-US}}</ref> She was active in Queens community affairs and was appointed to a community board in 1966, eventually going on to become its chairwomen.<ref name="NYT obit"/> She subsequently became Queens borough president [[Donald Manes]]' director of community boards in 1972 and his deputy in 1980. She took office initially as acting Borough President on February 11, 1986, after the scandal-tarred Manes, who later committed suicide, resigned.<ref name=acting/> She was elected Borough President by a unanimous vote of the nine [[New York City Council]] members from Queens on March 12.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lynn|first1=Frank|title=Shulman Elected to Succeed Manes|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/13/nyregion/shulman-elected-to-succeed-manes.html|accessdate=November 20, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 13, 1986}}</ref> She was then elected by popular vote to the remaining three years of Manes' term later that year<ref>{{cite news|last1=James|first1=George|title=The Elections: A Challenge Is Rebuffed, a Comeback Fails; Shulman Victor in Queens Race For Manes Post|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/11/05/nyregion/elections-challenge-rebuffed-comeback-fails-shulman-victor-queens-race-for-manes.html|accessdate=November 20, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 5, 1986}}</ref> and to four-year terms again in 1989,<ref name=Nov89>{{cite news|last1=Purdum|first1=Todd S.|title=The 1989 Elections: Board of Estimate — A Generation Of Ex-Critics Gains Power|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/08/nyregion/the-1989-elections-board-of-estimate-a-generation-of-ex-critics-gains-power.html|accessdate=November 20, 2016|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 8, 1989}}</ref> 1993, and 1997. She was unable to run for re-election in 2001 because of term limits,<ref>{{cite news|title=Former Queens Borough President Helen Marshall Passes At 87|url=https://bronx.com/former-queens-borough-preisdent-helen-marshall-passes-at-87/first=Jonas|last=Bronck|date=March 4, 2017|accessdate=August 17, 2020|newspaper=The Bronx Daily}}</ref> and was succeeded by [[Helen M. Marshall|Helen Marshall]] on January 3, 2002.<ref>{{cite news|title=Schools, Budget Are Marshall’sMarshall's Primary Issues|url=https://www.qgazette.com/articles/schools-budget-are-marshalls-primary-issues/|first=Richard|last=Gentilviso|date=February 27, 2002|accessdate=August 17, 2020|newspaper=Queens Gazette}}</ref>

Shulman served as a member of the boards of directors of [[New York Hospital]] Queens and St. Mary's Healthcare System for Children.<ref>{{cite news|title=Claire Shulman Joins MMI Board Of Trustees|url=https://www.qgazette.com/articles/claire-shulman-joins-mmi-board-of-trustees/|date=August 16, 2006|accessdate=August 17, 2020|newspaper=Queens Gazette}}</ref> She also assisted the [[Queens Zoo]] in obtaining its first [[bald eagle]]. The zoo's current bald eagles, Mel and Claire II, are named after Shulman and her husband.<ref>[http://nyzoosandaquarium.com/qz-news/qz_claire2 New York Zoos and Aquarium website] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.istoday/20081015230601/http://nyzoosandaquarium.com/qz-news/qz_claire2 |date=October 15, 2008 }}</ref>

Shulman established Flushing Willets Point Corona Local Development Corporation,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rivera|first=Ray|date=August 20, 2009|title=New York Paid to Lobby Itself, Group Claims|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/nyregion/21lobby.html|access-date=August 17, 2020|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and served as its president and CEO when it aggressively lobbied the New York City Council<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 1, 2008|title=Shulman lobbying machine goes full-steam|url=https://irontriangletracker.wordpress.com/2008/10/01/shulman-lobbying-machine-goes-full-steam/|access-date=August 17, 2020|website=Iron Triangle Tracker|language=en}}</ref> in 2007 and 2008 to approve controversial legislation<ref>{{Cite web|date=October 14, 2008|title=Showdown at Willets Point|url=https://observer.com/2008/10/showdown-at-willets-point/|access-date=August 17, 2020|website=Observer|language=en-US}}</ref> that would remove all of the existing private property owners and 250 industrial businesses from the neighborhood of [[Willets Point, Queens]], for redevelopment.<ref>{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=November 2008|title=Willets Point Redevelopment: Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement; Executive Summary|url=https://edc.nyc/sites/default/files/filemanager/Projects/Willets_Point_Redevelopment/WP_0908_00_Executive_Summary.pdf|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=August 16, 2020|website=New York City Economic Development Corporation}}</ref> She was found to have conducted the lobbying for more than one year without filing any of the required public disclosures. An investigation by the City Clerk's Lobbying Bureau led to it imposing a fine of $59,090 against Shulman's LDC, which was a then-record penalty on a New York City lobbyist.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kemp|first=Joe|title=Property owners ask federal prosecutors to probe Flushing Willets Point Corona Land Development Corp|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/property-owners-federal-prosecutors-probe-flushing-willets-point-corona-land-development-corp-article-1.403532|access-date=August 17, 2020|website=nydailynews.com}}</ref> However, Mayor [[Michael Bloomberg]] came to her defense, characterizing this as a "cheap shot" against her and adding that "these groups are designed to lobby. I don’t know if they technically broke the law".<ref>{{cite news|date=December 18, 2010|title=Odds And Ends|newspaper=Daily News|location=New York|url=https://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/odds-ends-blog-entry-1.1675420|accessdate=August 18, 2020}}</ref> On a state level, then-Attorney General [[Andrew Cuomo]] and his successor, [[Eric Schneiderman]] investigated Shulman's lobbying campaign over a three-year period.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Saul|first=Michael Howard|date=July 3, 2012|title=City Agency Admits Illegal Lobby Effort|language=en-US|work=Wall Street Journal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304211804577503270562394712|access-date=August 17, 2020|issn=0099-9660}}</ref> Schneiderman eventually found that Shulman's LDC indeed “flouted the law by lobbying elected officials, both directly and through third parties, to win approval of … favored projects”.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A.G. Schneiderman Ends Illegal Lobbying Of NYC Officials By Three Local Development Corporations {{!}} New York State Attorney General|url=https://ag.ny.gov/press-release/2012/ag-schneiderman-ends-illegal-lobbying-nyc-officials-three-local-development|access-date=August 17, 2020|website=ag.ny.gov|language=en}}</ref>

During the last years of her life, she and her husband, Melvin Shulman, lived in [[Beechhurst, Queens]], New York. They had one daughter, [[Ellen S. Baker]], an astronaut <ref>[{{Cite web |url=http://www.nyc.gov/html/rwg/html/96/educ.html |title="A Vision for Education": Speech by New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, The Wharton Club, August 11, 1995] |access-date=March 28, 2007 |archive-date=October 18, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071018142923/http://nyc.gov/html/rwg/html/96/educ.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and a veteran of three [[Space Shuttle]] voyages, including one that docked with the Russian [[space station]] ''[[Mir]]''. Their son, Lawrence Shulman, a medical [[oncologist]], is chief medical officer at the [[Dana–Farber Cancer Institute]] in [[Boston]], Massachusetts. Their adopted son, Kim Shulman, who worked as an assistant director on television series including ''[[Party of Five]]'' and films including ''[[Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves]]'', died from a cerebral hemorrhage on June 2, 2001.<ref>{{cite news|title=Claire Shulman’sShulman's son dies in California at age 45|url=https://qns.com/story/2001/06/06/claire-shulmans-son-dies-in-california-at-age-45/|first1=Betsy|last1=Scheinbart|first2=Jennifer|last2=Warren|date=June 6, 2001|accessdate=August 17, 2020|work=QNS.com|publisher=TimesLedger Newspapers}}</ref>