Randy Daniels (born 1950) is an American businessman, politician, and journalist who served as Secretary of State of New York from 2001 to 2005. Daniels was appointed to the board of trustees of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

in 1997 and currently serves as vice chairman. He was previously the senior vice president for economic revitalization at the Empire State Development Corporation. He was nominated for both positions by former

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

George Pataki. Daniels launched an unsuccessful Republican primary bid for

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor ...

in 2006. Daniels served as the director of communications for the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

President's Office from 1986 to 1988, and was appointed press secretary to the

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

of the

Bahamas The Bahamas, officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an archipelagic and island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean. It contains 97 per cent of the archipelago's land area and 88 per cent of its population. ...

in 1988. In 1992, he briefly became Deputy Mayor of

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

under David Dinkins. Prior to his career in public service, Daniels worked as a correspondent for CBS News and

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

of journalism.

Early life and education

Daniels grew up in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in a housing project with nine siblings. The family later moved to suburban Markham, Illinois. He holds a bachelor's degree in government and journalism from Southern Illinois University. He is a former journalist and public relations professional. Daniel's wife, Sallie Manzanet-Daniels, was appointed as New York State Judge by Governor David Paterson in 2009.

Career

Journalism and academia

He began his journalism career in Chicago, as a reporter for WVON radio. He was then employed with CBS News, first as a war correspondent for throughout the 1970s, and later as their Africa Bureau Chief in 1977. He became a familiar face on the evening news, covering eight wars and the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

. During this time he also worked adjunct Journalism professor at both the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

and Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.

Politics

In 1986 he became communications director for Andrew Stein, president of the

. He later became press secretary for the

of the

in 1988. Daniels began his career as a Democrat, but changed his party registration to Republican in 2002. He was briefly the deputy mayor of New York City under former mayor David Dinkins. He was appointed as Pataki's secretary of state in 2001 and served in that capacity until 2005. He was considered a possible running mate for Pataki in 2002 for lieutenant governor. Daniels was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New York in 2006. He was considered the most articulate speaker in the race, and gained support from party leaders in Central New York, particularly in Syracuse. Daniels also won support from leaders of the state's Conservative Party. On April 9, 2006 it was reported that Daniels would end his campaign the next day and endorse former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso for governor. He denied that he was seeking to be Faso's

running mate A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position (such as the vice presidential candidate running with a pre ...

for lieutenant governor. Faso later choose Rockland County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef as his running mate. Daniels was considered a possible future candidate for

or chairman of the New York Republican State Committee, though he has said he does not have plans to run for office again, and would rather support Republicans from the private sector.

Business

Daniels served as vice chairman of Gilford Securities Incorporated from 2007 to 2015, and now serves as managing director of Pickwick Capital Partners, LLC, an investment banking firm based in White Plains, New York.

References

External links

Randy Daniels for Governor official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Randy 1951 births Living people Secretaries of state of New York (state) African-American people in New York (state) politics New York (state) Republicans City College of New York faculty Politicians from Chicago People from Markham, Illinois Politicians from Westchester County, New York 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians