Becoming a Brooklyn Politico

After graduating from Brown I put my Urban Studies degree to use and went to work for New York City on a fellowship. I ultimately became the Senior Policy Advisor to a Commissioner, which meant I advised the Commissioner on strategy, policy, and programs, helped run the executive office, and was the main writer for the city agency. I was also able to design and manage a multi-million dollar job training and placement program. It was an incredible experience, and I quickly learned how much I enjoyed understanding urban politics and decision-making. In my free time, I ended up digging my heels into local Brooklyn politics. I was one of the founders of Brooklyn for Barack, and ran the Williamsburg/Greenpoint chapter of the local grassroots campaign. Knowing how to register hipsters to vote is like the greatest skill I have.

After the Presidential election I began looking for ways to continue being involved civically and politically in Brooklyn, and realized that the Brooklyn Democrat Party still had features of an old school urban political machine, rife with closed-door, back-room, corrupt politicking. So, along with my boyfriend, I founded New Kings Democrats, a progressive, grassroots political organization that recruits and prepares people to run for local elected office. The idea is to bring transparency and accountability to Brooklyn politics, and to train and nurture a new group of leaders. We've been very successful, running dozens of people for local offices and gaining a good deal of press (we've been written up in the New York Times, the Village Voice, the NY Post, etc.). And we have arguably shifted the political debate in New York State-- to be a viable candidate you have to denounce corruption and offer good government solutions, and federal and state law enforcement are now looking into the politicians that we have been fighting politically.

One of our premier candidates this past September was Lincoln Restler, who is officially a Brown 06.5er (he still counts), and a lifelong Brooklyn resident. I recruited Lincoln to get involved with New Kings Democrats after re-connecting with him at my city agency. Lincoln won a close campaign for District Leader, and beat out the Brooklyn political establishment. Lincoln is a rising star in New York City politics, and I am so grateful that I have fellow Brunonians to fight the good fight with.

At Harvard Law School, where I am a 3L right now, we hear a lot about opportunities for public service in the federal government, but we hear less about the opportunities in local and state government. My experience thus far in New York, however, has been that some of the greatest opportunity to make change is by getting involved locally. If there are any Brown '06ers in Brooklyn, or New York City, who are interested in learning more or getting involved, please email me at Rachel.Lauter@gmail.com. New Kings is also hosting a film screening of Gerrymandering by Jeff Reichert (a Brown alum) on Wed. Feb. 23rd at 6 PM at the Dweck Center at the Brooklyn Public Library. You should all go and check it out.

Looking forward to catching up with you all in May! Rachel