Mayor Michael Bloomberg appointed Rose Gill Hearn as the new Chair of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB). Ms. Gill Hearn succeeds Father Joseph P. Parkes, S.J., who completed his term on November 30, 2013. Ms. Gill Hearn will be the Board's fourth Chair in its 25 year history. She is appointed to serve a five-year term ending in 2018.
Ms. Gill Hearn currently serves as the Commissioner of the Department of Investigation. Previously, she was an Assistant United States Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. She has taught Trial Advocacy as an adjunct professor of law at Fordham University School of Law and worked as a litigator in the private sector. Ms. Gill Hearn serves on the Board of the Fordham Law Alumni Association and on the Government Ethics Committee of the New York City Bar Association.
Additionally, Ms. Gill Hearn helped create the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity (CAPI) at Columbia Law School and will chair its Advisory Board. CAPI will study corruption and accountability in government, with a focus on corruption at the municipal level in jurisdictions around the world. The Center’s mission is to improve the capacity of public offices and anti-corruption and law enforcement practitioners to deter, identify, and respond to governmental corruption at all levels.
“Rose Gill Hearn has earned an outstanding reputation for independence and integrity, and we look forward to her leadership as Chair,” said Amy Loprest, CFB Executive Director.
“We thank Father Parkes for his steady, even-handed stewardship of the Board during his time as Chair,” Loprest said. “We wish him well in his continuing efforts to improve the lives of New Yorkers as president of Cristo Rey New York High School in East Harlem.”
During his tenure, Father Parkes led the Board through two historic citywide elections and numerous special elections. Under Father Parkes’ leadership, the Board also implemented two significant reforms to the Campaign Finance Act: new, strict limits on contributions from individuals doing business with City government, and new requirements for disclosure of independent expenditures in City elections.
Father Parkes first joined the CFB in June 2007, and was elevated to Chair in April 2008 by Mayor Bloomberg.
As mandated by the City Charter and the New York City Campaign Finance Act, the CFB is composed of five board members: two are appointed by the mayor, two by the speaker of the City Council, and the chair, by the mayor after consultation with the speaker. The Board is strictly nonpartisan, and the mayor’s and the speaker’s two appointees must not be affiliated with the same political party. Board members serve staggered, five year terms.
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