EMPIRE STATE LYME DISEASE ASSOCIATION, INC. US Senator Chuck Schumer on Board of Empire State Lyme Disease Association About Senator Chuck Schumer

We are pleased to have US Senator Chuck Schumer as an Honorary member of the Board of Empire State Lyme Disease Association, Inc.

Charles Ellis "Chuck" Schumer (born November 23, 1950) is the senior U.S. Senator from the state of New York, serving since 1999. A Democrat, in 2005, he became chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. In November 2006, he was elected to the new post of Vice Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus. In this position, he is the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin.
Because of his high position, he was recently found fourth most powerful U.S. Senator, just behind Leader Harry Reid, whip Dick Durbin, president pro tempore Robert Byrd, and preceding minority leader Mitch McConnell
In January 2007, he published a book called Positively American about how Democrats could reclaim middle-class voters.

Stefan Zaklin/European Pressphoto Agency

Senator Charles E. Schumer, a Democrat from New York, is considered one of Washington's fiercest political practitioners. Indeed, Democratic leaders turned to Mr. Schumer to engineer the party's Senate comeback in the 2006 midterm elections, appointing him chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

He did not disappoint. Democrats picked up six seats that year, enabling their party to retake a majority, after Mr. Schumer had micromanaged every Senate race around the country. He required, for example, that candidates respond to attacks by their opponents within 24 hours, a rule he says he learned in 1998 when he first ran for the Senate and defeated the incumbent Republican, Alfonse M. D'Amato, in a bruising contest.

In the Senate, Mr. Schumer has distinguished himself governmentally as one of President Bush's harshest critics. For example, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, he pushed Democrats to use an extreme legislative tactic, the filibuster, to block some of the Bush administration nominees for federal judgeships.

He also led a Senate inquiry in 2007 into the ouster of eight United States attorneys in what critics claim was a political purge that was orchestrated by the White House.

Mr. Schumer's thirst for publicity has become the stuff of playful banter. He once prompted a colleague to assert that the "the most dangerous place in Washington is between Charles Schumer and a television camera."

Even before arriving in the Senate, Mr. Schumer stood out for his aggressive tactics. As a member of the House of Representatives, where his district included parts of Brooklyn and Queens, he became well-known with weekly Sunday news conferences intended to generate headlines on what are normally slow news days.

Mr. Schumer is a native of Brooklyn. He began his political career in 1974, when he won a seat in the New York Assembly. He served three terms, then in 1980 ran successfully for an open seat in the House, where he served until 1998. -- Raymond Hernandez (June 8, 2007)