• LAC Honors Assemblyman Lentol as Legislator of the Year

    March 03, 2011
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
    Contact: Nicole Collins Bronzan
    Director of Communications
    (212) 243-1313 / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)


    Assemblyman Lentol, center, with Paul N. Samuels, LAC's director and president, and Tracie Gardner, state policy director.    		 NEW YORK, March 3, 2011 -- The Legal Action Center is proud to announce that it has honored Assemblyman Joseph R. Lentol as its "Legislator of the Year." A long-serving member of the State Legislature, Assemblyman Lentol is widely respected for his commitment and leadership on critical issues, including the historic reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

    "In accepting this award, I sincerely want to thank the Legal Action Center for all of their hard work on these important issues. I am honored to work with them year after year to challenge the status quo and to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves," Assemblyman Lentol said.

    "The Legal Action Center should be truly proud of the work they do to enact changes that our criminal justice system desperately needs, and I look forward to working with them on future projects," Assemblyman Lentol added.

    As chairman of the Committee on Codes since 1992, Assemblyman Lentol has had a monumental impact on all criminal justice legislation in the state. "For decades Chairman Lentol has been a champion and leader in shaping New York State's criminal justice system to maximize public safety, fairness and justice," said Paul N. Samuels, director and president of the Legal Action Center.

    "New York State is much safer and many thousands of people have received fairer sentences, obtained needed treatment and successfully reentered society because of the leadership of Joe Lentol," Samuels said.

    Not only was Mr. Lentol instrumental in reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws, he cast a dissenting vote when they were passed in 1973, his first year as an assemblyman. Now, he says, he's focused on securing funding for the critical reforms in a time of fiscal austerity. Without it, he said, he worries that the drug law reforms “will look like a failure.”

    Meanwhile, "Assemblyman Lentol remains a champion of alternatives to incarceration and reentry programs and a leader on state policy that is smart on crime and good for the state," said Tracie Gardner, director of state policy at LAC.

    The Legal Action Center is delighted to have the opportunity to recognize Assemblyman Lentol as its Legislator of the Year.

    The Legal Action Center is the only public interest law and policy organization in the United States whose sole
    mission is to fight discrimination against and protect the privacy of people in recovery from alcohol or drug addiction,
    individuals living with HIV/AIDS, and people with criminal records.

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