Robert Jackson (New York politician)

Life and career

Robert Jackson graduated from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1975. In the early 1990s Jackson was employed by the Public Employees Federation, a labor union.

Robert Jackson is a Muslim, and was the only Muslim City Council member during his term.

Campaign for Fiscal Equity

In 1992, Robert Jackson was serving as the elected president of Community School Board 6. Frustrated by the consistent under-funding of New York City public schools, he decided to sue the state. Jackson sought assistance from the school board's attorney, Michael A. Rebell; they joined forces to found the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, and in 1993 filed suit in CFE v. State of New York.l The lawsuit argued that the State of New York's method of allocating funds for public education did not provide adequately for children in New York City, and therefore violated the New York State Constitution and the federal Civil Rights Act.

On June 26, 2003, the New York State Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) ruled in favor of plaintiffs, and gave the State until July 30, 2004 to implement changes. However, lawmakers could not agree on a formula. The Court of Appeals appointed a special panel to address the problem, and in 2005, the panel proposed that NY City schools receive an extra $5.6 billion dollars per year. Justice Leland Degrasse accepted that solution, and in 2007, the Legislature established the Foundation Aid Formula to distribute the requisite funds, phased in over a period of four years./ Because of the subsequent fiscal crisis, funding was frozen during 2009-2012. Full funding has yet to be restored, a situation that Robert Jackson has protested both in Albany and New York City./

City Council

Robert Jackson was elected to the New York City Council, in the 7th district, in 2001. Before it was redistricted in 2013, the district included portions of the neighborhoods Harlem, Washington Heights and Inwood. He served parts of his three terms as Education Committee Chair and Co-Chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus with Council Member Fernando Cabrera. Jackson, a Democrat, was twice re-elected before being term-limited in 2013.

2013 Manhattan Borough President campaign

Jackson announced in late January 2013 that he was running in the Democratic Primary for Manhattan Borough President.

Jackson has highlighted the Campaign for Fiscal Equity as a significant accomplishment in at least five campaigns since he initially ran, and won a seat on, the New York City Council in 2001, and his literature stated Jackson "brought home billions of additional dollars each year to improve our public schools," though the Campaign for Fiscal Equity was called a failure by the Village Voice.

Jackson, the only male or black candidate to announce, received the endorsement of former mayor David Dinkins prior to announcing. His opponents in the Democratic Primary were former city council members Jessica Lappin and Gale Brewer, as well as small business owner and former Chair of Community Board 1, Julie Menin. Jackson lost the Democratic Primary election to Brewer, coming in third place with 19% of the vote, compared to Brewer's 40% and Lappin's 25%.

2014 New York State Senate campaign

Jackson ran for New York State Senate in the 31st State Senate district against the incumbent, Adriano Espaillat and was defeated in a race described by the New York Daily News as "his second shot at a campaign in less than a year." Jackson's campaign manager, Michael Oliva, said that there were no specific plans moving forward, and quoted Jackson as saying he's "not going to deal with this bullshit for another two years."

2016 New York State Senate campaign

Robert Jackson again ran and lost in a campaign for New York's 31st District State Senate seat in 2016, coming in third, out of the four candidates. Jackson received 7,936 of the 25,896 votes cast in the election. Jackson was defeated by then District Leader Marisol Alcantara, who won the primary election with 8,469 votes. Alcantara won the November General Election, and is now the 31st District's State Senator. Micah Lasher also defeated Jackson with 8,175 votes. Luis Tejada came below Jackson with 1,316 votes.

Bill Thompson heckling

On February 1, 2013 a Democratic mayoral forum was held in Washington Heights. Elected officials repeatedly neglected to acknowledge City Councilman Robert Jackson, who represented the area. Finally, when black mayoral candidate Bill Thompson greeted State Senator A. Espaillat, Assemblywoman G. Rosa, and Councilman Y. Rodriguez, Mr. Jackson called out, "I'm not part of the Northern Manhattan team? ... Can you see? Hello? Am I black enough for you, brother?" Thompson responded good-humoredly that he had no intention of ignoring Jackson, and referred to him as a "hero" for his fight for NY City schools.

Fairway Market lawsuit

In February 2013 Jackson, and his wife Faika Jackson, sued Fairway Market and New York City. The Jacksons claimed Faika tripped over a downed stop sign in front of the Harlem location of the market in April, 2010. In July, 2014, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Margaret Chan admonished the Jacksons for "non-compliance with Fairway's repeated discovery demands," saying they had failed to provide medical records related to Faika's stop sign tumble. Jackson also joined his wife's lawsuit as a co-plaintiff, writing that his wife's injuries prevented her from providing "services, society and companionship."