DSCC ANNOUNCES NEW LEADERSHIP TEAM

(New York, NY) - Senator Michael Gianaris, Chair of the DSCC, announced the appointment of
Senators Neil Breslin, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and Jose Peralta as DSCC Co-Chairs, forming
the new leadership team who will help Democrats win back the Senate Majority.

The experience and expertise of the DSCC’s new core four will provide the foundation for
a robust political apparatus and successful election cycle where Democrats will retake the
Majority.

DSCC Chair, Senator Gianaris said: “With our new leadership team in place we will mobilize
Democrats, strengthen our political operation and recruit good reform-minded candidates to win
back the majority. I thank Senators Breslin, Stewart-Cousins, and Peralta for their commitment
and efforts in the days and months ahead. Their expertise and assistance will prove invaluable
as we take the necessary steps to bring the Democrats back to the majority.”

DSCC Co-Chair, Senator Neil Breslin said, "Senators Gianaris, Stewart-Cousins and Peralta are
some of the smartest, hardest-working and most principled colleagues I've had the pleasure of
working with and I know our team -- and the conference as a whole -- will make this an efficient
and effective political operation which returns Democrats to the Majority."

DSCC Co-Chair, Andrea Stewart-Cousins said, "Democrats are the champions of working
families and equal rights for all, but we are also committed to working together, across party
lines and ideology, to do what needs to be done for all New Yorkers: provide tax relief, create
new jobs, and clean up a state government taxpayers have lost faith in. This is an exciting
opportunity and I look forward to working with Chair Mike Gianaris and my colleagues to bring
new voters and candidates -- particularly women -- into the electoral process."

DSCC Co-Chair, Senator Jose Peralta said, "We are running offense and will have exceptional
candidates in every region of this state and the funds to help them spread their message
to voters. Election cycles come and go, but the failure of the Senate Republicans to protect
working families has been a constant for decades. Senator Gianaris is the right person to lead
DSCC and I know my colleagues and I are hitting the ground running to elect new Democrats to
the State Senate."

Bios for DSCC Leadership Team:

Senator Neil Breslin is the Senate Democrats new Deputy Leader and a lifelong resident of
Albany County. Neil has spent his life as a community leader and has worked tirelessly to ease
the burden of insurance on working families, hold insurance companies and HMOs accountable,
and protect working men and women from unfair labor practices. The senator also led the
charge to keep New York's public parks open last year. Besides his public service, Senator
Breslin has been the attorney for St. Anne's Institute in Albany and has done work for Hospitality
House, the International Center and Hope House, a drug treatment facility. Further, he was Vice
President of the Interfaith Partnership for the Homeless from 1994 to 1998.

Senator Stewart-Cousins defeated a longtime incumbent in 2006 and since that election has
focused on providing property tax relief and mandate relief, and addressing the concerns of her
Westchester County constituents. She secured bipartisan support for the landmark government
consolidation legislation introduced by then-Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and is widely
recognized as a leader on issues affecting local governments and taxpayers. Andrea has led
the fight to reform state government because better government means better legislation for all
New Yorkers. The senator lives in Yonkers; she has 3 children and 2 grandchildren.

Senator Jose Peralta was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and is a first-generation
Dominican-American. José’s parents came to the United States in search of the American
dream and a better life for their children; his father made his living as a bank teller and his
mother a seamstress at a sweatshop. a graduate of New York's public schools, Senator Peralta
is the top Democrat on the Senate's Labor Committee and has distinguished himself as a fighter
for immigrants rights and working families.

Senator Michael Gianaris, a graduate of Harvard law school, represented the 36th Assembly
District in Astoria, Queens, for ten years as the first Greek-American to be elected from New
York City, before his election to the State Senate in 2010. Throughout his years of service,
Gianaris has emerged as a leader on government reform issues, championing numerous
measures to improve the efficiency and transparency of state government, including a proposal
to reform the legislative redistricting process that the New York Times called "the real key to
reform" in Albany. In 2006, Gianaris also served as Finance Chair for the State Democratic
Party, helping to break fundraising records which greatly contributed to the Democrat’s historic
sweep of every statewide office and the gain of three Congressional seats.