By Priscilla Rodriguez

Rory Lancman, who many would call a dedicated family man, expanded his dedication to serve another, much larger family-the community he was born and raised in. Serving the community is no new thing for Lancman, 38, assemblyman of the 25th District in Queens. It all began at the young age of 21, when a rent hike was settling upon his family’s apartment complex.

“I got notice of a big rent increase and I wanted to keep rent stabilized,” said Lancman. The rent increase at the apartment complex where he and his mother lived gave Lancman the necessary motivation to become actively involved with problems in his community. He became a participant of the Community Board and the Tenant’s Association, of which he later became vice president.

Lancman has been more than just a politician. A graduate of Columbia Law School, Lancman helped individual people for about 13 years as an attorney. Lancman worked on civil lawsuit cases and other forms of civil cases as well.

“Being a lawyer was perfect preparation for me,” Lancman said. “A big part of my job is to help my individual constituents with their communal problems and that is very similar to helping an individual client.”

Figuring out laws and bills has been relatively easy for Lancman, thanks to prior experience and involvement with the government and its legislation. Recently, what is known as the “Freedom to Report Terrorism Act” was passed, legislation that was conceived by Lancman. The bill was in response to an incident that occurred at an airport in Minnesota. Passengers assumed that there was a form of suspicious terrorist activity going on in their flight, the activity was reported and now these passengers are being sued for trying to protect fellow citizens, Lancman said.

“I wanted to make sure that good citizens would not have to fear being sued for doing the right thing to ensure the safety of others,” said Lancman.

Lancman was elected as assemblyman for the 25th District in 2006. Prior to that, Lancman ran for Democratic district leader and in 2000 ran for State Senate. Although unsuccessful, he continued to remain involved in the community and waited for another opportunity to arise.

When the opportunity came Lancman jumped on it. “I realized a very long time before this appointment that elected officials have a great impact in the community,” said Lancman. It was no question that this was a job he was ready to do.

With a presidential election coming this year, members of political parties usually begin endorsing a candidate from within their political party. And who is Lancman endorsing? New York State Sen. Hillary Clinton.

“I think Hillary will be the next president of the United States,” said Lancman with a great deal of confidence in his fellow Democrat. Lancman believes that it will be an exciting experience for the country to have a woman president, especially with Sen. Clinton being the first. “She has so much compassion, I am very confident in her.”Assemblyman Lancman has already called the University to request tickets for the third and final presidential debate which will be held at the University on October 15, 2008. Lancman is also very involved with helping out the constituents of his district. In the midst of what was an extreme scare on the St. John’s University campus, Lancman was present to address the community of impending changes to ensure the safety of the campus and the community at large. Lancman has been present at another local college as well, CUNY Queens College. While on the campus he advised students who are interested in public service careers on ways for them to achieve their goal.

In November the assemblyman organized “Labor-On-Wheels,” a program to inform immigrant workers within the district of their rights. He felt it was important for these workers to know their rights because they are so often taken advantage of because they are not informed of them. Lancman has also successfully managed to achieve his goal of obtaining a prayer room facility at JFK airport for the Sikh community. He addressed the issues of the Sikhs in the community in early September at CUNY’s Queensborough Community College.

Chief of Staff Diane Barrett, who works closely with the assemblyman showed a great deal of care and concern for him.

“Please be good to him,” said Barrett to this reporter before the interview. In the few minutes prior to the assemblyman’s arrival she offered enough information to show who he was as a person, not just as the area’s local politician. Local area constituents expressed a genuine liking for Lancman. “He’s done so much for the Jewish people of the area,” said one elderly woman from the assemblyman’s district.

Lancman truly is the family man that he is portrayed to be. Prior to arriving at his district office he had come from having dinner with his family. But, being a politician has caused him to make sacrifices including spending months away from his family during the legislative sessions.

“It’s a burden and a blessing, I’m up in Albany a good six months out of the year,” said Lancman.

His family is very supportive and when possible he takes them with him to different functions. The children have even been able to meet Gov. Spitzer.

Lancman is very involved with his children’s lives. He coaches their soccer team and helps with schoolwork whenever he can. Family is still his priority.

Lancman says “the logistics” is the most difficult aspect of being an assemblyman. He spends much of his time bouncing back and forth between Albany and New York City. Another aspect of the job that he finds difficult is covering such an odd district. The 25th District spans out very far, covering over five neighborhoods and some at a very large distance from the next one.

An overall community dedicated assemblyman, Lancman has done a lot for his district. Although he is always busy running from one area to the other, he doesn’t forget what is important-his constituents.