Gail S. Shaffer

Gail S. Shaffer (born August 1, 1948 in North Blenheim, Schoharie County, New York), is an American politician.

She worked in publishing before entering public life in the 1970s. She served as a town supervisor for two years and then was the Executive Director of the state Rural Affairs Council. The council was chaired by then Lieutenant Governor Cuomo.

Shaffer was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1981 and 1982. In November 1982, she was re-elected, but did not take her seat in the 185th New York State Legislature. She was instead appointed by Governor Mario Cuomo as Secretary of State of New York, and took office on January 1, 1983.

She served as Secretary of State during Cuomo's three terms as governor, and left office on January 4, 1995, when she was replaced by Republican Alexander Treadwell. In 1986, Shaffer was considered a possible running mate for Cuomo for the office of Lieutenant Governor of New York. She was a delegate to the 2004 Democratic National Convention from New York.

In September 2015 she attempted to run for town supervisor of the Town of Blenheim. Shaffer was defeated by incumbent Town Supervisor Shawn J. Smith (D) in the Democratic Caucus held on September 10, 2015. It was one of the largest caucuses ever held in the Town of Blenehim, but Shaffer suffered a large defeat (losing only 10 votes). After losing the Democratic nomination to Shawn Smith, Shaffer changed parties to run as a Republican. Shaffer ran an extremely truthful General Election campaign against Smith, but Smith defeated her a second time on November 5th 2015.

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