Lee began his career at Asian Americans for Equality, directing the nonprofit\u2019s policy and community advocacy. <\/p>\n
In 2011, he began working as the director of budget and legislative affairs for then-City Councilmember Leroy Comrie, who now serves in the State Senate. Comrie was deputy majority leader when Lee served under him. <\/p>\n
In his role, Lee also oversaw the budget process on behalf of the entire Queens delegation. <\/p>\n
When Melinda Katz, then a member of Queens\u2019 Council delegation, was elected Queens borough president, Lee came with her, serving as her budget director beginning in 2014. <\/p>\n
He remained in the role until 2021, when he launched a campaign for City Council District 19 in Northeast Queens. <\/p>\n
Lee finished second in the six-way Democratic primary for the seat, losing by a little less than 1,000 votes to former State Senator Tony Avella, who himself would go on to lose his race for the district by a little less than 400 votes to now-Councilmember Vickie Paladino. <\/p>\n
After his campaign, Lee returned to the Council as the head of its finance division, where he served under another Queens official \u2013 former City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. <\/p>\n
“The appointment of Richard Lee as the new commissioner of the Department of Finance is a win for all New Yorkers,” the former speaker said in a statement. “As a lifelong New Yorker and public servant, Richard has dedicated his career to shaping our city into a more equitable place for all to call home.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe city budget is a reflection of our values, and under Richard’s steady and thoughtful leadership, we succeeded in safeguarding the pillars of our city: libraries, cultural institutions, and public parks, ensuring their full funding,\u201d she added. \u201cThroughout multiple budget cycles, Richard demonstrated a rare talent in finding creative solutions to longstanding issues. New Yorkers across all five boroughs stand to benefit from Richard’s advocacy and proven leadership in city government.”<\/p>\n
His appointment was also celebrated by several other former bosses. <\/p>\n
\u201cI proudly congratulate Richard Lee on his appointment as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Finance,\u201d Comrie said in a statement. \u201cHis dedication and proven leadership will be invaluable to our city.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cRichard’s integrity, expertise, and commitment to public service make him exceptionally well-suited for this role,\u201d the senator added. \u201cI look forward to working together to strengthen our city\u2019s financial future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lee began his career at Asian Americans for Equality, directing the nonprofit\u2019s policy and community advocacy. In 2011,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-172264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}