New York State Senate Bellamy was a member of the
New York State Senate from 1973 to 1977, sitting in the
180th,
181st and
182nd New York State Legislatures.
New York City Council She mounted an uphill campaign for
President of the New York City Council in 1977. While her opponents spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in their campaigns, Bellamy carried on with just $90,000 in funds, and, despite her initially low public profile, managed to finish a strong second in the Democratic primary with 25 percent of the vote, behind the incumbent
Paul O'Dwyer, who got 30 percent, and ahead of City Councilman
Carter Burden, Assemblyman
Leonard Stavisky and developer
Abe Hirschfeld. Because no candidate had received at least 40 percent, O'Dwyer and Bellamy met in a
runoff two weeks later, which she won handily, getting 58 percent of the vote. In the November general election, she easily beat the
Republican candidate, Assemblyman John Esposito, by a 5-to-1 margin, becoming the first woman elected to citywide office in New York. She held the Council Presidency until her unsuccessful bid for
Mayor of New York in 1985.
Other positions Bellamy was a member of the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Board until she resigned from the board at the behest of Governor
Mario Cuomo in 1985. In 1982 she considered running for
Governor of New York. In 1990 she was an unsuccessful candidate for
New York State Comptroller. She served on the
New York State Board of Regents, which oversees all state education activities and the
state Department of Education, from 2005 to 2006.
Peace Corps From 1993 to 1995, Bellamy was the director of the Peace Corps. Appointed by then US President
Bill Clinton, she was the first director to have previously been a volunteer. == GCERF ==