Welcome to Policoff for the 41st!
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Jerry Policoff is committed to the equitable funding of schools, providing every Pennsylvanian with quality, comprehensive guaranteed healthcare, ending the curtailment and denial of veterans benefits, and above all, listening to and fighting for the members of Pennsylvania's 41st legislative district.
Gerald "Jerry" Policoff
Not Just Another Pretty face
Jerry was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1947. From 1949 to 1953 he lived in Germany where his father, a U.S. Army intelligence officer, was stationed. Upon his family's return to the U.S., they settled in New York City where Jerry attended Bernard M. Baruch College and embarked upon a long private sector career in advertising and broadcast sales & sales management.
His strong interest in political activism began when he was seventeen, working for President Lyndon Johnson's reelection campaign. Jerry also campaigned for John V. Lindsay (a progressive Republican) who was elected Mayor of New York City in 1966. In 1968, Jerry worked for Democrat Eugene McCarthy's Presidential campaign.
Jerry is also a freelance historian and investigative journalist. He has appeared in documentaries and on news programs, including the prestigious PBS McNeil-Lehrer Report. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, The Washington Star, Op-Ed News (where he is a front page contributor and editor), Village Voice, New Times Magazine, The Realist, Saturday Evening Post, and in three book anthologies.
Jerry moved to Lancaster in 2004 to sell advertising time for WGAL-TV. He quickly became actively involved in Howard Dean's Presidential campaign.
He worked on the Congressional campaigns of Lois Herr in 2004 and 2006 and for Bruce Slater in 2008. He was chair of Lancaster County for Chuck Pennacchio for the U.S. Senate in 2006. He also served as Judge of Elections.
Currently he serves on the Issues subcommittee of the Lancaster County Democratic Committee. He was elected a Democratic County Committee Person this May. He is also a member of Pennsylvania for Democracy Council and an active member of Progressive Democrats of America.
In 2007 he founded and served as the chairperson of Progressives for Pennsylvania, a force for progressive activism. In 2007 Jerry also became a healthcare reform activist. He helped form Healthcare for ALLPA, an organization working to bring universal comprehensive healthcare to Pennsylvania. He currently serves as Secretary and a member of that board.
He has organized two major healthcare rallies in Harrisburg, and, with Progressives for Pennsylvania, hosted two healthcare forums at Franklin & Marshall College (one of which was attended by Governor Ed Rendell).
Jerry's efforts have been instrumental in generating widespread bi-partisan support for the healthcare reform bill. A resolution that would fund an Economic Impact Study of that bill is now pending in the PA House and Senate where it is co-sponsored by all 20 Democrats and 14 of the 30 Republicans. He was instrumental in winning endorsements of this bill by the Lancaster County Democratic Committee and Lancaster City Council.
As a result of his record of activism and successful organizing, the Democratic Selection Committee for the 41st District recruited Jerry to run this year for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 41st.