Constance Gadell-Newton (born March 1, 1980) is an American attorney and social justice activist. She was elected State Co-Chair of the Ohio Green Party in 2016-2018, and is a candidate for Governor of Ohio in 2018.
Video Constance Gadell-Newton
Early life and education
Gadell-Newton was born in Belleville, Illinois where she experienced poverty in early childhood. She has lived in Ohio from the age of 4, raised by her mother, a nurse, and step-father, a middle-school teacher.
During her high school years, Gadell-Newton was a member of the National Honor Society. She graduated from Bishop Watterson High School, in Columbus, Ohio in 1998 which prepared her to graduate with honors from the Ohio State University with a B.A. in Philosophy and Women's Studies in 2002. As a student at the Ohio State University, Gadell-Newton also served as President and Vice-President of the Undergraduate Philosophy Club. She was media spokesperson and in charge of event planning and fund-raising for the Association of Women Students.
Gadell-Newton studied Criminal Law at Pennsylvania State University. During her law school years, she was active in class representation and charitable works:
- Student Bar Association: Class Representative, Secretary;
- The Speakers Trust, Board member;
- Diversity Committee, Chair;
- Faculty Selection Committee;
- Books to Prisoners Project of PSU-DSL: Founder, Secretary;
and received numerous awards :
- John Maher Scholarship for fluency in French;
- Dean's Scholarship;
- Miller Center Public Interest Advocate, IOLTA Fellowship Recipient. As a Miller Center Public Interest Fellowship recipient she represented indigent clients for Philadelphia Legal Assistance (PLA). As a student legal intern she gained experience in the Franklin County Public Defender, Juvenile Unit and as a summer Extern with the Honorable Anne Taylor in Franklin County Municipal Court. She was initiated to criminal law in 2008 as a Legal Intern in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, Netherlands, (the Mom?ilo Peri?i? case).
Gadell-Newton earned her J.D. from the Pennsylvania State University / Dickinson School of Law in 2008.
Maps Constance Gadell-Newton
Legal Career and Activism
Gadell-Newton was admitted to the Ohio Bar in October 2009 and currently practices criminal defense and juvenile law as managing partner of the Fitrakis & Gadell-Newton LLC law firm in Columbus. She has been licensed to practice law in the Federal Court of the Southern District of Ohio since January 2010. She has been a member of the Columbus Bar Association (CBA) since 2008, and a member of the Ohio State Bar Association (OSBA) since 2010. She has been a member of the Central Ohio Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (COACDL) since 2013, and served as Secretary to the association in 2016-2017.
Gadell-Newton works on both private and court appointed cases in Franklin County Municipal Court, Franklin County Court of Common Pleas. Her career has had a focus on low-income, minority, women, and LGBT clients. Currently, Gadell-Newton is an Attorney and Guardian ad Litem in private practice in the Franklin County Courts. She protects the rights of parents and children in Abuse/Neglect/Dependency Cases including the fundamental right to parent afforded to the people by the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. She protects the U.S. and Ohio Constitutions in her Adult and Juvenile Misdemeanor and Felony cases. Constance works as a Guardian and Attorney for teenage victims of human trafficking in the Juvenile system.
Notable Cases
So far in her career as an attorney at Fitrakis & Gadell-Newton, LLC, Constance has represented clients in the following cases:
- Authored the complaint to put Cynthia McKinney on the Ohio ballot for President of the United States.
- Trial Attorney for Black Pride 4 activists arrested at Gay Pride parade, Columbus Ohio 2017.
- Attorney for ADAPT activists arrested protesting cuts to medicaid at U.S. Senator Rob Portman's office in Columbus, Ohio
- Authored the Attorney General Complaint that resulted in the re-organization of Antioch College.
- Assisted PASS activists in exposing fraud and corruption in the No Child Left Behind tutoring program in Columbus City Schools.
- Legal assistance to Occupy Columbus.
- Representation at trial of activists charged with criminal trespass in Bank Tour Protest after 2008 economic crash resulting from mortgage crisis.
- General Counsel for the Ohio Medical Cannabis Amendment and Ohio Rights Group.
- Prisoner Advocacy regarding Supermax solitary confinement.
- Representation of Appalachia Resist! activist Madeline Ffitch, who was charged with a fifth degree felony for protesting the dumping of toxic waste into an injection well near her home.
- Representation of nine Earth First! activists at their arraignment and bond hearing on charges of criminal trespass in Washington County, Ohio for protesting the Green Hunter waste treatment facility.
Previous Campaigns for Elected Office
In 2016, Gadell-Newton was the Green Party's candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives District 18, which includes The Ohio State University's campus, the Short North, and Downtown, among other areas. Gadell-Newton ran against Democratic incumbent Kristin Boggs and Republican David Todd, finishing with 6.9% (3,857 votes) of the total vote count.
Gadell-Newton was elected to the Ohio Green Party Central Committee in 2016 and serves as Co-Chair.
Political career
Candidacy for Ohio Governor 2018
As an Ohio Green party candidate, Gadell-Newton's election platform focuses on the 10 key values which are: grassroots democracy, social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, non-violence, decentralization of wealth and power, community based economics and economic justice, feminism and gender equity, respect for diversity, personal and global responsibility, future focus on long-term goals and environmental sustainability. Gadell-Newton states that her priorities as Ohio Governor would be to:
- provide a statewide universal health care system;
- provide expansive mental health and addiction services where addiction is seen as a health care issue rather than as a crime;
- ensure education from pre-school through college;
- promote local businesses and create jobs that cannot be outsourced, protecting local employment in both cities and rural areas, protect the civil liberties and civil rights of all Ohioans, including comprehensive reproductive health care;
- criminal and drug law reform;
- changes to child support laws to help Ohio families;
- protect Ohio's clean water, air and soil by preserving wildlife, natural spaces and renewable energy;
- finally to ensure fair and honest elections for the people of Ohio.
In 2016, Gadell-Newton was the Green Party's candidate for the Ohio House of Representatives District 18, which includes The Ohio State University's campus, the Short North, and Downtown, among other areas. Gadell-Newton ran against Democratic incumbent Kristin Boggs and Republican David Todd, finishing with 6.9% (3,857 votes) of the total vote count.
Gadell-Newton was elected to the Ohio Green Party Central Committee in 2016 and serves as Co-Chair.
She is the Green Party's 2018 candidate for governor of Ohio.
Endorsements
International Socialist Organization - Columbus endorsed Connie Gadell-Newton for State Representative for Ohio House District 18 because of her involvement in the community, her stance on Black Lives Matter and workers' rights, and her decision to run for office in a solidly blue district.
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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