Morgan Pehme has been executive director of New York Civic since May 2010. Prior to joining Civic, Morgan taught journalism, film, television, and advertising at St. John’s University in Queens and Manhattan. He also worked as a political consultant, advising candidates, acting as a spokesperson, and managing campaigns throughout the five boroughs.
Morgan began his career as a journalist, serving as managing editor of The Queens Courier and editor-in-chief of the now defunct paper Manhattan Today. Additionally, his work has been published in The Huffington Post, UR Chicago, Our Town, and many other newspapers and magazines. Morgan is also an award-winning screenwriter and producer. His first film, Exist, was lauded by the New York Times as “an antidote to the whimsy and solipsism endemic to much of what passes for independent film making.” His second film, Nightmare, won numerous film festivals around the world and was distributed in the U.S. by IFC Films.
A former United States National Scholastic Chess Champion, Morgan was one of the subjects of director Lynn Hamrick’s 1996 documentary Chess Kids. He was also portrayed as the character “Morgan” by actor Hal Scardino in the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer.
Morgan has given talks at Fordham University, Fordham Law School, Touro College, and NYU. He has appeared as a guest on Air America radio, TOKYO-FM, and the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC.
Morgan Pehme is the executive director of New York Civic.
Thursday, January 5th, 2012
Many citizens believe that they could do a better job in government than our elected officials, if only they had the chance to serve. Running for office, however, is an enormously complicated, confusing, and expensive endeavor that often seems inaccessible to anyone not already in the inner circle of politics.
As part of our work as a good government group, New York Civic has spearheaded the creation of “Candidate College”, a free informational Web series designed to teach people of all ages and political affiliations how to make a serious bid for elected office. This ongoing video series, which features many of New York’s most accomplished consultants and experts in the field, aims to provide the public with an honest, educated, and unvarnished view of electoral politics by illuminating the pitfalls that often ensnare first-time candidates. Our ultimate goal is to teach future candidates how to empower their idealism and run clean, aboveboard, effective campaigns, despite all of the obstacles to doing so.
Morgan Pehme is the executive director of New York Civic.
Friday, August 19th, 2011
Thanks in large part to Ed Koch, New York Uprising, and the ReShape New York coalition of good government groups, New Yorkers have shown a much greater interest in addressing the decennial practice of gerrymandering in their state than ever before. But despite the increase in attention the issue of redistricting has received from the media and the public, there is still a great deal about the current debate that is largely unknown, misunderstood, or unsaid. The following are ten things you probably didn't know about redistricting:
1. It's not just the Republican Senate that wants to keep redistricting in the State Legislature's hands. It has been widely reported that were the lines redrawn according to a fair and equitable process that the Republicans would almost definitely lose the majority in the State Senate, but Assembly Democrats have just as much a vested self-interest in controlling the map. The two cardinal rules for the leaders of any legislature are: 1) protect your conference; and 2) protect your members.
