Radhakrishna Mohan running for New York’s 11th Congressional District

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NEW YORK – Apart from Omar Vaid, an Indian American, who is running for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 11th Congressional District to replace Republican Congressman Don Donavan, another Indian American has joined the race: Radhakrishna Mohan.

According to an interview with the Staten Island Advance, Mohan is a labor union leader for 2,000 working people, requiring trips back and forth to Albany, New York.

Born in Chittoor, India, Mohan has been living in the U.S. for the last 27 years and currently lives in Staten Island, New York, where he has been an active member of the Community Board 1 of Staten Island as well as being a member of the Staten Island Hindu Temple Board and likes working with youngsters to raising funds for charities, according to the interview with the Staten Island Advance.

According to his website, the issues Mohan is focusing on include: preserving the Affordable Care Act, oppose any Tax reforms that will not help American Citizens, protect and improve Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, improve the country’s Immigration System, improve health care and job opportunities for Veterans, Terrorism, make college tuition more affordable for low and middle income families, increase funding and combat for opioid addiction and abuse, minimize Staten Island’s bridge tolls, increase funding to modernize and expand the transit system and many more.

“Our democracy and country is going through a difficult time under the current administration and we should not let it go too far,” Mohan told PTI.

According to an interview with the Staten Island Advance, Mohan earned his post-graduate degree in economics and his bachelor’s degree in economics and mathematics from SV University in India, which after he completed an associate degree in computer science at CUNY and became a Microsoft Certified Professional along with earning an Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) certification while completing the SANS Security Essentials Bootcamp Course.

In India, he worked at Chennai Secretariat where he was part of “The Team” who took over the failed leadership of the Tamil Nada Secretariat Union, according to an interview with the Staten Island Advance.

After coming to the U.S., Mohan worked for the National Savings Bank in Albany before moving to Staten Island where now works as an Information Technology (IT) Specialist 4 at the New York State Insurance Fund (NYSIF), according to an interview with the Staten Island Advance.

“I introduced telecommuting in the workplace and had my motion passed at the PEF convention to mandate equal time off for female employees in New York State, which is now awaiting passage in the Legislature,” Moahn told the Staten Island Advance adding that he is “focused on workers’ comp benefits, erosion of New York State civil service and stopping privatization of state government jobs.”

Mohan mentioned to the Staten Island Advance that he has also “attended Service Employees International Union (SEIU) conferences in Puerto Rico in 2008, Colorado in 2012 and Detroit in 2016” and has “participated in all of the annual PEF conventions in Canada since 2002.”

Along with being an active member of the Community Board 1 of Staten Island, Mohan is involved in several other organizations including being the second vice president of the South Shore Democratic Club; an executive board member of Staten Island Democratic Association (SIDA), a member of the Democratic Organization of Richmond County, the treasurer at the 121st Police Precinct Community Council, the past corresponding secretary at the 122nd Precinct, a member of the Port Richmond CERT, a member of the Staten Island Building Bridges Interfaith Community and an executive board member of the Lathrope Voorspuy Memorial Scholarship Fund, according to an interview with the Staten Island Advance.

“I am a first responder at the NYSIF with AED training and I raise funds for charities as coordinator of the State Employees Federated Appeal,” Mohan added.

Mohan has received the Honorable John W. Lavelle Labor Award and was recognized by Building Bridges in 2015 for his contributions to the Interfaith Community as well as the PEF for the mobilization of the PAC contribution drive, according to an interview with the Staten Island Advance.

Mohan told the Staten Island Advance that he looks up to many prominent figures in history including: Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Moahn has been married to Kusuma for 30 years and they have two sons, Mahesh and Harish Salkara, according to his website.