Errol Cockfield Jr.

Errol Cockfield Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1973-09-14) September 14, 1973 Georgetown, Guyana
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Profession	Communications Director

Errol A. Cockfield Jr. (born September 14, 1973) is the former Press Secretary to former Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer and his successor David Paterson. Cockfield also served as the Chief of Staff to the New York State Senate Democratic Conference. Before moving into politics, he was a newspaper journalist and served as the Albany bureau chief for Newsday. Cockfield is now a public relations consultant, advising corporations on crisis management issues.

Journalism career and background

Cockfield was born in Georgetown, Guyana. He graduated from Stony Brook University with a bachelor's degree in English. After graduating, he was chosen for Tribune Company's prestigious Minority Editorial Training Program and joined the Los Angeles Times as a staff reporter. While in Los Angeles, Cockfield notably interviewed prominent hip hop artists, and wrote about white power skinhead attacks on blacks, prompting the county's Commission on Human Relations to study and address the disturbing trend.

He then joined the Hartford Courant, Connecticut's largest daily newspaper, and later Newsday, serving first as a political reporter for Nassau County, New York, then as New York City economic development reporter, and finally as its Albany Bureau Chief. In New York, his notable journalistic achievements include chronicling events World Trade Center in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001; detailing a controversial plan to build a taxpayer-financed stadium for the New York Jets in Manhattan; writing about reform of New York's stringent sentencing rules under its Rockefeller drug laws; documenting the state's effort to reinstate the death penalty; and being the first reporter to document how a lack of state monitoring of assisted living facilities led to patient injuries, and later deaths.

He was elected President of New York Association of Black Journalists from 2001 to 2003, and also sat on the board of the National Association of Black Journalists, and has been a member of both since 1994. He has been a freelance contributor to magazines such as The Source, Upscale, and Vibe, has appeared on television and radio as a commentator on media, journalism and writing, and his original work has won several New York City poetry slam competitions.

Political career

Cockield was first hired in 2007 by former Governor Eliot Spitzer as Press Secretary for the Empire State Development Corporation. He was soon promoted to Press Secretary, a position that reports to the Communications Director in the executive chamber. The job opened up when Spitzer suspended his communications director Darren Dopp following his involvement in a controversy, and the previous Press Secretary Christine Anderson was elevated to Communications Director.

In September 2007, he was named one of City Hall's "40 under 40" for being a young influential member of New York State politics.

In 2013, Cockfield was working as Vice President of crisis and issues at public relations firm Edelman New York when he was reported to be representing Peter Lanza, father of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting perpetrator Adam Lanza.