ALBANY -- The state Senate yesterday confirmed an Eltingville woman who is a top state Republican Party member to be Staten Island's next representative on the CUNY Board of Trustees.

Rita DiMartino, 66, a former AT&T executive who has served as a White House appointee, will join the CUNY board in September, she said, following her confirmation in the GOP-controlled Senate.

"I believe that CUNY transforms lives. I know because it transformed mine," said Ms. DiMartino, who earned an associate's and bachelor's degree from the College of Staten Island, before receiving a master's degree in business administration from Long Island University.

A native of Brooklyn who has lived on Staten Island for more than 40 years, Ms. DiMartino was nominated for her new post by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. She will serve as the borough's representative on a CUNY board that includes 10 gubernatorial appointees, five mayoral nods (one from each borough) and a faculty and student representative.

The board oversees a system that includes 20 facilities, including CSI. The term of Staten Island's existing board representative, former Republican state senatorial candidate Alfred B. Curtis, expires on June 30.

She will not vote on the upcoming plans to hike CUNY tuition by $800, but has said the increase, while a last resort, "needs to be done."

Ms. DiMartino recently retired from a 25-year post at AT&T in which she last served as vice president of congressional affairs. She has served on the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan international affairs study group. She has also served as a U.S. ambassador to the United Children's Fund and the UNICEF executive board, and was appointed by President George Bush to sit on the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board.

For the past 15 years, she has served as the state Republican Party's executive vice chairwoman, but was given accolades from Republicans and Democrats yesterday. Her nomination came from state Sens. John Marchi (R-Staten Island) and Seymour Lachman (D-North Shore/Brooklyn).

Ms. DiMartino's nomination was one of two Staten Island-related actions in the upper house yesterday.

The Senate also confirmed Michael Ajello, a seasoned Tottenville lawyer, to be a judge in Brooklyn Supreme Court. Ajello, 62, a member of the state Conservative Party who is a close ally of Borough President James Molinaro, was nominated for the judgeship by Gov. George E. Pataki.

By Robert Gavin
Advance Albany Bureau
Reprinted here with permission from the