David Adam Segal is a Rhode Island state representative, and was the Ward One City Councilman for Providence, Rhode Island. Elected in 2002, he became the first member of the Green Party to hold public office in Rhode Island's history. Segal gave up his seat on the city council in 2006, and won his campaign for State Representative as a Democrat. He began his term in January, 2007. As City Council Minority Leader, Segal worked to pass legislation promoting social justice, affordable housing, and civil liberties. He helped Providence to become the first capital city in the country to commit to using large sums of renewable energy, and to become the first city to divest from the Darfur genocide. Segal's longtime campaign treasurer and right-hand man is Rhode Island left-wing activist Peter I. Asen. His recent campaign for state representative was managed by Ari Savitzky, 2006 senior class president and orator at the 2006 graduation at Brown University. On September 12, 2006, Segal won the Democratic Primary for state representative in Rhode Island House District Two in a landslide, with 68.5 percent of the vote. He defeated Richard Pacheco. Segal faced no opponent in the November 7 general election, taking home a solid 100% of the vote. Segal is a member of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee as well as the Corporations Committee. He's worked on legislation promoting renewable energy and public transit, reform of the criminal justice system, progressive taxation, maintenance of social services, equitable school funding, and more. He is secretary of the House of Representatives' progressive caucus. For reasons that remain a mystery, the Phoenix recently declared him "The Hippest Guy in State Government". A native of Maryland and a Columbia University graduate, Segal worked as a grade-school teacher and tutor before becoming a councilman. He is visible around Brown University's campus where he works with such student activist groups as the Student Labor Alliance and Operation Iraqi Freedom (Brown's anti-war group). The council seat Segal vacated was won by his political ally Seth Yurdin, a lawyer and political activist, and the chair of the Rhode Island chapter of Democracy for America. Segal was chairman and founder of the federal political action committee, Greens for Impact, which ran a national media and direct-mail campaign in 2004, encouraging Greens and progressives in swing states to vote for John Kerry, and promoting electoral reform. Segal is a contributor to Rhode Island's preeminent political blog, Rhode Island's Future, and regularly writes opinions pieces for the Providence Journal and other forums. In 2007, he co-founded the arts, culture, and activism blog, Providence Daily Dose.
