Martin Edward Connor (born March 3, 1945) is a former member of the New York State Senate from Brooklyn, New York. He was first elected to the State Senate in a special election in 1978. He is a Democrat. The 25th Senate District that he represented covers lower Manhattan and an area of Brooklyn down the East River from part of Greenpoint to Carroll Gardens, and eastward to part of Downtown Brooklyn. He lost the 2008 Democratic primary to challenger Dan Squadron. Education and early career Born in Trenton, New Jersey, Connor attended parochial schools as a child, graduating first in his class from Notre Dame High School in Lawrenceville. He earned a B.A. in politics from the Catholic University of America and a law degree from the Catholic University of America School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Catholic University Law Review. While still a student, Connor worked part-time for the general Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. Later, he served as a clerk to the in-house counsel of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. As a lawyer, Connor practiced corporate and anti-trust law for White & Case, a large Wall Street law firm, as well as the Xerox Corporation. He briefly maintained a private law practice in Brooklyn, but was appointed Assistant Counsel to New York State Comptroller Arthur Leavitt. He resigned that position upon his election to the Senate. Senate career He was a member of the New York State Senate from 1978 to 2008, sitting in the 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th, 190th, 191st, 192nd, 193rd, 194th, 195th, 196th and 197th New York State Legislatures. After 30 years in office, Connor was the New York State Senate's longest-serving Democrat. In his time in Albany, he accumulated an extensive legislative track record on a wide range of issues. He sponsored more than 100 laws. Government Reform In his time in office, Connor advocated for progressive causes such as reform of the legislative process to open Albany to public scrutiny . He claimed to have observed a voluntary ban on accepting gifts and meals from lobbyists and to have supported a recent law making such a ban mandatory for all legislators . He also supported limiting PAC and corporate campaign contributions to reduce the influence of special interest money in campaigns, as well as spending caps on state level campaigns to