Thomas Richards

Thomas S. Richards (born July 8, 1943) is an American lawyer, business executive and politician who served as the 66th and 68th Mayor of Rochester, New York. Past career From 1972 until 1991 Richards worked in the law firm Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle (now Nixon Peabody) where he specialized in civil litigation and served at various times as the managing partner and chairman of the management committee. In 1991 he joined Rochester Gas & Electric Corp. as general counsel. He later served as senior vice president for corporate services, senior vice president for finance and as president and chief operating officer. From 1998 until 2002 he was the chairman, president and chief executive officer of RGS Energy Group, the parent company of Rochester Gas & Electric. From 2006 to 2010 he was the corporation counsel of the City of Rochester. On October 28, 2010, he was appointed Deputy Mayor of the City of Rochester by Mayor Robert Duffy and inaugurated interim mayor on January 1, 2011 when Duffy resigned to become Lieutenant Governor of New York. On January 18, 2011, Richards resigned to ensure he could run in a special election for the reminder of Duffy's mayoral term without violating terms of the Hatch Act, which could have jeopardized federal funding. 2011 Special Election On February 5, 2011, Richards was officially nominated by the Democratic committee of Rochester to be the party's candidate in the special mayoral election scheduled for March 29. Richards won the election with 48.48% of the vote to former Mayor Bill Johnson's 41.72%. Re-election Campaign