State Assemblyman Ryan Karben is stepping down
PEARL RIVER, N.Y. State Assemblyman Ryan Karben of Rockland County is stepping down as of today.
The 31-year-old Democratic legislator says he’s been in public service for 13 years - starting when he was an 18-year-old member of the Ramapo Town Planning Board. His spokesman says Karben sent letter to State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver announcing his resignation. Karben says he is leaving the Assembly as of today to spend more time with his wife and three daughters. And to devote more time to his law practice.

Karben served on the town planning board until he was elected to the Rockland County Legislature in 1997, and re-elected in 1999. He then ran for the state assembly in the 95th District in 2002 when Democrat Sam Colman retired from the legislature to become a Ramapo Town Justice.

Karben was re-elected to the Assembly in 2004, and would have been up for re-election this November.

His spokesman Aaron Troodler says it’s unclear if the assembly office in the Blue Hill Plaza in Pearl River will be kept open. He says the mechanics of following up on constituent issues are still being worked out.

Another one bites the dust..