By Gabriela Resto-Montero
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
The congressional race between incumbent Carolyn Maloney and political upstart Reshma Saujani has split a well-heeled Upper East Side political women's club, OurTown reported.
Committee President Cathy Lasry, wife of billionaire financier Marc Lasry, mother of five and a significant Democratic contributor, became co-finance chair for Saujani's campaign in a move that split the board of the Eleanor Roosevelt Committee, a group that provides grants to female candidates, the paper reported.
"Many of our board members are supporting Carolyn Maloney," Judith Hope, a supporter of Maloney's and a founder of the Eleanor Roosevelt Committee, told OurTown. "Our president, Cathy Lasry, is supporting Reshma. It's created some controversy."
Hope is herself prominent in New York's political circles, having served as the first female chair of the state's Democratic Committee from 1995 t0 2002.
Saujani is also a member of the Eleanor Roosevelt Committee, which helped raise funds for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Lasry said the group could stand the difference of opinion and that it was more important that there were two pro-choice women on the ballot, according to OurTown.
