Weiner resigned from Congress in June after it was revealed he sent sexually suggestive photos of himself to different women, including a minor. He ran again in , placing fifth in the Democratic primary. In , Weiner pled guilty to transferring obscene material to a minor and was sentenced to 21 months in prison.
Weiner attended elementary school at P. His older brother Seth was 39 years old when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver in Weiner took the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test , an examination used to determine admission to all but one of New York City's specialized high schools , and was admitted to Brooklyn Technical High School , from which he graduated in After he received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in , Weiner joined the staff of thenβ United States Representative and current Senator Charles Schumer.
He worked in Schumer's Washington, D. After working for Schumer for six years, Weiner got his first chance at political office in when the New York City Council was expanded from 35 to 51 seats. Weiner was considered a long-shot because he faced strong competition in the Democratic primary elections from two other candidates who had better local name recognition and funding.
Controversy ensued in the last weeks of the campaign after Weiner's campaign anonymously spread leaflets around the district that had alleged ties between Cohen and the so-called "Jackson-Dinkins agenda"; the leaflets referred to the Crown Heights riots earlier in the year, after which white residents had seen Jesse Jackson , who became notorious for his earlier remarks about New York City as " Hymietown ", and then-mayor David Dinkins as having been beholden to the predominantly African-American rioters and therefore endangering whites.
Weiner's win in the November general election was widely considered a formality because he had no opposition in the heavily Democratic district. He was 27 years old when he became the youngest councilman in the city's history. He also started a program to put at-risk and troubled teens to work cleaning up graffiti , and he backed development plans that helped revive the historic Sheepshead Bay area.
