As we mentioned back in September, the key to governing the city at this critical juncture is nursing a more diverse economy back to health while maintaining and building on the gains of recent years in education, business, public safety and the vibrant culture that defines New York City. We think Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is running as a Republican and Independent, is best qualified for this job.

Throughout the past eight years, Bloomberg has advanced ambitious plans to overhaul the largest public school system in the country, mitigate traffic and congestion, increase and improve green space, foster arts and culture and rezone the city to fit the residential and business needs of tomorrow—all while driving crime to record lows and keeping a vigilant eye on a terrorist threat that still lingers. His goal has been to enhance New York City’s best attributes to make it a place where people want to live, do business and visit. A keen businessman, the mayor understands that these three goals are inextricably linked, and he has the foresight and drive to make them all priorities. We strongly endorse him for re-election.

Comptroller: John Liu

During the primary, we found Democrat John Liu to be an estimable candidate who had both bold ideas for the office and the financial know-how to tackle its fiscal responsibilities. His Republican opponent, Joe Mendola, certainly has the right background for the job, but he is so focused on painting Liu as a political insider that he hasn’t articulated a clear vision for the office. Liu will surely bring the same tenacity to the comptroller’s duties as he does to City Council committee hearings, and we endorse him for the general election.

Public Advocate: Bill de Blasio

We found Democrat Bill de Blasio to have the most far-reaching vision for this office, and the most detailed plans for executing that vision on a shoestring budget. We hope he can leverage the public advocate’s meager resources
by working with organizations like Transportation Alternatives and the Brennan Center for Justice, at New York University Law School. His Republican opponent, Alex Zablocki, simply doesn’t have the same innovative ideas for making the most of this citywide ombudsman office. We endorse de Blasio for public advocate.

Manhattan District Attorney: Cy Vance

We were highly impressed with all three candidates running for the Democratic nomination for Manhattan District Attorney this September. Cy Vance, who won the primary and is running unopposed in the general election, plans to develop a community-based justice model to better attack problems such as domestic violence and discrimination against immigrants. He has also promised to tackle the criminal court backlog and form special units for mental health issues and hate crimes. The Manhattan district attorney’s office is the most important prosecutorial body in the country, and we have no doubt that Vance will build upon the impressive work of longtime D.A. Robert Morgenthau. We enthusiastically endorse Vance for Manhattan D.A.

Manhattan Borough President: Scott Stringer

If anyone has put to rest calls to abolish the office of borough president, it’s Democrat Scott Stringer. While the City Charter does sketch out rather limited powers for this position—issuing advisory opinions on large developments, appointing community board members and making assignments to various boards—Stringer has squeezed every ounce of productivity out of this role. He’s brought an unwavering spotlight to classroom crowding problems, come up with concrete ways to help preserve small businesses and made greening the city and healthy eating top priorities. His Republican opponent, David Casavis, is running to abolish the office altogether; we suspect he just lacks imagination. Stringer gets our wholehearted support.

City Council District 4: Dan Garodnick

During his four years in office, Democrat Dan Garodnick has shown that he’s a rising star in city government. He’s given Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village tenants a strong voice during turbulent times, and he won key concessions for the East River Realty project. We endorse him for re-election.

City Council District 5: Jessica Lappin

Jessica Lappin, a Democrat, learned this district inside and out while serving as chief of staff to her predecessor, Council Speaker Gifford Miller. She’s led the fight for safer crane operation and has worked tirelessly to get funding for three new waterfront parks. We endorse her for re-election.

Joe Mendola

Republican Running for City Comptroller
The city comptroller has to manage an $80 billion pension fund for retirees and taxpayers—which makes it key for the person to be independent, says Joe Mendola.

In the past, the city’s chief financial officers have used the office to pave the way for a mayoral bid, Mendola notes, which means the fiscal interests of New Yorkers are not a top priority.

“If you’re managing pension funds and using the office as a stepping stone, you’ll use those funds to placate interest groups,” he said.

Like most Republicans running for office this November, one quality Mendola touts is his independence from interest groups and not being a career politician.

He criticized his Democratic opponent, Queens Council Member John Liu, for being a political insider who will use the comptroller’s office to repay campaign favors from special interest groups. Liu, like his predecessors, will only use the office as a springboard to Gracie Mansion, Mendola argues.

“If you take politics out of the office, I can make investments based solely on what’s responsible,” he said.

A lifelong Democrat who lives in Greenwich Village, Mendola registered as a Republican right before the November 2008 elections. He said he felt more comfortable with Republicans on fiscal issues and called the federal stimulus package a “waste of taxpayer money.”

Professionally, Mendola is a compliance officer who makes sure that investments are in line with regulation. That experience means he is the only qualified candidate running for the office, he says.

“I know the [Securities and Exchange Commission] laws. I know the funds my company invests in comply with the rules,” he said. “I have the skills the comptroller needs.”

If elected, Mendola said he would increase transparency by posting investment returns online, as well as the names of outside consultants that are used in the office.

“We need to bring accountability and transparency to the system,” he said.

Mendola also wants to aggressively audit city agencies and examine the use of outside contractors.

“They’ve got to go in there with a fine tooth comb and make sure we’re getting our money’s worth,” he said. “The system needs to be cleansed, needs to be reformed.”

Alex Zablocki

Republican Running for Public Advocate
When Alex Zablocki meets a voter who has no clue what the public advocate is, he hands them a business card detailing the position. For the record, the public advocate is an ombudsman, an independent check on City Hall who fields citizens’ complaints.

Zablocki, who at 26 is the youngest person to run for this office, wants the public advocate to be more community oriented. He would open a satellite office in every borough, plus one in northern Manhattan, and promises to be an active member of Council committees.

“The outer boroughs need a voice, someone that will stand up for regular people,” he said.

Zablocki is a Staten Islander and aide to his local state senator, Andrew Lanza, a Republican. Though Zablocki is socially liberal, he is opposed to onerous regulations that he says hurt small business. He criticized City Council bills that impose paid sick leave, require most restaurants to post calorie information and fine stores for leaving the door open while air conditioning is in use.

“All of these things are burdensome on small business at the wrong time,” he said. “The City Council should be looking at making it easier for small businesses to open.”

If elected, Zablocki wants reform the office that was created in 1993, even taking away some of its power. He wants to strip the public advocate from being next in line for mayor, but give the office some teeth by arming the public advocate with subpoena power.

While the public advocate is thought to be a thorn in the side of the mayor, Zablocki also wants to be a check on the Democratic-dominated Council that currently includes his opponent, Democrat Bill de Blasio.

“He also comes from the same City Council that I feel needs to be held accountable,” Zablocki said of de Blasio. “I think we need a voice that will be completely independent from City Council.”

David Casavis

Republican Running for Manhattan Borough President
The slogan for David Casavis’ borough president campaign is “David Can-Save-Us.” And what he wants to save us from is the borough presidency itself.

Casavis, an Upper East Sider, is running for a position that he feels is a useless piece of bureaucracy and a waste of taxpayer money.

The borough presidents, who used to sit on the Board of Estimate, once held great sway over land use and budgetary matters. But in 1989, the Supreme Court ruled that the Board of Estimate gave too much power to less populous boroughs and diverted most of the borough presidents’ authority to the City Council.

“It is a vestigial organ. It’s left over,” Casavis said. “It’s only the bully pulpit.”

His opponent, incumbent Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, might disagree. Wielding policy papers and studies, Stringer has been able to squeeze power out of an office that has little official responsibility. According to the City Charter, the borough president must give an advisory opinion on large developments before they go to the City Planning Commission, appoint half of the borough’s community board members and make appointments to various boards, including those that govern city planning and pension funds.

Casavis, however, sees the borough presidency differently.

“Your job is to keep your face in the camera,” he said.

A Manhattan Republican Party foot soldier, Casavis says he wants to be elected so he can start dismantling the office, ultimately saving the city $60 million. Instead of hiring staff, he would hire lawyers to devise a plan to end the borough presidency, likely through a charter commission.

Though other Republican borough president candidates are rejecting Casavis’ manifesto, he says GOP candidates for City Council are heeding his call. Better yet, voters are open to the idea.

“If I talk to every single voter, I could win with 75 percent. This is enormous, this is universal,” Casavis said. “Everybody I speak with, even people who are loyal Democrats, say, ‘What does the borough president do?’”

If Casavis loses his race, he hopes to continue his crusade. For only a dollar, he would serve on the charter commission to fight against the borough presidency.

Joshua Goldberg

Republican Running for City Council District 6

Republicans will always have an incredibly difficult time running a race in the very progressive Upper West Side—Joshua Goldberg, perhaps, even more so.

Goldberg’s brother Jonah is the conservative writer who authored Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning. His mother, Lucianne, convinced Linda Tripp to record her conversations with Monica Lewinsky, which almost brought down President Bill Clinton during his impeachment.

Goldberg, however, says that he never adopted that brand of conservatism.

“I tend to be more moderate than the rest of my family,” he said.

Goldberg, a former double-decker bus tour guide who currently manages his mother’s news website, entered the race at the behest of local Republican district leaders.

“This year there is a big opportunity here,” Goldberg said. “Firstly, people are really upset with the Council knuckling under and taking away term limits without the voters’ consent.”

Though his opponent, incumbent Council Member Gale Brewer, voted against the term limits extension bill, Goldberg criticized her for waiting until the last minute to make her position known. He also knocked Brewer for running for a third term after she voted against the term limit extension legislation.

Other than that vote, though, Goldberg respects Brewer as a public servant and lauded her constituent services operation. In this heavily Democratic district, Brewer is all but assured to be re-elected.

“Believe me, I know this is a quixotic quest, so to speak,” Goldberg said. “I am under no illusions to what I’m up against.”

But he is running to give residents in the district—which roughly covers the Upper West Side from West 56th to 96th streets—a choice between the incumbent and a candidate who will bring down taxes and spending.

Goldberg considers cracking 20 percent of the vote a victory for fiscal responsibility.

“If somebody is concerned about taxes and runaway spending in the city, they should vote for me as opposed to Gale Brewer,” Goldberg said.

Abbi Lee Rogers

Republican Running for City Council District 9
Abbi Lee Rogers has a laundry list of complaints against her Democratic opponent, Council Member Inez Dickens, who represents District 9.

Topping her list of grievances is Dickens’ support for extending term limits; Rogers would have preferred a public referendum to determine any changes to the term limits law.

Next on the complaint list would be the controversial rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem, which Dickens supported and helped shape. Rogers feels the new rezoning plan will drastically change the neighborhood and displace residents.

“I don’t like the fact that 125th Street was rezoned against the will of the people,” she said.

If elected, Rogers said she wants to reallocate discretionary money—known as member items—to organizations that specifically serve the Harlem district. While Dickens has showered money on her district, Rogers feels there are some organizations outside of Harlem that have benefited from the incumbent’s largesse.

“I don’t like the politics in Harlem and I don’t like the politics in the City Council,” she said.

The district covers a sliver of the Upper West Side from Broadway to the Hudson River between West 96th and 110th streets.

Rogers, a fifth-generation Harlemite and second vice president of the Harlem Republican Club, has business and administrative experience as the former head of the United States division of furniture manufacturer Arenson International, which is based in the United Kingdom. She has also managed 50 co-op buildings in Manhattan.

When it comes to education, Rogers wants the cap on charter schools to be lifted and criticized Dickens for limiting their growth.

“If charter schools are succeeding, why are we stifling them?” she said.

Still, she is running an uphill battle in this Democratic district to make a stand against the usual politics in Harlem.

“I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired and watching it go by year after year,” Rogers said.

John Liu

Running for City Comptroller
By Josh Zembik

Before running for City Council, John Liu worked at PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

He doesn’t have the faintest hint of a Boston accent, and he doesn’t summer at Hyannis Port, but City Council Member John Liu has a bit of Kennedy mystique coursing through him. When Liu’s family moved to the United States from Taiwan when he was 5, his father, Chang Liu, changed the son’s name from Chun to John in honor of President Kennedy. Appropriately, Chang changed his own name to Joseph, and John’s younger brothers became Robert and Edward.

Now, nearly 50 years after Kennedy became the first Roman Catholic President of the United States, Liu hopes to do a little trailblazing of his own. Already the first Asian-American to be elected to legislative office in New York City, Liu is running for city comptroller.

“My dad was a big Kennedy fan,” Liu said, “and when he suggested I change my name to John, I took him up on his advice. But that’s as far as I’d dare go in terms of likening myself to President Kennedy.”

This is a story the Council member has told many times before, so much so that it’s become a joke among the city’s political insiders. But the Kennedy connection and immigrant story is perhaps one way Liu hopes to distinguish himself to Manhattan primary voters, a critical bloc being wooed by all four outer-borough candidates vying for comptroller. All of the candidates serve on the City Council, and three hail from Queens: Melinda Katz, David Weprin and Liu. The fourth candidate, David Yassky is from Brooklyn. The glut of candidates from Queens made that borough’s Democratic Party endorsement of Liu all the more notable: he won 49 votes to Katz’s six and Weprin’s three.

Prolific in his press releases, and known for asking tough questions during Council committee hearings, Liu was at first considered a public advocate contender before he became the last entrant in the comptroller’s race. He staked out a high-profile role opposing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s term limit extension bid, though the effort was unsuccessful.

He says he has great concern over the city’s financial health. Liu has suggested a small tax increase targeted at the city’s wealthy to replenish the depleted coffers; the idea has been seconded by Katz, but rejected by the other two candidates.

“New York City’s income tax simply is not progressive,” Liu said. “It tops out at about $80,000, and it doesn’t seem fair that the teacher pays the same city income tax rate as a filthy rich person like Mike Bloomberg. We should be graduating our tax rate and combining that with the need to make up the [budget] shortfalls by at least temporarily asking the very high income earners to pay a slightly higher percentage.”

As manager of the city’s financial health, the comptroller oversees city pension funds. At a June candidates’ forum, Liu and his opponents all agreed that the current system is bankrupting the city. However, while Katz has suggested investing some of the fund in successful local businesses that are strapped with debt, Liu has erred on the side of caution.

“I believe that restoring confidence in the pension fund is of paramount concern, and the way to do that is not to go into all sorts of risky investments,” he said. “There are plenty of buy opportunities in the stock market, and there should be traditional investments that get us back to the basics.”

Liu has also taken a keen interest in New York City schools. A member of the Education Committee, he has called for infrastructure and high-tech upgrades, as well as a reassessment of standardized testing. While all four candidates have criticized Bloomberg for what they see as too much emphasis on test scores, only Liu and Weprin joined Comptroller William Thompson in calling on the mayor to fire Schools Chancellor Joel Klein.

“I’m for change and some level of business discipline,” Liu said. “A move like this is perhaps necessary to give things a jolt. [Klein’s] approach has outlived its usefuless.”

Liu attended New York City public schools, and graduated from SUNY Binghamton. A Flushing resident since his family moved from Taiwan, he and his wife, Jenny, have a young son, Joey.

Before running for Council, Liu worked as a manager at the financial consulting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where he says he gained experience in oversight and rooting out waste.

Those skills have served Liu well as chairman of the Transportation Committee, which deals with the MTA, Department of Transportation and Taxi and Limousine Commission. Liu has been a major critic of the MTA, opposing fare increases and congestion pricing fees, and pushing for faster and better-appropriated bus service, especially for outerborough residents.

Although his base is among the black and Hispanic community and unions, including 1199 SEIU, DC 37 and the Transit Union, Liu has also snagged the backing of Rep. Charles Rangel. According to the latest data, Liu has a substantial fundrasing lead, pulling in $3.2 million to date, almost $1 million more than his next closest competitor, Katz.

He is proud of his fundraising edge, but knows it doesn’t make him a shoo-in.

“The only poll that counts is the one on September 15,” Liu said, referring to Primary Day. “That’s all that matters.”

Leslie Crocker Snyder

Running for Manhattan District Attorney
By Danielle Friedman

Leslie Crocker Snyder was one of two women in her Case Western Reserve University class. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

On the steps of City Hall, Leslie Crocker Snyder is flanked by nearly a dozen burly men. Many wear navy T-shirts emblazoned with “FDNY.” Snyder is polished and youthful-looking, dressed in a pinstriped pantsuit, her blond hair perfectly straight and styled. Her gaze is steady.

The group has convened on a sunny morning in July to announce that the Uniformed Firefighters Association, New York’s largest firefighters union, is endorsing Snyder for Manhattan District Attorney. It’s one of more than a dozen law enforcement organizations that have pledged support to the former Criminal and State Supreme Court judge, who is known for doling out formidable sentences.

“For 35 years, Judge Snyder’s work has made our streets safer and our city a better place to live, work and visit,” said UFA president Steve Cassidy.

The lone woman in this sea of men, Snyder began breaking gender barriers in law school, where she was one of two women in her Case Western Reserve University class. If elected to fill the well-worn shoes of current District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, the 67-year-old will become Manhattan’s first female D.A. and one of only a handful in the country.

Snyder seems at ease standing alone. She earned her tough reputation presiding over cases involving some of the city’s most dangerous criminals, including violent street gangs and mobsters; for years, her family needed 24/7 bodyguard protection. While she was lauded for helping to protect the city during some of its most tumultuous years, some critics have singled her out as ruthless. She once, now famously, told a defendant that she’d be willing to give him a lethal injection herself, a comment she says she now regrets (she’s since changed her position on the death penalty, saying she is opposed to it under any circumstances, a move her opponents have characterized as pandering to progressive Manhattan voters).

Snyder stood alone in 2005, too, when she became the first candidate in decades to challenge Morgenthau for his seat. The attempt to dethrone her former boss led Morgenthau to vilify her—he’s attacked her in the press ever since.

Now, weeks before the Democratic primary, Snyder is standing out again—this time for beating competitors Cyrus Vance, Jr. and Richard Aborn in polls by double digits. She’s also ahead in fundraising; she had raised $1.45 million by mid-July. Her campaigners have been working hard, and she believes her experience wins voters over.

All three candidates are alumni of the Manhattan D.A.’s office, and Vance has scored Morgenthau’s endorsement. The son of President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of State, Vance touts his decades as a litigator and defense attorney. Aborn drafted two major pieces of gun-control legislation and has worked as a technology consultant to law enforcement agencies. But Snyder believes her experience trumps her opponents’. She’s earned the endorsements of big names like Ed Koch and Geraldine Ferraro, and she points out that she’s been advocating for reform for four years now, while her competitors only recently stepped up.

Snyder, who grew up in New York and Baltimore, said she knew she wanted to be a criminal lawyer since the age of 5.

“My parents used to tell me that I argued about everything,” she jokes.

In 1968, she landed a job as an assistant D.A. under Frank Hogan, becoming the first woman in the office to prosecute homicides (Hogan initially told Snyder she’d need a “letter of permission” from her husband). She also founded Manhattan’s Sex Crimes Prosecution Bureau and co-wrote its Rape Shield Law, which prevents a rape victim’s sexual history from being used against her, and repealed a requirement that witnesses corroborate a victim’s testimony. She joined a private practice in 2002.

Now Snyder hopes to invigorate an office she’s said has become stale under Morgenthau, who began when Gerald Ford was president. She also hopes to build on its strengths. Her vision includes transforming the office into a more proactive one, in which assistant D.A.s form partnerships with educators, religious leaders, social service agencies, law enforcement and others, working together to prevent young people from becoming first offenders. She believes that “far too many” have been incarcerated, and that early intervention is the solution.

Other top priorities include fighting for the rights of minority groups and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, and prosecuting white-collar crime “vigorously and fairly.” She also hopes to form a so-called Second Look Bureau to examine possible wrongful convictions and learn from past mistakes. And she wants all New Yorkers to develop greater confidence in the legal system.

“People on 125th Street feel like they’re getting a very different kind of justice than people on Wall Street,” she said.

An Upper East Sider for four decades, Snyder raised two sons in the area. She and her husband, a retired pediatrician and artist, can sometimes be spotted walking their dog through the neighborhood.

Snyder has honed a tough reputation, but surely a thick skin and steely resolve are necessary for the role of top prosecutor. As for the animosity from Morgenthau, she’s not dwelling on it: she’s more interested in focusing on the positive—and on the changes she hopes to bring to the city.

“I’m looking forward,” Snyder said, “not back.”

Norman Siegel

Running for Public Advocate
By Danielle Friedman

Norman Siegel, a civil rights lawyer, came of age during the civil rights movement. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

On a drizzly Monday night, the Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, is buzzing. More than 100 locals have turned out for a public advocate candidate forum. Steel-drum calypso music blasts from speakers as the mostly black audience takes its seats.

Three of the five candidates vying to replace incumbent Betsy Gotbaum, who opted out of a third term, are participating. After brief introductions, they take the floor. When Norman Siegel addresses the crowd, he sounds more like a preacher than a lawyer.

“Good evening,” he booms, then smiles.

The 65-year-old holds the mike a little too close, causing his words to rattle in the speakers. He paces, getting in the audience’s face.

“Up to this point, this office has not fulfilled its potential,” he says. “When I’m public advocate, people will know who the public advocate is.”

The other candidates at the forum, Council Members Eric Gioia of Queens and Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn, offer eloquent opening remarks (the fourth Democratic candidate, Mark Green, and Republican contender Alex Zablocki said they could not participate.) The Council members are more polished, more specific. But they don’t rouse the audience like Siegel does.

While all city offices represent and serve the people, none are quite as direct as public advocate. The post is meant to provide a voice for New Yorkers. Or as Siegel describes it: to be visible, a big mouth and a fighter.

The public advocate is also next in succession for mayor, making it the second highest elected office in the city. Yet few New Yorkers know what the office is or does. Siegel plans to change this.

A high-profile civil rights lawyer and former head of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Siegel says he has represented New Yorkers for 40 years. In many ways, he embodies the city. A graduate of Brooklyn College, he’s loud, outspoken and a little zany (he has mentioned organizing a doo-wop singing contest among the candidates; he grew up on the music in Brooklyn). He’s passionate and a little angry. He quotes Clint Eastwood, telling corrupt officials they can “make his day.” And he’s a dreamer. When he talks about becoming public advocate, his eyes gleam. He came of age during the civil rights movement—during law school at New York University, he spent summers in the South, fighting for equal rights—and the zeal of that era continues to propel him.

Among the candidates, Siegel is also the only non-career politician, something he often points out. Yet while his outsider status could help him, it could also serve as a disadvantage. He’s rougher around the edges than the other Democratic candidates, arguably with less name recognition. And while it’s his third bid for the office, he’s still honing his campaigning skills.

“I believe I’m the only one of the four who can transform this office,” he says, so that it “makes a huge difference in people’s lives.”

Throughout his career, Siegel has fought for outcasts and radicals, the privileged and destitute. During the Republican National Convention in 2004, he successfully lobbied to release protestors who’d been arrested and held inappropriately. He fought for public access to the steps of City Hall and the right to protest on Central Park’s Great Lawn. And he represents tenants in West Harlem in their fight against Columbia University and eminent domain. Siegel and his wife, Saralee Evans, an acting justice in the State Supreme Court for New York County, are residents of the Upper West Side. They have five grandchildren.

Siegel has far-reaching plans for the office. He hopes to recruit hundreds of volunteers to be “surrogate public advocates” in each community—every week they’d meet with residents and report back to him. He also wants to create an “Institute of Advocacy” through which he’d train New Yorkers to make themselves heard.

Other priorities include helping New Yorkers navigate the recession and improving public education and literacy for all ages. He also wants to address race relations head-on, particularly within the law enforcement community.

If a city agency isn’t serving the public, he says he’ll use the “bully pulpit,” as the office has been called, to its full advantage. He’ll embarrass whoever’s responsible via the media, and if he has to, he’ll sue.

In the latest Marist Poll, Siegel placed second to Green, who’s running for the office again after being the first to hold it in the 1990s (Green scored 39 percent of the vote, while Siegel had 16 percent). Yet Siegel has raised more money than in his previous two campaigns—$134,000 of matchable amounts, totaling more than $800,000—thanks largely to phone calls and house parties. He’ll now be able to advertise widely.

Still, Green has the advantage of name recognition. And Gioia and de Blasio have long records to show for their own public advocacy.

In the end, Siegel’s chances will, in part, come down to whether New Yorkers are ready to take a leap of faith on an outsider. Of course, if Siegel had his way, the race would likely be decided by a doo-wop sing-off. In that contest, Siegel would surely project his voice above the rest.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is running for re-election to a third term, arguing that the economic collapse requires continuity and his particular brand of leadership. But his opponents argue that he has been too friendly with Wall Street and the real estate developers that contributed to this problem in the first place. As the city hits record jobless rates, with particularly high numbers of unemployed in the African American community, concrete plans to fix an ailing system are desperately needed.

We asked the candidates how they plan on preserving jobs, as businesses large and small must cut back on employees, and how they intend to create new jobs without relying on traditional sectors of the city’s economy (like real estate and Wall Street). We also asked how they would help large and small businesses thrive through initiatives like tax incentives and training. Finally, we asked how these candidates would spend federal stimulus dollars to inject a much-needed shot of adrenaline into the economy.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, running as a Republican and Independent

Job Preservation/Creation
The mayor’s Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan, his strategy for getting through the recession, pledges to preserve or create 400,000 jobs through various initiatives. To help people obtain work, the mayor has set up Workforce 1 Career Centers that give job training, career advice and job placement opportunities. According to the administration, the centers have helped place 68,500 people in jobs so far. The mayor is also using $32 million in federal stimulus money to help train and place workers through other career training efforts. He is additionally putting money toward infrastructure to create more construction jobs and diversifying New York’s economy by making existing buildings energy efficient, an initiative that could potentially create thousands of green jobs. For example, the mayor’s capital investment plan is putting money toward infrastructure to create construction jobs, and his “Greener, Greater Buildings Plan,” a six-point strategy to make existing large buildings energy efficient through retrofits, will create approximately 19,000 green construction jobs.

Diversifying the Economy
To reduce the city’s reliance on Wall Street and real estate, the mayor has been working with the City Council to lure the film and television sectors back into the city through a targeted tax incentive program and an easy online permitting process. According to the city, this has contributed to a 92 percent increase in shooting days and $5 billion a year in economic activity, as well as 100,000 jobs.

The mayor has also been working on improving tourism in the city; the industry is currently responsible for 370,000 jobs. In 2006, the mayor announced a plan to attract 50 million tourists to the city by 2015. In 2008, 47 million tourists visited New York City and spent approximately $30 billion.

Initiatives to attract biotechnology companies to New York recently netted a pledge from Eli Lilly’s ImClone to locate its research headquarters in East River Park. The mayor says the move will create 2,000 permanent jobs and 1,800 construction jobs.

In light of the recent challenges facing media companies with a traditional business model, Bloomberg also has a plan for maintaining and enhancing New York’s status as a global media capital. The mayor said the initiatives, which include increasing collaboration among media companies, training top talent and attracting global companies to the city, will ultimately create 8,000 jobs.

Tax Incentives
The mayor is against the unincorporated business tax, which places a double tax on small businesses. He has helped to eliminate or reduce this tax for 17,000 small businesses in the city by increasing credits that offset the tax. This plan was in the mayor’s 2009 State of the City address, and he proceeded to work with local business leaders, the City Council and the state so that it could be included in the FY 2010 budget. The effect of the credits is that unincorporated businesses with taxable incomes under $100,000 pay no tax, and unincorporated business with taxable incomes under $150,000 pay a reduced tax. Albany’s approval of the mayor’s plan has saved small businesses nearly $25 million annually through the reduction or elimination of the tax for some small businesses.

The mayor has lobbied Albany to provide other tax incentives for big and small businesses that set up headquarters in New York City, with a particular emphasis on emerging international markets like China and India. The mayor would not, however, approve a plan that would give property tax incentives to landlords who agree to renegotiate leases with small businesses suffering from construction on the Second Avenue subway line.

Small Business
Bloomberg created six NYC Business Solution Centers around the city that have so far helped 35,000 small businesses with planning, financing, hiring and training. During Bloomberg’s tenure, he supported the creation of 20 new Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), community groups that focus on local business development. That is the largest number of BIDs to be created by one single administration. To help small businesses through the recession, the mayor is expanding the NYC Capital Access Loan Guarantee program, which leverages city funds to give emergency loans to small businesses and non-profits. He is also putting $500,000 in state funds toward the NYC Business Solutions Training Grant program to help small businesses train employees. Other online tools, like NYC Business Express website, help small business owners more efficiently deal with government and the permitting process.

Stimulus Money
The mayor is investing $261 million of the federal stimulus funds in transportation and capital improvement projects, specifically those that will require jobs even after initial construction is complete. Examples include reconstruction of West 125th Street and East Houston Street, and the rehabilitation of three roadway bridges in Manhattan, which the city says will preserve or create approximately 32,000 jobs. He is also using $400 million for infrastructure improvements to the city’s public housing developments, including more than $8 million for elevator construction improvements in King Towers and $2 million in repairs to Washington Heights Rehab IV facility.

Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., Democrat

Job Preservation/Creation
Thompson has been a vocal critic of the Bloomberg administration’s efforts to preserve and create jobs on Wall Street, arguing that the mayor’s approach has ignored the middle and working class. He released a study as comptroller showing that $1 billion worth of state and federal initiatives, like occupational training and related employment programs, were highly uncoordinated and inefficient. The study recommended a series of ways to improve and fix those programs. Thompson also called on Bloomberg to create an Office for Skills Education to oversee workforce development programs.

A spokesperson for the Thompson campaign, Anne Fenton, said they have not yet released a specific job creation or preservation plan. Thompson, however, has pledged to work with community partners and employers to create a comprehensive job strategy and focus on expanding sectors of the economy that allow for middle-income wages. As comptroller, Thompson joined the mayor and labor leaders in creating the city’s Commission on Construction Opportunity to improve and ease access for those interested in joining New York City’s development sector. He has long called for an increased focus on technical education, which he says has far better results than traditional high school education in teaching kids marketable skills that will help them get jobs.

Diversifying the Economy
Thompson said he is committed to harnessing the city’s diverse economic potential. As comptroller, he committed $450 million of pension fund money to the City Investment Fund, which invests money in real estate that is outside the parameters of traditional business districts. These investments specifically foster economic growth in low-, moderate- and middle-income neighborhoods. He also committed $200 million of pension fund money to a joint fund with real estate giant Tishman Speyer to acquire and redevelop properties throughout the five boroughs. Projects assisted by this fund include two office buildings in Central Harlem with 389,450 rentable square feet of space to attract jobs and business to the neighborhood; 25,000 square feet of medical office space and 32,000 square feet of retail space in Fort Greene, Brooklyn; and the construction of the Citibank building in Long Island City, Queens. The Citibank project will provide 1.4 million square feet of office space, which will bring jobs and economic activity to a neighborhood that has been particularly hard hit by the decline in industrial manufacturing.

Tax Incentives
Thompson opposes taxes, fees and fines that he says unfairly burden businesses. For instance, Thompson supported changing tax regulations to eliminate the unincorporated business tax, which he said unduly burdens small companies. He has also called for the federal government to revise the alternative minimum tax, which was originally created to target the super rich but has since become a burden for middle class families.

Small Business
As city comptroller, Thompson led an initiative that created Banking Development Districts, where $200 million in city funds were deposited in new bank branches in the city’s underserved communities so that loans could be made to small businesses to encourage job growth. He also proposed creating a database for new and existing businesses to connect through the city’s Department of Small Business Services.

Stimulus Money
A spokesperson for Thompson did not provide details on his plans for federal stimulus funds.

Council Member Tony Avella, Democrat

Job Preservation/Creation
The way to stem job loss and create more jobs in New York City is to bolster small businesses, according to Avella. He supports creating a commercial rent control system so that landlords cannot charge small businesses astronomically high rents, a situation that makes it almost impossible to run a profitable small business in the city. Avella also said that the city has to crack down on landlords who ask tenants for money—sometimes as much as 30 percent of a lease—in exchange for the rights to continue that lease, an illegal practice. Loan programs, job training and tax incentives do not help address the real problem, Avella says. “Let’s fix the main problem first,” he said, referring to rising cost of rent. “If there’s no business, all these other things don’t matter.”

Diversifying the Economy
Avella believes that jobs are being lost because New York has declined as a manufacturing hub over the last 20 years. Bloomberg’s program of rezoning industrial areas for mixed-use has forced out factories to make room for luxury housing, exacerbating the problem, Avella says. To bring jobs back to New York City, he believes that New York must become a manufacturing center again. This will happen by turning the clock back on Bloomberg’s efforts to rezone industrial areas to allow for residential buildings. Avella said the city needs to set aside areas for just industry to allow factories to flourish.

Tax Incentives
Like the other candidates, Avella opposed the unincorporated business tax. He does not, however, support tax incentives for large businesses because he said they are doing well without the help of the city. Any aid for large business should come from the federal government as part of plans to address the national recession; New York City should focus its energy and money on small businesses. And the way to help small businesses, according to Avella, is to create commercial rent stabilization so that small business owners can afford real estate in New York City. Once that problem is solved, he said, many other challenges confronting small business owners will evaporate.

Stimulus Money
Avella said that he does not have enough information about the federal stimulus funds to comment. He added, “A lot of this is still speculation. The key is that the money goes to the right spots. Information that comes through from the state and the city is less than perfect.” To date, more than $3.4 million in federal stimulus dollars have already been spent out of a total of $21 billion allocated to New York City.

Sound Bytes

Experts rate the mayoral canididates
We asked a handful of representatives from various financial and economic development groups what they thought of each candidate’s work. Below are brief summaries of their feedback.

Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of Partnership for New York City, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing economic opportunities in the five boroughs

Michael Bloomberg: “The industry/business collaboration with city government in developing and implementing economic development strategies has never been greater and I have been involved in economic development in the city for 30 years. This is the first time economic development has included a strong focus on creating industry clusters and in supporting business and job-creation efforts, as opposed to simply real estate development, which is most of what we’ve called economic development in the past.”

William C. Thompson: “We have worked with Bill Thompson in his capacity as comptroller in investing in pension funds. He has also been working with the business community to evaluate some of the economic development plans that have been put forward to the city. As comptroller, he has similarly tried to work in partnership with business to support job creation in the city.”

Tony Avella: “I would agree with the importance of supporting small businesses, and both the mayor and the comptroller have positions similar to support small business. However, the experience of the city in trying to look at mandates like commercial rent control, there’s been a general resistance to mandates that ultimately will make it difficult for local neighborhood economies to respond to changes in the marketplace, and so I think that’s there’s been general agreement that incentives are far preferable to one-size fits all mandates.”

Nicole Gelinas, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank focused on New York City issues

Michael Bloomberg: “One problem that we’ve had throughout the Bloomberg administration is that the boom overwhelmed what could have been an opportunity for job creation in other sectors. Despite what the mayor’s office says, we have gotten more dependent on revenues from Wall Street and it’s only been growing under the Bloomberg administration until the crash last year. In terms of job creation and diversifying the economy away from Wall Street, one way to do it is by lowering income taxes. The only people who can afford to pay these income taxes are people who are making huge salaries on Wall Street… We had record tax revenues and we didn’t do much to improve the public transit system. We’re not doing much with stimulus money. We’re letting existing imbalances get worse. We spend way too much on a health care system that’s riddled with fraud. Bloomberg has been good on quality of life and keeping the city safe, but if you talk to a lot of these guys they just hate the taxes that they’re paying.”

William C. Thompson: “In terms of his position on using the pension funds to invest in local businesses, I’m very wary of that because it’s not that I think he’s doing anything he shouldn’t be doing, but when you’re using public money to invest in certain popular enterprises you wonder whether you’re doing it for the best return or to please constituencies. They are always investing in affordable housing and its always politically pleasing, but it’s not the best return for taxpayers. He should talk about taxes and costs, but I haven’t really heard about that.”

Tony Avella: “Don’t just complain about landlords, but look at why the city is charging a commercial rent tax, an extra tax from tenants. [In terms of not giving tax incentives to big businesses], I think he’s definitely right about that. I think it’s better to have lower costs across the board and businesses can decide which ones want to be here.

Election Briefs

D.A. CANDIDATES ON WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS—Leslie Crocker Snyder has proposed the Second Look Bureau, Richard Aborn calls for an Office of Professional Responsibility and Cyrus Vance, Jr. wants a Conviction Integrity Panel.

All of the candidates for Manhattan district attorney have detailed their plans to tackle wrongful convictions, and each has explained how his or her proposal is more effective than those put for by the other two candidates. Despite varying details, all the plans suggest videotaping interrogations to better detect false confessions, and using double-blind line-ups and photo arrays, in which the administrator does not know the identity of the suspect.

Snyder’s Second Look Bureau is a four-year-old plan inspired by the so-called Palladium case, in which a man who was accused of murdering a nightclub bouncer wrongfully convicted. The office, which would be staffed by attorneys who have no prior involvement in the cases handled, would investigate whether a conviction merits a re-examination. Snyder sees the bureau working in conjunction with the videotaping and double-blind line-up reforms.

“We hope to get the first look right. If we do make a mistake, we’re going to have a bureau and a credible basis for us to take a second look,” Snyder said in a previous interview with Our Town.

The bureau has been criticized by her opponents as too reactionary.

“I don’t think we should wait until cases reach the conviction stage to examine or re-examine a case to make sure we have the right person,” Aborn said at a debate hosted by sister publication City Hall.

Aborn touts his plan to prevent wrongful convictions in the first place, a central piece of his proactive campaign message. The plan would increase access to DNA, provide services for those exonerated and create an Office of Professional Responsibility that would create guidelines to stem wrongful convictions. This office would collect and investigate allegations of prosecutorial misconduct.

Aborn, a member of the state Bar Association’s task force on wrongful convictions, was endorsed by advocate Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent time in jail for a murder he did not commit.

Vance similarly criticized Snyder’s Second Look Bureau and noted that his plan, built around a Conviction Integrity Unit, has a broader mandate. The unit will look at cases that are deemed questionable throughout all phases of a case.

“The Conviction Integrity Unit, first of all, mandates that the district attorney office is advocating and implemented best practices in the office,” Vance said. “That unit should be making sure we are, within the office, providing the resources and guidance for young prosecutors on issues that may confront them in handling cases.”

Vance also wants to expand discovery, a pre-trial phase in which parties request evidence and documents from one another.

MESSINGER MAKES KEY ENDORSEMENTS—Ruth Messenger, the 1997 Democratic nominee for mayor, former Manhattan borough president and longtime West Side Council member, made two endorsements in the comptroller and district attorney primaries.

Messinger is supporting Brooklyn Council Member David Yassky in his bid for comptroller, further solidifying his support in Manhattan, home to prime Democratic voters.

Messinger also threw her support to district attorney hopeful Leslie Crocker Snyder, a former judge and prosecutor backed primarily by law enforcement unions. The endorsement—along with support from Geraldine Ferraro, a former vice presidential candidate and Queens congresswoman—also gives Snyder progressive credibility, which has dogged her campaign. Snyder is a former supporter of the death penalty, though in the narrowest of circumstances.

“I can say with certainty that Leslie’s core progressive values, unmatched experience and vision for the office are exactly what the electorate wants in their next district attorney,” Messinger said in a statement.

The endorsement will likely help Snyder more with Manhattan’s progressive constituency than with female voters, given that she is the only woman in the race. The women’s vote makes up most of the Democratic primary electorate in Manhattan.

But Aborn and Vance are not ceding that crucial bloc of voters to Snyder.

Aborn held a rally at City Hall earlier in July with several prominent progressive women who have endorsed his campaign, including Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, Council Member Gale Brewer, former West Side State Sen. Catherine Abate and The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel.

Each cited Aborn’s progressive, “proactive” policies including his proposal for a hates crime bureau, work with gun-control laws and support of Rockefeller Drug Law reforms.

Vance, meanwhile, held a rally with feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem when he introduced his plan to combat domestic violence, which he declared a public health crisis.
—Dan Rivoli

A Queens native, Council Member Melinda Katz now lives in the house she grew up in with son Carter. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

Melinda Katz

Running for City Comptroller
By Josh Zembik

In front of a phalanx of burly but dapper union members, Council Member Melinda Katz looked up at the threatening skies over City Hall. The smallest person on the steps, nearly a foot shorter than most of the smiling men around her, Katz was ready to collect another endorsement—the support of the 120,000-member Teamsters Union—if only the rain would stay away.

That Katz snagged the union’s support wasn’t necessarily a surprise, even in the hotly contested four-person race for City Comptroller. As a Council member, Katz’s most high-profile position—which supporters trumpet and detractors flag—has been her tenure as chair of the City Council’s Land Use Committee. In that position, she has had a direct role in regulating virtually all public and private land use across the city, putting her at the center of major zoning decisions.

She is now second when it comes to fundraising, having raised $173,000 during the last filing period, with $2.4 million in her campaign chest overall. Liu is in first place, with $3.2 million in his coffers.

The city comptroller is tasked with ensuring the five boroughs’ financial health, and a big part of that is managing city pension funds. At a candidates’ forum convened last month by sister publication City Hall, Katz and her opponents—fellow Council Members John Liu, David Weprin and David Yassky—all agreed that the current system is bankrupting the city. Katz is alone, however, in wanting to invest in companies that will benefit the city while upholding her responsibility as steward of the pension fund. She says this will allow her to get concessions that will benefit New Yorkers, promote job creation and bolster the local economy.

“If you’re a big corporation and want millions from hardworking men and women, what are you doing for New York City?” Katz asks. “Where are your corporate offices? What will you do to train people being laid off?”

Tapping into her early career as a mergers and acquisitions attorney, Katz has also proposed investing a small part of the pension in companies that can make a profit but that are saddled with paying off debt. This investment strategy, skewed toward helping New York City companies, would allow businesses to restructure and emerge as a new company, debt free.

The proposal has gotten flack from challenger Liu, who argues that the pension fund should stay away from assessing the viability of struggling companies and providing taxpayer funds to help them get out of debt.

Since her first foray into elected office when she won a seat in the State Assembly in 1994, Katz has molded an “Everywoman” agenda. She has authored and pushed for legislation that improved access to healthcare, assisted the prosecution of child abusers, and increased safety standards at daycare centers. She has also placed kitchen table issues, like the economy, jobs and school performance, at the top of her agenda.

On the East Side, Katz helped broker a plan for the East River Realty project that guaranteed public access to open spaces and included significant height reductions on several of the project’s buildings, satisfying many neighborhood critics. But she has also been at the center of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s rezoning push, in which he rezoned more land than the previous six administrations combined.

The debate over rezoning often revolves around which neighborhoods are affected and how. Critics of the Bloomberg and Katz have argued that their efforts, including the rezoning of 125th Street, disproportionately affect working-class neighborhoods, giving developers free reign at the expense of small business owners and longtime residents.

Katz has benefited politically and financially from her perch on the committee, raising campaign cash from an array of developers and real estate bigwigs. Her critics charge influence-peddling, but Katz is quick to swat down any such notion.

“Look,” she said, “our role [on the Land Use Committee] is protecting the city. We try to make applications better for the community, and it’s my responsiblity to work with all parties involved. That’s what I do.”

When Katz was 3, her mother died; her father died 18 years later when she was in college at UMass Amherst. Perhaps not surprisingly, she’s been a strong advocate for children, and a strong opponent of regressive taxes that largely affect middle- and low-income families. Last year, she voted against Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan, which she called “an unfair tax on commuters,” and this past June, she was one of 10 Council members who opposed a 0.5-percent citywide sales tax increase.

“My father was a public high school teacher, and he raised four children by himself after my mother died,” Katz said. “I’m a product of the public school system, and where I come from, you need to work hard to get ahead. With the sales tax, I saw a tax that would disproportionately burden middle-class New Yorkers, and I couldn’t support it.”

A Queens native, Katz and her son Carter still live in the same Forest Hills house where she was raised. She says her policy decisions, progressive streak and populist stands were molded by her upbringing, and it’s that kind of perspective that’s needed in the comptroller’s office today.

“I get a real sense out there from a lot of New Yorkers that people don’t have faith in their political system anymore,” Katz said. “Frankly, I’d like to restore that. I see part of the job as restoring that. I’ve got a 14-month-old son, and I know what it means to make this city better, not just for him, but for all New Yorkers.”
–
With additional reporting by Dan Rivoli.

Richard Aborn lives on the Upper West Side with wife Ingrid, the twin sister of actress Isabella Rossellini, and their daughter. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

Richard Aborn

Running for Manhattan District Attorney
By Josh Zembik

Although he is gunning to be Manhattan’s next district attorney, Richard Aborn actually may be more popular outside the borough. Referred to as both a long-shot and a dark-horse candidate when he entered the race, Aborn, 56, kicked off his campaign to be Manhattan’s next D.A. by collecting endorsements at a torrid pace. Praise came from City Hall, Albany and as far away as California, along with a surge of campaign cash and instant credibility. According to the latest fundraising data, Aborn raised nearly $1 million during the January-to-July filing period, putting him on nearly even footing with his two rivals when it comes to cash on hand.

Aborn attributes his rise as a first-time candidate to his innovative approach to fighting crime.

“We’re speaking to issues that the voters of Manhattan care deeply about,” he said. “We are delivering a message that we can make the criminal justice system better. We are willing to address the fact that four out of five young people who get arrested cycle through the system over and over again, and I find that not to be a hopeless situation.”

Still, early endrorsements from across the political establishment have clearly helped. Aborn has the backing of a slew of gun-control groups, former New York City—now Los Angeles—Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, Democratic clubs and elected officials, including those from the East Side. Aborn’s records on guns earned him the endorsement of Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, the Long Island Congresswoman who was propelled to office on an anti-gun platform in the wake of her husband’s death during a shooting on the Long Island Railroad.

Aborn has spent much of his adult life working on gun issues. After earning his J.D. from the John Marshall School of Law in 1979, he worked as an assistant D.A. in Manhattan, prosecuting violent felonies under Robert Morgenthau, the man he’s seeking to succeed. When he left the office in 1984 to start his own practice, he began volunteering for the state gun-control lobby.

The part-time gig grew into more full-time work when Aborn started working for Handgun Control, Inc., now known as the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. His tenure as president of the campaign reached a high point with President Bill Clinton’s 1993 signing of the Brady Bill, which required a five-day waiting period and a criminal background check before a person could purchase a handgun.

Aborn doesn’t have the courtroom experience of his rivals, Cy Vance Jr. and Leslie Crocker Snyder (both of whom last tried cases in 2007), and he hasn’t tried a case to verdict since he became president of the Brady Campaign. His opponents have pounced on that fact, and Snyder has referred to him as a “consultant” during campaign stops.

But Aborn sees his background as an asset. He is quick to point out that he’s been a prosecutor and a defense attorney and that his work as managing partner at the law firm Constantine Cannon involves overseeing roughly 190 employees, a task that’s akin to the daily job of district attorney.

While he’s been cast as the dark horse, Aborn has also been referred to as both a progressive and a candidate of big ideas. He has in fact worked as a consultant, helping police departments and transportation agencies from Los Angeles to London improve and streamline operations. In 1999, at the request of then-Public Advocate Mark Green, Aborn investigated the NYPD’s disciplinary system following the shooting death of Amadou Diallo.

Aborn has carved out strong positions on issues like capital punishment, arguing that not only should the death penalty be outlawed in New York, but that it has no place in the United States—a not-so-subtle shot at Snyder, who, when she ran for D.A. in 2005, said she supported the death penalty in some cases. She has since come out fully against it. In a time of relatively low crime, Aborn has proposed using the office’s resources to stop crime at its roots, providing programs to help nonviolent offenders and putting a new focus on young people, victims and families.

“I continually think about this question: How do we break up the pathway to violence?” Aborn said. “When you look at the system through that lens, you see lots of places where you can lead people off the path to a violent life. That includes things like a much greater use of treatment for those with problems with drugs. It means a very deep commitment to honestly looking at the intersection between mental health and criminal offending. It means working with kids in targeted, innovative ways that are progressive and effective, that are designed to get kids out of a life of crime and back home and back in school where they belong.”

Aborn has lived his entire adult life in New York, and currently resides on the Upper West Side with his wife Ingrid—the twin sister of actress Isabella Rossellini and daughter of Ingrid Bergman—and their 18-year-old daughter.

Bill de Blasio worked in the Dinkins Administration as an assistant to the deputy mayor, where he met his wife, Chirlane McCray. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

Bill de Blasio

Running for Public Advocate
By Clara Martinez Turco

All four public advocate candidates say they want to be a strong check on the mayor they will serve alongside in 2010, and in their campaign rhetoric, they frequently talk about standing up to Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Council Member Bill de Blasio’s opponents have touted their large personalities or fiery language that gets results. But de Blasio, who represents Park Slope and Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn, prefers to balance that out with effecting change from the inside.

As chair of the City Council’s General Welfare Committee, de Blasio has authored legislation that banned discrimination toward people with Section 8 housing vouchers, and reformed child welfare services after the public outcry over the death of Nixmary Brown. The Council also passed his electronic waste recycling bill over the objections of the Bloomberg administration. The bill will require electronics manufacturers to take back their products.

“I have seen the legislative process [produce] a workable compromise,” de Blasio said. “When you see the potential for a positive result, you engage that.”

He used that strategy when the Council passed a budget earlier this year that slashed the public advocate’s office by 40 percent. De Blasio, his competitors and incumbent Betsy Gotbaum held a rally decrying the cut. Afterward, de Blasio proposed legislation that would take away the mayor’s power to fund the office of public advocate, comptroller, the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the Conflicts of Interest Board.

“The public advocate is supposed to be independent and a watchdog; it really should be independently funded, as it should be [with] the other elected offices so they’re not being held hostages by the mayor,” de Blasio said.

His record of working amiably with colleagues to pass legislation has in part earned him endorsements from the city’s elected officials and unions, including Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Charles Rangel, Borough President Scott Stringer and the powerful labor-backed Working Families Party.

Before term limits were extended, de Blasio was a candidate for Brooklyn borough president. During Bloomberg’s push for a third term, the Council member became one of the most fervent leaders in opposition to the proposal.

Although he lost the fight, he decided on the office of public advocate as his next step.

“A public advocate has to be the voice of the people and an opponent of the mayor when he is wrong and someone who can organize people all over the city,” de Blasio said. “That experience led me to feel that I was the right person to take on that particular role.”

De Blasio, a native New Yorker, graduated from New York University and received a master’s degree in public affairs from Columbia University. He has a lengthy history behind the scenes in electoral politics, landing his first political gig as the volunteer coordinator during David Dinkins’ first mayoral race in 1989. De Blasio then joined the administration as an assistant to the deputy mayor, where he met his wife, Chirlane McCray. He went on to run Rangel’s 1994 re-election campaign and Bill Clinton’s 1996 presidential bid in New York, and he managed Hillary Clinton’s 2000 U.S. Senate campaign. Outside of politicking, de Blasio has served as the regional director for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“It was clear that the electoral process frames everything, so I got involved in supporting candidates,” he said.

De Blasio has built a formidable campaign despite his relatively late entry to the race. Although he is currently third in the polls, behind former Public Advocate Mark Green and Norman Siegel, he is second when it comes to fundraising, with $1,279,150 in his campaign war chest. That money will be crucial for expensive get-out-the-vote operations in the days leading up to the Sept. 15 primary. Queens Council Member Eric Gioia leads the pack in fundraising.

As public advocate, de Blasio says his record of solving problems legislatively will come in handy, but he says he will also use the office as a bully pulpit, which is where most of the public advocate’s power lays. A hallmark of his style will be to build coalitions with neighborhood groups.

“The advocate has to be community organizer-in-chief,” de Blasio said. “There are so many issues that come up on the local level.”
–
With additional reporting by Dan Rivoli.

To help voters get a better grasp of these candidates, we’re launching a series of profiles this week featuring one candidate from the comptroller, public advocate and district attorney races. To determine the order, we drew names out of a hat. Stay tuned for additional profiles in weeks to come.

Although he represents brownstone Brooklyn, David Yassky went to high school at Dalton and lived on the Upper West Side as a teenager. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

DAVID YASSKY

Running for City Comptroller
By Zara Kessler

Confronting New Yorkers during their morning commutes is no small feat. But on a recent summer morning, City Comptroller candidate David Yassky looked unperturbed as he greeted potential voters at East 77th Street and Lexington Avenue. Most passersby accepted handshakes and fliers from Yassky and fellow Council Member Dan Garodnick, who is running for reelection in his East Side district. Some signed petitions to put both men on the ballot; a few scoffed at being bothered.

Yassky’s mother, also the campaign treasurer, stood nearby, petition in hand. She was joined by volunteers from the Lexington Democratic Club, which has endorsed Yassky, along with the Brooklyn and Manhattan Democratic Parties, over his three primary challengers: Council Members John Liu, David Weprin and Melinda Katz. Other prominent support comes from East Side Assembly Member Jonathan Bing, Staten Island Rep. Mike McMahon and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

Yassky, who is often characterized as “wonky,” suggested a must-read piece to a passerby who was toting a recent issue of The New Yorker. While some may make light of his “nerdiness,” that seriousness may attract Democratic voters, who are choosing between four candidates, all Council Members, to be the city’s next chief financial officer.

“The basic quality of life that we’ve come to value and enjoy in New York is genuinely at risk, and we have to be very disciplined and very creative in the city government to make sure we get back on track,” he during an interview at a downtown Starbucks.

As comptroller, Yassky says he would cut fat in city budgets to maintain critical initiatives, like open firehouses, Meals on Wheels and class size control. He promises to keep a close eye on the Department of Education. To temper the city’s reliance on Wall Street, he champions investing in biotechnology and environmental technology, and continuing to promote the film and television industry. As a Council member, he recently called for an expansion and extension of the New York City Film Tax Credit, a program he sponsored as a Council member that was signed into law in 2005.

Of course, the comptroller’s most well known responsibility is to be a steward for the city’s pension funds, and Yassky has been thinking about the recent pay-to-play scandal that led to the indictment of political advisers close to former city and state comptroller Alan Hevesi. But instead of an outright ban on the intermediaries who help broker deals between investment firms and the fund, as Katz proposes, Yassky wants to limit placement agents to smaller companies whose assets are less than $1 billion.

In a push to make the city budget more transparent, Yassky created www.itsyourmoneynyc.com, where New Yorkers can examine budget allocations for city programs and agencies, search earmarks and leave comments on how crucial they think individual programs are. If elected, he promises to publish every city contract online.

Although Yassky represents brownstone Brooklyn, including parts of Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Brooklyn Heights, he spent his formative years on the Upper West Side and attended the prestigious Dalton School.

After graduating from Princeton, Yassky worked in the city’s Office of Management and Budget, where he says he learned how to make the most of every dollar, then headed to Yale Law School. He’s also worked for Sen. Charles Schumer in Washington, D.C., and as a teacher at Brooklyn Law School.

On the City Council, Yassky has worked to eliminate waste in the City’s Housing Department, assisted in closing a tax loophole used by luxury developers and supported efforts to make taxis gas-electric hybrids. He points to these accomplishments as evidence that he is most qualified to serve as comptroller.

“I have by far the strongest record of using the tools of a Council member to advance the progressive agenda to go after waste in the city government,” he said.

His support of Bloomberg’s term limits bill is a hitch in his claim to the progressive mantle. The day before the Council vote was scheduled, he backed an amendment that would require a voter referendum on the matter, killing the term-limits push. When the amendment failed, though, Yassky supported the mayor.

Defending his actions, Yassky explained that he had a problem with the way the mayor went about the extension, not the extension itself.

“Term limits are bad policy, and I continue to believe that a 12-year limit is much better policy for the city than an eight-year limit,” he said. “I think part of the lesson here is it’s not enough to pursue the right policy, you’ve got to go about it the right way.”

As far as the right way to pursue primary voters, Yassky seems to be putting his wonkiness to work. His campaign recently released an invitation to join the Council member outside four movie theaters on the opening day of the new Harry Potter movie. The invite boasted a Hogwarts crest reading “David Yassky for NYC Comptroller 2009,” as well as Yassky in a Harry Potter getup, pointing Uncle Sam-style. “The World of Muggles needs YOU!” it beckons.

Let’s just hope that Harry’s a financial whiz, too.

Cy Vance was a prosecutor under Robert Morgenthau from 1982 to 1988. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

CYRUS VANCE, JR.

Running for Manhattan District Attorney
By Zara Kessler

The sun was shining outside of the Harlem Legal Services building on 125th Street, and Cyrus Vance, Jr. couldn’t have looked happier. While volunteers distributed fliers and “Cy Vance for D.A.” pins, Vance greeted those congregating for Gloria Steinem’s endorsement of his candidacy for Manhattan district attorney. It was an especially noteworthy event, given that one of Vance’s opponents, Leslie Crocker Snyder, is gunning to become Manhattan’s first female D.A. The other challenger in the Democratic primary is Richard Aborn.

To many, Vance is most notably the son of Cyrus Vance, secretary of state under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980. But Vance is careful to stress his background as a lawyer and policy expert in criminal justice issues who has an in-depth understanding of the D.A.’s office.

Steinem’s support stemmed from Vance’s “Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women, Children and Intimate Partners,” which includes a proposal to increase sentences for repeat offenders, create a human trafficking unit and stalking hotline, and open a family justice center in northern Manhattan similar to those in Brooklyn and Queens.

“To me, domestic violence cases really are a reflection of violence in the home spilling out into the acceptance of violence in our society,” he said.

Vance also promises to protect immigrants and the elderly, groups who are often preyed upon and defrauded.

A graduate of Yale and Georgetown Law School, Vance was a prosecutor under Robert Morgenthau from 1982 to 1988. Morgenthau virtually handpicked Vance as his successor, determining that he had the best shot at taking down Snyder, whom he has never forgiven for her acrimonious 2005 primary challenge. Other prominent Vance supporters include former mayor David Dinkins, former state comptroller H. Carl McCall and two members of the Kennedy clan, Caroline Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

While Vance lacks Aborn’s long list of endorsements by political clubs and elected officials, he believes he has a good balance of support, including endorsements by a number of former senior and federal prosecutors.

“I don’t think the D.A.’s job is a politician’s job,” he said.

Leaving his Upper East Side roots, Vance moved to Seattle in 1988 to raise a family, build a law firm and make a name for himself outside his father’s shadow. He returned to New York in 2004 with wife Peggy McDonnell and their two children, now both in college. Vance joined Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, Iason, Anello & Bohrer, P.C., where even the doorman wears a “Cy Vance for DA” button.

While this 16-year stint on the West Coast has been criticized as detracting from his ability to serve New Yorkers, Vance touts the perspective he gained out West.

“We should as an office and as, I believe, a city, welcome people who bring breadth of experience to leadership in any office,” he said.

He stresses that his experience as a lawyer on both sides of the criminal justice system makes him fit for the role.

Noting his in-depth understanding of white-collar crime cases as a distinguishing characteristic among the candidates, Vance sees the D.A.’s office working with federal authorities and the attorney general to prosecute all types of fraud. But businessmen and corporations aren’t the only ones he hopes to scrutinize.

“I can’t wait to get into office and take a look at the issue of public corruption,” he said.

Citing roughly 20 years of experience on sentencing commissions in Washington State and New York, Vance promises to look at alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders and provide support to prevent recidivism. He has proposed creating special units to address mental health issues and hate crimes. Other structural changes include working on the backlog of cases and creating a computer crime unit to investigate cases involving computers and the Internet, support other divisions and work with the private sector to prevent data breaches and identity theft. Vance has also proposed a community-based justice model that would align teams from the office with Manhattan precincts.

“The D.A.s will not only be more accessible, but they’ll understand more what the specific challenges are for the neighborhoods,” he said. “And the communities will know to whom they can turn within the D.A.’s office.”

Vance, for one, knows he can turn to Morgenthau for support. And that may be enough for Manhattan primary voters. As the Steinem press conference dissipated, two pedestrians passed by and remarked at the gathering.

“He’s taking Robert Morgenthau’s place,” one says.

Vance certainly hopes so.

Eric Gioia worked night shifts as a janitor and elevator operator to pay for tuition at New York University. Photo by Andrew Schwartz

ERIC GIOIA

Running for Public Advocate
By Clara Martínez Turco

Eric Gioia believes that politicians have a tendency to talk about, rather than solve, problems. Yet for the past eight years he has represented Queens in the City Council, and now he’s hoping to be the next public advocate, an ombudsman position that’s viewed as a watchdog for city government.

“We need elected officials who listen, who understand what people are going through and who are willing to fight and actually get results,” Gioia said. “Through the work I have done, you see I’m result- and action-oriented, and I think that’s what we need.”

To the 36-year-old Council Member, the public advocate can be the voice of unheard New Yorkers, and speak against what he considers “powerful interests.”

Speaking out is exactly how Gioia says he was introduced to politics. As a 5th grader at P.S. 11 in Woodside, Queens, he was selected by the principal to advocate for more classroom space in front of then-Mayor Edward Koch and the school board.

Growing up in a family that has owned a Queens flower shop for more than 100 years, he says he learned the value of hard work. That lesson continued during his college years, when he worked night shifts as a janitor and elevator operator to pay for tuition at New York University.

“Working my way through college, I learned what an incredible city we live in that gives kids like me an opportunity,” said Gioia.

After graduating from NYU in 1995, he got a job as a law clerk in the White House Deputy Counsel’s office during the Clinton administration. Three years later, he graduated from Georgetown Law School and returned to New York to work as a private attorney. Finding it impossible to stay away from politics, in 2000 he served as Al Gore’s New York campaign coordinator. That’s where he met wife Lisa Hernandez, a political consultant who is now one of his campaign advisers. The couple has a daughter and is expecting a second child around Sept. 15, the day of the Democratic primary.

Gioia speaks broadly when talking about his goals as public advocate: he wants to give a voice to an invisible middle class and to those who are underrepresented in the current administration. He plans to continue working to improve schools, fighting for economic justice and holding government accountable to make sure that taxpayer dollars are well spent. The overall goal, he says, is to give New Yorkers a government they can be proud of.

Much like his City Council bid, which was successful despite a lack of the support from the Queens Democratic organization, Gioia is appealing to unions and young and professional voters in the race for public advocate. That support helped him win his Long Island City Council seat, making him the second youngest Council member to date.

A well-known joke in political circles is that Gioia has been running for public advocate since his re-election to the Council in 2005. He has amassed 5,558 contributions as of May 15, totaling $2.2 million, well ahead of his competitors. They include fellow Council member Bill de Blasio, civil rights attorney Norman Siegel and Mark Green, who was public advocate during the Giuliani years.

“This is a grassroots campaign,” Gioia said during his annual party at the Long Island City water taxi beach, as old supporters and prospective voters approach him.

As a Council Member, one of Gioia’s priorities has been to end child hunger in the city. In 2007, he was the only New York elected official to take the nationwide “Food Stamp Challenge” and lived for a week on $28 of groceries, although he gained two pounds. Critics slammed the maneuver as a media stunt, but he used the attention to push for legislation that would allow the city to offer the application online. And after almost two years of pressure from Gioia and others, Costco also started accepting food stamps in its two New York stores.

“That’s both advocating with legislation and policy change to attack an issue,” he said. “You have to be creative, tough and willing to stand up, no matter what the odds.”

He says the success of the food stamp initiative is what first made him consider running for public advocate.“It became the perfect fit for me,” he said.

Vance’s campaign has also brought Caroline Kennedy out of political sabbatical for the first time since the controversy over her Senate appointment. She spoke of her support for Vance as the special guest at a June 23 campaign cocktail reception. Other recent additions to Vance’s list of supporters include former State Comptroller H. Carl McCall and Teamsters Local 237.

Vance unveiled a plan to create a mental health unit for the district attorney’s office, which would consist of a group of specialized prosecutors and mental health professionals working in conjunction with a mental health court.

Citing the increase in inmates in the state who suffer from serious mental illnesses, Vance argued that such an office could successfully treat patients in lieu of incarcerating them.

“It is the fair and just thing to do because many of these crimes would not have been committed in the first place had the defendant been receiving treatment,” Vance said.

Vance also detailed a plan to prevent and rectify wrongful convictions at a June 27 event at City Hall for the National Freedom March for the Wrongfully Convicted.

If elected district attorney, Vance promised to create a conviction integrity panel consisting of appellate and trial lawyers to examine allegations of wrongful convictions.

Richard Aborn, who led a task force on wrongful convictions as a member of the New York State Bar Association, also attended the June 27 march and was the keynote speaker.

“As D.A., I will take steps we can all agree on to reduce the probability that we incarcerate innocent women and men, and urge the legislature to take further action statewide,” Aborn said.

He waded into Washington policy recently with a letter to a Senate subcommittee chair that advocated for lifting restrictions on legal service providers. The restrictions bar legal service clients from participating in class action lawsuits, and regulate the use of other kinds of public money from the city or state.

Aborn recently reaffirmed his support of Rockefeller Drug Law reforms last month, when several other district attorneys in the state voiced disapproval. The reforms largely place sentencing in the hands of judges, rather than prosecutors from district attorneys offices.

“I joined many in pushing to replace the draconian and racially discriminatory mandatory-minimum sentences of the Rockefeller Drug Laws with judicial discretion to divert non-violent, low-level drug offenders into treatment programs rather than sentencing them to state prison,” Aborn said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Aborn continues to add to his list of endorsements from elected officials and political clubs. He recently garnered support from Council Member Rosie Mendez of the Lower East Side, the Gay & Lesbian Independent Democrats, the Working Families Party and the 504 Democratic Club, a group that advocates on behalf of individuals with disabilities.

Aborn, who helped draft the assault weapons ban and the Brady gun bill, received support from several gun control groups and advocates such as Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island and former New York and current L.A. Police Commissioner William Bratton.

Leslie Crocker Snyder slammed a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that said inmates do not have a constitutional right to DNA testing, which could prevent or overturn wrongful convictions.

“I have seen first-hand the value of DNA testing and have been witness to the fact that innocent men and women are wrongly convicted,” she said.

Snyder has long promised to open a “Second Look Bureau” in the district attorney’s office to address potential mistakes.

Snyder also stood on the steps of City Hall on June 29 with Morgenthau critic Stanley Patz, a whose son Etan disappeared 30 years ago, to unveil a program to help missing children and families.

Under the plan, the district attorney’s office would collaborate with schools and community groups to create ID kits for children under 14 that would include a current digital photograph, physical characteristics, fingerprints and relevant medical and dental records.

“There is still much more to be done to protect our kids and to prevent these unthinkable tragedies from taking place,” Snyder said in a statement.

Snyder also promised to present evidence against the man long suspected of kidnapping and murdering Etan Patz to a grand jury.

Snyder continues to receive endorsements from unions, including the Council of School Supervisors and Administrators.

Former Mayor Ed Koch weighed in on the district attorney’s race by endorsing Snyder, whom he called an “extraordinary judge with uncommon intellect, integrity and courage” on the jacket of her memoir, 25 to Life.