Public advocate hopefuls Mark Green and Council Member Bill de Blasio will face each other. In an upset, de Blasio bested Green, the former public advocate who is trying to reclaim his seat, by a margin of 32 percent to 30 percent.

On the East Side, Green’s main base of support, de Blasio edged out his rival by 385 votes.

Council Member Eric Gioia and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel received 18 percent and 14 percent of the total vote, respectively.

Green, with wide name recognition, was expected to be in the lead, but de Blasio, who enjoys immense union support, pulled ahead. Green is trying to paint de Blasio as a political insider, tying him to the Council’s slush fund scandal. Green said that de Blasio doled out taxpayer money to nonprofits, which then donated the money back to his campaign.

For his part, de Blasio has criticized Green for being absent from city issues since he left office in 2001, after failing to beat Bloomberg in the mayor’s race that year.

For comptroller, Council members John Liu and David Yassky will face off again in the Sept. 29 run-off. Liu nearly avoided a run-off with 38 percent of the vote. Yassky, from Brooklyn, came in second with 31 percent.

Yassky was the clear favorite on the East Side, receiving 7,668 votes. East Siders’ second choice, Melinda Katz, got 3,359. When Katz failed to make it to the run-off, she endorsed Yassky.

Overall Katz got 20 percent of the city’s vote and Council Member David Weprin came in last place with 11 percent.

Liu, from Queens, is seeking to be the first Asian-American elected to citywide office. He has strong union support, including the labor-backed Working Families Party, and he is popular among minority voters. Weprin also threw his support to Liu.

While running third in the polls, Yassky leapt to second place after key endorsements from the New York Times, the Daily News and his former boss, Sen. Chuck Schumer. Yassky has pulled support from his home borough of Brooklyn and Manhattan’s liberal base.

“We’ve had a great first phase of the campaign, and now we’re going to make it count by building on our momentum over the next two weeks,” Yassky wrote in an email to supporters.

Moments after the polls closed, the general election between Thompson and Mayor Michael Bloomberg began, with both candidates lobbing blistering attacks at each other.

Thompson reiterated his claim that Bloomberg favors the wealthy, and that he overturned the will of the voters with his extension of the city’s two-term limit for local office holders. Using the slogan, “Eight is Enough,” the Democratic mayoral nominee began soliciting $8 donations.

Though Bloomberg was unopposed for the Republican nomination, he held a lavish party along the Hudson River in Manhattan. There, the mayor slammed “politics as usual,” which is part of his new ad slogan, “Progress. Not Politics.”

One sign that the mayor might not be a shoo-in for re-election were the results of several City Council elections. Backlash to the term-limit extension appeared to play a role in ousting four incumbents, with two more hanging on by a handful of votes, certain for a recount. Nearly all of the Council members who survived contentious races received less than half of the total vote. Even Council Speaker Christine Quinn only received 52 percent of the vote against two spirited challengers.

“Even though few voters voted, the ones who did spoke loud and clear in turning out and voting against incumbents,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of the good-government group, Citizens Union. “That is a loud shout to the city’s elected leadership.”

The biggest winner in Manhattan on primary night was Cy Vance, who is all but assured to be Manhattan’s next district attorney, with no Republican running for that seat. With 44 percent of the vote, Vance beat 2005 candidate Leslie Crocker Snyder and newcomer Richard Aborn.

In the East Side’s District 4, two Republicans faced off for the right to go against Council Member Dan Garodnick—an uphill battle, considering the incumbent’s popularity and the district’s Democratic lean. Ashok Chandra, a native Texan and member of the New York Young Republican Club, beat the Manhattan Republican Party’s candidate, Neal D’Alessio, 477 to 239.

“My campaign has brought a lot of people out of the woodwork; Young Republicans who in the past haven’t been Republicans. They’re very conservative about fiscal issues,” Chandra said in an interview before the primary.

Tony Avella

Mayor
If going against Mayor Michael Bloomberg is considered a long shot for Comptroller William Thompson, then Council Member Tony Avella is the longest of shots. Avella, from Queens, has spent most of his Council career as a firebrand who often casts the lone-dissenting vote on legislation. He wants to empower community boards to take a greater role in local development, pledges to increase the involvement of parents and teachers in education policy making and supports commercial rent control.

William Thompson

Mayor
When most prominent Democrats declined to take on Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Comptroller William Thompson was the last one standing, facing only Avella, a long-shot aspirant, in the primary. As comptroller, Thompson’s alternative investment strategies helped cushion the pension fund when the economy collapsed. He knocks the mayor for being overly focused on Wall Street and real estate, a strategy that he says has harmed the middle class, and he promises to diversify. He would create an independent body to study student progress, and wants to mitigate the taxes, fees and fines that he says burden small businesses.

Melinda Katz

Comptroller
In the City Council, Melinda Katz chairs the powerful Land Use Committee, which oversees all development projects that need zoning changes. That has helped her raise campaign cash from real estate interests, but Katz says she has also pushed for affordable housing, fair labor wages and buildings that fit within a community’s context. Before her Council election, she worked in the Queens borough president’s office and she was a State Assembly member. As comptroller, Katz promises to invest a portion of pension funds in successful but debt-strapped companies that do business in New York, to help spur local job creation.

John Liu

Comptroller
John Liu is a reserved City Council member from Queens, but he also has a reputation for being a pit bull during committee hearings. As chair of the Transportation Committee, he claims to be the first elected official to discover the now-infamous “two sets of books” the MTA was using. Liu promises to use his tenacity when auditing city agencies, which the comptroller must do every four years. He also wants to audit and track stimulus funds coming to the city. On pensions, Liu wants to return to traditional, low-risk, low-yield investment strategies.

David Weprin

Comptroller
David Weprin wants voters to understand that he knows the buck. The Queens Council member chairs the Finance Committee, which must pass the city’s budget. He was also Gov. Mario Cuomo’s state superintendent on banking. His position in the Council has baggage, as he was partly blamed for not catching the slush fund scandal sooner. Nonetheless, he is touting his experience and his willingness to stand up to the mayor when appropriate, as he did when opposing the term-limit extension. Weprin plans to open satellite comptroller offices that would focus on financial literacy and assistance programs.

David Yassky

Comptroller
In a field of comptroller candidates from Queens, David Yassky is the lone Brooklynite. He is also the only candidate who supports the creation of a new level of pension benefits that would ease the city’s budget woes, but that remains unpopular with unions. Yassky points to his record in the City Council, where he worked to eliminate waste in the Housing Department, assisted in closing a tax loophole used by luxury developers and supported creating gas-electric hybrid taxis. He promises to invest a small portion of pension funds into biotechnology companies and increase transparency; during the campaign, he put the city’s budget online, at www.ItsYourMoneyNYC.com.

Bill de Blasio

Public Advocate
Council Member Bill de Blasio became Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s chief antagonist during the fight to extend term limits. The successful extension ruined de Blasio’s plans to run for Brooklyn borough president, but he found a spot in the public advocate’s race. He was quickly endorsed by most of the city’s elected officials. As the city’s ombudsman, de Blasio said he would stand up to a powerful mayor when necessary and promises to work collaboratively with other elected officials to get results.

Eric Gioia

Public Advocate
This two-term Queens Council member built a network of support from unions and young professionals, winning his first term without the backing of the borough’s Democratic organization. Gioia is capitalizing on this “outsider” status in his bid to be the city’s ombudsman and is touting his effective use of publicity to drive policy change. In 2007, he went on food stamps for a week, then pushed for legislation that would put applications online. He says he will continue working to improve schools, fighting for economic justice and holding government accountable.

Mark Green

Public Advocate
Voters may remember Mark Green as the city’s first public advocate who served during the Giuliani years, when he sued the mayor for withholding information on racial profiling and police misconduct, and he served as a general foil to many administration policies. He promises to continue that “aggressive progressive” platform, standing up to City Hall and helping government better serve New Yorkers. Since his unsuccessful bid for mayor in 2001, he has been president of Air America Radio, the liberal talk radio network that was owned by his real estate mogul brother, Stephen.

Norman Siegel

Public Advocate
This is civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel’s third bid for public advocate, following his unsuccessful challenge of incumbent Betsy Gotbaum in 2005. Siegel, who says the public advocate needs to be visible, a big mouth and a fighter, points to his record representing groups like the 2004 Republican National Convention protestors and West Harlem tenants in their battle against Columbia University. He plans to recruit hundreds of volunteers to be “surrogate public advocates” in each community, and create an “Institute of Advocacy” to help New Yorkers make themselves heard.

Richard Aborn

Manhattan District Attorney
Richard Aborn, a former assistant district attorney under Robert Morgenthau, stormed into the district attorney race as a dark-horse candidate. Yet his campaign has gained momentum after most of the borough’s elected officials, including Rep. Jerrold Nadler, endorsed his campaign. A gun-control advocate who was behind the federal assault weapons ban and the Brady Bill, Aborn is running on a platform of providing alternatives to incarceration, rehabilitation for nonviolent offenders and expanding the use of technology in the office.

Leslie Crocker Snyder

Manhattan District Attorney
This year, Leslie Crocker Snyder is mounting her second attempt to be Manhattan’s top prosecutor. In 2005, the former State Supreme Court judge ran against incumbent Robert Morgenthau, who had been in office since 1974. Snyder, a former assistant district attorney, was the first woman to prosecute homicides, founded Manhattan’s Sex Crimes Bureau and co-authored the Rape Shield Law. As district attorney, she would create a Second Look Bureau to address wrongful convictions and connect prosecutors to local law enforcement, civic and religious groups.

Cyrus Vance, Jr.

Manhattan District Attorney
Retiring prosecutor Robert Morgenthau chose Cy Vance, his former assistant district attorney, to be his successor. Vance, the son of President Jimmy Carter’s secretary of state, has been a defense lawyer in Seattle, Wash. for most of his career, litigating white collar crimes at a national firm. He plans to develop a community-based justice model in neighborhoods to better attack problems such as domestic violence and discrimination against immigrants. If elected, Vance would tackle the criminal court backlog and form special units for mental health issues and hate crimes.

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.

Gioia, an ambitious Queens Council member, has been cultivating a grassroots campaign for more than seven years. De Blasio, a Brooklyn Council member who entered the race late, has tapped into his political and union connections to build a formidable campaign. Siegel is a rabble-rousing civil rights lawyer who ran twice for the post in 2001 and 2005. And Green is running on his long history in progressive politics—and name recognition.

Each wants to succeed Betsy Gotbaum, who is leaving the office after two terms, even though the term-limit extension would allow her to run for a third. After all, despite voter confusion about the office (see sidebar), the public advocate is a citywide position, like comptroller, and is therefore considered a stepping-stone to running for mayor. And in the city charter, the public advocate is first in the line of succession.

Candidates Bill de Blasio, Mark Green, Norman Siegel and Eric Gioia, poised atop the official public advocate chair in the City Council chambers. Photo illustration by Monica Tang

But without a strong Democratic mayoral contest to draw out primary voters, the Manhattan electorate may play a crucial role in the outcome of the public advocate race. All four public advocate candidates have a claim to the Upper East and West Sides, home of the Democratic primary faithful, whether they live in the neighborhood, have secured endorsements from the local political establishment or received campaign donations from residents. And the outcome of this citywide race may very well depend on who can best leverage that connection, according to Richard Fife, a political consultant from the Upper West Side.

“It’s which candidate can best excite these people and get people motivated has the best advantage,” Fife said.

Official powers of the public advocate include presiding over Council meetings, introducing legislation and being a member of all Council committees. There is also a role in shaping development projects, through the office’s appointment to the City Planning Commission. But the day-to-day job of the public advocate usually involves troubleshooting: directing residents to public services, or pushing a city agency to remedy issues like school overcrowding, construction complaints or public safety problems. When focused on larger issues—or individuals—the public advocate can have a very public and very powerful bully pulpit.

Just ask Mark Green. Green, in his previous two terms, was a constant foil to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and named the mayor in two successful lawsuits over racial profiling and police brutality.

After leaving that office, he was the favorite to become mayor in 2001 but was defeated in a close race by Michael Bloomberg. Trying again for elected office in 2006, he was clobbered by Andrew Cuomo in the attorney general race.

Green swore off electoral politics after that defeat. He became president of liberal radio station Air America and a fixture on NY1 as a political pundit. He also co-authored a book, Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President.

But with three decades of involvement in New York’s political arena and seven campaigns under his belt (but only two wins), he is no stranger to city voters.

“I know you and you know me,” Green told members of the Upper West Side’s Ansonia Democratic Club, trying to capitalize their familiarity with him.

At the club, Green hits on the highlights of his public career: proposing 311, running the city’s Consumer Affairs agency and his propensity for being outspoken—“or abrasive, depending on whether you like me or not,” he joked to club members.

“If you think I was a successful commissioner and public advocate, If you think I was a successful progressive Democrat,” Green said, “I promise I’ll be no less effective.”

Green can rely on name recognition, but lags in fundraising. Given the city’s strict campaign finance laws, he has to tap into his old donor base instead of his family’s personal wealth. He has currently raised $268,143 for his campaign. By contrast, fundraising leader Gioia has nearly $2 million and de Blasio has $1 million.

Poor fundraising might hamper his campaign in the last leg of the primary, especially if there is a run-off election. A run-off is triggered if any one candidate fails to get a majority of the vote—a real possibility in a four-way race—and candidates need cash for a get-out-the-vote operation, television and newspaper advertisements, and campaign mailings.

“He’s been asking for money since the ‘80s,” said a campaign veteran familiar with public advocate races. “So Mark’s blessing is high name recognition. His curse, if it is one, is that voters, and especially donors, are tired of him.”

Eric Gioia, however, has cultivated a donor base for years in preparation for this race. Drawing on his experience as a successful insurgent candidate for Council, he leads the pack with $2 million from 5,558 contributions. Nearly a fifth of his total donations came from the East and West sides, according to recent campaign filings.

Without institutional support from elected officials or the Democratic Party’s local organizations, Gioia can use this volunteer base to help him get on the ballot and campaign in neighborhoods outside his native Queens.

“We have the support of real people, thousands of people on East Side and West Side,” he said.

Plus, Gioia has a knack for drawing attention to his candidacy. In 2007, he lived on food stamps for a week. Last year, he pledged to run the first carbon-neutral citywide campaign, partly through the purchase of carbon credits. That plan failed when the city Campaign Finance Board rejected his proposal to buy the costly credits with campaign donations.

Critics call these maneuvers stunts, but Gioia said they highlight a neglected problem. After his one-week food stamps challenge, he lambasted the red tape that blocks families from getting public assistance. That led him to introduce legislation that would put food stamp applications online.

“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.”

Gioia has certainly shown he can use the bully pulpit. When Costco announced its new East Harlem location, he took the wholesaler to task for refusing to accept food stamps. Under pressure from Gioia and other politicians, Costco reversed the policy altogether.

“We need someone who is independent, who can stand up for people, no matter who they are fighting against,” he said, “even if they are standing up against government agency or big corporations, like I have.”

The attention-grabbing campaign may be the stuff of headlines, but it has seemingly done little for legislators in Manhattan, who have mostly rallied behind Bill de Blasio. His endorsements include Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Charles Rangel, Borough President Scott Stringer and other East and West side legislators.

De Blasio’s backers say his Council record shows he can make the best use of the office.

“He’s progressive, more substantive,” said State Sen. Tom Duane, who met de Blasio when he worked in City Hall. “The public advocate position can be used to actually make policy changes and help people.”

In a Democratic primary without a strong mayoral contest at the top of the ticket, de Blasio said such endorsements will bolster his name recognition in a low- turn-out race.

“It’s been an incredible boost,” he said. “Some people told me it would be very hard to gain support in Manhattan.”

De Blasio has deep ties to these elected officials, thanks to gigs with the Clinton and Dinkins administrations. He has also worked as Rangel’s 1994 campaign manager and a Senate campaign aide for Hillary Clinton.

Supporters point to de Blasio’s ability to work both with and against the powers that be, depending on the situation. There are the various bills he championed as chair of the Council’s General Welfare Committee: legislation that banned discrimination of people with Section 8 housing vouchers, guaranteed housing for domestic violence victims and supported electronic waste recycling. But de Blasio was also one of the earliest and most vehement opponents of extending term limits, taking on both Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Working with a group of fellow Council members, good government groups, certain labor unions and the Working Families Party—which endorsed his candidacy—he organized opposition to the proposal, which failed.

“You can get the process to work effectively for you,” he said, but “sometimes the only way is to shine a light on the issue and be very public and vibrant.”

Norman Siegel, former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, would also probably call himself “public” and “vibrant.” A civil rights attorney for more than three decades, his clients include opponents of Columbia University’s West Harlem expansion and families of 9/11 attack victims.

Because the public advocate’s two main responsibilities are protecting civil rights and holding city government accountable, Siegel said he has already been doing the job.

“The many years I’ve been an advocate and civil rights lawyers gives me credibility specifically for this office,” Siegel said. “This office is unique and should have a civil rights, social justice mind-set.”

Siegel, an Upper West Sider by way of Brooklyn, ran for public advocate in 2001 against Gotbaum and several other candidates. He was able to force a runoff election with Gotbaum but did not have the cash necessary to cross the finish line. After running for the seat again in 2005,  says this will be his last bid.

“By doing it a third time, it shows I really do want this job,” he said.

That means this particular job and nothing else, he stresses, not even mayor. Siegel, who proudly embraces his outsider status, considers that an important distinction from his three opponents, all past or present elected officials.

“If you look at it from the outside, you raise substantive questions,” he said. “Insiders are not prepared to ask the tough questions.”

Siegel has also been the only candidate to criticize Gotbaum’s eight years as public advocate. That has led him to propose sweeping changes to an office he has lambasted as invisible and ineffective. To give the public advocate a larger presence in city government, he wants to create new satellite offices in each borough, train volunteers in the “art of advocacy” and develop a “social justice network.” Such plans are necessary, he said, given that most voters are unfamiliar with the actual responsibilities of the position, much less know who holds the office.

If elected, Siegel said, “No one would raise the question of who’s the public advocate and what the public advocate does. We haven’t gotten close to the potential of what this office could do.”

The Public Who?

By Zara Kessler

All public advocate candidates tend to face one common hurdle when campaigning: no one knows what the office is, or what it’s supposed to do. And that’s exactly why some critics want to get rid of it.

Officially, the public advocate is supposed to be a watchdog for the city’s officials, agencies and municipal service providers, which is why the office has been characterized as a bully pulpit. But stark differences in attitude and approach between the two officials who have held the position show that the role of city’s ombudsman is in the eye of the beholder.

While the office is only 16 years old, some form of public advocate has existed for almost two centuries, whether as the president of the Board of Alderman or, more recently, as the City Council president. When the Council president position was dissolved in the 1989 charter revision, the role of ombudsman survived, thanks to incumbent Andrew Stein, a mayoral aspirant who lobbied hard to keep the position.

“It is not the most well constructed citywide elected office because it was hatched as a result of a political deal,” said Dick Dadey, executive director of the good government group Citizens Union.

Mark Green, the first public advocate from 1994 to 2001, was a vociferous and progressive counterweight to Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Betsy Gotbaum, Green’s successor and the current public advocate, adopted a less public approach. Gotbaum defends her tenure and says she’s been the leading voice on child welfare, education and “helping the most vulnerable New Yorkers who have no place else to turn get what they need.” She says her office has received 60,000 requests for her public benefits immigrants guide. And a call from someone who was illegally denied food stamps led her to push for policy changes regarding food stamp accessibility.

But the office has been weakened due to the mayor’s control over the public advocate’s budget, which both Giuliani and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have cut repeatedly. Gotbaum believes there is a misconception about the taxpayer cost of the office, which has plummeted to $2.8 million and continues to decrease.

“It’s really important that people understand that I think you get, for less than three million dollars, a tremendous bang for your buck,” Gotbaum said.

Critics, however, argue that New York City also has a Congressional delegation, state legislators, borough presidents and City Council members to advocate on their behalf.

“There really is no way to make an argument that a public advocate is needed,” said Joseph Mercurio, a political consultant.

Hank Sheinkopf, a consultant who ran Gotbaum’s 2001 campaign, said there is a need for the office “in a city where people oftentimes get lost.” But to be effective, the office needs to be beefed up.

“They need a larger budget and more staff to do the job that they should be doing,” Sheinkopf said. “It’s very hard when you have no people.”

If the office continues to run without the staff or funds needed to make a difference in people’s lives, the argument for nixing the position could gain traction during the next charter revision. For Gotbaum, that means thousands of New Yorkers could be shut out of government in a time of need.

“To the people who say abolish this office, okay, talk to the 12,000 people that we’ve helped in a year,” Gotbaum said. “See what they think.”