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The Conflicts at the Conflicts of Interest Board


Photo (c) Gotham Gazette

Lesson number one: Do not snoop through a city department database to get information on an ex-wife.

Lesson number two: A wealthy mayor can boost an assistant's salary with his own cash, as long as he's paying the aide for scheduling his private affairs.

Lesson number three: If you're a teacher, don't tutor your students outside the classroom in return for their weekly allowances. Bad form.

Watch out, the Conflicts of Interest Board can make you pay the price.

Opaque and often-ignored, the Conflicts of Interest Board is the steward of honest city government -- the public principles police. Charged with overseeing the intersections of the private and public lives of the city's 300,000 municipal employees, the quasi-judicial body seeks to ensure employees act in the interest of the people -- not themselves.

But in that honest and worthwhile pursuit, the board's intent has been questioned. Its five members are all appointed by the mayor, rubber-stamped by the City Council, and with that some City Hall observers wonder whether the board is as independent as it should be -- especially during an administration with as much private interest as Mayor Michael Bloomberg's.

What makes the board go after some activities, such as a moonlighting city sheriff, while letting other questionable conflicts sneak by?

Independence in Opinions

On the steps of City Hall last week, Council members Letitia James and Bill de Blasio announced the next step in their fight against extending term limits: A lawsuit that names the city's Conflicts of Interest Board, among others, as a defendant.

The board, in one of its most publicized decisions, issued an opinion last month stating the City Council did not violate the city's conflicts of interest law when it voted to extend term limits to three terms from two.

In response, James asked: "Why bite the hand that feeds you?"

Some critics say the board inherently caters to City Hall, because the mayor selects its members -- albeit with City Council approval -- and the position comes with a certain amount of prestige. In addition to overseeing the conflicts of interest of every municipal employee -- it issues hundreds of letters and opinions a year and fines those it finds guilty -- the board also opines on matters of conflict within the mayor's office.

That, critics contend, is in itself a conflict of interest.

"Voters have a right to expect these decisions to be regulated by an objective body, and the COIB's composition hinders the appearance of their impartiality on this issue," said Councilmember Bill de Blasio in a prepared statement, regarding the term limits decision. "We must ensure that these types of governing bodies fulfill their duty to provide objective judgment on critical governmental matters in our city."

Board staff and several members dismiss that criticism.

"You're choosing people who are known for their integrity, who are known for their objectivity," said Angela Mariana Freyre, a board member since 2002. "We are by no means a rubber stamp of the mayor."

Board members say they are selected for their independence and fairness. Given the extra work and the hours (three of the five members do not take the $250 per diem they could get), members say serving is an act of volunteerism with no personal, private benefit. They would not decide an issue hoping to be reappointed, they argue.

"I'm not beholden to him," said Andrew Irving, a board member, of the mayor. "If he is still mayor when my term is up and he decides to appoint me for another term, fine. If not, that's OK too."

A spokesman for the Bloomberg administration said board members cannot be removed at the mayor's will, which was done "by design" to do away with any conflict of interest.

And the council, said Councilmember Daniel Garodnick, a member of the committee that oversees mayoral appointments, interviews and investigates every nominee.

"In light of the fact that these are six-year terms with staggered dates of completion and they have advice and consent of the council, at some point you need to have faith that boards will act independently of the people that have appointed them," Garodnick said.

Where Interests Lie

But does the board favor the current administration?

According to an analysis by Gotham Gazette, 10 public opinions or letters have directly pertained to Bloomberg since he took office in 2002. Several of the opinions required Bloomberg to recuse himself from certain negotiations at City Hall, which dealt with either Bloomberg L.P. -- the company he founded -- or other companies in which he held assets. Six of the nine opinions or letters of advice require Bloomberg to limit his involvement in the policy at hand.

These decisions, observers say, show no favoritism.

In comparison, a handful of letters of advice were issued during the Giuliani administration directly dealing with the mayor. Several of them limited his actions, including requiring the former mayor to recuse himself from dealings with the city after he left office to found a consulting firm.

"It wasn't different either procedurally or substantially," said Bruce Green, a former board member from 1995 to 2005, who heads the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics. "There is an effort to make the decisions consistent."

The board's structure -- based on mayoral appointments -- is not unusual for this type of quasi-judicial body, say City Hall observers. And, members say, it is far better than if they were elected, which would replace rule of law with rule of politics.

"Of course it presents a situation that has its perils, but the people who have held those positions, particularly the chairs, have been very independent people," said Ross Sandler, a professor of law at New York Law School and director of the Center for New York City Law. "Even though the mayor has played a decisive role about appointments, it hasn't influenced the results particularly."

Private Interests in the Public Sector

Bloomberg tackles city government like a business -- measuring progress in quarterly reports, tourism rates and other statistics. What else would you expect from the founder of a multi-billion dollar company, whose net worth was estimated at $20 billion by Forbes this year.

But with that comes unique circumstances for the board, which needs to put the best interests of the city first. Under the Bloomberg administration, private sector connections are far more common than they were in other administrations.

"There have been some extraordinarily challenging issues that the conflicts board has had to address in this administration because of the unprecedented wealth of the mayor and in some cases of other members of his administration," said Randy Mastro, a former deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration who is suing the city over the term limits decision.

Each time someone vacates City Hall, it's likely the board will have another case to look into.

For instance, is it a conflict for the mayor to solicit donations from his wealthy Upper East Side brethren for nonprofits whose goal is to rebuild ground zero? Is it OK for Bloomberg to fundraise from his well-known corporate friends to bring the Olympics to the Big Apple? In both cases, the board said it was.

In another highly publicized opinion, the board allowed former deputy mayor Daniel Doctoroff to continue to advise the city on certain development projects he spearheaded, even after he had moved on from his city job. He now heads Bloomberg L.P.

Normally, public employees are prohibited from appearing before the city for a year after they leave their positions. And, going further, they are prohibited from lobbying on issues they had direct involvement in.

In Doctoroff's case, the board said the work the former deputy mayor would do on behalf of the city would benefit New York's interests, not the personal interests of Doctoroff.

This is not an unprecedented board position, though. Several times during the Giuliani administration the board allowed a former city employee -- granted, not anyone as high profile as Doctoroff -- to work for outside interests, in one case nonprofits, that would have overlapping interests with the employee's previous position.

Obscure With Fluorescent Lighting

Though the board has hit the limelight recently, it was barely noticed not long ago.

Up 10 flights at 2 Lafayette Street downtown, the walls are eerily white -- reminiscent of the innards of a psychiatric hospital on a made-for-TV special. Beyond an eggshell-painted door adjacent to a marquee with the name, "Conflicts of Interest Board," are 21 employees -- the entire staff of the board, which is miniscule compared to most city agencies.

It's there that the board staff weeds out private, personal interest by responding to complaints by officials and the public and by giving advice to public servants who ask. It oversees thousands of pages of financial disclosure forms required for every city employee, containing personal assets and outside income of public employees, and the city's lobbyist gift law.

Its meetings -- which are rarely open to the public -- aren't listed on its web site. In fact, they are held out of the halls of public buildings, but instead -- at least since 1990 -- occur in the private quarters of the board's chair, who happens to be a partner at a reputable midtown law firm.

The vast majority of its letters, which advise public servants on what is or what is not a conflict of interest on a case-by-case basis, are not released publicly. In 2007, about half of the board's 604 pieces of advice were never disclosed to the public.

The board cites privacy rights.

"What we do is inherently confidential," said Irving. "It's a matter of balancing the public's right to know with the very legitimate privacy expectations of individual employees."

Conflicts, Conflicts Everywhere

While the board is charged with boosting confidence in government integrity, it must protect the privacy of the public servant. Murkiness in the city's law doesn't help the board, or the public, decipher, what it can and cannot do.

For instance, is it OK for a high-ranking official to publicly endorse a book published by a non-profit educational institution? According to a decision by the board in 1995, it's not.

But can public employees accept discount offers from a local bank, which any ordinary citizen can also nab? Sure they can.

"This particular law is not designed to be a broad code of ethics and to define what kind of behavior for public servants or people in general is ethical and unethical," said Steven Rosenfeld, the chair of the five-member board. "It is limited to what are considered conflicts of interest."

Those quote-unquote conflicts are decided by five people, with the advice of the board's executive director and counsel, in the confines of Rosenfeld's offices. The members are attorneys, financial consultants, corporate counsels and a president of a local business improvement district.

Before 1989, the board comprised several members of the mayor's office, including the sitting administration's counsel. That structure raised significant questions of independence, and it was dissolved in the city's charter revision.

Since the 1989 charter revision, the opinions and complaints the board has received have skyrocketed. In 1993, the board received 23 conflicts of interest complaints. In 2007, it got 20 times that at 465.

This is not saying people are becoming less ethical. Most board staff and members attribute it to the agency's enhanced visibility.

Missing the Mark

How those complaints are managed is another story.

There is little process to determine who, what or when the board will go after a conflict of interest. For one, they have no investigative arm and instead rely on the city's Department of Investigation to look into certain cases. Because it is such a small agency, it does not look into issues or conflicts unless it receives a complaint.

As a result, for example, the board failed to catch the City Council slush fund scandal that overwhelmed City Hall earlier this year. No one had ever filed a complaint about possible conflicts of interest between discretionary fund allocations and council members.

"We can only know what's brought to our attention since we don't have an investigative arm," said Rosenfeld, the board's chair.

For years, the board has been lobbying for greater independence, from control over its own budget to gaining subpoena power. A spokesman for the administration says City Charter revision commissions have in the past reviewed the board's independence and have chosen not to act on these requests.

"I think that having our own investigation authority would enable us to control our priorities," said Irving.

Because it only acts on complaints, the board's cases can arise from personal prejudice or even malice. A colleague would have to report that a librarian was relentlessly promoting his daughter's book.

You can bet an employee reported that an interim principal at P.S. 60 was sending aides to run personal errands or that a planning commissioner, Dolly Williams, voted on a major rezoning project that affected a personal investment.

But there is also no clear line on who gets a warning letter -- an ethical slap on the wrist -- and who receives a $10,000 fine. The board, say staff, uses its own prosecutorial judgment to weigh the offense.

So when one councilmember, Sara Gonzalez, used her city stationary to send a letter to a city agency contesting a personal violation, she was warned not to do it again. But when a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene pest inspector, Yulan Nash-Daniel, checked out a quality of life complaint at an uncle's church without telling a supervisor, the inspector was suspended for eight days, valued at $1,496.

So without clear rules or independent investigations, maybe the city's Conflicts of Interest Board isn't really the city's ethical police. Maybe, it's our security guard.

 

The Other Power Shift


Gotham Gazette image by Ya-Hsuan Huang

Unlike Barack Obama's victory, the election of more Democrats to the New York State Senate did not produce impromptu celebrations in the streets or tears of joy. But it does represent a huge change for New York State.

Assuming the Democrats keep all their senators in the fold, the party in January will control both houses of the legislature and the governor's office. The last time a single party accomplished that was in the days of Nelson Rockefeller -- and that was the Republicans. The Democrats haven't held such clout since 1935. They haven't had a majority in the State Senate for more than 40 years.

All three men in a room -- Gov. David Paterson, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the likely Senate majority leader, Malcolm Smith -- are from New York City. Two of them are black.

This change comes at a time when New York faces a huge budget deficit along with other challenges that could prove daunting to any government, let alone one long considered to be among the most dysfunctional in the nation.

So what happens now? We asked a number of experts to weigh in on how they think Tuesday's results will affect the state government and its actions on key issues.

A Cure from Washington -- Jonathan Engel

Gaining Influence -- David Cingranelli

The Brick Wall Tumbles -- Billy Easton

Finding the Money for Schools -- Geri Palast

Changing the Way Albany Does Business -- Dick Dadey

Taxes and Spending -- Robert B. Ward

Crisis on the Tracks -- Gene Russianoff

An Opportunity to Help Low-Income New Yorkers -- David R. Jones

Room for Tenants -- Michael McKee

Regulations and Responsibility -- Jack Freund

It's Not a Revolution -- Jeff Stonecash

Thinking Small in Albany -- Gregory Julian


A Cure from Washington?

Does the party flip in the State Senate have any ramifications for healthcare in New York? Not really.

State healthcare can be roughly broken down into providing health care, paying for it and regulating it.

Health care, where available, comes through public hospitals such as the eleven hospitals of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corp. (the largest public system in the country) as well as state psychiatric facilities. Regulation comes through county and municipal public health departments: the folks responsible for inspecting restaurants, keeping tabs on births and deaths, and tracking infectious disease. And payment comes in the form of the state’s Medicaid program, which provides health insurance to the poor and permanently disabled, as well as picking up nursing home tabs for anybody falling below certain poverty thresholds. Of the three, the one most responsive to political change is Medicaid.

New York’s Medicaid program, long one of the most generously funded of all state Medicaid programs, is the largest single item in the state budget – roughly $30 billion of $80 billion. This is typical, and as a result Gov. David Paterson, along with virtually every governor in the nation, would like desperately to reduce that.

The problems he faces are twofold: First, he cannot reduce eligibility for Medicaid without violating federal guidelines, and thus the gross number of Medicaid recipients is beyond his control. Second, while he can reduce reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals, this will encourage many physicians to no longer see Medicaid patients, thus reducing access to medical care for the state’s poor. The governor is in a bind, and the legislature can do little to help him out, short of increasing general revenue through the state income tax.

Viewed as part of the larger shift toward Democratic power holders, however, the flip is significant. President-elect Barack Obama has placed health reform high on his list of priorities, probably just behind stabilizing the credit markets and withdrawing from Iraq, and his campaign team has produced a detailed plan of his intentions. The Obama health plan is essentially a modified “pay or play” model with an expanded federal system – much like the present German system.

People with private insurance through their employers would probably see little difference, but uninsured fulltime employees would either receive a private policy through their employers or be allowed to buy into an expanded federal insurance plan, which, in theory, would mirror the plan that fulltime federal employees now have access to. Obama’s plan would guarantee more revenue coming into the federal system (through the “pay” mandate for those employers who choose not to provide insurance) meaning that less funding would have to flow through Albany. The balance of government to private money in the system will not change, but the balance of federal to state money will. Governors across the nation will breathe a sigh of relief if this comes to pass, which is looking more likely with each U.S. Senate seat that the Democrats pick up.

All by way of saying, the shift in Albany is only significant, in healthcare terms, insofar as it is emblematic of the larger national shift toward Democratic control. These will, indeed, be interesting times.

Jonathan Engel, professor and associate dean, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College,


Gaining Influence

Unified Democratic Party control at the state level, combined with unified Democratic Party control at the national level should increase the ability of the city and state of New York to influence the direction of federal government policies. At the same time, the shift in power within the state toward the Democratic Party will reduce the power of upstate New York relative to downstate over many important issues such as the proper formula for distributing state education funding among school districts.

-- David Cingranelli, professor of political science, Binghamton University


The 'Brick Wall' Tumbles

The State Senate Republicans have played a major defining role in all educational policy and funding debates. Instead of pushing for New York City to get its fair share, Senate Republicans have actively "dissed" New York City and pushed for money for wealthy Long Island school districts. The four Republican Senators who represent New York City have stood silently by as Dean Skelos has led them down this path.

The change in the Senate Majority is a sea change in term of education issues. Senate Democrats have consistently championed a fair funding formula that would benefit New York City and all high needs districts across the state. We have every reason to expect Senate Democrats will hold true to these principles.

A fair school aid distribution formula is what is best for New York City and other high-needs school districts across the state. The brick wall, which has stood in the way of education equity has now been taken away.

-- Billy Easton, executive director, Alliance for Quality Education.


Finding the Money for Schools

The situation is in flux. Normally one would think this would be a great sign for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity [which brought the successful law suit challenging the state's funding of New York City schools] and for education generally. Given the current economic climate, though, we don't know how these new elected officials -- like Gov. David Patterson himself, who has always been a supporter of CFE and of education -- will handle education in this time of turmoil.

We would hope that they would approach budget cutting with a scalpel, not a pickaxe. None of these cuts can be across the board. CFE has advocated meeting the needs of lower-income school districts. Those needs still are not being met.

We need to be looking at increasing revenues and not just reducing social services. The election indicated a strong willingness by New Yorkers, who voted overwhelmingly for President-elect Barack Obama, to raise revenues from high-income New Yorkers. This would be a shift from the views of the former Republican majority position in opposition to an increase in the personal income tax.

--Geri Palast, executive director, Campaign for Fiscal Equity


Changing the Way Albany Does Business

The change in party control of the State Senate provides a new level of optimism for those advocating reform of state government. The Senate Democrats have known for a long time what it is like to be in the Senate minority and live the harsh consequences of not being the party in control. Sen. Malcolm Smith, the presumed incoming majority leader, will have a lot on his plate, but he can demonstrate immediately to New Yorkers that change has indeed come to Albany by implementing some overdue reforms that the Senate Democrats have long embraced and supported.

At the Albany Reform Lobby Day last spring, Smith underscored that reform was indeed on the agenda if and when the Democrats gained control by saying “reform is on the way and “reform is the call of the day.” As Liz Benjamin of the New York Daily News reported last April, “Smith pledged to treat the Republicans better than they've treated the Democrats if he succeeds in ousting [Sen. Joe] Bruno as majority leader this fall, saying minority members should have the power to vote bills out of committee if they can muster up enough votes to do so.” So chief among the reforms that can easily be achieved at the outset in January is rules reform and opening up the legislative processes of the Senate to be more transparent and collaborative.

Most likely second on the reform list will be an effort to decrease the influence of money by implementing much needed campaign finance reform. Though public financing will ultimately be crucial to that goal, it is difficult to imagine that Gov. David Paterson will approve a campaign finance reform bill that includes public financing, although he was a strong proponent of it when he was in the Senate. Even so, much can be done to bring about campaign finance reform by increasing disclosure, lowering campaign contribution limits, restricting or outright banning some kinds of political giving, and strengthening enforcement. Bringing about campaign finance reform will be an important signal on how serious Smith and his Democratic colleagues are about reforming how state government does business.

There also will be an opportunity to enact improvements to the much maligned ethics reform measure passed two years ago when Eliot Spitzer became governor. Changing the composition of the new Commission on Public Integrity to ensure that no one elected official controls a majority of the appointments, as the governor now does, will be a good place to start. Adding legislative oversight to the commission’s realm of responsibility is another needed reform.

The recent election also gave new impetus to the need to change the way elections are run by overhauling the Board of Elections and increasing opportunities for voters to cast their ballot by implementing same day voter registration and early voting.

The most needed reform will be ending the partisan gerrymandering that now guides legislative redistricting. Taking it out of the hands of the legislature itself and giving the responsibility to an independent redistricting commission is essential to any meaningful effort to reform Albany. It would do much to restore New Yorkers confidence that they are choosing their elected officials instead of elected officials choosing their voters. Smith once strongly professed support for such an approach, but in a bow to pressure from Democratic members of Congress, he questioned the need last spring for an independent commission. He began instead arguing that the State Senate could be trusted to draw the lines if the criteria and guidelines for doing it were strengthened. Such an approach still does not get to the notion that legislators who stand to benefit from how their districts are constructed should not be the ones drawing the lines.

Smith and his Democratic colleagues have an unprecedented opportunity to reform Albany along the lines they have been talking about for decades. Given the responsibility they now hold, it could be a very exciting to see the change finally arrive.

--Dick Dadey, executive director, Citizens Union. Citizens Union is the sister organization of Gotham Gazette's publisher, Citizens Union Foundation.


Taxes and Spending

There will be change, but the effects of having the Democrats control the Senate is a bit more difficult to predict than it might have been 10 or 15 years ago. Sen. Malcolm Smith [the likely new majority leader] has been talking about the need to reduce spending, although it is still likely that the average member of the Senate Democratic conference might be more willing to raise taxes than the typical member of the Senate Republican conference.

This all relates to the ability of New York City to control its own fiscal policy. I would guess that future mayors would attempt to get the Senate Democratic majority to give the city more flexibility than the Senate Republican majority has been willing to approve. The upstate Republicans have wanted more flexibility on Medicaid so maybe there could be a grand compromise where local leaders gain more control over their own fiscal policy.

At the state level, it is unlikely we will see someone as dominant as Nelson Rockefeller, who, when he had majorities in both houses, was able to dictate the agenda. But now the legislature is much more independent than it used to be, and the two houses are more independent of each other. What that comes down to is it’s much more likely that there will be a single leader or even a ruling triumvirate where three leaders work in tandem on everything.

--Robert B. Ward, deputy director, Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government Rockefeller Institute


Crisis on the Tracks

How will the election results affect the future of transit in the New York metropolitan region?

The newly elected officials in the state and federal governments -– along with their colleagues in city government -– will be facing the worst fiscal crisis for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in the more than 25 years that I've monitored the agency's finances.

And that's bad news for the more than 9 million riders who use the subways, buses and commuter rail lines. The MTA's preliminary budget for 2009 already includes a fare increase for next July, right on the heels of a fare hike this past March.

And, as the media recently reported, the MTA’s deficit in July – pegged at $900 million – has ballooned by several hundred million dollars. Depending on how bad the numbers are and how much the MTA can save in management efficiencies, that could result in a double whammy: an even higher fare hike coupled with major service cuts.

In plain English, more for less.

Why is the MTA having such problems? There are two major causes.

The first is the economy. In addition to fares, the MTA is funded by a variety of economically sensitive taxes. These include taxes on sectors of the New York region that directly benefit from the most extensive transit network in the nation, such as businesses, property owners, consumers and drivers. Every indication is that these taxes will raise less money than originally projected for this year and next.

Second, the MTA has been forced to borrow huge sums – up to $28 billion – to finance its critical rebuilding program, using the money to buy or rehabilitate new subway and commuter cars, buses, scores of stations, and infrastructure like tracks, signals, tunnel lighting and tunnel fans.

The MTA has become the fifth largest borrower in the United States, behind only the states of California, New York and Massachusetts and the City of New York.

The bill for all this borrowing is coming due. "Debt service" on the bonds will cost $2 billion by 2010 - fully one fifth of the MTA's $10 billion budget. Debt service is also the single largest growing expense for the agency.

What's to be done?

On the federal level, there's a big push for an economic stimulus package that would include many billions of dollars for badly needed transportation infrastructure. Investing in the subways, buses and commuter rail should literally help get America – and our economy – moving again.

On the state level, a commission appointed by Gov. David Paterson and headed by former MTA Chairman Richard Ravitch is due to report on Dec. 5 on ways to fund both the MTA's operating and rebuilding needs. Those watching the commission believe it will suggest some combination of new revenue sources, fares, tolls and management savings.

Once its recommendations are out, it will be up to Paterson, the state legislature and Mayor Michael Bloomberg to take action.

That's a tall order. But the alternative of disinvesting in transit would be much worse.

A big fare hike and major service cuts would be widely seen as a hit on the very people reeling from our troubled economy. It would also risk a return to the many decades in which the transit system was both a drag on the region's economy and a misery to use.

--Gene Russianoff, staff attorney, Straphangers Campaign


An Opportunity to Help Low-Income New Yorkers

Last Tuesday night, the nation and the world witnessed the election of Sen. Barack Obama as the nation's 44th president. For the first time in the 232-year history of our republic, a black American will occupy the highest office in our land. It is a remarkable achievement for a nation that once condoned the enslavement of Africans and codified discrimination against black Americans.

We should be mindful that despite the historic nature of his election, President-elect Obama faces significant challenges in the days and months ahead. He will be confronted by an economic crisis that rivals that of the Great Depression.

Still, there are some federal proposals that can help those out of work, especially young people. A bill introduced by Rep. Charles Rangel would amend the current Work Opportunity Tax Credit to include low-skill youth who have been out of work and school for the past six months. Rep. Jerrold Nadler has introduced a bill that would create a career-ladder grant program within the Federal Transit Administration to help existing workers retain jobs in the public transportation industry.

On the state level, Democrats captured the majority in both houses of the legislature. This could provide opportunities to move the agenda for low-income New Yorkers. The results of our latest survey of low-income New Yorkers, "The Unheard Third," reveal that these New Yorkers are most worried about housing costs, losing their homes and jobs, and the rising gas and home heating prices. They are struggling just to meet basic needs.

For all the euphoria we are experiencing today, the reality is that we face challenges of epic proportions. But by working with our representatives in both Albany and Washington, we have the chance to bring real change through policies that help low-income New Yorkers and make New York a better place to live for all of us.

David R. Jones, president and chief eexecutive officer, Commuity Service Society.


Room for Tenants

Tenants PACworked very hard to elect a Democratic State Senate, and that has been our task for the last four election cycles. This year we raised money for several Democratic candidates, contributing a total of $55,000, and did lots of volunteer work for Darrel Aubertine [who won an open seat in a special election last February], Joe Addabbo and Brian Foley [who defeated incumbent Republican senators on Nov. 4]

Now, we expect to have a much different reception in the State Senate. As long as the Republican were in charge, tenants could not get a hearing in the State Senate because the Republicans were owned lock, stock and barrel by the New York City real-estate industry, which gave them $2 million every election. For the last 20 years, you couldn't get the simplest pro-tenant bill out of committee.

Instead of the majority conference being controlled by upstate and suburban Republicans, it now will be controlled by Democrats from New York City and the suburbs, who represent lots of tenants. They support our reform agenda not only because we helped them win the majority, but because they understand the importance of rent regulation in maintaining a supply of affordable workplace housing in the downstate region.

 

Even upstate Democrats, who do not have rent control, have been very supportive of our tenant agenda. One told me, referring to the bill the Assembly passed in May to repeal vacancy decontrol, "This issue does not affect my district but it is life and death to my colleagues in the City, and that is why I support it."

We are not naĂŻve. We're expecting opposition. We are up against a powerful adversary, and their power comes from their money. But with Liz Krueger chairing the housing committee and the new majority in the Senate, we expect a very different situation.

--Michael McKee, treasurer, Tenants PAC


Regulation and Responsibility

The shift in the Senate from Democratic to Republican control is obviously a concern, since the Senate has served as a bulwark against the Assembly's attempts to over-regulate the rental housing industry. At the same time, now that the Democrats will be in charge of the Senate, they will have to have a sense of responsibility. At a time of economic crisis, we find it hard to think the Senate would put more of a regulatory burden on the housing industry. We also think it is unlikely that the Senate will want to turn its power to regulate rental housing over the city.

--Jack Freund, executive vice president, Rent Stabilization Association of New York


It's Not a Revolution

The change from Republican to Democratic control in the Senate, giving Democrats control over both houses of the legislature and the governorship, is presumed to be significant. While it seems it should cause significant change -- the first unified Democratic control in a very long time -- it is unlikely to result in major changes in policy.

The more recently elected Democrats in the Senate come from areas previously held by Republicans and with greater Republican enrollment. They are unlikely to be willing to vote for liberal programs and risk being defeated in 2010. They will constrain the direction of the party. There is also concern that the reason some were elected was because of the negative view of Republicans, and the new Democrats must be careful that the political winds will shift in 2010.

Further, the state already has the highest state and local taxes in the country and is not gaining population. Any policy change that would raise taxes will create more problems, and Democrats worry about jobs as much as anyone.

Finally, the looming projected deficits will constrain Democrats. There may be movement on some "cultural wars" issues but moving fiscal policy in a liberal direction is unlikely.

--Jeff Stonecash, professor of political science, Maxwell School of Syracuse University


Thinking Small in Albany

During my candidacy for the New York State Senate in the 38th district, I observed that the politics of cronyism still is the predominant political perspective that limits a politics of change embraced by the voters. Barack Obama's effort nationwide, to jumpstart a more participatory democratic agenda, does not resonate with the power-seeking players in local and state politics.

Dr. Joseph's Stiglitz "millionaire's tax," a progressive income tax, a single-payer universal health care system, energy independence in 10 years through alternative energy programs, job growth through sustainable development, education for improving the quality of life, transparency in government contracts and transferring member items to budget-line items, if combined, would yield significant budgetary balance in the coming years. Instead, "crisis management" sets Gov. David Paterson's agenda. It's a campaign strategy, instead of creative thinking to retool government in New York State.

The opportunity to appeal to empowering a "do-it-ourselves democracy" that the Obama victory has ushered in is lost on the New York politicians who are addicted to manipulation and stagnant thinking. Until we have a constitutional convention that modernizes NY State, including a non-partisan, common sense approach to realigning election districts, the nonsense of the three men in a room continues in Albany, be they of a red or blue hue.

--Gregory Julian, who lost his bid for the State Senate, is a professor of political science at Pace University.


 

 

 

Longtime Incumbent Seeks Two More Years


Assemblymember Keith L. T. Wright is running for re-election for the seat he has held since 1992. The Harlem Democrat, who also will appear in the Working Families Party line, is perhaps best known for proposing legislation to raise awareness of New York's history of slavery. He introduced a bill last year that included an official apology from New York State for the slavery in the state. Republican candidate is available about his Republican challenger, Rueben D. Riley Sr.

Wright's 32 Day Pre-General campaign finance filing showed he had collected $18,159 in the reporting period and ended it with $24,287 on hand. Riley has not filed any campaign finance reports.

 



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Gotham Gazette: New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
New York Voters Approve $4.2 Billion Environmental Bond Act
Gotham Gazette: 
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
New York City Voters Approve Racial Justice Ballot Measures
Gotham Gazette: 
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Housing Development in New York City Slows to a Crawl as Officials Debate Tax Incentives
Gotham Gazette: 
City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years City Council Examines Low Voter Turnout, Moving Local Elections to Even Years