Comptroller Lander and Mayor Adams in their prior roles (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a progressive Brooklyn Democrat, is getting situated in his new role, which he calls the city’s “chief accountability officer.” As the comptroller, Lander’s citywide perch gives him a series of largely fiscal responsibilities mandated by the city Charter, including as a fiduciary to the public pension funds, a watchdog over city government finances, and the auditor-in-chief of city agencies.

Williams and Lander Start Presenting United Progressive Counterweight to Adams

City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (photo: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit)

With a new City Council class and new speaker leading the legislative body, there is another opportunity to change the Council’s internal rules, which haven't been formally revised since 2014.

It's a relatively obscure corner of public policy because in a city of 8.8 million people the rules apply only to the 51 elected Council members and a few hundred Council staff. But Council members and advocates have for years pointed to measures that

Thursday's rally (photo: @NYCComptroller)

With climate crises bearing down on New York City, including hurricanes and tropical storms that flooded landlocked neighborhoods and killed more than a dozen New Yorkers last year, elected officials and activists are pressing Mayor Eric Adams to act with urgency in implementing a law to tackle carbon emissions in the city.

At a rally in midtown Manhattan on Thursday morning, climate activists gathered with officials including Public

Comptroller Brad Lander, standing (photo: Office of New York City Comptroller)

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander on Tuesday unveiled anonline dashboard tracking how the city is spending and allocating more than $11 billion in federal stimulus funds. Lander pointed to several deficiencies in the city’s accounting of those funds, with unclear links between the source of funding and expenditures

Comptroller Brad Lander (photo: Susan Watts/Office of New York City Comptroller)

February 16, 2022 - Max Politics Podcast: Comptroller Brad Lander on the City Budget & Improving Nonprofit Contracting

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, a Democrat just seven weeks into his first term in the citywide position, joined the show to discuss his initial reactions to Mayor Eric Adams' preliminary budget plan, promised changes to nonprofit contracting, the city's infrastructure spending, his transition into the office and

Th City Council (photo: William Alatriste/City Council)

The New York City Council voted 43-5 to approve a rezoning of the New York Blood Center to create a new life sciences hub on the Upper East Side, in a rare vote that overrode the wishes of local Council Member Ben Kallos.

The Council has typically followed the tradition of “member deference” on land use matters, voting along with the member whose district includes the proposed rezoning. In the case of the Blood Center, negotiations had been going on for many months among

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 112 -- 47, with NYC Comptroller-Elect Brad Lander [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

47 is the number of people who will have held the office of New York Comptroller once Brad Lander is sworn in on January 1, 2022. At a breakfast with CBC Trustees, President Andrew Rein sat down for a wide-ranging conversation with the Comptroller-elect, covering subjects including risks to New York’s budget, contracting reform, rezoning, and

Brad Lander, the next city Comptroller (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for New York City Comptroller, is sailing to victory in the general election, putting him on the verge of becoming the city’s 45th chief financial officer when the new class of elected officials is inaugurated on January 1.

It was no surprise that the term-limited City Council Member, who has represented his Park Slope district since 2010, won given the large ratio of New York City Democrats to

Comptroller candidates Daby Carreras, left, and Paul Rodriguez

New York City Comptroller candidates Paul Rodriguez, the Conservative Party nominee, and Daby Carreras, the Republican Party nominee, met for a debate hosted by Manhattan Neighborhood Network and moderated by Gotham Gazette's Ben Max. Democratic nominee Brad Lander declined to participate in the debate. Watch:

Council Member Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

The New York City Comptroller is an investment advisor and fiduciary for New York City’s $266 billion public pension system that serves 700,000 current and former teachers, firefighters, health care workers, police officers, and other retired city employees.

Brad Lander, the Democratic nominee for Comptroller, is all but certain to win the general election this fall in the overwhelmingly Democratic city after prevailing in a competitive primary earlier this year. If successful,

Eric Adams in Brooklyn (photo: office of Eric Adams)

When Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams won the Democratic mayoral primary, to some it signalled a rebuke of the growing progressive movement in the city and called into question whether more left-wing candidates can win in communities of color. After recent years of electing an increasing number of progressives in local, state, and federal elections, New York City had chosen a moderate NYPD veteran and one-time Republican as its likely next mayor.

Older Black and Latino voters flocked to

Maya Wiley, Kathryn Garcia, and Eric Adams

The New York City Board of Elections on Wednesday released a corrected tabulation of preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice votes from the June mayoral and comptroller primary elections, a day after an initial release that included erroneous numbers. 

On Tuesday, the BOE published an unofficial tally that included roughly 135,000 more ballots than were cast by primary night. The extra ballots were said to be left over from a test run prior to what was supposed to be the initial RCV runoff count

Voters voting (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

The New York City Board of Elections began tabulating preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice votes cast in this year’s primary elections on Tuesday, offering what was thought to be a glimpse of the possible result of races across the city even though more than 120,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted at all. But not long after the BOE published its first preliminary ranked-choice runoff in the Democratic primaries for mayor and comptroller, it became evident that errors had been made and the

Brad Lander (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)

[Note: since the publication of this article, Lander has been declared the winner of the Democratic primary for NYC Comptroller]

“I feel really proud of the campaign our team ran. We are the overwhelming first choice of a whole lot of New Yorkers all across the city,” Brad Lander said Thursday, less than 48 hours after polls closed and he took a commanding lead in the all-important Democratic primary to become the next New York City Comptroller. “I really believe in ranked-choice voting, I

Brad Lander (photo: Emil Cohen/City Council)

June 24, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: Brad Lander on His Lead in the Comptroller Race

Brad Lander, the Brooklyn City Council member, is leading in the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller primary after by more than 60,000 votes the initial tally of in-person votes. Lander joined the show to discuss where things stand, why he has done as well as he has, his expectations around the absentee votes and ranked-choice instant runoff set to unfold, and

The New York Times (photo: google images 2020)

June 23, 2021 - Max Politics Podcast: The Power of New York Times Endorsements

Mara Gay of the New York Times editorial board joined the show to react to the initial batch of vote tallies in the 2021 New York City primary elections and the role the editorial board played in its apparently powerful endorsements of Kathryn Garcia for Mayor, Brad Lander for Comptroller, and Alvin Bragg for Manhattan District Attorney.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think, on Twitter ...

Mayor votes (photo: Michael Appleton/Mayor's Office)

Though voting in the Tuesday primary has concluded, the election is far from over. Absentee ballots have yet to be counted and ranked-choice votes have yet to be tabulated. While New Yorkers won’t know the final results from election night for possibly a few weeks, there are early unofficial results available and other notable numbers to watch.

What we know so far is the first-rank votes of those who cast ballots in person, either through early voting or on primary day. In the race for mayor, about 750,000

Activists, Council Member Brad Lander & others (photo: John McCarten.City Council)

With voting underway in this month’s primary elections, including for almost all 51 City Council seats, including about three dozen that are “open” due to term limits, crowded fields of candidates are pushing for every vote.

The competition is especially hot, if civil, in Brooklyn’s 39th City Council District, one of the most politically-active areas in the city, with some of the highest voter turnout rates, and the home district of Mayor Bill de

(l-r) top: Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Kevin Parker, David Weprin, Corey Johnson; bottom: Reshma Patel, Zach Iscol, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Terri Liftin

Democratic New Yorkers are being handed an extensive ballot for this month’s primary elections, with all of city government on the ballot and the first full implementation of ranked-choice voting. The race for New York City Comptroller, too-often neglected by the press and voters, is of great importance given the responsibilities of the job and the fact that whoever wins is all but certain to eventually run for mayor, as a

(l-r) Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Corey Johnson, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, David Weprin

Leading Democratic candidates for New York City Comptroller, the city's chief fiscal officer, met for two debates this past week, just ahead of the Saturday start of early voting, where they laid out a range of positions and occasional attacks.

Candidates discussed how they would use the comptroller's power to audit city agencies, provide oversight of city budgeting, manage the city's sizable pension funds, and more. They also answered questions on hot-button issues

Corey Johnson and Brad Lander (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

The war of words between City Council Member Brad Lander and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, both Democratic candidates for city comptroller, continues to escalate as Lander raises concerns that Johnson will leverage the city budget to help his chances of winning the June primary. 

Johnson and Lander are among the top contenders in the Democratic primary for New York City comptroller, which also features a number of sitting state legislators and several first-time candidates

(l-r) Top: Brian Benjamin, Brad Lander, Kevin Parker, David Weprin, Corey Johnson; Bottom: Reshma Patel, Zach Iscol, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera,Terri Liftin

This article was updated on May 29, reflecting the Campaign Finance Board's latest public funds payment made on May 27. 

As candidates filed their latest campaign finance disclosures on Friday, the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller has become one of extremes. The leading campaigns have millions in the bank as they head into the closing stretch of the race while

What's The [Data] Point? Episode 107 -- $250 billion [You can download What's The [Data] Point? wherever you get your podcasts, including on iTunes]

$250 billion—the assets held by the five pensions funds for which the New York City Comptroller is custodian, administrator, and investment advisor. But that's not the Comptroller's only

(l-r) Brad Lander, Brian Benjamin, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, Corey Johnson, David Weprin, Zach Iscol

Six leading candidates running in the Democratic primary for New York City Comptroller in the June election appeared at a forum on Tuesday to offer their perspectives on the role of the office, solutions to the city’s uncertain fiscal future, and how they would wield their powers to ensure city government is effective and fiscally responsible. 

The candidates at the