The mayor and the mayor-elect meet at City Hall, Nov. 6, 2013. (Photo: Flickr/Mayor's Office)

With a resounding victory at the polls, Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio has declared a mandate to counter the last 12 years under Michael Bloomberg with a “progressive” agenda. Now the Democrat has to match his rhetoric with the more prosaic labor of governance.

How will de Blasio tackle the major policy challenges the city will face after Jan. 1? Which will he give priority to, given limited resources and attention? Among the hundreds of smaller policy decisions to be made, there are some doozies: An expected $2 billion budget deficit. A municipal labor force pushing for $8 billion in retroactive pay. Some 1.7 million New Yorkers living below the poverty line.

Here’s a look at seven areas where he is expected to make significant changes that will transform the city — from how it houses its families, educates its children, polices its streets and plans for the monster storms of the future.

STAFFING

One of the biggest and most immediate ways that de Blasio can have an impact is through key appointments in his administration.

Reporters have been working overtime to predict who the de Blasio administration will select for two key positions — police commissioner and schools chancellor. The mayor-elect has signaled he is looking to replace both Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and Chancellor Dennis Walcott with people more amenable to the positions he staked out during his campaign.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has become synonymous with New York law enforcement, policing in a post 9/11 world and an aggressive stop-and-frisk policy. There is little doubt de Blasio will be looking to put distance between his police department and Kelly — the question is just how much distance.

The mayor-elect has mentioned two names in particular. The first is former Police Chief Bill Bratton, who advised de Blasio throughout his campaign and served during the start of former Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s tenure and has expressed interest in returning to run the city’s police force. The second choice is the highest ranking officer under Kelly — Chief of Department Phillip Banks. Banks previously served as the chair of the Community Affairs Bureau.

Capital New York surveyed education policy experts and combined that research with comments de Blasio has made about what kind of qualifications a schools chancellor should have to get a sense of who he might be looking at to fill the positions. The likeliest pick, according to Capital, is a former or current member of the city’s Department of Education who has been critical of the Bloomberg’s policies.

De Blasio himself has made a number of revealing statements. He has said the DOE needs “an educator in leadership.” He has also been opposed to charter schools and advocated for increased parent participation. He has also repeatedly indicated that he will not select a candidate who needs a waiver because they lack an advanced degree in education — so expect de Blasio’s pick to be in stark contrast to Joel Klein or Cathleen Black.

Ultimately, whomever he chooses will set the tone for de Blasio’s reorienting of policy surrounding charter schools, co-locations and pre-K education.

POLICE REFORM

Ending the Bloomberg era of stop-and-frisk was a cornerstone of the de Blasio campaign. His nuanced position on the policing policy fueled the controversial primary ad that led Democratic rivals to call de Blasio a liar for identifying him as “the only candidate to end a stop-and-frisk era that targets minorities.”

De Blasio’s positions on public safety attracted little support from the police community during the campaign. During the primary, Detectives Endowment Association President Michael Palladino praised de Blasio rival Bill Thompson for being reasonable and realistic. Asked if the same could be said of de Blasio at Thompson’s concession speech in September, Palladino said: “No.”

Yet if exit polling from election night is any indication, New Yorkers explicitly want at least some sort of the reform that de Blasio promised: 55 percent of respondents found the current stop-and-frisk policy to be excessive, compared to 33 who don’t.

De Blasio’s take on public safety revolves around around the idea of community policing, which was a favorite paradigm of former police chief Bratton. In many ways, it’s contrary to the policing era under Kelly, who is often praised for his work on community engagement but is criticized for relying too heavily on the CompStat crime data-tracking system.

“We must work to promote a real partnership between the best police force in the world and the communities they protect from danger – be it local or global,” de Blasio said during his acceptance speech on Tuesday night. “New Yorkers on both sides of the badge understand this. We’re all hungry for an approach that acknowledges we are stronger and safer as a city when police and residents work hand-in-hand.”

On a practical level, de Blasio’s position on the policy has been the same one that almost all of his primary rivals held: stop-and-frisk is a useful tool that, in recent years, has been relied on too much  and unconstitutionally targets young men of color. Like the rest of the Democratic slate, de Blasio supported Judge Shira Scheindlin’s court ruling that created an independent monitor to oversee NYPD’s application of stop-and-frisk going forward.

Last week, a federal appellate court put a hold on Scheindlin’s reforms and took her off the case. The news was a major victory for the Bloomberg administration, albeit a brief one. The city’s case against the Scheindlin ruling won’t be in front of a judge again until March 2014, and de Blasio has long vowed to drop the appeal.

He’s also vowed to drop the Bloomberg administration's appeal on a second stop-and-frisk case, specifically one of the laws from the belabored Community Safety Act passed earlier this year. One of the two bills expanded New York’s ban on profiling while also providing legal — but no monetary — remedies to aggrieved residents.

The Bloomberg administration joined police unions in admonishing the law and its supporters, arguing that it opens the door for needless lawsuits against officers and create chaos within the court system. However, de Blasio — the only mayoral candidate to support the Community Safety Act — has also promised to drop the appeal and move forward with the act’s partner bill to create an inspector general for the NYPD.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

De Blasio says he wants to mandate developers to set aside a certain percentage of space in their buildings as permanent affordable housing in exchange for increased building heights and tax breaks. “It’s a step in the right direction,” said Jaron Benjamin of the Metropolitan Council on Housing.

But an optional version of the policy, instituted by Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration, has largely failed. Instead of stimulating the creation of more affordable housing, many developers have chosen to opt out of the program.

The issue of mandatory inclusionary zoning is just one of several policy priorities for tenant advocates. Another is reforming the laws in 2015.
De Blasio has promised to travel to Albany to fight for changes, even going so far as to say he would work to repeal the Urstadt Law that allows Albany to set affordable housing standards for the city. The Real Estate Board of New York did not spend against de Blasio despite his tough talk against the industry in the primary.  

"He's not somebody that there's any reason for us to be frightened of. We've worked with him. We have no reason to believe he won't work with us,”  REBNY president Steven Spinola told Capital New York last month. The comments give tenant advocates some pause.  

“We are going to be looking at what he does in his first few months in office,” said Benjamin. “We will see what he does with the tax rebates that see the city losing money, whether he rolls over on mandatory zoning, does he make developers commit to truly affordable housing?”

ELECTIONS REFORM

One of the big issues for elections reform — instant runoff voting — may be decided before de Blasio gets into office. The City Council is holding a committee hearing Nov. 21 on two bills aimed at instituting IRV, which could go to Bloomberg before he leaves office (a good thing for supporters of IRV, too, since de Blasio has been cool to the policy).  But there are plenty of other major elections reforms that could be implemented under the next mayor — not least of which is non-citizen voting.

Supporters of non-citizen voting say it would give a basic right to documented and tax-paying immigrants who have little say in the city’s operations. A 2010 bill to enact non-citizen voting was re-introduced this year by Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm, and the idea has gained traction among his peers.

So far, de Blasio has been tepid on the idea. "I've talked to the advocates on that issue," he said. "They've presented their plan to me. I'm not comfortable with it at this point. It's, I think, an idea that is founded in good intent but there's a number of specifics that I can't agree with, as least as it's written now."

Alex Camarda, who works on elections reform as at Gotham Gazette sister organization the director Citizens Union, said the good government group has no position on non-citizen voting.

But he said he thinks the mayor-elect would do well to push for to what might seem like a small change that would have major consequences for voter participation: requiring any modifications to records made at city agencies be reported electronically back to the Board of Elections so that voter records can be updated with correct information.

Camarda cites the example of the state Department of Motor Vehicle, which now reports new registrations and registration changes electronically to the state. He said the same could be done on the city level with all agencies. For example, he said, someone renewing their personal information to receive benefits through the Human Resources Administration would automatically have that information updated on voter rolls.

“It’s something within the power of the mayor to do,” he said. “That would greatly facilitate participation by voters who traditionally don’t.”
More importantly, he said the mayor-elect needs to use the broad powers of the office.

“The city has much more authority in election law that it has been led to believe,” he said. “The next mayor needs to more robustly use that authority instead of blaming the state for inaction and not pushing legislation forward.”

RESILIENCY

Public policies surrounding resiliency to extreme weather were once considered somewhat esoteric and secondary to bread-and-butter issues like education and public safety. After Superstorm Sandy, and the pummeling the city took, this has moved to the forefront of the debate over the future of the metropolis.

During his campaign, De Blasio outlined a framework for sustainability and made it clear he would continue some of the landmark resiliency plans put forward by the Bloomberg administration in a post-storm June report.

To Dan Hendrick of the New York League of Conservation Voters, de Blasio’s commitment to the Bloomberg plans are solid. “The question becomes how much of a priority this becomes,” said Hendrick, whose organization endorsed de Blasio. “How high is this going to rank? We think pretty high … A mayor can realistically focus on a handful of things.”

Beyond prioritization, the problem comes down to money, making creative staff decision and getting commitment on resiliency from city agencies, he said.

Russell Unger, the executive director of the Urban Green Council, said regulatory changes needed to revamp building codes to ensure buildings are more resilient to extreme weather is underway but much works remains to be done.

His organization, comprised of both public and private entities, released a “roadmap” for the next mayor in May along with a coalition of labor and real estate interests that support “green building.”

Among the many recommendations, the roadmap called for the appointment of a deputy mayor for infrastructure and sustainability to coordinate resiliency planning, update school construction specs and create training operations for workers to learn sustainable building operations.

But he said the biggest challenge may be keeping policymakers’ focus on resiliency policy, saying that many of the projects that would have the biggest effect on the fabric of the metropolis would not be completed for a generation. “How do we keep people’s attention on that? How do we keep the resources in place to make that happen?” he said.

OPEN DATA

Believe it or not, there is a “tale of two cities” when it comes to open data — the concept that municipal information from statistics to reports should be published in digital format that can be read by any machine and by the public.

John Kaehny of Reinvent Albany, a group that advocates for open data, says that while Bloomberg obsessed over data, performance metrics and key performance indicators,  the mayor’s administration didn’t make the good stuff public.

“This privileged data universe has to end,” said Kaehny. Kaehny noted that the City Council has pressed the Bloomberg administration and city agencies like the New York City Housing Authority on basic performance data — for instance, data on broken doors at NYCHA properties and how quickly they get repaired — but haven’t been given access to it.

Kaehny said data like the New York Police Department’s crime mapping data could be used by the public and organizations all over the city. “This is not a roadmap for the bad guys to take Gotham City,” he said, adding that other cities across the nation make the same information available.

Kaehny said he has reason to believe that Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will end the “parallel data universes.” He pointed to a study de Blasio did as public advocate about improving the city’s Freedom of Information Request response. Kaehny said he thinks de Blasio will implement the recommendations he made as public advocate and start to integrate all of the data requests the city gets into its open data portal.

“The open data portal is a bucket at the end of a big funnel of requests for information. It should be connected to FOIL requests, requests from 311 and other channels,” said Kaehny. “The current administration is always saying: ‘We don’t know what kind of data the public wants.’ But we do, they are asking for information all the time.”

While de Blasio does not share a background in business management like Bloomberg, Kaehny said the mayor-elect will likely capitalize on all the data gathering and performance measurement tools the Bloomberg administration implemented internally and make that data available to the public.

“De Blasio didn’t run a giant company that was focused on business analysis like Bloomberg,” said Kaehny. “But I do expect him to expand on what Bloomberg started because this is where big organizations are going. This is going to be so advantageous to the executive — to know where the problems are and how they are getting fixed.”

MUNICIPAL IDs

Two days before the election, Bill de Blasio called for New York State to catch up to Colorado as a progressive leader and approve drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer pushed a similar plan only to see major public backlash and to have it die in the state Legislature.

But this year, legislators are looking for de Blasio to lead on the issue. State Sen. Jose Peralta has introduced a bill that would allow the state Department of Motor Vehicles to issue licenses to immigrants who can provide non-U.S.-issued identification, prove residence in the state and that they have not been convicted of a felony.

Such a card would allow immigrants to open bank accounts, lease apartments or use certain city services but it would not allow them to vote.
“Sure, this fell apart under Spitzer six years ago,” said Peralta, “but since then 11 states have taken it up.” He said he expects de Blasio to work on perfecting the bill with the state Legislature. During the rally on Sunday, de Blasio touted his support for a municipal I.D. card for the undocumented.

“They may not be documented, but they are a half-million of our brothers and sisters, of our neighbors, of our family and friends," de Blasio told the crowd.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The election of Bill de Blasio means that Democratic legislators in Albany will have an ally in Gracie Mansion for the first time in 20 years. After years of being at odds with the head of the city that most of them represent, Albany Democrats now hope to have a partner to help them push a progressive vision through the state Legislature.

It could be a paradigm shift for the relationship between city and state. “It’s been a long time since Democrats have had a partner in the mayor’s office and we are very much looking forward to it,” said Sen. Michael Gianaris who heads the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee.  

It could also mean help from one of the state’s most popular Democrats in the party’s ambitions to regain the majority in Albany. Senate Democrats say they have received indications that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will team up with de Blasio to primary city members against the breakaway Independent Democratic Conference, which Democrats blame for stymieing a number of pieces of progressive legislation. Not only do Cuomo and de Blasio share a vision of what government can do, they have had a personal and professional relationship for over a decade.

In a conversation with the Gotham Gazette last week, Staten Island state Sen. Diane Savino, one of five IDC members, welcomed a Democratic mayor but also had a warning. “I think the new mayor needs to understand that legislators have their own constituencies to answer to,” said Savino. “It doesn't have to be a war. That didn't work too well in Washington.”

On the eve of the election with de Blasio’s win all-but certain, Sen. Jeff Klein, leader of the IDC, told the New York Daily News that he supports de Blasio’s plan to increase taxes on the wealthy to fund universal pre-kindergarten. De Blasio welcomed his support.

So how will de Blasio change things in Albany? How will his win help Democrats in Albany or change the balance of power with the IDC and Senate Republicans?  What do legislators want from the new mayor and what do they hope he will achieve? While de Blasio’s campaign declined to comment for this story, it is possible to sketch out an Albany trajectory for the mayor-elect.

Bloomberg in Albany

While it is still very early, the majority Senate Republicans — and their partners in power-sharing, the IDC — are sure to face the most uncertain future with de Blasio in City Hall. Not only do Republicans risk losing their leverage with the governor through sheer numbers and the ability to push legislation, they will be entering an election year in 2014 without the backing of one of their wealthiest benefactors: Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

What many legislators will be looking for from de Blasio is a personal relationship — they hope to see de Blasio reach out to legislators to convince them of his policies and work to form coalitions to push legislation. They want exactly what they didn’t get from Bloomberg.

“All elected officials like to be treated with respect,” said state Sen. Jose Peralta, a Democrat who represents the 13th district. “The opportunity to just sit down and talk to the mayor’s office,  just bounce off ideas, that is a huge step.”

Peralta says that the Bloomberg administration became “more than closed off han ever” to talking about issues with legislators in his third term.

The end of Bloomberg’s term will mean lots of things for state government — the most quantifiable impact in terms of sheer cash.

“He gave more money to legislators than most mayors will earn in a lifetime,” said Bill Mahoney of The New York Public Interest Research Group. Bloomberg took advantage of loopholes in state election law to funnel large amounts of cash to political committees. Some of it went towards his re-elections , but over $4 million of the $9.7 million went to legislators and political committees of Senate Republicans who served as his emissaries in Albany. Bloomberg’s courting of the GOP came despite the fact that only a few of their members hail from the city.

With Bloomberg leaving the mayor’s office, insiders say the billionaire will be involved in national issues and many doubt he will continue to contribute to Senate Republicans.

Senate Democratic insiders play down the amount of money Bloomberg spent on the Republicans — they acknowledge it helped in certain races but they are putting more stock in having de Blasio in the bully pulpit.

{pullquote}Bill is a political operator — much more politically savvy than Bloomberg — and will have much more of a traditional relationship with Albany.—Doug Muzzio{/pullquote}

Observers agree that the money won’t matter as much as having a real political operator who can build relationships on both sides of the aisle.

“No matter how much money he spent, the bottom line are the results,” said Baruch professor Douglas Muzzio. “Maybe he was offering too much money because legislators have gone to jail for much less. Except for mayoral control he is really batting zero. Did his money buy him anything?”

One of Bloomberg’s most prominent losses came during his push for congestion pricing. Bloomberg famously met with Senate Democrats. His confrontational and dictatorial attitude alienated the conference. “If he came in with one vote, he left with none,” state Sen. Kevin Parker told The New York Times.

During his push to renew mayoral control of schools, Bloomberg employed a variety of tactics — his Albany lobbying team was in overdrive while he mostly stayed out of the fray. Prominent lobbyist Micah Lasher was hired on to head the Department of Education's efforts in Albany. Bloomberg also employed “grassroots organizations” to advocate for mayoral control but a number of the groups had received money from Bloomberg or contracts from the city.

Things seemed to be going smoothly for Bloomberg until the Senate was rocked by the coup led by Senate Republicans and Democratic state Sen. Pedro Espada. For months, the fate of mayoral control was uncertain. Bloomberg was asked by NY1 about negotiations and famously said: “There’s a point at which, you remember Neville Chamberlain, no matter how many times you said yes, that’s just the starting point for the next round,"

Senate Democrats took offense, saying Bloomberg was comparing them to Nazis. Eventually a deal was reached with Bloomberg only giving over minor concessions, though observers say it was due to his lobbying team — not the mayor’s involvement.

How de Blasio Will Be Different

“The new mayor’s gotta do it differently,” said Muzzio. “They don't have the same resources. They’ve gotta develop a relationship with both houses of the Legislature. They’ve gotta use the pulpit. It’s real easy to beat them to death but to get what you need you really are going to have to create personal relationships and that is not what Bloomberg did.”

Muzzio says de Blasio comes equipped to deal with Albany not only because of his big win but because he has the kind of political relationships that Bloomberg never groomed.

“He's got institutional support, and winning by a landslide — that yells out there to state legislators,” said Muzzio. “Clearly the city is a creature of the state and he has got to go up there and beg for home rule but he has power. Bill is a political operator — much more politically savvy than Bloomberg — and will have much more of a traditional relationship with Albany.”

But political observers also say that de Blasio will have to walk a tightrope in early 2014 as Albany gears up for election season; if he wants to get anything done he will have to balance his public support for Democratic legislators with bipartisan outreach.

“You need support from both sides for bills to make it onto the floor,” said Peralta. “He understands he needs to go through the process, have discussions with Republicans and the IDC — he is going to have to navigate those waters. He will have a mandate but he will still have to go through the process.”

“This isn’t a guy who is going to do drive-by policy,” said Parker, a vocal critic of Bloomberg’s relationship with the Legislature. “De Blasio has been an outward advocate and supporter of the women’s equality agenda, the minimum wage, and he is a Working Families Party candidate and supports their issues so now all of it is going to be in play.”

Peralta is carrying a bill that would provide driver’s licenses for undocumented residents and would be in sync with de Blasio’s support for I.D. cards for the undocumented. “It definitely gives me hope that we are about to get a mayor who shares our values and views as Democrats,” said Peralta. But it isn’t only the driver’s license but other types of bills as well. He hopes to see de Blasio revitalize the push for the state DREAM Act, a bill that would give college aid to undocumented students.

Parker, meanwhile, is carrying a universal pre-kindergarten bill in Albany — the exact policy that has been de Blasio’s marquee education and state-based policy initiative. Parker also has a number of wage bills he expects de Blasio to support in the city. Cuomo appears reluctant to raise taxes to help fund de Blasio’s pre-k plan but he has indicated support for providing pre-k.

Housing advocates have great hopes for de Blasio's efforts in Albany. Jaron Benjamin, executive director of The Metropolitan Council on Housing, said that de Blasio made a number of promises involving Albany and housing issues during his campaign. Those promises include coming to Albany to fight for the renewal of rent control in 2015 and also pushing to repeal the Urstadt law that gives Albany control over rent in the city. Benjamin notes that he is being cautious about de Blasio's promises. "We are going to be looking at what he does in his first few months in office,” said Benjamin. “We will see what he does with the tax rebates that see the city losing money, whether he rolls over on mandatory zoning, does he make developers commit to truly affordable housing?”

The Special Relationship

In the end, a number of legislators hope that the long-standing relationship between Cuomo and de Blasio will mean the men will work together to accomplish what has heretofore been impossible — a non-antagonistic relationship between the city and Albany.

The relationship between the two men goes back to the 1990s when de Blasio worked with Cuomo at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The two also worked together on Hillary Clinton’s U.S. Senate campaign. De Blasio negotiated Cuomo’s concession to Carl McCall in his botched 2002 gubernatorial bid and the mayoral candidate also reportedly helped Cuomo during his divorce from Kerry Kennedy.  

Earlier this year, when Bloomberg called de Blasio’s use of his multiracial family “racist” during the mayoral primary election, Cuomo blasted back. “I remember when his kids were born, that’s how long we go back. They are a beautiful family. Individually each of the members of his family are truly special people and I think he should be very proud of his family, and if I were Bill I would be campaigning with my family the way that I campaign with my family. So that’s the way I feel about the de Blasios.”

Parker said that relationship would continue with de Blasio in the mayor’s office.

“They have had a relationship and worked together for over 30 years,” said Parker. “We know there will be a dialogue. This won’t be a scenario now where the mayor and governor don’t talk to each other. This is a basis for conversation between the two offices that we simply haven’t had before.”

Cuomo staffers acknowledge that they are looking forward to dealing with a new mayor. “It is an outsized office to begin with” they said of mayor’s office. They noted that Bloomberg’s billionaire status had made it even more difficult to deal with him.

Parker says he feels Cuomo has shied away from city issues because of his testy relationship with Bloomberg.

“Bloomberg didn’t have a history working with people,” said Parker. “Meanwhile,
I feel like Andrew has done nothing significant for New York City over the last four years despite his father being a congressman from Queens. It feels like there was an understanding that Bloomberg would take care of the city and Cuomo would do the rest of the state. That is going to change.”

The Cuomo insiders said that their boss “values friendships.” They noted that the governor has longstanding relationships with a number of his political allies but emphasized that Cuomo’s relationship with de Blasio “goes back decades.”

2014: The Next Election Year

Senate Democrats hope that with de Blasio and possibly Cuomo by their side they will be able to capitalize on the success of 2012 when they won four seats despite being deeply in debt and with recruitment efforts hampered because the redistricting process left some seats uncertain.

This year, they hope to defend seats they won as well as win vulnerable Republican seats. One of those seats is Sen. Marty Golden’s district, where his Democratic opponent managed to win over 43 percent of the vote without any financial backing from the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee. “We are in a much stronger situation both financially,” said Gianaris.

There remains plenty of time for the political dynamics to change between this November and next, though for now relations between the governor and the IDC and Republicans remains frosty.

Last week, the head of the state Democratic committee issued a statement attacking Savino, saying she was a “shield for Republicans” and telling her: “I have two words -- register Republican.”

Savino has been critical of Cuomo’s ethics bodies — the Joint Commission on Public Ethics and the Moreland Commission to. Savino supports legislation that would limit the governor’s ability to control future Moreland Act Commissions.

"It is extremely disappointing to see a member of my own party respond to calls for greater transparency in government with such vitriol and hostility,” Savino responded in a lengthy statement which included thinly veiled shots at Cuomo.

Cuomo’s Moreland Commission is also openly feuding with Senate Republicans over subpoenas. It appears Cuomo’s patience with the Republican and IDC coalitions may be fraying and Senate Democrats stand to benefit.

But Cuomo’s tiff with Senate Republicans and the IDC may be short lived. It all depends on whether Cuomo gets what he wants from the Legislature once the Moreland Commission makes its recommendations. Federal prosecutors acknowledge they are still investigating state legislators and arrests on either side could sway the fates of the parties. And then, of course, de Blasio might face a tougher first few months than expected.

Regardless of the makeup of the Legislature, there is little doubt that the relationship between Albany and New York City will change drastically the moment de Blasio is inaugurated. “We are talking about the mayor of the biggest city ... and Andrew Cuomo,” said Peralta. “There is always going to be opportunity for some sort of clash. But I believe Cuomo and de Blasio have the basis for something completely different.”

With just under a week until the general election, a group of incumbent and almost-City Council members are calling for systemic reforms to how the legislative body operates.

The slate of reforms announced earlier today at City Hall aim to decentralize the next speaker's key powers over member items and committees, boosting the power of individual Council members and committee chairs to set the city's legislative agenda.

The current speaker, Manhattan Councilwoman Christine Quinn, has faced criticism over the past seven years for the process by which Council members get discretionary money as well as how bills make it to the Council floor.

The speaker's office did not respond to requests for comment about the proposed reforms by the time of publication. Council members at the announcement steered clear of any accusations or complaints about the body's rules under Quinn. Supporters instead framed the package of reforms as a means to improve the Council going forward.

At least one Council member publicly slighted by the rules system under Quinn applauded the reforms. Queens Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who faces her own general election challenge from Republican Greg Caruana, said she was speaking specifically in support of the changes to the distribution of discretionary funding to members.

The New York Times reported earlier this year that Crowley got into a tiff with Quinn over a poorly timed press release. Following the incident, the newspaper reported that Quinn cut Council funding to Crowley’s district.

"Right now, too much politics goes into who gets how much money for discretionary funds," Crowley said. "It needs to be equitable, it needs to be fair and it certainly needs to be transparent. These are tax-dollars we're talking about, and New Yorkers deserve to know how their tax-dollars are spent."

Pressed for how the platform is more fair in spreading out discretionary money, the Council members supporting the reforms had no one answer.

Brooklyn Councilman Brad Lander pointed to three recommendations for discretionary funding: that it be distributed equally among members; through a need-driven formula; or through issue-specific initiatives, such as domestic violence or immigrant opportunities.

"The requirement is fair and objective," Lander said, adding that any of the options would also be transparent. "You could use a mix of all three of them."

Lander wouldn't answer, however, if the rules were a litmus test for the next speaker. The Brooklyn councilman is a leading member of the Progressive Caucus, which is expected to grow in the next Council and could play a major role in deciding the next person to lead the chamber. DNAInfo.com previously reported that the caucus was mobilizing an effort to restructure the Council.

Other provisions in the Council reform platform include creating an independent drafting unit that would make bill-making more transparent, as opposed to the current method of Council staff being responsible for drawing up legislation. It would also mean expanding the city's current online database and improving how members communicate with their constituents electronically.

Council committee chairs, typically appointed by the speaker, would also be given more control over their respective committees, including schedule, topics and staff. The new vision for the Council would also create a procedure by which members can file complaints with the body's rules committee if they think Council rules are being broken.

Some 30 Council members-in-waiting released the five-prong rules reform platform, backed by good government groups including NYPIRG, Common Cause-NY and Citizens Union, Gotham Gazette's sister organization.

Citizen Union Executive Director Dick Dadey praised the proposals, remarking on what he said was a gradual movement within the Council towards improved transparency.

"When we first started looking at this, the glass was pretty empty," Dadey said. "Over the last couple of years, that glass has become half full. We're very pleased to see the level of commitment being shown here today to fill that glass even higher."

Earlier this month, Capital New York reported that Gov. Andrew Cuomo was considering efforts to oust Independent Democratic Sens. Jeff Klein and Diane Savino because he felt they stood in the way of his progressive agenda. Some of that tension seemed to burst into the public sphere yesterday. 

Rodney Capel, executive director of The New York State Democratic Committee, attacked Savino and Republican Sen. Andrew Lanza after they signed their names to legislation that would require any future Moreland Commisison to Investigate Public Corruption be free from control of the governor. 

His statement is as follows:

In the time it took for Senator Andrew Lanza to draft a press release, he could have taken the simple step of disclosing his source of outside income to the people of Staten Island. What exactly is he hiding, and why is he deploying every distraction tactic available to do it? Don't his constituents have a right to know who he works for?

And to his co-sponsor Diane Savino -- who has acted as a shield for Republicans working to block votes on public campaign financing and women's equality -- I have two words: register Republican.

Savino responded with a statement of her own. It contains a bit of snark directed at Cuomo, who dismissed reporters questions recently by saying he didn't want to discuss anything political:

It is extremely disappointing to see a member of my own party respond to calls for greater transparency in government with such vitriol and hostility. What is Mr. Capel so desperate to hide? In case he's unfamiliar with how a bill becomes a law, a vote on the Women's Reproductive Health Act was blocked by Democratic Senators Ruben Diaz Sr. and Simcha Felder — neither of whom are members of the Independent Democratic Conference. Campaign finance reform met the same fate when two members of the Democratic Party again blocked the bill from coming to the floor. In contrast, none of the Governor's major priorities from this year — from raising the minimum wage, to creating Start-up New York, to extending a more progressive tax system for the middle class — would have gone anywhere without the IDC's support.

Maybe if Mr. Capel and his allies were less worried about protecting their housekeeping accounts--and were more focused on lining up every democratic vote in the senate--we could finally move forward on some of these other more polarizing issues. Until then, he can spare me the bull or find himself another six-figure no show job.

For now, just like the Governor, I'm not going to focus on the political, I'm going to focus on things that are in important to my district like Sandy recovery efforts and toll relief at the Verrazano Bridge for residents and small businesses.

The Senate Republican Campaign Committee asked a Supreme Court judge to dismiss a subpoena from the Moreland Commission To Investigate Public Corruption yesterday. The SRCC alleges that the subpoena overreaches the power of the commission. The panel created to investigate corruption obviously disagrees and issued this statement from its three co-chairs:

In addition to Executive Law 6 and the Executive order, the Moreland Commission has full legal authority, as Deputy Attorneys General, granted by the Attorney General, under Executive Law 63(8) to proceed with this investigation. We had hoped the Senate Republicans would willingly cooperate and they did not. We will prevail in court.

Republicans argue that the subpoenas ask for "the most sensitive internal documents," including information on staffing, organizational charts, communications about elections and financial transactions. 

The Daily News reported last month that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration had influenced the commission to kill a similar subpoena to the State Democratic Party. 

Another of the nine people recorded by Sen. Shirley Huntley in her role as FBI informant has been arrested. Influential political consultant Melvin Lowe, who served as an aide to former Senate Democratic minority leader John Sampson, was charged in a scheme to defraud the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee of $100,000.

Prosecutors allege in court papers that Lowe funnelled $100,000 through a New Jersey-based company and wound up getting back $75,000 of the cash while $20,000 of the cash went to an unamed political consultant. Lowe was also charged with failing to report $2 million in consulting income. 

“Today’s complaint alleges that New York’s culture of political corruption extends beyond elected officials to the relatively unknown professional political insiders who work behind the scenes,” federal prosecutor Preet Bharara said in a statement. 

The indicment is another bit of bad news that Senate Democrats don't need as they head into the 2014 elections. The arrest may dampen hopes that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio will work together to help Democrats win a majority by defeating Independent Democrats.

Update: A reader points out that Sen. Jeff Klein, who is a member of the Independent Senate Democrats, was a part of the Democratic leadership when Lowe was consulting with them. 

Here is the complaint: 

ALBANY, N.Y. — “You’ve been served,” was the simple message Jaron Benjamin and around 30 members of tenant organizations delivered to members of the Real Estate Board of New York outside their headquarters on the morning of October 17.

The subpoenas demanded REBNY members show up to a hearing of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission on Public Corruption and testify about the $7 million they pumped into campaigns during the 2013 elections.

Benjamin, executive director of the Metropolitan Council on Housing, said the action was organized after reports that the commission had halted a subpoena of REBNY — possibly after the interference of the Cuomo administration.

“We wanted to say to Moreland, to the people of New York, that we are all on equal ground,” Benjamin said. “That no one should get special treatment, or access because of how much money they have.”

For its part, REBNY has argued that it is being unfairly singled out for scrutiny when other groups — such as unions — should be as well. 

The Moreland Commission will hold its first public hearing on Monday since facing a number of reports that brought its independence and intentions into question. The hearing will focus on public financing of campaigns but some groups are expected to testify about other matters.

The commission has been in full damage control for weeks now.

“Press reports to the contrary, we have been independent since day 1,” Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, the commission co-chair, told Susan Arbetter on The Capitol Pressroom on Oct. 22. “There’s a big difference between interference and input,” Fitzpatrick continued.

The Daily News reported in September that the Cuomo administration influenced the commission to kill subpoenas into the State Democratic Party. A subpoena to the Real Estate Board of New York was also halted. Cuomo denied directly ordering subpoenas be killed but danced around questions about whether his staff had any influence.

Capital New York reported that the the Cuomo administration was using the commission as leverage to negotiate with the state Legislature over a package of bills or a constitutional amendment. It became clear over the past few weeks that those negotiations failed.

Fitzpatrick addressed the reported negotiations in his talk with Arbetter. “If General Lee had walked up to General Meade at Gettysburg and said, 'Here's my sword, I surrender,' Mead would have probably accepted it,” Fitzpatrick said, referring to the the possibility of the South surrendering to the North before the battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. “Those discussions were had, and, quite frankly, did not pan out to anywhere near anything that would satisfy either the Moreland Commission or the governor.”

Groups that plan on testifying on Monday said they have hope that the commission will still be effective.

Jess Wisnewski of Citizen Action/NY said she thinks the commission has enough evidence about the way the state’s campaign finance system is abused to make recommendations that could be acted on very early in 2014. “What we would like to see is concrete, bold recommendations that take into account a small donor public matching financing system,” Wisnewski said. “Step one is very strong recommendations and step two is to very quickly take them on as part of the budget. Enough evidence has been accrued over the years to act now. Further investigations could follow.”

Benjamin is cautiously optimistic. The night before his group handed out their “people’s subpoenas” to members of REBNY, Moreland issued a statement saying they were going forward with a broad investigation.

The Daily News reported that Moreland was going ahead with an investigation of REBNY’s use of the campaign finance system but at that point did not need to issue subpoenas. That forced some last-minute changes for Benjamin’s group, which changed its message while delivering the “people’s subpoenas” the next day to: “Treat REBNY the same as everyone else’ rather than “Moreland must investigate REBNY.” Benjamin said he hopes that all the attention raised by good government groups and the media will keep pressure on the commission to deliver strong recommendations.

”It looks like some of this pressure has been effective,” said Benjamin. “The media have been asking whether the commission has been effective and so are regular people — they are the same people, tenants, who plan to be there on Monday to testify.”

Benjamin had hoped to turn out a number of tenant advocates to the next hearing but the tentative meeting location and time were changed. “Changing the date and forcing people to register, moving it to Monday night and having it at a location that isn’t on the train line will probably impact how many people show up,” Benjamin said.

Benjamin's priority is for the commission to examine how donations from REBNY may have won them lucrative tax cuts on property in New York City.

“It may be that the real estate folks who are the biggest contributors aren’t breaking laws,” Benjamin said. “But that money gives them access. It makes it easier for them to dismantle the affordable housing system.”

Benjamin said the last hearing left him encouraged because of the questions asked by commission members.

“I think one thing [Co-Chairman] Fitzgerald talked about was that they are serious about pursuing all the options for closing the LLC loophole which is the main way real estate gets money into campaign coffers,” Benjamin said. “They are open to all ideas whether it goes through the Legislature or they do it themselves.” The loophole Benjamin refers to allows corporations to funnel unlimited funds into political party’s “housekeeping” accounts. Those funds are supposed to be used only for party matters but they are routinely funnelled to candidates.

Advocacy groups may hope that Gov. Andrew Cuomo can power through reforms to the state’s campaign finance system early next year but legislators don’t exactly have fuzzy feelings towards the governor or the commission these days. In fact, recent reports about Cuomo’s interference in the commission has emboldened them.

“No, I haven’t been subpoenaed yet,” was a common greeting from legislators last week after Moreland announced it would be going after financial data from legislators who make more than $20,000 in non-legislative income a year.

While campaign finance may be the topic of Monday’s hearing, the commission has been presented with data that could point them in the direction of corruption from all sorts of sources.

During the last hearing, Citizens Union (Gotham Gazette’s sister organization) presented a report showing that the state budget has a pool of $3 billion in funds that is distributed with very little transparency to different projects across the state through memorandums of understanding. Legislators’ names are not attached to the funds that are distributed after the budget is negotiated. Some of the money is distributed in small amounts from $1,000 to $5,000 payments but others are lump sum appropriations sized $200,000, and set aside for ambiguous purposes.

The system seems to have grown in importance since Cuomo took office and did away with member items. Citizens Union pointed to the springtime arrest of Sen. Malcolm Smith, who was recorded telling a real estate developer he was allegedly trying to bribe that he could access $500,000 of the funds.

“You’ve got to be kidding me that this is legal,” exclaimed Fitzpatrick during Citizens Union’s testimony during the last hearing.

The commission expects to meet again before December when its first report is due. Michelle Duffy, spokeswoman for the commission, said the next hearing will likely be in Buffalo but a date and location have not yet been set.

Nearly a year after Superstorm Sandy, a top deputy to Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that New York City is better prepared for the next major hurricane — albeit with a lot of caveats.

Deputy Mayor for Operations Cas Holloway said earlier today at a press conference that the city has stocked up on supplies, drawn up better evacuation zone maps and improved how it would communicate with New Yorkers in an emergency. “We are better prepared than we were for Sandy,” he said.

He continued, “We would be able to implement the plan, and if we had extended disruptions like we did during Sandy — food, power, need for generators — while you can never have every single thing covered, with a lot of these recommendations put in place a lot of resources have been purchases and ready to be put out.”  

The city still needs to contend with a number of issues, Holloway added. The administration is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency on how to best address the needs of evacuated residents still without homes, and that insurance issues for homeowners are still cropping up.

The city has been working with $1.7 billion of the $16 billion block grant disbursed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development  for disaster recovery, he said. Holloway expects HUD to approve a new allocation soon.

Surrounded by fellow members of the Bloomberg administration at City Hall, Holloway ran through key points in its post-Sandy action plan based on a report released in June. The 438-page plan addressed how the city can better respond to, recover from and prepare for climate-related events like Sandy.

Those efforts include anticipating demand for food, gas shortages and adaptable solutions to longer-term shelter for evacuees. Holloway also reported that the city had updated building codes across the city and replenished sands eroded by the storm along the most affected waterfronts — including the Rockaways, Coney Island and Staten Island.

Part of the recovery plan also includes the city’s buyout program. Unlike the state or federal buyout program, the city’s plan allows for redevelopment on the purchased property. Earlier this month, the city announced its first , and so far only acquisition — that of Staten Island resident Patricia Dresch, who lost her husband and a daughter during Sandy.

Holloway also said buildings erected during the Bloomberg administration had the best track record of resiliency, including those along the water, giving credence to the mayor’s long-held argument that the city should not retreat from its coasts.

“This analysis showed that it is possible to build by the waterfront,” he said. “But you have to do so sensibly and responsibly.”

Alongside the report released this summer, the city also put out 59 recommendations meant to improve a range of issues that include integration of city data between agencies, development of a housing plan for displaced New Yorkers and improved evacuation coordination.

Director of Resiliency Daniel Zarrilli indicated that 20 of those recommendations have already been implemented, nine of which went through the City Council and were signed by the mayor in mid-August. Zarrilli said the rest are underway, with plans to complete them before Bloomberg leaves office at the end of the year.

The Council has also passed six other Sandy-related bills resulting from the Building Resiliency Task Force. Those measures were signed by the mayor in early October.

Come January 1, the next mayor will inherit the plan laid out by the Bloomberg administration. Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, who has been credited for his work as the subway chief during Sandy, applauded the administration in June.

“The plan contains several ambitious capital projects that will be started under this administration, and I will continue to implement as the next mayor.” Lhota wrote at the time.

Democratic candidate and outgoing Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has commended Bloomberg for the plan. De Blasio’s campaign website promises to “make those plans a reality through a process that includes every neighborhood in planning a more resilient future.”

New York’s community boards are designed to serve as a link between City Hall and the city’s neighborhoods. But observers point to a strong consensus that the boards’ influence has faded during Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s three terms in office.

Public policy expert Joseph Viteritti of Hunter College suggested City Hall is less inclined to consult the boards on city projects and plans.

“It’s a leadership style that’s very top down, that looks at the city as a single entity rather than one that appreciates the differences that the communities may have,” said Viteritti of the current administration. “It’s very objective oriented.”

That’s a far cry from the original aim of community boards to decentralize government and give communities more of a voice in city planning.

The concept of community boards in New York evolved from prototype community planning councils, a dozen of which were established by Manhattan Borough President Robert F. Wagner in 1951 and were meant to advise him on community planning and budget matters. It was an experiment in participatory government amid concerns that cities were increasingly being run by a faceless bureaucracy. In 1963, the City Charter established councils for the other four boroughs, bringing the total to 62.

Then, in the early 1970s, Mayor John Lindsay set up eight “Little City Halls,” each headed by a district manager appointed by the mayor. Created as another way for citizens to engage with city government and for the city to provision its services to the community more effectively, each “Little City Hall” had a “Service Cabinet” comprised of officers of various city agencies.

The two concepts were consolidated and became the 59 community boards, each representing one geographically defined district, when the City Charter was amended in 1975. The boards serve mostly as advisory bodies, meaning they have no authority to make or enforce laws.

Each board is made up of 50 volunteers appointed by the district’s borough president, with at least half of them nominated by City Council members. Board members must reside in, work in or have a significant interest in their community.

The boards have public monthly meetings where residents can address their community’s problems to the board members, like a rat infestation or noise complaints. They can then take community concerns directly to city agencies or officials. However, community boards cannot compel an agency or official to perform any task.

Since they are directly involved in their communities, the boards can also make recommendations to the city’s budget for their district, according to the needs of their neighborhood. The 1989 charter emphasized this role by requiring, among other things, a formal explanation when a board’s proposal was rejected.

In addition, community boards must be consulted in most land use issues and new developments involving city land in their community, including zoning changes. When new proposals come under review by the City Planning Commission, they must take the recommendations of the community boards into consideration before making a decision.

In 1990, the City charter was once again revised to grant the boards the power to create land development plans for their entire districts, called 197-a plans.

Even though the goal has been to foster community involvement in government, not all community boards are created equal.

According to Viteritti, boards in communities with lower-income citizens tend to have lower participation, so they are less successful in getting their needs across to City Hall.

“Areas that have more middle class and privileged communities are more likely to have people that are more effective at advocating their cause,” Viteritti said. “It does result in inequality of input.”

ALBANY, N.Y. — Jaron Benjamin, a city housing activist, said he had a good reason to think that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption was digging deep on the nexus of real estate money and the state’s campaign finance system.

He said that shortly after the commission was convened earlier this year, a member of its staff contacted his group, the Metropolitan Council on Housing, about a report that it had produced, and even asked for the address of a real estate developer it named so that the commission could deliver a subpoena.

Only a few weeks later, Benjamin and other housing activists have a much more tempered outlook on the commission, following reports that the Cuomo administration pressured it to kill subpoenas to the Real Estate Board of New York and to the State Democratic Party, which advocates say has received major donations from real estate interests.

Now Benjamin’s group and other housing advocates are planning to organize as many tenants as they can to show up and testify at the next public commission hearing about the influence of real estate money on state housing policy. But the groups are nervous about making their exact plans public out of fear they will be denied the opportunity to testify.

Three different people familiar with the workings of the commission told the Gotham Gazette on the condition of anonymity that the Cuomo administration had contacted groups that had planned to testify before the commission to discuss their testimony. They said commission representatives have controlled which groups testify, how much time they get to testify and where they testify. Benjamin said he originally wanted to testify at the commission’s first hearing in New York City but was asked to travel to Albany to testify at the second hearing.

Michelle Duffy, a spokeswoman for Moreland Commission, said they don’t comment on going investigations and would not comment on whether staff had contacted Benjamin’s group to get an address. She said that the panel is free to make its own decisions, but reports to the offices of the governor and the state attorney general.

The Cuomo administration did not respond to two requests for information about the governor’s office’s dealings with the commission. Cuomo told the Daily News’ Glenn Blain “no” earlier Thursday when he was asked about whether he or his staff had killed any subpoenas — the first comments by the governor on the matter.

Cuomo noted that his office staffs the commission and it requires a unanimous vote for a subpoena.

The influence of real estate groups isn’t just a concern of tenants groups — the millions of dollars real estate dumps into the campaign finance system has been a major focus of reform groups that track how much influence groups have in Albany.

“Its influence is unquestionable and it would be a shame for the Moreland Commission not to delve into its reach,” said Karen Scharff of Citizen Action New York, a good government group.

Democratic State Sen. Liz Krueger said she thinks it is important the Moreland Commission takes a look at how the hulking lobby has used money to achieve its goals. “The Moreland Commission can finally look at what lines were crossed,” she said. “I’m not saying they can't lobby but we need a better picture.”

Even as tenant and good government groups plan to press their concerns over the perceived coddling of real estate interests, it appears the Cuomo administration is looking for a way to neatly wrap up the work of the commission, which is supposed to deliver a preliminary report to the governor by Dec. 1.

The New York Times reported this week that the Cuomo administration is looking to make a deal with the Legislature on some sort of reform legislation; and Jimmy Vielkind of Capital New York reported that the administration is considering a constitutional amendment to change the state’s campaign finance system. It appears the Cuomo administration wants a way to show quick results from the commission without continuing investigations that could upset the Legislature or raise questions about its own behavior.

People who spoke to GG described a disjointed process that was challenging to manage because commission members and staff are split in their loyalties to the two men who are responsible for shaping the panel — the governor and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. Commission members are still trying to catch up to the realities of the state’s campaign finance system while staffers are already in gear to write and deliver the commission’s initial report that is due in December, the people said.

“A lot of these commissioners are still learning the ropes in Albany. They aren’t from here, they are DAs who need to catch up on how Albany works, but instead it looks as if they are being pushed towards the exits,” said one of the people.

WHY REAL ESTATE

Earlier this summer, the Moreland Commission issued subpoenas to five real estate firms — including Extell Development, a group that donated $100,000 to Cuomo’s campaign days before he signed a bill that included tax breaks for their properties. The other firms that were subpoenaed are Thor Equity, Silverstein Properties, Fischer Brothers and Ann/Nassau Realty.

Cuomo responded to press inquiries about the subpoenas by saying he welcomed the commission’s investigation.

“Anything they want to look at they can look at — me, the lieutenant governor, the attorney general, the Controller, any senator, any assemblyman,” Cuomo told reporters during an event in Oneida in late August. “They have total ability to look at whatever they want to look at.”

But it appears to tenant groups that Cuomo is not that eager to have anyone look into his interactions with the real estate industry. “Why would we be surprised by anything Machiavelli on the Hudson does?” said Michael McKee, treasurer of Tenants PAC, a statewide organization that works on housing issues.

Cuomo has deep ties to the real estate industry. After his failed 2002 primary bid for governor, Cuomo found work with one-time enemy, real estate magnate Andrew Farkas. Farkas gave Cuomo a position as vice president of Island Capital where Cuomo eventually earned over $2.5 million dollars. Farkas served as Cuomo’s finance chairman when Cuomo left Island Capital to run for attorney general.

Farkas has also donated hundreds of thousands to Cuomo’s campaigns.

Other major real estate magnates have done the same — Jerry Speyer and Dan Tishman were the top two individual donors to Cuomo’s first successful run for governor. They donated a combined $187,400 to Cuomo’s first run for governor. Cuomo’s Republican opponent at the time bashed him for his relationship with Farkas. The New York Times explored the relationship in an Oct. 2010 article. Cuomo declined to be interviewed for it, but Farkas participated.

“I need this kind of thing like I need a hole in my head,” Farkas told the New York Times. “There’s nothing in this for me. I do this purely out of love for the man, and because the future of this state is important to my family.”

The recent revelations around the Moreland Commission have also brought Cuomo’s Committee to Save New York back in the public light. The group raised $17 million, including from real estate interests, to support Cuomo’s fiscal agenda through advertising campaigns. It was criticized by good government groups that wanted the Committee to reveal its donors and then encountered more controversy when it was revealed that gambling interests donated $2 million to the group just before Cuomo came out in favor of a constitutional amendment that would legalize Las Vegas-style casino gambling in the state.

“The Commission should be investigating the actions between REBNY, Cuomo and the Committee to Save New York,” McKee said. But he acknowledged that without an independent budget, it was difficult to foresee the commission delving into it.

“We could well end up in a Feerick situation with some Mickey Mouse bill he signs into law just to call it a victory,” he said, referring to a similar public integrity commission put together in the 1980s by Cuomo’s father that was effectively handicapped by the Legislature.

PARTY HOUSEKEEPING ACCOUNTS

CSNY disbanded in late August as the Moreland Commission’s investigations were heating up but it had already stopped most of its major functions before then. Cuomo had turned to rely on the State Democratic Committee and its so-called “housekeeping accounts” to fund advertising campaigns to back his political moves.

Party housekeeping accounts have come under major scrutiny because of a loophole in state campaign finance law that allows companies to funnel unlimited amounts through them. The cash is only supposed to be used for party-related issues but groups have managed to find ways to provide the cash to candidates to boost their campaigns. In February, Cuomo began raising funds through the Democratic committee to finance ads to back his budget proposal and other policies.

Bill Samuels of The New Roosevelt Institute said that looking into housekeeping accounts was vitally important to the Moreland Commission.

“If we want to paint a full picture of the campaign finance system we need this information,” he said. “Moreland should send voluntary disclosure forms to the corporations that have donated to the Democratic housekeeping account asking: 'What is your interface with the Governor?’"

Cuomo has repeatedly defended the use of housekeeping accounts.

Common Cause recently issued a report on real estate lobbying in New York and found that since 2005 REBNY and its affiliates have given $43.9 million to local and statewide candidates. Cuomo has benefited to the tune of $1.99 million in donations from REBNY.

A REBNY spokesman told Crain's in its Aug. 6 edition: “All contributions are made in accordance with the law and duly reported.”

"It is more than inappropriate to suggest illegal motives without offering a single fact,” the spokesman continued. “Furthermore, they conveniently ignored the fact that rent regulations were recently strengthened in Albany and the J-51 and 421-a programs" — which benefit landlords and developers — "significantly curtailed."

Groups including the New York Public Interest Group, Citizen Action and the Brennan Center have also made the case for closing the housekeeping account loophole.