About to lose a major ally in Mayor Michael Bloomberg a group of business leaders and real estate groups have poured nearly $7 million into city council races. The Jobs For New York political action committee has spent $275,000 per council race on average in an effort to extend Bloomberg's pro-business policies past his term. The group has changed the dynamic of races that are normally based on community issues and connections. The PAC is organized by the Real Estate Board of New York that counts developers such as Larry Silverstein and Daniel Tishman as its members. Union's that would benefit from development projects are also part of the group. Tenants PAC, a group that represents tenant interests, has refused to endorse any candidate who refuses to condemn Jobs For New York. 

CIty Dismisses Criticism of New 911 System (NY Times)

DOE Survey Finds High Approval For City Schools (Daily News)

De Blasio Warns Lhota Not to Run a Racially Divisive Campaign (NY Observer)

Bill De Blasio and Joe Lhota do Ferry Face Off (NY Observer)

Polling on an Endorsement Cuomo Hasn't Made (Capital)

How Participatory Budgeting Became Normal Practice on the City Council (Capital)

Quinn's Camp Tries to Keep Calm as Poll Numbers Fall (DNAinfo)

Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters yesterday that he won't weigh in on the New York City mayoral primary after receiving multiple questions about Public Advocate and Democratic mayoral frontrunner Bill de Blasio's plan to raise taxes on the wealthy to fund school programs. "I am going to stay out of the New York City mayoral," Cuomo said. "Let's find out who the mayor is and what policies they actually put forth, and then let's take a look at them and consider them, and we'll have an opinion." De Blasio, who has a long relationship with Cuomo, has publically pressured Cuomo on plans to save a number of failing Brooklyn hospitals. Cuomo has avoided major appearances in the city this summer--including the West Indian Day Parade. Cuomo has held numerous events upstate and in Western New York. Some pundits see Cuomo's reluctance to engage in the race as a way for him to avoid having his name associated with the likes of Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer. Cuomo told reporters yesterday that things aren't that complicated. "I'm not registered to vote in New York City, so I don't think it's a situation where it's appropriate for me to express a preference." 

Other Stories We're Following

Bike Lanes May Be Increasing Traffic Speed (NY Times)

Looking For a Mayor Who Is a Friend to Immigrants (NY Times)

Mayoral Candidates Avoid Bloomberg's Backing (NY Times)

Crimes Spiking in Central Park (NY Post)

Thompson Struggling to Define Himself With Voters (Daily News)

Police Chafe at Scrutiny (Wall Street Journal)

Unions Might FInd a Friend in City Hall (Wall Street Journal)

What Can The Next Mayor Do About Affordable Housing? (Capital)

Poll Shows Spitzer and Stringer in Dead Heat (Crain's)

Quinn Promises Living Wage For All EDC Projects (Crain's)

This is an updated version.

NEW YORK — A new mayor. A new public advocate. A new comptroller. At least 20 new City Council members. This year will bring a historic political shift in New York City that voters have not witnessed since at least 2001, when Mayor Michael Bloomberg first came into office.

Although only a small percentage of the voting public will likely turn out for the primary on Tuesday, Sept. 10, their ballots will determine the contenders for the November general election.

This year's race is defined by the end of the Bloomberg era. It remains to be seen whether voters will select a new mayor who will turn back some of his key policy fights or back a candidate who would best keep the city on its current trajectory.

Bloomberg rose to power in the aftermath of 9/11, growing the city’s anti-terrorism efforts and strengthening the New York Police Department’s clout and influence —  some say by too much. His rezoning of both residential and commercial areas as well as his incentivization for any number of industries brought about massive economic development. Meanwhile, almost half of New Yorkers are reportedly below the city’s own poverty threshold.

Bloomberg’s fight to rid the city of illegal guns has helped lower crime to record lows, but not without raising the contempt and frustration of minority communities who argue that they are disproportionately stopped and frisked by police. Unprepared for Hurricane Sandy last October, entire neighborhoods and communities were devastated by the superstorm — a disaster that Bloomberg has since fought to prepare against.

All of these concerns — the city’s resilience, the relationship between police and the communities they watch over and the systemic issues of inequality — are weighing heavily on almost each and every race on Tuesday’s ballot.

For the first time in 12 years, New York City will have a new mayor come January 1, 2014. The battle for whether the seat goes to another Republican Party-backed candidate is still a ways away. Before that happens, the city's Democrats and Republicans first have to pick their electoral champions. (The Independence Party candidate, Adolfo Carrion, is unopposed in the primary).

G.O.P. ON TOP?

Put in plain and simple terms: all three Republican candidates seeking their party nomination want to be the next Bloomberg. With almost nary a word of derision aimed towards the outgoing mayor, the candidates have each essentially promised to continue the Bloombergian vision of economic prosperity, public safety, arms-length (if not outright hostile) relationships with unions and an education policy focused on strong mayoral control and private-public partnerships.

That's not to say that there are no differences among the candidates.

Former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Joe Lhota has long been hailed as the frontrunner in this particular race, largely due to managerial experience at the MTA and during his time as a deputy for former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. He also scored points for overseeing the efficient turnaround of the crippled mass transit system following Superstorm Sandy.

As a staunch advocate of the city's police force — his father was an officer — Lhota has focused much of his ire on the current Democratic leadership that threatens to reform the NYPD's controversial stop-and-frisk tactic. If anything, his biggest misstep in the race so far is an off-color comment where he compared Port Authority police as "mall cops," a comment that he apologized for but which is still being used against him by his chief competitor.

That would be billionaire supermarket magnate John Catsimatidis, an outsized character who has played up his Horatio Alger-like personal story and business acumen. His campaign has been marked by his colorful policy proposals, such as reviving the World’s Fair to reinvigorate the local economy and suggesting that police officers use “a bicycle or a tricycles.”

Rounding out the race is George McDonald, founder of the nonprofit Doe Fund, which helps give work to people who have been homeless.The key to solving issues like the education gap and stop-and-frisk, McDonald often argues, boils down to the same thing his group has advocated for years — jobs.

And yet polls show that few voters know much about McDonald if they know his name at all. If anything, he's best known on the campaign trail for getting into a terse exchange with Democratic candidate and serial sexter Anthony Weiner. While the unrequited public squabble stole a handful of headlines, they were almost always met by a live audience's displeasure — with McDonald.

DEMS THE BREAKS

Things are trickier on the Democratic side of things. With seven candidates to pick from, the word of the primary season has been "nuance."

Unlike the Republicans, most of the Democrats are trying to demonstrate to voters that they would represent a break from the Bloomberg years. They each have their own means but all have proposed plans to increase affordable housing options, update existing public housing plagued by disrepair, improve the city's much maligned education system and reform public safety to improve relations between police and all communities.

Observers have whittled down the race to three realistic candidates: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and former Comptroller Bill Thompson.

Quinn often calls upon her record of leadership on a number of issues as the reason she's the most experienced person to lead the city. She could be the city's first woman and openly gay mayor, a historic feat. But Quinn and Bloomberg’s amicable work relationship might get her into trouble with the most liberal of Democratic voters. And those who argue she prioritizes legislative pragmatism over idealist progressiveness already have their alternative: de Blasio.

If the key to winning the Democratic primary and runoff really is simply distancing oneself from Bloomberg, de Blasio seemingly has a lock on the nomination. Recent polls show him at about 40 percent — the magic number that would help him avoid a runoff.

The tallest candidate in the race by far, de Blasio currently enjoys the endorsements of some of the hard Left's loudest voices, both locally and nationally. Only recently breaking away from the pack, de Blasio became the outer-borough candidate everyone expected him to become, and has focused much of his campaign on painting himself as anti-Bloomberg on almost every policy point. Leading that list of grievances, however, is hiking taxes on the wealthiest to pay for education initiatives and changing stop-and-frisk as the city knows it.

Still, he's not the only one to make that promise. As Thompson has been keen to say, he's the only candidate in the race to argue that he's lived stop-and-frisk. Not only is Thompson the only black challenger for the Democratic nomination, but he's the only candidate to at one point directly challenge Bloomberg, coming a close second to him in the 2009 general election.

Unlike then, Thompson has the support of one of the city's largest and loudest unions: the United Federation of Teachers. What he gained in ground game might have cost him in establishment support. At least two of the dailies that supported Quinn said it was Thompson's ties to the union that dissuaded them from endorsing him. Even so, he's amassed support from groups that cut across racial, ethnic and religious lines.

It's unclear what role the other Democratic candidates will play in the primary. Recent polls show Anthony Weiner, Comptroller John Liu, former Councilman Sal Albanese and minister Erick Salgado below double digits.

Weiner's sudden, meteoritic rise met its resoundingly catastrophic fall once the most recent report of a sexual tryst came out. At one point leading the polls, the former Congressman's support seems to be largely divided between de Blasio and Thompson. None of this is to say he’s slowed down; with two policy books of ideas, Weiner paints himself as the independent voice the city needs, even if he’s a self-described imperfect messenger.

Liu has consistently struggled to break through, and the loss of matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board, because of what the agency alleged were possible improprieties in his fundraising, crippled any shot of reaching voters outside of his immediate base. However, he remains popular with that base and can point to concrete achievements as comptroller, chief among them his office’s discovery of the abuses behind the CityTime scandal. He also stands alone as the only candidate who promises to abolish stop-and-frisk.

This year is Albanese's second run for the mayor, the first being in 1997. Back then, he was called “Sal Quioxte,” but he ended up in third place with nearly 22 percent of the vote. A former Bay Ridge councilman, he celebrates his abstention from developer donations and paints himself not as the anti-Bloomberg but rather the anti-establishment candidate.

Salgado made much hay about being effectively excluded from the Democratic race. Polls and debates often exclude the Bronx-born Salgado, the only Latino in the race. His conservative background has gained praised largely from the Brooklyn Orthodox community, more so than the city's burgeoning Latino community. However, beyond some witty comments at forums and debates, Salgado has not stood out as a politically viable candidate for the Democratic nomination.

{sidebar id=23}

New York City might be one of the few cities where a mayor can so significantly influence not only its financial health but also urban policy. But despite the office’s power, it isn’t without its checks.

The public advocate and comptroller offices stand second and third in the line of succession, respectively, and were created by the City Charter to help balance the city’s executive branch. And whether or not their seat holders elect to admit it, the offices are a launchpad for higher office — just ask the outgoing Public Advocate de Blasio and Comptroller Liu.

THE NEXT PUBLIC ADVOCATE

Few people know what the public advocate does, or even who’s running to replace de Blasio.

The advocate stands to succeed the mayor if anything were to happen to him or her. The office of the advocate — who functions as New Yorkers’ representative at-large — is meant to be independent of the executive and legislative branches, with powers to track and investigate complaints of abuse or mismanagement by government. The advocate can also introduce bills into the Council despite not being able to vote, and has a degree of appointment powers.

Even so, a recent Quinnipiac poll found that only 20 percent of likely Democratic voters could name one of the five candidates running in the primary.

Brooklyn City Councilwoman Letitia James currently leads in the race. A former public defender and assistant New York State attorney, James made a name for herself during the fight over Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn. She’s accumulated plenty of labor support, but it hasn’t translated into consistent fundraising. She might not need it, though: her advocacy for affordable housing, more local jobs and better relationships between police and the community seems to have helped her secure a tenuous lead.

Closing in right behind James is one of the year’s most surprising political upstarts: college professor Cathy Guerriero. Polling a close second to James — despite never holding any office and none of the political clout that some of her rivals hold over her — Guerriero is instead armed with support from multiple unions, including many of the city’s police groups who have taken a liking to her ardent defense of the working class and stop-and-frisk.

{div float:right}{/div}

The only other seasoned politician in the race is state Sen. Daniel Squadron.

Now in his third term in Albany, Squadron comes from the same political shop that birthed Anthony Weiner’s career. A former aide to Sen. Chuck Schumer, Squadron got a nod from his former boss for his work on the state’s gun control and ethics reform in a body all-too-often criticized for its lack of transparency. The candidate also enjoys support from two of the previous three public advocates since the office was created in 1990. De Blasio hasn’t weighed in on the race.

While the outgoing public advocate hasn’t endorsed anyone to succeed him, at least one candidate has positioned herself as his natural heir. Before creating nonprofit Girls Who Code, Reshma Saujani served under de Blasio as a deputy public advocate and as the executive director of the office’s offshoot nonprofit Fund for Public Advocacy. Her rivals often attack her over her previous career working for hedge funds on Wall Street. A daughter of immigrants, Saujani wants to be the city’s first ever South Asian elected to city-wide office.

Born in Sierra Leone, Sidique Wai thinks he can best represent not only the immigrant community’s needs but the city’s as a whole. An underdog if the race ever had one, Wai has worked as a community liaison to the Police Department for the last seven years. Like Guerriero, Wai supports the use of a tweaked stop-and-frisk and has come out against the City Council’s related bills, both of which de Blasio is a staunch supporter of.

Unless one of these candidates can score the 40 percent threshold needed for a clear path to victory on Tuesday — which look increasingly unlikely — voters can expect to vote in a second city-wide run off.

CLASH FOR COMPTROLLER

Unlike the cast of unknown players in the public advocate’s race, voters are quite familiar with at least one candidate vying for the comptroller’s office.

After a five-year hiatus from government, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer outraged the political establishment when he jumped back into the political fray to challenge the formerly uncontested candidate, outgoing Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. It’s since become one of the year’s nastiest races and one of the few with stark differences between the candidates.

All that and there’s a Republican candidate in the running, John Burnett.

Functioning as New York’s chief financial officer, whoever wins will be responsible for the city's $137 billion pension fund, wield auditing power over most of the city’s agencies, manage the debt and review the city’s contracts. Like the public advocate, the comptroller can propose legislation to the Council, but the position has also traditionally commanded an influence over any social policy that relies on taxpayer money. Meaning, almost anything and everything.

Spitzer has spoken at length about the powers that the comptroller has over urban policy, and has vowed multiple times to exert those powers in ways that his predecessors have not. He hasn’t specified how, but he’s already promised to audit standardized testing and review the city’s public housing authority.

Running a largely populist campaign focused on his record and aggressive attitude towards Wall Street, the self-financed Spitzer is running independent of the Democratic establishment he once helped lead.

Stringer served 13 years in the state Assembly, some of which was while Spitzer worked as the state attorney general. Taking office as Manhattan Borough President in 2006, Stringer has the support of almost every Democratic mayoral candidate and countless organizations — many of whom are squarely opposed to Spitzer’s candidacy. As a result, the former governor paints Stringer as a beneficiary of the establishment; Stringer argues it shows he can play well with others, a trait he says will help him be a steward for the city’s pension fund.

With their barbs targeted squarely at each other, neither have said much about the man that one of them will face come the November general election.

Long since a bastion for Democratic candidates, the comptroller’s office might be more susceptible to a Republican win than it’s ever been with Burnett. Raised in Jamaica in East New York, Burnett has built his career in and around Wall Street — a record that he says suits him for the job. He’s already floated the idea of merging the city’s five pensions into one, and increasing support for minority- and women-owned businesses.

A NEW CITY COUNCIL

Of the City Council’s 51 seats, at least 20 of them will be new faces. And that’s only if any one of the 26 incumbents don’t lose their seats to challengers in their respective races. Only five Council members are running unopposed.

In the first election since the Supreme Court ruled that independent expenditures by corporations and unions are protected speech, few races have borne the brunt of political action committee attacks like a handful of Council candidates. Most of those negative mailers are the result of the real estate industry-backed Jobs4NY, which has endorsed 19 Council candidates — only three of which are incumbents (Manhattan Council members Margaret Chin and Inez Dickens, as well as Brooklyn Councilwoman Sara Gonzalez.)

The PAC — created by the Real Estate Board of New York — and its messaging have been so controversial that a handful of candidates have distanced themselves from their endorsement. It hasn’t, however, stopped Jobs4NY from spending more than $1.34 million across the Council races.

But outside spending isn’t the only controversy plaguing the Council races. A number of individual races are mired in their own dramatic quandaries.

It’s hard to pinpoint any single issue that all if not most of the districts face. In a mayoral race where the zeitgeist boils down to inequality, many Council candidates are dealing with housing affordability, local job creation, support for small businesses, community-centric education reform and access to healthcare. They’re issues that working class New Yorkers looking for advocates in City Hall have always demanded, but a shift in political winds at the top of the ballot benefit some candidates more than others.

And while Council members will rarely be able to lead on resiliency individually, the anniversary of Superstorm Sandy might weigh heavily on some voters’ minds — particularly those in areas hit hardest by last year’s storm. At least one Council seat in Staten Island is entirely up for grabs this year, and almost every race in the neighborhoods affected by Sandy are in play.

And then there are some of the more controversial races. Six candidates are vying to replace Councilman Dan Halloran’s district in Queens after the embattled legislator announced he wouldn’t seek reelection on account of a federal investigation into bribery charges. A term-limited Diana Reyna opened up her Brooklyn district to a race between her chief of staff, Antonio Reynoso, and her one-time ally, the scandal-plagued former Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

On top of it all, Christine Quinn’s departure from the Council after her 14 years so she could run for mayor opens up the body’s top seat. A new Council speaker will likely mean a shift in priorities, if not at least a shift in the Council’s power structure. Names are already floating around: Dickens, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Dan Garodnick and Mark Weprin. All but one of them have to defend their seat first, though.

{sidebar id=21}

DISTRICT ATTORNEYS

Almost all is quiet among the district attorney races around the city, four of five are uncontested, except in Brooklyn where a heated race has raged on throughout the summer.

Charles Hynes, a 23-year incumbent, is facing a tough challenge from former federal prosecutor and current lawyer Ken Thompson.

The two Democratic candidates have criticized each other throughout the campaign. Thompson, 47, has pointed to potential wrongdoing from members of Hynes staff. Hynes, 78, has mounted his own offensive, highlighting Thompson's perceived lack of experience.

Hynes has been criticized for a number of wrongful convictions which are currently being reviewed. He has also been attacked for failing to prosecute child molesters in the Orthodox Jewish communities.

Both candidates have lined up powerful endorsements. Hynes has been endorsed by a number of state legislators including Sens Eric Adams and Assemblyman Karim Camara. Thompson has the backing of the Working Families Party and Reps. Nydia Velazquez, Jerry Nadler, Hakeem Jeffries and Yvette Clark.

BOROUGH PRESIDENTS

Like the Brooklyn district attorney's race, the Queens and Manhattan borough president races will likely come down to the wire.

The race for the Democratic nomination for Queens borough president has seen four candidates drop out, leaving two top candidates, Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. and former Councilwoman Melinda Katz. Katz has garnered a lot of support from elected officials and unions, whereas Vallone leads the fundraising race and has raised nearly $400,000 more than Katz. However, the race may come down to the candidates’ stances on issues like stop-and-frisk that the borough president doesn't have any power over.

Another highly competitive race is for Manhattan borough president with four candidates that are similar: Democratic Council members Robert Jackson, Jessica Lappin and Gale Brewer, as well as former Community Board 1 chairwoman Julie Menin.

While the race has entertained policy ideas relating to bigger issues dealing with schools, jobs and housing, the key to all of these priorities is tied to the office’s influence over land use procedure. All of the candidates are critical of the Midtown East rezoning plan and its rapid pace, and they all want to diversify their appointments across community boards. Issues like the waste transfer station being built on the Upper East Side might sway some voters (currently, only Menin supports keeping the station), as might the legislative records held by the three outgoing Council members.

The Democratic primary race for Staten Island borough president was over before the votes were counted when lawyer Richard Luthmann was kicked off the ballot, leaving former public school teacher Louis Liedy the win. Republican Councilman James Oddo is running unopposed for the Republican nomination and is favored to win the general election in November. There hasn't been a Democratic borough president in Staten Island in 24 years.

Like Oddo in Staten Island, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., is a heavy front runner in his race. Diaz announced his intention to run for re-election after dropping a potential bid for public advocate in November. He has over a million dollar fundraising edge against the other Democrat running.

State Sen. Eric Adams, who is running for Brooklyn borough president, looks to have the easiest path to Borough Hall. His only competitor, John Gangemi, was thrown off the ballot for petition irregularities.

City races will get all the glory this year, but residents in a Brooklyn and the Bronx district will get to send new representatives to the Assembly after scandal and corruption led to the resignation of the men who previously held the seats.

The Race to Replace Vito Lopez

After Assemblyman Vito Lopez was ousted from his seat in Albany, he turned his attention to getting a spot on the City Council.

Now three candidates are vying to replace him in the 53rd State Assembly District, but only one of those candidates appears to be free from Lopez’s influence.

Jason Otaño, a former lawyer for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, has the backing of reformers, progressives, major elected officials and good government groups across the city. Otano ran a failed state senate bid against Lopez ally Sen. Martin Dilan in 2012. Issues in the race that aren’t related to Lopez include affordable housing, public safety and education. Otaño has also raised lingering issues from the sexual harassment scandal that felled Lopez. He has said that he would “be hard pressed” to vote for Sheldon Silver as speaker because of how Silver managed the investigation into the Lopez matter.

Candidate Maritza Davila, who works for the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizen’s Council that was founded by Lopez, has not been shy in supporting Lopez and touting his constituent services. Also running for the seat is Charvey Gonzalez, legislative director for Dilan.

The Race to Replace Nelson Castro

When former Assemblyman Nelson Castro resigned from the 86th State Assembly District seat this spring, revealing he had been acting as a mole for prosecutors, many figured it would be up to the Bronx Democratic Party to simply name his successor. That is how things have typically worked. Instead, Gov. Andrew Cuomo called for an election to fill the 86th district seat in September.

Bronx County Democrats may still get their man in office: Victor Pichardo, the man they endorsed, is also backed by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer and state Sen. Gustavo Rivera and has a major fundraising edge. Pichardo is an unknown in most Bronx political circles but worked for both Schumer and Rivera.

Concerns over corruption may have lead to Pichardo getting the nod from the county; other favorites for the nod were reportedly passed over because of concerns over their records. One of those candidates, Yudelka Tapia, has been in the race the longest out of any candidate and is well known in the community thanks to a failed bid for the City Council and her position as a district leader. But Tapia owes the city’s Campaign Finance Board over $100,000 in back payments and fines. Tapia’s fundraising for her bid for the 86th district has also been marred by questionable reporting.

Haile Rivera, another 86th district hopeful, is well known for his ties to the 2008 Obama campaign and his work with local nonprofits. Rivera has mostly waged his campaign online, trails in fundraising and has been relatively quiet about the fact that he worked as a staffer to disgraced former Sen. Pedro Espada.

A number of lower profile candidates also populate the race, including Keny Nuñez, a Dominican-born attorney who Castro put forward as his stand-in candidate. Nuñez missed two filing deadlines with the state Board of Election.

New Yorkers can expect a blast from the past when they step into their voting booths on Tuesday.

The city has dusted off the old lever machines in anticipation of having to turn around the primary’s results quickly enough for a run-off. The Board of Elections sent out mailers to all registered voters on how to use the machines — which are older than any of the young voters that have grown up in the Bloomberg era.

All registered voters unfamiliar with the machines should have received instructions on how to use them on the day of the primary, and workers will be on hand to help those who need it. Any disabled primary voters who are unable to use the lever machines will be able to use the city’s electronic voting system.

In case you need a refresher, here are the Board’s instructions for the lever machines:

1. Pull the RED VOTING HANDLE from the LEFT to the RIGHT. Do not move it again until after you have completed your selections.
2. Make your selections by flipping the lever so that you can see the ⌧ next to the candidate’s name.
3. Once you have made all your choices, cast your vote by pulling the RED HANDLE from RIGHT to LEFT.

Be prepared to use the lever machines again for the Oct. 1 runoff, if there is one. For the Nov. 5 general election, however, the Board will bring back the paper ballot and scanning system used in the most recent elections.

If you experience any problems or irregularities in the voting booth or at your polling site (broken machines, missing registration records, etc.), the New York Public Interest Research Group and Common Cause will be running a non-partisan voter helpline on Election Day. You can reach them at 212-822-0282.

{sidebar id=22}

State Government Editor David Howard King and City Government Reporting Intern Daniel Stein-Sayles contributed to this report.

NEW YORK — Mayoral candidate Sal Albanese’s exclusion from one of this election year’s first televised Democratic primary debates did not go unnoticed.

No less than The New York Times chastised the organizers for neglecting to invite Albanese to appear in the debate broadcast on WABC-TV. “This is a shabby way to treat Mr. Albanese,” the Times Editorial Board wrote of the organizers, which included The League of Women Voters. “Yes, he is low in the polls, but he has been a thoughtful contributor to this long, lively campaign.”

Days after the debate from which he was not invited on Aug. 13, the Gotham Gazette spoke with Albanese.

“I am an outsider,” said the candidate, who after serving as a Councilman in southern Brooklyn for 15 years ran for mayor in 1997 and came in third with about 22 percent of the vote. “I have paid a price for that. And the people paid a price because they are not getting a full picture of all the candidates.”

In our exclusive interview with Albanese, the candidate continued to provide thoughtful answers on a range of key issues in the mayoral race, from stop-and-frisk to working with Albany. A former public school teacher and father of two teachers, he also spoke about his ideas for education.

GOTHAM GAZETTE: What did people miss by the fact that you were not included in the Aug. 13 debate? What would you have been telling people?

ALBANESE: I'm the only independent voice in this race. I would have raised the issues such as the influence of money in politics, how it influences affordable housing, for example the lack of affordable housing. How it influences zoning laws in the city that make it more difficult to build affordable housing in the city. I would have tied those together. They can't do it because they are all receiving money from people in the real estate industry.

And also I would have pointed out the connection between contributions and public policy, which they can't point to. for example the taxi industry. They have contributed huge sums of money to Bill de Blasio, and he opposed the plan for outer borough taxi service. Bill Thompson is receiving huge sums of money from Al D'Amato, who's a major lobbyist in this city. And he's certainly not doing it because he's interested in his progressive policies.

Those are the kinds of things I would have brought up and tied them to public policy: how these tax breaks impact budgets in the city where money is diverted to folks who don't really need it and it's taken away from class rooms and police officers.

GG: What tax breaks are we talking about?

ALBANESE: For example, last week we pointed out that there were four developers that received huge tax breaks in the city — for example, the 421a tax breaks that were just given to luxury condos in Manhattan through a special legislative loophole passed in Albany. At the same time they've contributed to members of the state Legislature. The Moreland Commission, which Cuomo established, has subpoenaed those developers as they investigate undue influence by these folks in the real estate industry.

Well, my opponents — all of them with the exception of John Liu — have received huge sums of money from these folks, and we laid it out in a chart last week. Which practically nobody covered except Crain's. We said these four developers have just been subpoenaed by the Moreland Commission and I'm asking you to return that money. Those are the kinds of issues that are not being discussed in this race when I'm not in the room.

Issues such as the fact that these people have been in office for the last 12 to 15 years. I've been in the private sector. They blame things wholly on Mayor Bloomberg that they don't like. meanwhile they are part of the government. Nobody is going to raise that. I’ve raised that in other forums. I have said that you would think these people were John Q Public. These are people who have power and they are acting as if they are block association presidents.

GG: I want to make sure we talk about some for the policy issues that you have brought up. Recently, the judge in the stop-and-frisk case came out with a pretty harsh judgment against it and called for a monitor. What was your reaction to that?

ALBANESE: I don't support a monitor. Under an Albanese administration, we're going to do things that are constitutional when it comes to stop-and-frisk. we're going to train our p officers much more effectively so that they know exactly what the constitutional requirement is for stopping somebody. But I don't believe we need all these monitors. the city council should be monitoring the police dept. They have done a lousy job. Now they've passed a bill to create a monitor. Now the judge has created another monitor.

I just think we need common sense here. It's common sense that police officers should be able to stop someone if he or she is a suspect under reasonable suspicion. It's common sense. It defies all logic to think that we should abolish that practice, which by the way even the judge thinks is constitutional. I just think we're really spending an incredible amount of time on an issue which has to be mitigated. But it can be mitigated by making sure we focus on quality stops rather than quantity.

GG: Mayor Bloomberg has had a tough time trying to get Albany to do anything. What would you do differently to work with legislators up there?

ALBANESE: I would work with the city legislators, state senators and members of the Assembly, and as mayor you have a lot of leverage to get stuff done for them in their districts. I would use that to get things accomplished. In all fairness, the mayor did get one of the most difficult things done — which was to get the central Board of Education under the control of mayor. He did get that done. That was a major achievement, which allowed the mayor to pick his own commissioner. That is not to be underestimated as an achievement. So he got some things done. You can't get everything done. I have a number of high priorities that I want to get done in Albany, and that's what I'm going to focus on.

{pullquote}I want to set up pediatric wellness centers where you start working with children as soon as they're born. Teachers, nurses and doctors working together ... so we can provide the kind of support they need to make sure that they are up to snuff.{/pullquote}

GG: What would you do differently in education as mayor?

ALBANESE: I would first appoint a chancellor who was an educator. i would stop demonizing teachers. you know there's a tone issue where the mayor has really, really demoralized the teaching corp. I have two daughters who are teachers and they come home and say why does the mayor put out that stuff about us? And every time I run into teachers in the street, I always hear about how badly the mayor treats them. So the first thing to do is appreciate the fact that we have a lot of great teachers in the city working under adverse circumstances — large classes, lack of supplies, buildings in some cases that are falling apart. That would change. The tone would change. The second thing I would do is on pediatric wellness.

GG: Could you talk about that some more?

ALBANESE: The biggest problem facing all of our youngsters, particularly in poor communities, is the fact that poverty is the elephant in the room. Poverty causes stress. Stress causes developmental issues. Now we know beyond a reasonable doubt based on scientific studies that these kids are coming into our schools at 4 or 5 years of age way behind, and many of them never catch up. The average middle class kid knows about 1,400 words by 4 years of age. The average kid from a poor family knows about 300 words. That's a huge gap. And it's not an IQ issue.

So what I want to do is, and there are examples of this, isolated examples, that definitely work, is I want to set up pediatric wellness centers where you start working with children as soon as they're born. Teachers, nurses and doctors working together with these children so we can provide the kind of support they need to make sure that they are up to snuff when they come into our schools. I believe it is political malpractice not to address it based on what we know now. I also want to merge all the early childhood programs. They are split between three agencies. Merge them all into a Department for Early Learning. The head of that would report to the [Department of Education].

GG: A lot of voters may not be familiar with your time as a City Councilman. What were your top three achievements?

ALBANESE: My top achievement is that I authored the city’s' first living wage law which became a model for living wage legislation across America. The bill that I passed impacted 70,000 workers and put $3 billion in their pockets. That was in 1996 where my bill called for any contractor who does businesses with the city in four areas that we contract out that they would have to pay their workers $12 an hour plus health benefits. it passed.

The other achievement I'm proud of is that in 1989, when we were down to 24,000 officers, I led the charge to get another 16,000 officers hired, which helped to bring the crime rate down.

The other effort I'm proud of is my anti-smoking legislation. I passed a bill eliminating "loosies" from the streets of the city. I have a master's in health. I'm a big anti-smoking advocate. I sent out a video team of people to spot these companies that were giving out “loosies” on the streets of the city to underage kids.

GG: You ran for mayor once before in 1997 and got 22 percent of the vote. At the time, they called you “Sal Quioxte.” They said, basically, you're tilting at windmills in your effort to run for mayor. Some would say you’re doing that again this time.

ALBANESE: After the race there was a couple of articles written saying that I surprised a lot of people. Even though I did not win, I got 22 percent of the vote. Which is a pretty sizeable number. So they were wrong about tilting at windmills. I ran a very, very good race with very limited resources. And I think we're going to surprise a lot of folks this time around as well.

No, look, when you're an outsider, people pooh-pooh your efforts because the conventional wisdom is that if you don't accept money from lobbyists and developers and major funders you can't win. I don't want the job under those circumstances. I’m running because I want to make the city a better place. And if I am co-opted before I get there, if I owe favors all over town, the job is not worth it.

The final debate for the Democratic candidates for mayor last night was used primarily as a means to attack Bill de Blasio, who has become the front runner in the polls. He was hit on issues like his support for a tax hike on the rich to pay for prekindergarten classes - which his opponents point out needs Albany's approval. De Blasio was attacked for supporting expansion of term limits when he was running for Speaker. His late support for a living wage bill was another source of contention, as was his acceptance of earmarks. The candidates did, however, elaborate on their stances towards union contract negotiations a bit. De Blasio said the city couldn't afford to give the unions all the retroactive raises they want, while most of them said they wouldn't raise taxes to pay the workers. The NY Times published a useful fact checking piece for their claims throughout the debate here.

Other Stories We're Following

Bloomberg Sues Council Over NYPD Profiling Law (Daily News)

What Can The Next Mayor Do About Affordable Housing? (Capital)

City’s Unionized Workers Are Mostly Minorities, Study Shows (NY Times)

NYPD Sergeant Promoted Despite 16 Civil Rights Lawsuits (Daily News)

State Lawmakers Make Three Times State Taxpayers (Albany Times Union)

Lopez, Disgraced In Albany, But Vying For Council (NY Times)

Electric Zoo Hid Sick Drug Users, Cops Say (NY Post)

The Mysterious Forces At Work In The 2013 Election (Gotham Gazette)

Whoever the next mayor may be, one of the biggest issues they'll need to handle will be working out deals on all the expired labor union contracts, the Wall Street Journal points out today. Although it's not exactly breaking news, the issue hasn't been much of a headline-grabber during this campaign season of sex scandals and intimate revelations. Critics say that Democratic candidates have voiced little substance on the issue, while Republicans have taken a hard line. The issues include years of retroactive raises, and having employees pay a larger percent of their health coverage. The stakes are high - in the billions and lasting years - and other municipalities may look to the city as a model.

Other Stories We're Following

In Mayoral Race, Attacking Real Estate But Taking Its Cash (NY Times)

Still Struggling From Sand, Rockaway Loses Half Its Summer Beach-Goers (WNYC)

Sandy's 'Freaky' Path May Be Less Likely In Future (Associated Press)

Quinn Won't Say Whether Overturning Term Limits Benefited Her (Wall Street Journal)

The Dwindling Benefits Of Quinn's Endorsement Of Kelly (Capital)

Stringer Voted To Let Pro-Pedophilia Group Keep Tax Break (Daily News)

Dorm Authority's Sloppy Deal (Albany Times Union)

Catsimatidis Campaigns With Heart, Tongue And Checkbook Unfettered (NY Times)

De Blasio, In Switch, Supports Horse Carriage Ban (NY Post)

Democrats Prepare For Final Mayoral Debate (Associated Press)

De Blasio Took $54,000 From Those On His Worst Landlords List (Daily News)

Lhota Now Says He Wouldn’t Fight For ‘Soda Ban’ (Wall Street Journal)

ALBANY, N.Y. — They’re trying to run themselves out of town.

Nearly a dozen state legislators are looking to exit Albany by getting themselves elected to City Council or city wide office.

Political observers say it is striking that so many state legislators who have major say over city issues — at times more so than the City Council — are ready to risk their elected positions for a bid to become a borough president, public advocate or Council member. State legislators get to vote on mayoral control of schools and public housing and have substantial say over public transit through direct oversight of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Legislators who are running for city seats include Sens. Eric Adams, Daniel Squadron, Assembly members Micah Kellner, Vanessa Gibson, Inez Barron, Rafael Espinal and former Assemblyman Vito Lopez. Sens. Tony Avella and Jose Peralta dropped their bids for Queens Borough President.

So why would a state legislator want to abandon their seat? There are more reasons than you might realize.

“There are a number of factors that have been building over the years that have contributed to what some might see as a move backwards from state government to the city government,” said William Eimicke, a former deputy secretary under Mario Cuomo and a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Eimicke cites the implementation of term limits in the city as a major factor that is drawing legislators to the city as well as at least the perception that the Council has grown in power.

“The Council has become a more visible force since the elimination of the board of estimate,” Eimicke said. “Meanwhile, the environment for state legislators has become very difficult because of corruption and bad press. They think, ‘Why should I be part of a body with such a bad rep when I can be closer to home and part of a body with a reputation that is not as bad?’”

Gerald Benjamin, a professor of political science at SUNY New Paltz, said in an email that officials tend to prefer state to local offices. "But it hasn't been uncommon for people to leave the Assembly or the Senate to seek local office," he said. "The key issue is the individual's reason for seeking office in the first place. Status? Power? Paycheck? Stepping stone? There is little real power in NYC office outside the mayoralty or the comptrollership, while there is real power in the state Legislature."

Scandal, Scandal, Scandal

Albany has become a dirty word to some voters who can’t help but associate legislators with corruption. And, this year, things seemed to get worse.

Former Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and Councilman Dan Halloran were indicted in a scheme to buy Smith a spot on the Republican mayoral ticket.

Former Sen. Shirley Huntley was indicted on corruption charges and later revealed that she hosted fellow Democratic legislators at her Queens home to tape them on behalf of the FBI.

And former Bronx Assemblyman Nelson Castro made a deal with the Bronx District Attorney to become a mole after he was caught lying under oath. Castro claimed his work led to the bribery case against Bronx Assemblyman Eric Stevenson. But that wasn’t the end of it.

Legislators now nervously joke they aren’t sure who is wearing a wire.

Beneath the jokes is a current of fear that no one can be trusted and that law enforcement is deeply focused on finding corruption in Albany — especially amongst city-based legislators.

“It makes people really nervous,” said one legislator who requested anonymity. “People would rather work with a thief than with a snitch.”

Then there was the case of former Brooklyn Assemblyman Vito Lopez.

Lopez was planning a bid for the City Council when it was announced that he would be voted out of office by his peers back in May. Lopez faced mounting pressure as more and more details about allegations of sexual harassment of a number of his young female staffers became public. Lopez resigned his Assembly office before he was officially voted out. He quickly refocused on the Council seat in the 34th district of Brooklyn despite criticism from the political establishment and women’s groups.

“I expect to run a vigorous campaign on the issues facing the citizens of my community and hope to continue to serve them as a member of the City Council,” Lopez wrote in a letter announcing his resignation from the Assembly in June. “I believe that the voters of the community should decide who should represent them.”

Lopez’s long-standing influence over local elections and a gigantic campaign chest mean he has the advantage over his opponents despite the scandal that saw him stripped of his seniority, fined over $300,000 and driven from state office.

More Power or More People

For candidates like Sens. Eric Adams and Daniel Squadron, running for larger city offices gives them the chance at a greater constituency, an increased platform to discuss constituent issues and a base to build a political future.

Squadron, who is running for public advocate in the Democratic primary, touts his legacy in Albany. “I'm really proud of the work I've done as a legislator, getting real results,” he said. “Securing over $1 billion in federal funds for New York City public housing, writing landmark gun laws, passing ethics reform into law, and more.”

But he says he is running for public advocate “because I believe I can make a real difference for communities around the city who are too often left out and left behind. In a city that often feels like a large state or a small nation rather than our local government, that role is key. I've released a detailed plan to make the Public Advocate's office essential and get results for children, seniors, and families who need a voice in City Hall."

Squadron won his senate seat with the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and enjoys a close friendship with mentor Congressman Chuck Schumer. The public advocate’s office would allow Squadron to build a name for himself for a future run for mayor while insulating himself from the chaos in Albany.

Adams said that the position of Brooklyn Borough President, “presents an enormous opportunity for me to improve the lives of New Yorkers in a new and exciting way. As the advocate for more than 2.5 million people.”

Bill Mahoney of the New York Public Interest Group says many legislators find themselves unable to actually make any sort of impact once they get to Albany. Squadron has carried bills on protecting New Yorkers from gender discrimination, fought to save Brooklyn hospitals and introduced anti-gun legislation that he fiercely campaigned for but the power structure in Albany saw some of the legislation sit in committee because it isn’t of interest to the senate majority.

The power structure in the Legislature prevents members of the minority parties from passing much of anything and even rank-and-file members of the Assembly Democratic majority find themselves used by Silver simply as votes — not as legislators with ideas to bring to the table.

“These members can grow disgruntled with having to sit through all-night sessions with trajectories they cannot alter, and often seek to further their careers in local offices,” Mahoney said. Legislators across the state have grown frustrated with the minimum impact they make in the Legislature and seek local seats where they will have more power," he continued.

He gave the examples of two top-ranking officials in Erie County who are former Senate Democrats; and a former Republican Assembly member who ran for Town Highway Superintendent on Long Island.

“Albany’s dysfunctional power imbalance could have played a role in motivating several of this year’s New York City candidates to run for an office closer to home,” Mahoney said.

Eimicke agrees and says he thinks it will take a shift in the balance of power in Albany to make a job as a state legislator a more attractive opportunity.

“I think it has literally been decades that the same regimes held control at least for most of the last 40 years in the Assembly and Senate,” said Eimicke. “If you see yourself as a leader, Albany doesn’t have a lot of options. You think to yourself I can’t have an impact here and I probably never will.”

Location, Location, Location

Doug Muzzio, professor of public affairs at Baruch College, points to former Mayor Ed Koch’s description of Albany as “a city without a good Chinese restaurant” as an example of why legislators may want a new gig. Albany may have gotten a few more decent Chinese restaurants since Koch’s heyday but his overall point remains salient. For those used to living the big-city lifestyle, Albany remains a backwater town where legislators remain rather tight knit, gathering at the same few steak joints and Italian eateries, meeting at the same bars, or hiding in their hotel rooms until it is time to get back to their districts.

“It’s difficult to imagine why anybody would want to spend less time in upstate New York, but some politicians do appear to tire of weekly Amtrak journeys,” said Bill Mahoney, Albany resident and research coordinator for The New York Public Interest Research Group, with a tinge of sarcasm.

And Muzzio agrees that travel is an issue — two and a half hours on an Amtrak train to and from Albany, or an even longer car ride with the ever-present specter of traffic jams on the Tappan Zee, or inclement weather on the Taconic.

Eimicke notes that there has been more scrutiny over travel reimbursement in Albany which might hamper some legislators’ style. And he adds, “Albany is nowhere to legislators from the city. Even if you are doing a great job in Albany; nobody knows and nobody cares.”

City Issues Ignored

The power structure in Albany also impacts city legislator’s abilities to press the issues that matter most to their constituents. DREAM Act legislation, reducing penalties for possessing small amounts of marijuana, the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act and other major issues have failed to come for a vote before both houses of the legislature.

Sen. Kevin Parker has repeatedly questioned the current power structure in Albany. “Why should I vote for the governor’s agenda if he won’t listen to what is important to me?”

The power-sharing deal in the Senate between the Independent Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans has seen a number of these major issues bottled up.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has not pressed on these issues since it became clear the Senate was not going to act. Meanwhile, the Senate has also prevented major reform on campaign finance and ethics. Some city legislators say it is hard to come home to their district and explain to their constituents why the Legislature has not acted on some of their signature legislation.

Eimicke said being closer to home can mean a lot to a politician. “ There is more media coverage in New York with NY1 and other Internet sources,” Eimicke said. “I think it leads legislators to think, ‘It is probably better to be in the neighborhood more, maybe it is a better use of my time.’”

Place Holders

Two Assembly members are abandoning their seats to replace their term-limited allies in the City Council who hope to win a place in the Assembly — in other words, they are trying to swap seats.

Assemblywoman Inez Barron, the wife of City Councilman Charles Barron, is running to replace her term-limited husband. If she wins, her husband will enter the special election for his wife’s Assembly seat.

“I'm not just pushing my wife 'cause she's my wife,” Charles Barron told Brooklyn Bureau in July. “We had joint staff meetings with our offices for all of this stuff. She would be excellent to continue the vision of rebuilding East New York.”

A similar situation could play out in the 37th State Assembly District where Councilman Erik Martin Dilan is term limited from running again.

Assemblyman Rafael Espinal, who was a long-time Dilan staffer before he ran for state office, is now seeking to replace his former boss. Espinal was accused of being a placeholder for Dilan when he ran for the Assembly seat in 2011. At the time, Espinal dodged interviews with the Gazette and evaded others questions about his loyalties to Councilman Dilan and his father, state Sen. Martin Dilan.

At one point after a scheduled interview had been rescheduled a number of times, Espinal’s spokesman Michael Olmeida said he would finally arrange an interview if The Gazette didn’t ask the questions “everyone else is asking.” The interview was not arranged.

Olmeida was also a longtime Dilan employee and faced questions about whether he was working on the campaign while getting paid for doing his other gig. Eimicke says he expects to see more place holder candidates now that we are starting to see the council members term limited out of office. 

The Pay

Working in the city also pays more. State legislators make around $80,000 a year and have the chance to earn a little more if they get named to a committee compared to Council members’ $112,000-a-year salary; borough presidents who make $160,000 a year; and the public advocate who earns a $165,000 annual salary.

NEW YORK — Mayoral candidate John Liu admits to taking body blow after body blow.

A federal corruption investigation. Convictions of two former campaign workers in a scheme to funnel money from straw donors. Denied public matching campaign funds in a crowded Democratic primary that leaves his campaign woefully underfunded compared to his rivals. 

And yet Comptroller Liu refuses to back down. The former Queens councilman is still hopeful that his former constituents, undercounted Asian voters and a handful of energized labor supporters can turn around shrinking poll numbers come the Sept. 10 primary.

The only candidate in the race fully committed to doing away with stop-and-frisk, Liu has launched himself into battle mode after the Campaign Finance Board denied him millions in matching funds.

He was the first candidate to launch direct attacks at the presumed front runners during the most recent Democratic debates, blaming City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio for failing to keep St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan open. He's gone after his predecessor, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, for his failure to spot the massive CityTime scandal that cost the city nearly $700 million.

But Liu hasn't been able to break double digits in any citywide polls. After months at a stagnant 8.5 percent, a recent New York Times/Marist College poll had him at half that: 4 percent, one percentage point above longshot conservative Democrat Erick Salgado.

The numbers don't seem to faze Liu, nor does his fundraising handicap. In an exclusive interview with Gotham Gazette last week, he said he still believes in the city’s much-lauded public campaign financing system that ruled against him. He also explained why he’s skeptical of the inspector general bill passed again by the City Council on Thursday and explains what a Mayor Liu might do on marijuana reform.

GOTHAM GAZETTE: Do you think the city's campaign finance program works? Do you still have faith in the system?

JOHN LIU: The system is something I support. I've always been a participant, and I always plan to be a participant. This year, they made some very wrong judgement.

I think this year, my campaign has been heavily politicized. This investigation that's been going on for years now amounts to little more than a witch hunt for which there's been no witch. They were able to get some collateral damage by setting up a couple of people, but that's what it was: a setup.

And the Campaign Finance Board made the wrong decision in denying my campaign the funds. They cited innuendoes, if you look at their statements. "Suggested." "Potential." They have this 100-plus page report where they were able to determine that two people were improperly reimbursed, but not that my campaign had any idea that was happening out of 7,000 donors.

And, in fact, this whole long, drawn out investigation has been about phantom donors to my campaign. Where are they? Where's this massive straw donor scheme? After years of the feds poking around, listening in on my phone conversation for 18 months, revealing millions [of] documents, interrogating my supporters — where is this massive straw donor scheme?

GG: On stop-and-frisk, you defended Judge Shira Scheindlin's verdict in the federal case and her suggestion to appoint an independent monitor.

LIU: The judge doesn't need me to defend her decision. I certainly agree with her position; I've been saying that for the longest time.

GG: So why then do you still oppose an inspector general within the Department of Investigation?

LIU: Oh, well, I don't vociferously oppose it. I haven't said, "We must not have an IG." What I've said is that's a distraction. It's a convenient political tool for those who want to continue stop-and-frisk, to be able to continue to say they want to change stop-and-frisk.

I've been very clear from the get-go: I'm against stop-and-frisk. Under my mayoralty, we will end stop-and-frisk. There won't be any need for an inspector general.

{pullquote}This investigation that's been going on for years now amounts to little more than a witch hunt for which there's been no witch. They were able to get some collateral damage by setting up a couple of people, but that's what it was: a setup.{/pullquote}

GG: But there are other issues that an inspector general would deal with other than stop-and-frisk.

LIU: And under my administration there won't be any surveillance of people simply because of their religion. My administration — at the end of the day, it's still up to the mayor.

If the inspector general thing was proposed as a way to fix other problems, I’d be less skeptical, or less cynical about it. I haven't opposed it as much as I've called it out as a political ploy. The inspector general issue is a distraction from the real issues.

That's why I support a federal monitor, because that's an independent entity. It's like the CCRB — the CCRB was gutted by Giuliani and continued to be gutted by Bloomberg. It could have been far more effective. It's the same thing; the inspector general could be effective, but only with a supportive mayor.

Under my administration, the inspector general wouldn't have much to do because I'd already tackle the root problem.

GG: Last week you came out with a new view on how the city should deal with marijuana reform, specifically not just decriminalizing it but legalizing it. A lot of your critics called that a political ploy itself, and that as mayor you wouldn't be in a position to do anything without the state.

LIU: I'm not campaigning on that platform. I've never campaigned on the platform. This is an issue that was a topic of heated discussion earlier this year when the Legislature was considering it. This is an issue that's not going away. And when it was being debated in Albany, my office started studying the issues as it pertains specifically to New York City.

As comptroller, my responsibility is to study the issues that are affecting New Yorkers and proposing solutions. I came out with some facts that were enlightening to me. I was very skeptical earlier this year. I would not have imagined myself saying I'd be in favor of legalizing marijuana use, regulating it and taxing it.

Not only is prohibition not working, but the impact on communities of color is far, far greater. Blacks and Hispanics make up 45 percent of marijuana users, and yet they account for 86 percent of the arrests. Whereas whites make up 40 percent of the users but account for only 11 percent of the arrests. The police are tagging people disproportionately and its a waste of police resources. Thirty seven thousand arrests projected this year of low level marijuana possession. Nothing's going to happen with these cases, and there's a huge societal cost.

GG: And is this a policy you'd explore as mayor?

LIU: That will be something I'd explore, even though I'm not campaigning on it. It's something that I cannot ignore.

GG: On housing, how would you explain mandatory inclusionary zoning in the length of a tweet?

LIU: Retain public wealth and air rights for construction of affordable housing…

GG: It's a complicated subject that's come up a lot in the race.

LIU: I've been the one who's been talking about it. Some people have copied me, but I was the one who originally talked about mandatory inclusionary zoning. I haven't finished the tweet.

…instead of giving away to private developers. It might fit in one tweet.

GG: There's been a lot made recently about zoning in the Bloomberg era. What would you say is one of his biggest successes?

LIU: I would not call his zoning policy a success, because while his zoning policies have created growth in parts of the city, it has also served to greatly expand the wealth gap. So the people who are already well off were able reap huge windfalls in the rezoning of their properties so that they could develop more. We lost huge opportunities to create more affordable housing and good paying jobs. Those will be the underpinnings of my execution of inclusionary zoning.

GG: You've had a very combative relationship with Mayor Bloomberg. How would you like the next comptroller — whoever it may be — to work with you?

LIU: I say independent. The next comptroller should do his or her job vigorously, as I have done mine. This was the system put in place years ago. The job is a counterweight, it's to make sure things don't get out of control. I'm proud that I reined in CityTime, proud of sounding early warnings of the 911 system. We certainly don't rubber stamp contracts.

GG: Another issue you've been independent of from the mayor has been education. Day one, what'll be different about the city's education plan in a Liu administration?

LIU: The whole approach to schools will be far different. Pretty much everything.

GG: But you'd retain mayoral control.

LIU: That's not for the mayor to decide. That's the state Legislature. Mayoral control lasts through 2015, and whatever the system may be I'm going to take it upon myself as mayor to make sure the schools are running properly. I support mayoral control, but it's out of the mayor's hands.

Now, I'm going to stop running our schools as if they're business divisions and restore learning environments in each and every one of our schools and classrooms. We'll have a chancellor with an educational background, for a change. And allow education professionals to do their work in the schools rather than bombarding them with reporting requirements.

This Department of Education has been data-driven, by their own words. And a lot of the data they use is crappy or does not support the changes that they've advocated.

GG: On the budget dance, you've come out firmly in favor of rid of it. How?

LIU: We need to have an independent entity determine the revenue estimates for the following year. Right now, it's too one sided with the mayor's office determining the estimates. And that drives the entire budget discussion.

GG: Some of your rivals argue that all they need to get rid of the dance is to be in office.

LIU: No, it's never that easy. It's not that the mayor and speaker love to engage in the budget dance. Part of it is the way the system is set up.

GG: As an immigrant yourself, you've weighed in on a lot of different issues the community faces, including the DREAM Act. What's your take on noncitizen voting in municipal elections?

LIU: Executive Order 41 has been issued by Mayor Bloomberg, but the spirit of it has not been complied with by too many city agencies. And under my administration, I will continue the essence of Executive Order 41, which started in the Koch administration and has been adopted by every mayor since, but in way that is actually taken seriously by all city agencies.

Immigrants should have equal treatment and equal protection by city government, especially when all the politicians in city government in this town love to proclaim this city the international capital of the world. For most of our country's history, citizenship was not required to vote. What was required was being a property owner, which meant you had to pay taxes. So it goes back to the fundamental principles of our country: no taxation without representation.

If you pay taxes, you get a right to vote. Our immigrants today pay taxes. They should have the right to vote in at least municipal elections.

The City Council yesterday voted to override Mayor Bloomberg's veto of two stop-and-frisk reform bills known as the Community Safety Act. The inspector general bill override passed with a vote of 39-10, while the profiling bill override passed 34-15. Speaker Quinn supported the inspector general measure but opposed the profiling bill. She said she doesn't expect any conflict between the inspector general and a federal court-appointed monitor mandated earlier this month. Bloomberg vowed legal action against the profiling bill.

Other Stories We're Following

Taxpayer Cost Of Housing Prisoners: $167,000 Per Inmate (NY Post)

Up To 50 Inmates On Rikers Brawl For An Hour (Daily News)

Ratner Looks To Sell Majority Stake In Atlantic Yards (Daily News)

Bangladeshi Enclave Grows In City Line (The Brooklyn Bureau)

Greenpoint Building May Have Split Entrance For Affordable Tenants (Crain's)

Thompson Supporters Cite His Savviness As Board Of Ed President (WNYC)

Comptroller Debate Is Nearly Friendly (NY Times)

BRONX, N.Y. — Talk of corruption is unavoidable in the race for the 86th State Assembly District in the Bronx. The subject pops up when candidates knock on doors, when they get into conversations with constituents, at forums.

Voters openly wonder why they should bother casting a ballot when so many Bronx representatives end up in trouble with the law. They haven’t forgotten about Councilman Larry Seabrook and Sens. Pedro Espada and Efrain Gonzalez — all of whom are currently serving jail sentences. And, in this district in the West Bronx, they have surely not forgotten the name of the man who used to be their Assembly representative — Nelson Castro.

How could anyone forget? The case of Castro went beyond the normal embezzlement schemes and voter fraud that has become so common. First caught lying under oath, he then reached a deal with authorities in which he agreed to be a mole in the state Legislature. He did so for the next three years — even winning re-election while recording fellow legislators. His role as informant was unveiled this spring when fellow Assemblyman Eric Stevenson was charged with taking $20,000 in bribes to move a piece of legislation. Castro claimed he was responsible for the indictment but authorities never confirmed his role. Castro then resigned from his seat.

Normally, the governor would call a special election and allow the Bronx County Democratic machine to effectively appoint its choice to Castro’s seat but Gov. Andrew Cuomo didn’t — thereby opening up a primary that has allowed a number of interested candidates to launch campaigns. The district includes parts of University Heights, Fordham Heights, Morris Heights, Mount Hope, Belmont and Tremont.

So far, five candidates have made their presence felt in the race: Victor Pichardo, a former aide to US Rep. Chuck Schumer, who is regarded as the frontrunner in the race; district leader Yudelka Tapia, who previously ran for City Council; Haile Rivera, a community activist and former staffer for Espada; former district leader Hector Ramirez, the county’s candidate against Castro in the last election; and — not to be forgotten — Keny Nunez, whom Castro calls his “stand in candidate.” (Castro himself had weighed getting into the race, but in the end decided not to).

“I think there are some very credible candidates for this open seat, and that is a very good thing for the Bronx,” said Gary Axelbank, host of BronxTalk, a cable access TV program that has held debates in the Bronx for decades. He said the number of challengers could also benefit turnout in a district that barely registers under 4,000 voters during primaries.

“We have three officials in jail currently, and that really wears on the community. When people go to their representatives and complain about legitimate things and get no change or little response, they aren’t coming to the polls. This district also has many immigrants and non-English-speaking communities. What it all adds up to is a large, disenfranchised voter base,” Axelbank said.

A Fresh Face In Politics?

Twenty-eight-year-old Pichardo, a fresh-faced, well dressed, stocky gentleman of Dominican descent, enjoys the pedigree that comes from working for US Sen. Chuck Schumer for four years. In a recent interview over lunch in the Bronx, he made it clear that he doesn't want to talk about the past. He doesn’t want to criticize Castro, who remains popular in the district, or weigh in on the problems faced by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

“I want to focus on the future, on providing this district with the kind of representation it needs,” said Pirchardo, who is backed by Bronx County Chair Carl Heastie and Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz.

Pichardo says the constituents of the 86th district have been robbed of proper representation because of the scandals in the Bronx. He said he‪ would like to see the implementation of a member item system in Albany that would prevent abuse but allow lawmakers to help boost projects in their neighborhoods. And he wants to work on housing issues and to help see to it that those who live in affordable housing are treated fairly. He also wants to raise awareness of the importance of college, so that others in the 86th can get the kind of education that he did. ‬‬‬‬‬‬

‪‬‬‬‬And yet scandal and corruption is the most prominent issue in the race; it is the most effective opponent of every candidate vying for Castro’s seat. Pichardo may raise warning signs for some Bronx residents because Castro was a newcomer to Bronx politics and was chosen by the Bronx County Democrats to replace Luis Diaz in 2008. The Bronx County Democrats backed Hector Ramirez as a challenger to Castro in 2010 but Ramirez lost.

While his opponents might call him a “machine politician,” his political career has consisted of working for two men who have reputations for being clean. Besides Schumer, he most recently worked for state Sen. Gustavo Rivera as director of community affairs.

Rivera said he had been discussing Pichardo’s desire to eventually run for office around the time that Castro resigned. He said he was initially put off by the candidates who were being considered to run with the county’s blessing.

When Castro’s resignation hit, Rivera says, “I was like, OK, so I’m have a slot in my backyard.” He said he continued to push Pichardo on whether he was ready to run for office and “gave him homework.” Pichardo came up with lists of whose support he could count on, where he could raise money and what constituent bases he could tap into.

“I told him, 'This is your decision. It is not going to be an easy transition, but I will be with you 100 percent,'” Rivera said.

Initially, Rivera said, the county was considering “three candidates. One candidate I have a good relationship with, but unfortunately she finds herself owing the city $100,000, and I am a strong advocate for the state to adopt the city’s campaign finance system and I worried it would hinder her ability to raise money for the campaign.”

Rivera spoke to Heastie about his concerns. “Carl Heastie took him a second look (at Pichardo) because he has not been in the same circles as Pichardo, he spoke to Chuck (Schumer) and that was that,” Rivera said.

Neither Heastie nor Schumer could be reached for comment by the Gazette.

Bronx BP Diaz is also a Pichardo supporter. He said he wants to see the candidate elected to help increase awareness of the Bronx.

“No matter what kind of veterans you have you can always add new talent and a new rookie and Victor Pichardo is gonna be the new addition to our team,” he said.

And Rivera said the 86th district has gone underrepresented and underserved long enough and that teamwork can help change that.

“I believe Victor has demonstrated he is not an establishment candidate even though he is supported by those of us in the establishment,” Rivera said. “For lack of a better term, there is synergy there. There is a natural opportunity with these smart, young, progressive people in the Bronx who are community-focused people.”‪‬‬‬

But Richard Soto, the man who gleefully takes credit for providing the Bronx district attorney with evidence that Castro had lied under oath, referred to the county and Heastie as “f---ing shitheads” and said of Pichardo: “They think they can just bring in some kid who hasn’t put in his time … I don’t know him. No one knows him.”

The Other Candidates

While Pichardo may carry the "machine" label, his opponents have other problems.

Tapia, who has been running for the seat longer than any other candidate and enjoys strong community support, owes the Campaign Finance Board $107,704. $47,774 of that number is from a combination of violations; she owes the CFB $59,950 for repayment of public funds given to her campaign.

Tapia’s 2009 campaign failed to file fundraising information a number of times, failed to report expenditures, failed to provide deposit reports, accepted five over-the-limit donations and failed to pay back thousands of dollars in liabilities and loans among a host of other violations. Tapia owes the board $59,930 in public matching funds.

The CFB stresses it is “taxpayer money” that has yet to be repaid. Tapia sued in state court to overturn the CFB’s ruling and lost. Tapia’s camp has failed to provide a July campaign finance filing to the Board of Elections.

Tapia declined to be interviewed due to a family health emergency.

Matthew Rey, a consultant from Tapia’s campaign, said that the candidate intends to pay back the CFB. “This was an administrative issue. We’ve decided to live with their decision and pay it all back,” he said, adding that Tapia is supportive of the city campaign finance system and hopes to see a similar system implemented on the state level. But he also blames the nebulous rules of the public campaign financing system.

Matthew Sollars, a spokesman for the CFB, said that its staff was “available to provide detailed guidance on the rules for any candidate who needs it.”

“Candidates who participate in the City’s matching funds program have an obligation to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law, ” he said in a statement.

Another candidate for the Assembly seat, Haile Rivera, is a longtime community activist whose claim to fame is that he was a small donor selected to have lunch with President Barack Obama.

He has launched attacks on the better-financed campaigns of Pichardo and Tapia, saying they “haven’t done much” and touts his work for the Obama campaign as evidence that he has worked on behalf of the community.

Rivera has also called for Silver to resign. “If we want real change, the problems really start at the top,” he said. “That is why I’m not taking a position that is politically convenient. I plan to issue a statement asking all of [the other candidates], if they stand for reform they should go for different leadership or call for the speaker to resign.”

Rivera has left off part of his resume off of his campaign literature — something that could be seen as a direct link to scandal and corruption. Rivera worked for disgraced former state Sen. Espada during the last year of Espada’s term in office. “I worked for him for five or six months. I needed to work to support my family,” Rivera said. “I was doing constituent work, and then I was made a spokesperson in July, but I didn’t know what was going on so I had nothing to say.”

Rivera says he is proud that he did to help constituents in his role working for Espada. “Sometimes you work for people who are not what you thought. That's not your fault.”

Then there is the case of Kenny Nunez, whom Nelson Castro has called his “stand-in” candidate.

Nunez does not have a functioning campaign website and has not been seen doing much campaigning. He failed to file the July and pre-primary campaign finance statements with the state Board of Elections since creating a Friends of Nunez committee in June. The BOE has sent Nunez a letter regarding the July filing.

Also in the running is former district leader Ramirez, who unsuccessfully challenged Castro in the last race with the county machine’s backing. But he also lacks a website and failed to file any campaign finance documents by the July and pre-primary filing deadlines after his committee was created in January. The BOE also sent Ramirez a letter regarding his July filing.

Ramirez lost the primary in 2010 to Castro but was uncontested on the Working Families Party line and faced Castro again in the general and lost.

The Gazette was unable to reach Nunez, Ramirez or Castro despite calls and emails to their campaigns and associates.

Pichardo’s campaign appears to be the most professionally run of all the candidates in the race. He has raised $46,000 with major donations coming from the Bronx Democratic Party which donated $4,100, major unions like the SEIU1199, Plumbing Contractors PAC and The Council of School Supervisors and Administrators, elected officials like Sens. Liz Krueger, Gustavo Rivera and Mark Weprin, Assembly members Heastie, Phil Goldfeder, and the scandal plagued Micah Kellner. He also received $500 from the Real Estate Board of New York.

Tapia has raised $22,958 mostly from individuals and businesses — she has also donated to herself in the amount of $3,000 and transferred $5,000 to herself from her People For Yudelka Tapia committee — a committee that was apparently created early this year for a run for a different office. She also has unitemized donations totalling almost $500.

Rivera has raised $15,237. Most of the cash came in small donations from individuals with a few businesses here and there.

Pichardo’s fundraising edge, campaign style and backing by major incumbents, including Schumer and Rivera, would normally be more than enough to close the deal. But coming off a year in Albany that felt like an episode of Dragnet, it may be the wrong time to be the guy with the connections.