NYC Public Advocate Special Election

With election of Tish James as the New York State Attorney General, a vacancy was created in the New York City Public Advocate office. If you haven't heard yet, there is a special election next Tuesday, Feb 26th. Get out and vote!  There is no primary. It's an open race where each candidate runs on their own party line. To have been included on the ballot, the candidates only needed to collect 3,600 signatures and file some paperwork. 17 individuals did this correctly, though, one has since dropped her bid. Because it is not a regularly scheduled election date, and even worse, not a primary race, turnout will likely be low. That means the race is wide open. Get out and make your voice heard!

Nine of the ten candidates (taken far back and zoomed in)

So what is the Public Advocate role? Great question. The position was created in 1993 and has limited power. The Public Advocate can raise legislation for consideration in City Council, but cannot vote. The primary responsibility of the Public Advocate is to be an ombudsman, or watchdog, for the city. Check out this Wikipedia post for more.

The second Kings County Democratic Committee meeting of this cycle took place on February 12th and dedicated nearly all of its time to a nominating convention. Not all members agreed with this decision. New Kings Democrats have been pushing for actual party business to be addressed, such as proposed rule changes and reports from subcommittees. This second meeting has only existed for a few years and historically has been used as a platform to discuss community issues. On the surface, not such a bad thing. But with only two meetings a year, there is never time to address party business in a meeting. I'll explore this in another blog post.

Some fellow committee members felt it wasn't proper for the party to be endorsing a candidate in this way. Others were upset because the county chair, Frank Seddio, had already voiced his endorsement (and that of the party) of Jumaane Williams. I heard through other committee members that the reason for this nominating convention was to legitimize Seddio's endorsement. But with about 300 proxy votes in Seddio's pocket, it mathematically doesn't really matter.

Malynda, fellow AD52/ED32 committee member, stoped in to meet Sonia before we headed out to the meeting.

All that being said, it was a great opportunity for me to hear the candidates in person. Each were given five minutes to pitch themselves and another five minutes for questions. Of the 16 candidates, ten showed up. I cannot speak to the other six, but I'm happy to say that I think any of the ten I heard speak are capable of the job. So the question becomes, who do I think will do the most? Whose priorities will I agree most with? To read about the candidates, check out this amNY article. Also, here are the first and the second debates.

I don't want to attempt to summarize or speak for each candidate I heard. I will simply report on key talk points they were able to squeeze in that stood out for me.

In order of speaking:

Dawn Smalls
Litigator, experience on the Hillary Clinton campaign. The point she touched on that I liked the most was trying to address the city's affordable housing crisis. She wants to use math to analyze it. Rather than using the standard 30% of AMI rule, she wants to pick this issue apart to find a sustainable solution. Also, I like that she's a black woman. Given the fact that she is a qualified individual, I'm going to go ahead and make that statement. History shows that the fights and victories of black women tend to be fights worth fighting and victories we all benefit from.

Rafael Espinal
City Councilmember for District 37 (Brooklyn).  His claim to fame is making dancing legal again in New York City. When asked what he would do for the immigrant population in NYC, he quickly stated he would legalize e-bikes. Without specifics, I already support this kind of action. Delivery work is a go-to job for immigrants in our city. I find it ridiculous that the same people who order food on Seamless criticize the method in which their food is delivered. Maybe we should collectively find a solution.

Benjamin Yee
Teacher of civics, activist. Yee's top priority is to educate the population in civics. I strongly agree with this. He seeks transform the population so that they are empowered to be engaged, know their rights, and know what power they have. What the saying? Give a hungry person a fish and you feed him for a day, teach them to fish and you feed them for life. He has realistic goals for the role, acknowledging its limits.

Jared Rich
This guy is clearly not a politician, in a good way. Rich calls himself the people's lawyer. His website come up on page two of Google searches and his "About" page url is jaredrich.nyc/who-is-this-guy. Rich has realistic goals and ripped the current zoning laws. His experience litigating in NYC, specifically handling many tenant and real estate cases, gives him insight on how to stop (or at least slow) gentrification and big chain stores from moving into our neighborhoods. A suggestion I liked- why not control the number of big chain storefronts in a neighborhood like we control the number of bars?

Ron Kim
NYS Assemblymember for District 40 (Queens). Kim stressed economic justice, stating he would fight for needed resources. He declared he will not take developer money and that his number one issue to tackle would be ending cash bail.

Michael Blake
NYS Assemblyman for District 79 (Bronx), worked for Obama campaign. Blake hit all the big points (MTA, Housing, schools, criminal justice, racism, etc) in a very polished speech. He had a refrain which I liked a lot. Invest in the front end so that you do not have to deal with issues on the back end. Invest in communities and schools so that you do not have to worry about how many kids get to go to the charter. Help the person in need (invest) rather than wait until they get locked up (spend).

Nomiki Konst
Investigative Reporter, activist, worked on the Clinton Senate campaign and Obama Campaign as well as being a Bernie Sanders surrogate. She stated it was her reporting that exposed the IDC and suggested investigative reporting is exactly the skill a public advocate needs. The role being defined as an ombudsman, or watchdog, for the city, she says she is the only candidate who has experience as one. She stressed following the money, which if you've ever watched The Wire, brings me back to the wise words of Lester Freamon.

David Eisenbach
Private citizen, activist. Eisenbach ran for Public Advocate in the recent Democratic primary, losing to Tish James. He touted the number of votes he received in that run and the work he's done to create the Small Business Jobs Survival Act introduced to the City Council last fall. He railed on the mayor and stressed his pro small business / anti developer stance.

Daniel O'Donnell
NYS Assembymember for District 69 (Manhattan), lawyer, self proclaimed loud mouth. O'Donnell has an impressive resume of activism and legislation. He had a hand in lowering the speed limits and getting the new trans civil protection law passed. Being the chair of the ethics committee, he was responsible for taking down the former chair of the KCDC, Vito Lopez. He stresses his independence from political parties. He's a gay man who lived through the 1980s. In his responses he was able to empathize with multiple sides of an issue while being direct and pragmatic about solutions. 

Jumaane Williams
City Councilmember for District 45 (Brooklyn), former Lt. Governor candidate. Williams says he's been an advocate for the city for the last ten years. Having passed 53 of his bills into law, being an activist in Brooklyn, he has the track record to support his claim. Williams hit all the hot points with his polished speech, addressing the Public Advocate office as the role he is already played as a city council member. His responses to questions, like O'Donnell, demonstrated the ability to empathize with multiple sides of issues while being direct about what he was for and against. Being endorsed by both NKD and KCDC Chair Frank Seddio, he demonstrates this. 

Did not speak: A. Manny Alicandro, Anthony Herbert, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Ydanis Rodriguez, Helal Sheikh, Eric Ulrich

I'm voting for Jumaane Williams. I was excited by Benjamin Yee's proposed civics program. I liked Nomiki Konst investigative logic. I'd love to see Jared Rich implement is community zoning ideas. Michael Blake's invest in the front end strategy makes sense to me. And Daniel O'Donnell was impressive overall. Having to decide, I'm going with Williams, who has the proven track record, has a loud voice, listens to his constituents, understands the office, and I believe will hit the ground running.

Do a bit of research. Talk to your friends. Listen to your neighbors. Make a decision. And get out and vote!