De Blasio on Democracy
June 17th, 2009
To Bill de Blasio, democracy is down in New York City.
As public advocate, he argues, he would change it.
At a Citizens Union breakfast this morning, de Blasio, a councilmember from Brooklyn turned borough president candidate turned public advocate candidate (a post-term limits change), said New Yorkers have been growing more and more distant from their government at no fault of their own.
“Our city government does not attempt to bring people in,” said de Blasio.
No city department exemplifies this like the Department of Education.
“The Tweed building is impenetrable,” said de Blasio.
With a mayoral office whose power far outweighs any other branch of government, someone like the public advocate needs to provide checks and balances, said de Blasio. De Blasio said he would act as an advocate and attempt to strengthen the position, which, he argues has been steadily defunded throughout the Bloomberg administration.
That is, if he is elected.
A Quinnipiac University poll released today shows that most public advocate candidates — maybe with the exception of former advocate and current candidate Mark Green — don’t have much name recognition among voters yet.
Green, so far, has the most support among Democratic candidates with 35 percent. Third time candidate and civil rights attorney Norman Siegel follows him with 14 percent, and de Blasio places third with 10 percent. Councilmember Eric Gioia comes up with just 5 percent.
Still, though, 34 percent of voters are undecided.
By Courtney Gross on June 17, 2009, 4:54 pmIn category: Education, Electoral Politics, Gotham City, nextNY | No Comments »

