The winner in Tuesday’s Democratic runoff for public advocate is all but guaranteed on New Year’s Day to take over an office that has never fulfilled its potential to serve as a platform for bettering city government. State Sen. Daniel Squadron is suited to make much more of it.
Since 2009, Squadron has ably represented lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, including Greenpoint and Carroll Gardens, in the state Senate. He brought intelligence, diligence and rationality to the post with a strong bent toward problem-solving on behalf of his constituents — exactly the qualities needed in a public advocate.
As a prime example, Squadron was instrumental in shepherding Brooklyn Bridge Park through a contentious struggle from the drawing board into reality — where it now serves thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers.
Bearing solid liberal Democratic credentials, Squadron has also shown the independence to break with orthodoxy in favor of common sense. He did so in fighting to expand access to charter schools statewide, a position that placed him at odds with the United Federation of Teachers.
Then, too, Squadron was the only one of the five original Democratic contenders who had the courage to buck the municipal unions by questioning the taxpayers’ ability to finance retroactive raises for the municipal workforce. Although the tab for those could run to a bankrupting $ 7.8 billion, the others in the field played to the unions with notions that the city should just pay up.
Squadron’s opponent, Letitia James, is a former public defender, assistant attorney general and, since 2004, a Brooklyn councilwoman. She is vocal and energetic and would be likely to apply both qualities to the agendas not of the public but of the unions.
As a favorite of the Working Families Party with staunch public labor support, she walks in lockstep with their priorities. James has, for instance, toed the UFT line in attacking Squadron’s support among charter school fans while herself calling for a moratorium on school closures and charter colocations in underutilized public schools. In other words, she is flatly opposed to throwing a lifeline to young people with no decent educational options.
Choosing easy politics over progress, James also stood with the soda companies against Mayor Bloomberg’s sensible restriction on extra-large sugary sodas, and she opposed the Atlantic Yards development, which has already been a tremendous boost to Brooklyn — and promises to deliver thousands of units of affordable housing to her constituents.
Finally, James has released just one year of her tax returns — 2012 — despite questions about whether she told the truth to the Daily News and others in saying that she donated her $ 10,000 City Council lulu to charity.
While James helped uncover the egregious cost overruns and irregularities in the Bloomberg administration’s CityTime payroll system, her record and approach to governing suggest endless populist posturing rather than considered policymaking.
The public advocate’s office was established in 1993 by a change of the City Charter. Three people have held the post since then. Count yourself a political junkie extraordinaire if you can name the trio, let alone explain the office’s role. By experience, temperament and vision, Squadron has the promise of defining the office and proving that it’s worth a $ 2 million budget.
The Daily News endorses Squadron in the Democratic runoff for public advocate.
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via Great Local News: New York http://newyork.greatlocalnews.info
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