Harry Moroz

The Advocate In A Time Of Economic Crisis

Our current economic crisis has elevated the ombudsperson to an unusually visible role in politics. On the one hand, the economic crisis has required accountants and budget watchdogs to pay particularly close attention to public spending. That the Congressional Budget Office has become (more or less) a household name is telling. On the other hand, the sheer size of the economic stimulus package makes loose spending - and even blatant corruption - a serious danger.

So Vice President Biden has been named "stimulus sheriff", Governor Patterson has appointed a State Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Cabinet (and is being pushed to create a state stimulus oversight czar), and New York City has created Stimulus Tracker to allow New Yorkers to be, in effect, their own stimulus ombudspersons.

And yet, the race for public advocate in New York City - that is, to be the public's liaison to government for issues ranging from civil justice to fraud and waste - has so far been clouded by a ballot mishap and a debate about whether the office should even exist.

Instead of describing the public advocate position's great potential and criticizing its underutilization in recent years, The New York Times editorial board had to use precious print space to inveigh against the Board of Elections for dropping Council Member Bill de Blasio from the public advocate ballot because of a flawed cover sheet (as Chad describes below). Though a de Blasio appeal will likely get him back on the ballot, the dispute is a needless distraction, though one that scored fellow candidate Norman Siegel brownie points (which, like in middle school, do not actually count for much) for helping de Blasio with his legal challenge.

The bigger shame, however, is that each of the candidates have been forced to release statements justifying the existence of the position for which they are running. The Mayor and the City Council cut the public advocate's budget by 40% (about $1.1 million) and Brooklyn Council Member Simcha Felder has proposed its abolition. Instead of debating what a robust public advocate office would look like, three of the candidates - de Blasio, Siegel, and Mark Green - have taken to the Huffington Post's New York page just to remind the public that the office is necessary.

Indeed, the public advocate, which faces frequent complaints of impotence, is particularly important during these tough economic times. But as my colleague John Petro points out in a recent paper, New York policymakers are failing the New York public in many areas of policy not directly related to the current downturn. Economic opportunity, housing affordability, criminal justice, workplace standards, environmental sustainability, and health care are all areas where other cities have made strides while New York has maintained the status quo. The candidates for public advocate, with a mandate to expose failures of public policy but also with the power to propose legislation, should make these issues the driving force of their campaigns.

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Posted at 2:43 PM, Jul 28, 2009 in
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