Siegel Aside, the Public Advocate Field is Not Crowded
Norman Siegel, for one, is going full speed ahead in his bid for public advocate.
He's got a fund-raising event tomorrow on East 39th Street off Lexington Avenue. On October 29, Seigel’s having another fund-raiser, on Read Street. And that's in addition to one he had a couple of days ago at 130 Morningside Drive.
What’s interesting is that while Siegel is busy campaigning for the job, that's not much public evidence of other would-be candidates doing the same. Part of the reason may be because Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens, who is likely to jump into the race, has already raised $979,780, according to the latest campaign finance numbers from July.
A number of elected officials have raised more than Gioia for their prospective bids for citywide offices, but most of them are believed to be interested in mayor or comptroller.
Of course, there’s still plenty of time for people to declare their intentions and join Siegel in the race.
Who's actually going to do it?
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i think everyone knows no one can beat gioia in this race: he defines public advocate and he's a ridiculously good candidate and campaigner. this will not even be close
i think Gioia can be beat easily he has no substance just look at his investigation committee reports. Saying you worked in the white house 10 years ago isn't going to get the job done
I'm surprised none of the other term limited council members are taking a shot at a position with essentially no clearly defined job description (see the different ways Green and Betsy used to office).
It would be really interesting if a Black/Latino(a)/Asian ran as the candidate of the underserved in the city in opposition to Gioia's probable run as more of the same (from the PA's office at least). There's really no interest in trying to mobilize these communities (BX & BK could win it alone)?
Charles Barron has expressed interest in this seat. Now that the Brooklyn BEEP race is getting crowded see him resort to PA.
PA office has a staff of how FEW? Too few to fill political patronage. That is why the term-limiteds are seeking BP, Comptroller or Mayor. Ask Scott Stringer. He found out after winning Manhattan BP - there is a lot more wiggle room to hire and fill patronage jobs at BP office than he ever would have been able to do if he had won PA. Now he has his eyes on the Comptroller job with well over 700 employees!! Now that's a lot of patronage.
if you look at poll numbers from past races you'll find siegel performs as though he's a minority candidate.
and if you take a quick look at your record you'll know he's the candidate and the city's undisputed champion of the "undeserved".
good to hear he's raising money early this time around - if he can get his message out, anybody will realize that the nebulous public advocate's office was made for him.
ummm fixt...what the heck are you talking about
Eric Gioia would be tough to beat, he's spent the past few years building up to this. He has good name recognition within the Manhattan elite and a really good story to sell to the burroughs. His press has really decreased the last year or so.
He is a total #$%hole though, and most connected people know this but many are afraid of him. From what I've heard there's a lot of skeletons in the closet that may come out if his record and story is really scrutinized.
A really beloved candidate could take this, but I don't see any appearing and Norman Seigel is not that person.
The Public Advocate's office, though not well-defined, gave the current incumbent, Mark Green, a platform for raising his visibility and launching his campaign for mayor. The winner of this year's election will automatically become a major voice in the city's political discourse as well as a potential candidate for higher office. Each of the major candidates would reshape the public advocate's office in ways that conform to his or her past experience. Stephen DiBrienza, who is chairman of the council's General Welfare Committee, sees the job as the city's "chief of research and development." He would use the office's legislative role-the public advocate presides over the City Council-to investigate systemic problems in city government. Betsy Gotbaum, who has served under three mayors, wants to expand the public advocate's ombudsman role so that she can work with the new mayor and other city officials "to make government work better." Norman Siegel, who ran the New York Civil Liberties Union for 15 years, wants to turn the office into a combination of an inspector general's office and a public interest law firm. He would send hundreds of private lawyers working pro bono into housing projects to listen to complaints. And Scott Stringer, who cut his political teeth on Upper West Side politics, wants to use the office as a "soapbox" for playing a role in such issues as education, housing, transportation and planning. Political observers say the contest will likely be decided by TV ads and endorsements from unions, politicians and especially newspapers, which are very influential in races that get little attention.