Speaking at the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats club last night, public advocate candidate Norman Siegel said he doesn't plan to use the office of public advocate as a stepping stone.

The civil rights lawyer has said before that he is interested in protecting citizens' civil liberties, but he doesn't want to make the painful decisions that an executive has to make. According to one attendee, Siegel said, as an example, that he couldn't bring himself to close libraries on Sundays as a cost-saving measure.  read more »

Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV of Harlem is officially running for Public Advocate.

“I opened up a committee last Tuesday -- yes,” he told me just now. "It's something I've been thinking about for a while and I decided to take the plunge, open up a committee and see how far I can take it."  read more »

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?  read more »

The city Campaign Finance Board is putting out some numbers today filed by some familiar candidates for citywide office.

The first total after each name below represents net contributions over a six-month period that ended last week, and the second is net contributions for the entire cycle.  read more »

“I need your help once more. And this time I’m confident we can win.”

That’s how Norman Siegel starts out a three-page letter to donors announcing that he’ll make a third run at the public advocate’s office.

A copy of the letter was sent to me last night by a
reader who has contributed to him previously.

Siegel, a civil rights advocate who most recently helped a political gadfly get back into mayoral press conferences, ran and lost twice, both times to Betsy Gotbaum.

In his third bid, Siegel says he will “publish reports on effectiveness of city agencies,” “propose and lobby legislation,” and give New York “finally an accessible, effective public advocate.”

He goes on to say, “I learned from prior campaigns that I need money to win. I need money to run ads on television and radio. I need money for direct mail and automated telephone messages. In the past, I was outspent 3 to 1. We can’t let that happen again.”  read more »

Norman Siegel will hold a news conference concerning filing of legal challenge to public school cell phone ban at 60 Centre Street.