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**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
June 29, 2009
Contact: Sarah Krauss
212.669.4193, 917.541.0936
Public Advocate Gotbaum, Good Government Groups, PA Candidates Condemn Cut to City Watchdog, Call it 'Bad Government'
Public Advocate's office sustained vastly disproportionate budget cuts
MANHATTAN – Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum stood with Citizens Union, Common Cause/New York, NYPIRG, the Women's City Club of New York and candidates for her office, to condemn the nearly 40% cut to the Office of the Public Advocate as a damaging blow to accountability and good governance in New York City. No office of the other elected officials sustained a cut of more than 6%. Recently, Public Advocate Gotbaum charged that Speaker Quinn and Mayoral Bloomberg cut the budget as retaliation for her opposition to extending term limits without a referendum. Public Advocate Gotbaum renewed her call for an independent budget to ensure that this type of power play cannot happen again.
The 2010 budget, proposed by Mayor Bloomberg and approved by Speaker Quinn, contains a nearly 40% cut to the Office of the Public Advocate, from $2.9 million to $1.8 million. This year, despite an increase in the overall budget, and full or partial restoration for every other elected official, the Public Advocate received no restoration.
Public Advocate Gotbaum said, “This office is the watchdog over city government. And when the Mayor and Speaker impose damaging, crippling cuts to the agency that is meant to watch over them, it is time to speak out and call it like it is: this is an anti-democratic power play, and it’s bad government.”
The chart below shows the cuts sustained by the Mayor’s office, the City Council, the Borough Presidents, the Comptroller’s office and the Public Advocate’s Office. While the current financial situation merits cuts across the board, the Public Advocate charges that there is no justification for her budget to be slashed almost in half.
DeNora Getachew, Director of Public Policy and Legislative Counsel of Citizens Union, said, "The forty percent cut leveled against the office of Public Advocate in this year's city budget is inexcusable and inexplicable when the offices of other charter mandated and separately elected city officials were not similarly cut. Regardless of the important public policy questions about the office itself, cutting the budget for a currently charter mandated office is not the way in which to have those discussions and send an obtuse message. We ask the Council and the Mayor to provide a needed budget modification to restore appropriate funding for the office."
Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/New York said, “Budget cuts should not be used a substitute for an honest discussion of the function and effectiveness of the Office of Public Advocate. We find the disproportionate ratio of cuts in the budget for the Office of Public Advocate compared to other offices’ budgets disquieting. This sort unequal treatment feeds concerns that the budget process is not being conducted in an objective and even-handed way and that the Council has lost sight of the goal of addressing the needs of all City residents in the budgeting process.”
Gene Russianoff, Senior Attorney for NYPIRG said, "New York City government needs checks and balances to work. That's why we need a decently funded Public Advocate.”
Barbara Zucker, Vice President for Public Policy from the Women’s City Club of New York said, “If the position of Public Advocate exists, the Mayor and City Council should fund it adequately. It is not for them to decide to slash the Public Advocate’s budget because the holder of the office took a position they oppose. Bullying is the nicest way I can think of to characterize their actions. Absent a budget mod, the incoming Public Advocate will also be subject to a wholly inadequate budget for the first six months in office. This is not responsible governing.”
Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio said, “Watchdog agencies cannot do their jobs if their budgets are dependent on the very politicians they are supposed to oversee. That is why I am drafting legislation to create independent budgeting for the Public Advocate, Comptroller, Civilian Complaint Review Board and the Conflict of Interest Board. We cannot let these vital oversight offices be held hostage by the Mayor’s political agenda.”
Public Advocate candidate Eric Gioa said, "The City's watchdog needs to have an independent budget. These cuts will hurt the only office whose sole job is to stand up for regular New Yorkers. While I recognize we're in tough economic times and everyone has to tighten their belts, these cuts are drastic. The Public Advocates budget should not be subject to the whims of the people the office is supposed to be watching.”
Public Advocate candidate Mark Green said, Today good government groups agree that it's bad government for two powerful public officials to punitively gut the office that is a watchdog over them and a voice for children, seniors, and all hurting New Yorkers in the bureaucracy. Why? Bloomberg and Quinn did this has, I think, an obvious answer. So does What Next? Ideally, Mayor Bloomberg will take the high road, reconsider his "budget gut," acknowledge the math that 40% is not 4%, restore the difference in a budget modification -- and re-earn the good will of government reformers and the next Advocate. Unlike the stalemate in Albany which requires concurrence of two equal warring sides, this resolution is entirely in the Mayor's hands. While I appreciate that he
has announced not to seek the elimination of this 178 year old charter-mandated office, I urge him not to do by budget what he pledged not to do by charter.
Public Advocate candidate Norman Siegel said, “It would appear that the 40% cut represents one more step toward a weakening of the democratic structure of our City. The cut was disproportionate, suspect and simply wrong. We need to undo this wrong. I strongly believe the Public Advocate's Office is essential to guarantee that both the executive and legislative branches of NYC government respect the rights of all New Yorkers and that these bodies are held accountable.”
Public Advocate candidate Alex Zablocki said, “The Public Advocate is the only independent voice for New Yorkers citywide. This office represent 8.5 million New Yorker's - nearly the same amount of people that live in the entire State of New Jersey - and must be adequately funded to perform the duties set forth in the City Charter. As the watchdog over the Mayor and City Council, the budget that helps make this office work should be set independently from both of these branches of government. I stand in unison with Public Advocate Gotbaum, the good government groups here today and my fellow opponents in this race in calling for proper funding levels and an independent budget for this very important office.”
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