NYC's REAL Public Advocate is running for...Public Advocate: Norm Siegel Will Run
After years with, effectively, no Public Advocate in NYC, 2009 will be the year we will elect someone to replace Betsy Who?, our current occupant of that position.
Many people are speculating who is going to be running. Names I have heard kicked around include Chris Owens (now eyeing Brooklyn BP), David Yassky (who really should run for Marty Connor's senate seat, many believe), and Marty Markowitz (who some people say should just give up the facade and go on Bruce Ratner's payroll).
But the name that most who really care about civil liberties are waiting to hear is Norm Siegel. Norm has run twice in the past. I have met him both times and found him to be the ideal man for the job. In fact, he has been our real public advocate for decades. He was Executive Director of the NY Civil Liberties union for 15 years. Since then, according to Democracy for NYC, he has done the following for New Yorkers:
Norman has advocated for and represented myriad groups including:
* the newly created Association of New York City Education Councils
* the Williamsburg community's right to keep its local firehouse open
* Prospect Heights, Brooklyn and Harlem communities working to stop the government from using eminent domain to take their homes for the enrichment of private developers
* firefighters and non-profits seeking the implementation of a skyscraper safety program and provisions for our firefighters to guarantee they have proper working communication equipment
* families who lost a loved one on September 11th, 2001, as they seek the public release of materials from that day, including 911 emergency tapes and transcripts (Norman argued this case in the New York Court of Appeals on February 9th).
When protesters were arrested and held illegally in unsafe conditions during the 2004 Republican Convention, the mayor, city council and Betsy Who? did nothing. But Norm Siegel represented them, and the city took some real hits because of the illegality of their actions. Without Norm Siegel, the city would have stepped on our civil rights for the benefit of Bush and no one would have helped.
Norm Siegel has all but announced his candidacy for Public Advocate in 2009. But I suspect he will do so soon. I have been hearing for months he is considering running, but now I hear it is practically a certainty. Of course I want to see who else enters the ring, but I can think of no human being I know who is more qualified to be our Public Advocate than Norm Siegel. I am very likely to support him on 2009.
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Civil Liberties | Civil Rights | Public Advocate | Norm Siegel
Aha
Submitted by mole333 on 8 June 2007 - 3:20pm.
I have been saying all along Marty's ego would allow him to run for nothing but mayor. Marty's ego has been flexing its muscles lately, so I figured it would win out over good sense.
Norman SHOULD be Public Advocate. He is the BEST person for the job. Problem is the best person isn't always the best candidate. But this time he has started earlier and, I hear, consulting with some big name consultants before starting. He SHOULD do a better job.
Other candidates
Submitted by Dan Jacoby on 8 June 2007 - 2:40pm.
Queens Councilmember Eric Gioia is definitely running for Public Advocate; this has been well-known for a year.
Two other possibilities are Queens Councilmember John Liu (he's running either for P.A. or for Comptroller), and maybe [insert drum roll] Manhattan Boro President Scott Stringer. Stringer ran in 2001 and finished fifth in a seven-person race, but only a scant 6,000 votes behind second-place Norman Siegel.
Fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy night.
Marty for Mayor
Submitted by Gothanonymous Reader (not verified) on 8 June 2007 - 5:36pm.
Norman for Public Advocate, its a no brainer!
Marty said he'd never run for mayor. Whoops!
from Atlantic Yards Report:
http://atlanticyardsreport.blogspot.com/2007/05/forest-city-marty-try-to...
Markowitz: BP the "ultimate job"?
Brooklyn President Marty Markowitz, for nearly five years--the entirety of his first term, beginning in 2002, and through the beginning of his second term--suggested on the BP web site that he had no intention of pursuing higher office.
His web site (courtesy of the Internet Archive) stated:
While some people want to grow up to be mayor, governor, or President of the United States, my dream in life has always been to lead Brooklyn as borough president. To me, this is the ultimate job.
Then came news last July that the term-limited BP was raising money for a yet-unspecified 2009 campaign. In response to speculation about Markowitz's ambition to be mayor--a position he seemed to have excluded--No Land Grab last July posted Markowitz's statement that "borough president... is the ultimate job."
At some moment, those sentiments were excised from Markowitz's web site. But they live on.
Norman Siegel
Submitted by Liberal forever (not verified) on 14 June 2007 - 12:27pm.
The problem is that Norman has run for public advocate twice and lost badly both times. He'd be great in the job of course, but this is the kind of job that-- since not that many people care about the PA's office-- usually goes to the party establishment's designated candidate. Having campaigned for Norman last time, I found it frustrating that most people did not even know what the PA's office was, let alone the issues involved. But this is the reality.
I would not be surprised if Christine Quinn ends up in this race. The city council chair's position is simply not a viable platform for getting elected Mayor (as we saw with Gifford Miller) and she is not going to be able to raise huge sums of money for a race most people assume she can't win. So I could see Quinn looking long and hard at the Mayor's race and then switching to the PA's race when it comes down to it. The PA's office is a citywide elected position, and if Quinn wants to be Mayor down the road it is a stronger platform to make such a run.
Marty Markowitz categorically ruled out a run for Pubic Advocate
at the Commerce Bank-City Hall Breakfast discussion Wednesday. He said he'd run for Mayor or for nothing at all. At that event, by the way, Markowitz was remarkable defensive about the opposition he's encountered becuase of his support of the Forest City-Ratner proposal. He went out of his way to defend himself, decry his opponents and sneer at them. On the issue of Atlantic Yards, he's a true believer.
I campaigned for Norman Seigel in 2005 and was quite surprised at how little enthusiasm his effort (and mine) generated. While I've admired his work, I will be wary of a campaign which might duplicate that year's run.