Good Government Groups Join Green in Criticizing the Bloomberg-Quinn "Budget Gut"

Today the four leading NYC good government groups -- Citizen's Union, NYPIRG, Common Cause and The Women's City Club -- have come together to agree that it's bad government for two powerful officials to punitively gut the only office that is both a watchdog over them and a voice in the bureaucracy for kids, seniors and all hurting New Yorkers.

Why? Bloomberg and Quinn did this has, I think, an obvious answer.

What Next? is the proper new question now that all the good government groups have weighed in. There are four possible outcomes:

• either this or the next Mayor pushes for an independent budget, as the IBO has;
• Mayor Bloomberg refuses to budge and forces the next Advocate into an adversarial position with a tiny staff;
• the Speaker generously shrinks Member Items 2% in the next budget to restore the PA budget; or
• ideally, Mayor Bloomberg takes the high road, acknowledges that 40% is not 4%, restores the difference in a budget modification -- and re-earns 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. He once changed his m ind at a bill signing when he heard arguments about pedicabs -- so I'm optimistic that he can be similarly open-minded about Public Advocate too. While I appreciate that he has announced that he won't 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. For the Public Advocate to fulfill its historic mission of insisting on checks and balances in City government requires that it has a balance.