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**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
June 23, 2009
Contact: Sarah Krauss
212.669.4193, 917.541.0936
Public Advocate Gotbaum and PA Candidates Denounce Massive Budget Cut to Public Advocate’s Office
Gotbaum Calls for an Independent Budget for the Office of the Public Advocate
MANHATTAN – Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum stood today with candidates running for public advocate to protest massive budget cuts to the office and to call for an independent budget. The 2010 budget, proposed by Mayor Bloomberg and approved by Speaker Quinn, contains a 40% cut to the Office of the Public Advocate, to $1.8 million from $2.9 million. Historically, the mayor proposes cuts to the budget, and the Public Advocate negotiates with the Council Speaker to restore it. 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.
On Friday, Public Advocate Gotbaum charged that the disproportionate cut to her office represented political payback for her opposition to extending term limits without a referendum. In response, Speaker Quinn blamed the cuts on the Mayor, while arguing that this year’s budget focused only on “priorities.” The Mayor, in turn, called for shared sacrifice and urged the next public advocate to do “more with less.”
Public Advocate Gotbaum said, “In tough financial times everyone needs to share in the cuts, but in our case, it’s not about doing ‘more with less,’ it’s about leaving the next Public Advocate in a position to have to do ‘something with nothing.’ It’s just wrong. This office is already chronically underfunded - with a budget that has been about half that of some borough presidents, or about 1/200 of one percent of the total city budget. The bottom line is that this office must have an independent budget. Until this happens, New Yorkers who have nowhere else to turn for help are the ones who will suffer.”
Councilmember and Public Advocate candidate Bill de Blasio said, “If the Mayor actually believed in doing more with less, he would have cut his own budget by 40 percent. Instead, Mike Bloomberg has continued his pattern of attacking the only citywide office created to hold him accountable to the people. We must create independent budgeting for the Public Advocate and other oversight offices so they are not held hostage by the Mayor's political agenda.”
Councilmember and Public Advocate candidate Eric Gioa said, “The Public Advocate needs an independent budget. While we all need to tighten our belts in tough economic times, these cuts are drastic. It's not good policy to have the watchdog's budget subject to the whim of those being watched.”
Public Advocate candidate Mark Green said, “It's absurd that an office intended to be a watchdog over City Hall is being gutted by City Hall. Since when do speeders get to bar radar guns or Wall Street shrink the SEC? Nor is it satisfactory for the Mayor and Speaker to blandly say we're in a financial crisis and everyone has to sacrifice. When will the press ask them to answer this simple question -- why did you target only the watchdog office for an unprecedented 40% cut? This is not an attack on a person named Betsy Gotbaum or her successor but on hundreds of thousands of hurting New Yorkers -- abused kids, seniors needing transportation, patients in municipal hospitals -- who rely on a defender in the bureaucracy. Here's my vow: work toward convincing the Mayor to pursue a budget modification so that New Yorkers not suffer from his extreme action...or try to do more with much less by utilizing volunteers, students, "public advocate locals," laid-off/subsidized law associates and philanthropic funds.”
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, “An independent office like the Public Advocate should not have its budget controlled by the very officials they are chartered to watch over. The Public Advocate’s budget should be independently set and as a candidate for this very important office, I proudly join the other candidates vying for this position, in a bi-partisan manner, to call for fairness in funding and a change in the City Charter that would allow this office to be funded independently from the Mayor and City Council. I applaud Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum for bringing together the candidates for Public Advocate in calling for an independent budget. This position goes beyond politics; it is the one place in city government you can go to be heard, independent of the Mayor and the City Council and for that reason, those same two bodies shouldn’t control its funding.
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