We’ve been brutally clear on our view of the office of public advocate, throughout its quarter-century of existence: Get rid of it.
It’s largely a taxpayer-funded invitation to make mischief while promoting your political ambitions, as both Mark Green and current public advocate and mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio have shown.
But precisely because of the myriad ways the office can be abused, and because there’ll be no opponent in the general election, it’s imperative we take a serious look at the two figures — state Sen. Daniel Squadron and City Councilwoman Letitia James — competing in Tuesday’s Democratic runoff.
On many issues, the two Brooklyn-based candidates agree. But on an issue critical to New York’s fiscal health, the question of retroactive raises for public employees who have been working without contracts, we find a telling distinction. In a debate during the primary race, Squadron said he couldn’t see how the city could afford the estimated $8 billion such raises would cost.
James took the opposite position. “I support retroactive raises,” she said. “I’ve been endorsed by the Working Families Party and countless number of labor organizations.”
That statement should give every New Yorker pause. If she is unwilling to hold the line on retroactive raises, it’s highly unlikely she’ll hold the line on anything else. Add to this that James is also the only City Council member to have won her seat running solely on the labor-controlled Working Families Party ballot line.
If she were to win along with WFP co-founder de Blasio, two of the three citywide offices would be held by the candidate of the far-left Working Family Party.
Squadron is no conservative. But if he can display the same judgment he has shown on retroactive raises, ordinary New Yorkers can at least have hope someone will be looking out for their interests after November. We urge people to make that clear when they vote in Tuesday’s runoff.