The hits keep coming for Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum.
After a 40 percent budget cut last month, followed by little support from Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the Public Advocate’s Office is under attack from a councilman exploring ways to abolish it altogether.
Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) said yesterday he has asked the council’s legislative office to draft a bill that would do away with the advocate position because he says it serves no purpose and wastes taxpayer funds.
“Ninety-nine percent of New Yorkers don’t know what the public advocate does or who the public advocate is, and Simcha believes the money in the advocate’s budget could be better used for education, child care, senior services and elsewhere,” said Felder spokesman Eric Kuo.
Sources said the council lacks the power to do away with the watchdog office through legislation, but could require a ballot question to decide the issue. The position could also be eliminated via a new state law.
Gotbaum — who recently held a press conference where she threw a fit over the attacks on her office — accused Felder of doing the bidding of Bloomberg and Quinn, who have not explicitly said they want to eliminate her office.
Gotbaum said Felder’s move was payback for her opposition to a bill to extend term limits, which Felder helped usher through the council.
“It seems that Simcha Felder has resumed his role as cooing pet pigeon to the mayor and speaker,” said Gotbaum spokeswoman Sarah Krauss, mocking Felder’s 2007 proposal to ban the mass feeding of pigeons.
“When Simcha Felder was busy serving his constituency with a birdbrained idea to starve pigeons, Betsy Gotbaum was successfully fighting to improve the way the city treats its most vulnerable citizens.”
Gotbaum is not running for re-election but the five candidates seeking her office have denounced the budget cut that took effect Wednesday.
Bill de Blasio, a councilman running for advocate, said the office “has never been more important and more needed” than now.
But another potential candidate, Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, says if he wins he’d like to shut down the office and fire himself.
Additional reporting by Jessica Simeone