The Weekly Watchdog
Rise and shine! Welcome to this week’s Weekly Watchdog. We have a good batch of stories this week, from Citizens Union’s continued momentum with both Charter Revision Commissions to some sketchy politicking in the Bronx.
This is our last issue before early voting begins next week! Unsure who to vote for? Check out our Voters Guide and candidate preferences in the race for mayor, city comptroller, Manhattan borough president and a slew of city council seats. Vital City also has a good episode where policy pros break down the main candidates for mayor’s proposals. Read or listen to it when you walk to the polls on Saturday to vote early!
And finally, we want to officially welcome our new executive director, Grace Rauh, who started this week!
News Worth Clicking
| CU all over Council Charter Commission’s Recommendations New Yorkers Can’t Remove Mayors for Misconduct. That Could Change Soon. The New York Times By Nicholas Fandos |
The Council’s Charter Commission updated its initial recommendations in a report issued on Friday that included two separate CU priorities. To start, the Commission suggests that NYC adopts a way to remove the mayor for misconduct, which CU initially recommended in an April report. Second, it also recommended the city allocate a minimum budget for the Conflicts of Interest Board, ensuring that COIB is fenced off from political interference from those the agency could be investigating. This puts the total tally of CU priorities that both charter commissions are seriously considering at four this spring. Next step is to get them across the finish line. |
| $250,000 for a district leader seat? A Powerful Bronx Politician Dines on Developers’ Double Donations New York Focus By Chris Bragg |
How much money do you think it should take to run for the party position of district leader? If you answered anything less than roughly $250,000, Council Member and candidate for Bronx Borough President Rafael Salamanca might disagree with you! In what is clearly a case of taking advantage of campaign finance law loopholes, Salamanca is surpassing fundraising limits in his campaign for city office by accepting much larger contributions in his district leader campaign account. Seems like it is time for some new campaign finance legislation to address this issue. But first, would you consider helping us reach our $400,000 goal in our campaign for dogcatcher? |
| Cap or no cap? NY lawmakers want more judges on the bench to expedite cases. Why are judges opposed? Gothamist By Jimmy Vielkind |
Well, this is a conundrum. A constitutional amendment that seems like it was just on the verge of passing before going to voters is getting some pushback from a surprising group: the very judges the amendment seeks to help. The judges seem to have a valid point that the current legislation that has already passed the legislature once could politicize the system, and their alternative approach, which seeks to raise the cap and add an additional 266 judges statewide, seems like a reasonable solution. At the end of the day, waiting in city jails for over a year before your case is heard needs to be taken care of, so let’s hope to see a resolution soon. |
| Policy, Not Politics Two Top Thinkers on Cities Dissect NYC’s Mayoral Candidates Vital City By Jamie Rubin |
Folks, don’t vote on politics, vote on policy! Do you like the solutions a candidate is putting forward? Can he or she actually deliver them? How will their solutions affect the rest of the city? But policy can be hard to digest, and you don’t have time to figure out whether what someone says is legitimate! Have no fear, your local policy wonks are here. Listen to Jamie Rubin’s latest episode of After Hours, where three policy professionals dive deep into the candidates’ policies and discuss which are best to address the problems we most urgently face in New York. |
| Test for Tisch Almost Every NYPD Cop Charged with Excessive Force During the George Floyd Protests Escaped Serious Punishment The CITY By Yoav Gonen |
A report by The CITY found that only 7.5% of police officers who were recommended to receive the highest form of discipline by the Civilian Complaint Review Board after the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests actually received said discipline for police misconduct. A lot of these cases have been dismissed under several different police commissioners since the protests five years ago, but another five cases remain and will face fresh eyes from relatively new commissioner Jessica Tisch. Will she continue to hold her officers accountable? It’s a notable test over six months into her term. |