Brooklyn Democrats gathered on Thursday to question candidates for City Comptroller and Public Advocate on key issues, including city audits and tenant protections.
Hosted by eight Brooklyn-based Democratic Clubs, the candidate forum at the Brooklyn Law School tackled a variety of topics, including the city’s pension fund, casinos and police spending.
Candidates for Comptroller in attendance included Council Member Justin Brannan, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, civil servant Ismael Malave and State Senator Kevin Parker. Other registered candidates, including Terrell Miller, Peter Kefalas and Danniel Maio did not attend the event.
Only four out of ten registered candidates for Public Advocate made an appearance: businessman Marty Dolan, activist Theo Chino, incumbent Jumaane Williams and State Representative Jenifer Rajkumar.
A majority of the candidates for the Comptroller seat, who are vying to replace Brad Lander, who himself is running for mayor, were in agreement that the city’s housing agencies should be the first to receive an audit from their office.
Levine and Brannan both identified the Department of Housing Preservation and Development as their first audit.
“If you want to build affordable housing in New York City, you’ve got to add 18 months to the timeline for them to approve the paperwork,” Levine said. “There are people in shelters tonight who are waiting 18 months longer than they should because of that. That could be modernized and accelerated to the benefit of people who need that housing.”
Parker picked the city’s Housing Authority, or NYCHA, while Malave, an analyst at the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, set his sights on the Department of Homeless Services – followed by NYCHA.
Brannan, who represents Bay Ridge on the City Council and chairs the council's finance committee, blamed sluggish housing development on understaffing at HPD. Brannan accused Mayor Eric Adams of hollowing out agencies “that are now downright skeletal.”
The candidates also elaborated on their plans to use the city’s vast pension fund to divest from fossil fuels investments and protect existing affordable housing.
“Look, if you want to manage our $300 billion pension system, then you need to get the hell out of oil and gas and coal investments,” Brannan said.
Levine said the scope of the pension fund, which is the third largest in the United States, should give the city the power to lobby for corporations to continue including diversity polices, as well as finance affordable housing across the five boroughs.
The forum tackling serious city issues had a moment of absurdity, when Levine, who was speaking about casino applications, was interrupted by a half-naked, masked heckler. The woman, along with a man filming her, was escorted out by security after several minutes of rabble-rousing.
Candidates for the next Public Advocate were asked on how they would use the role’s powerful bully pulpit.
Marty Dolan, a retired insurance executive, said he planned to use his finance background to reduce waste and improve schools. He particularly criticized the city spending more than $6 billion over the past two years to shelter immigrant arrivals.
“It could have been put into the schools, it could have been put into the subways. It could have been put somewhere else,” Dolan said. “The Public Advocate could have found that money.”
Williams, the incumbent, vowed to use “every tool possible” to get in the way of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“I have to remind people that, yes, there's a price tag on the migrants, but that is not the reason you didn't get what you needed,” Williams said. “That money has always been there, and you should not let the people who didn't spend that money on you blame another group of people.”
Rajkumar, who switched her run for Comptroller to Public Advocate in January, focused on the city’s quality-of-life issues, including crime and mental health. Continued violence on the subway and November's presidential election results convinced her to change campaigns, she said.
The Democratic primary election is June 24, and the general election is Nov. 4.
