New York City Public Advocate election, 2009

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New York City Public Advocate election, 2009
Flag of New York City.svg
 2005November 3, 2009 2013  

  NLN Bill DeBlasio 01.jpg 3x4.svg
Candidate Bill de Blasio Alex T. Zablocki
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote724,629164,090
Percentage77.6%17.6%

Public Advocate before election

Betsy Gotbaum
Democratic

Elected Public Advocate

Bill de Blasio
Democratic

The election of the New York City Public Advocate took place on Tuesday, November 3, 2009, along with elections for the mayor, the city comptroller, borough presidents, and members of the New York City Council. The Democratic candidate, Bill de Blasio, won election with 77% of the vote against 18% for the Republican nominee, Alex Zablocki, 3.6% for the Conservative nominee, William Lee, and 1.7% for two others. [1]

New York City Public Advocate citywide elected position in New York City

The office of New York City Public Advocate is a citywide elected position in New York City, which is first in line to succeed the mayor. The office serves as a direct link between the electorate and city government, effectively acting as an ombudsman, or watchdog, for New Yorkers.

New York City Council city council

The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of the City of New York. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs.

Contents

The public advocate has the formal role of presiding over meetings of the New York City Council (although the Speaker elected by the Council itself now does much of this work), and, until the next election, would serve as acting Mayor whenever the elected Mayor is unable to serve.

This election has drawn significant interest from politicians looking to advance their careers, as the extension of New York City term limits allows more incumbents to seek reelection. [2]

Candidates

Democratic party

Despite the extension of term limits in late 2008, the outgoing public advocate, Betsy Gotbaum announced that she would not run for reelection. [3]

Betsy Gotbaum American politician and activist

Elisabeth A. Gotbaum is an American civil servant and politician, she is a former New York City Public Advocate. She was elected as Public Advocate for New York City in 2001, and reelected in 2005. She was the third woman elected to a citywide post in NYC history. The other two were Carol Bellamy, who served as City Council President from 1978–1985, and Elizabeth Holtzman, who served as Comptroller from 1990–1993. She is a Democrat.

Candidates included Councilman Eric Gioia of Queens, who has raised $2.5 million for the campaign; Norman Siegel, the civil liberties lawyer who lost in a runoff to Gotbaum in 2001; former public advocate Mark Green, and Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn.

Eric Gioia American politician

Eric N. Gioia is a New York City politician of the Democratic Party. He served for eight years as a member of the New York City Council. He was elected to two year terms in 2001 and 2003 and to a four-year term in 2005, representing the Queens neighborhoods of Woodside, Sunnyside, Maspeth, and Long Island City.

Norman Siegel American lawyer

Norman Siegel is the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), New York's leading civil rights organization, under the umbrella of the nationwide American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as well as a former candidate for Public Advocate in New York City and a noted civil rights attorney.

Bill de Blasio American politician and mayor of New York City

Bill de Blasio is an American politician who is serving as the 109th Mayor of New York City. Prior to his first election to the position of Mayor, he served as New York City's public advocate from 2010 to 2013.

After acknowledging he was considering the race in December 2008, [4] former Public Advocate Mark J. Green announced on February 10, 2009, that he would again run for the office. [5] [6] Green was Gotbaum's predecessor as public advocate and the first person to hold this title. His entry changed the landscape of the race, due to his name recognition and ability to raise money. [7]

Mark J. Green American lawyer

Mark Joseph Green is an American author, former public official, public interest lawyer and a Democratic politician from New York City. He worked with Ralph Nader from 1970–80, eventually as director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, and was the former president of Air America Radio (2007–09). His 2001 nomination and loss to Michael Bloomberg for NYC Mayor is chronicled in the 2002 Sundance Film, Off the Record: The 9/11 Election.

Councilman John Liu, also from Queens, had been considered a potential candidate for advocate, but he ran for and won the office of New York City Comptroller—an office uncontested by the current city comptroller, Bill Thompson, who preferred to seek election as mayor in 2009. [8] Councilwoman Jessica Lappin and Guillermo Linares, a former councilman and current commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, were also considering a run [2] Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV was also considered a potential candidate. [7] Lappin decided not to run. [9] Imtiaz S. Syed, a lawyer, economist, investigative accountant, banker, administrator and management consultant, also ran. [10]

On September 15, 2009, de Blasio won 32.6% of the Democratic primary vote and Green 31.5%. (Most of the remaining 36% of the primary voters cast their ballots for Gioia or Siegel.) Neither de Blasio nor Green won enough votes (40%) to avoid a run-off primary election between them two weeks later.

On September 29, Bill de Blasio won that Democratic primary run-off by 62.4% to 37.6% for Mark Green. Turnout was very light, about 220,000 or 10% of the eligible voters, according to The Associated Press. (In the same run-off election, John Liu led his fellow City Councilman David Yassky, of Brooklyn, for the Democratic nomination for New York City Comptroller by 56% to 44% of a similar turnout.) [11]

Republican party

Alex Zablocki, an aide to State Senator Andrew Lanza of Staten Island, declared his candidacy. At 26 years old, Zablocki was the youngest candidate to run for public advocate.[ citation needed ]

Other parties

Campaign

Gotbaum set up meetings with each of her potential successors in order to help them understand the position. [12] On March 30, 2009, Alex Zablocki, Republican candidate for public advocate, met with Gotbaum in her office for about an hour to discuss the importance of the office and afterwards thanked her for her service. [13]

On March 10, Fordham Law School hosted a town hall meeting with Gioia, Siegel, de Blasio and Green. [14] Zablocki was not invited, which he considered an "outrage". The organizer said that he believed students wanted to see the Democratic contenders first, and wished to set up a debate including Zablocki in the future.

Endorsements

De Blasio was endorsed by The New York Times , [15] the Working Families Party, and over 150 elected officials and organizations. [16] [17] Gioia was endorsed by various labor unions, including Local One of the Stagehands, the Sergeants Benevolent Association (SBA) and the Captains Endowment Association (CEA). [18] [19] Alex Zablocki was endorsed by all five Republican county organizations in New York City, [20] led by his home borough of Staten Island. [21] Alex Zablocki was also endorsed by the Staten Island Advance on October 30, 2009, [22] as well as The Wave, [23] Rockaway's leading newspaper, on October 23, 2009.

Results

Democratic primary

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Official results from the New York City Board of Elections as of September 25, 2009:

2009 Democratic initial primaryManhattanThe BronxBrooklynQueensStaten IslandTotal%
Bill de Blasio 35,01316,66247,79117,0542,947119,46732.6%
31.7%36.7%41.3%20.5%24.6%
Mark Green 34,60114,42633,79028,4804,211115,50831.5%
31.3%31.8%29.2%34.2%35.1%
Eric N. Gioia 17,3096,85915,08224,8382,77166,85918.2%
15.7%15.1%13.0%29.8%23.1%
Norman Siegel 20,2465,74514,33510,1351,75952,22014.2%
18.3% 12.7%12.4%12.2%14.7%
Imtiaz S. Syed 3,2211,6794,7502,87529512,8203.5%
2.9%3.7%4.1%3.4%2.5%
all write-in votes14118100430.01%
T O T A L110,404 45,372115,76683,39211,983366,917

As no candidate reached 40%, a runoff election for de Blasio and Green set for September 29 was required. [24] [25]

Democratic Run-off Primary

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Official returns (as reported on October 20, 2009):

2009 Democratic run-off primaryManhattanThe BronxBrooklynQueensRichmond[Staten Is.]Total%
Bill de Blasio 46,29517,07449,66728,4503,927145,41362.4%
61.4% 61.7%67.6%57.0%58.0%
Mark Green 29,12110,58923,81421,4292,84087,79337.6%
38.6%38.3%32.4%43.0%42.0%
T O T A L75,41627,66373,48149,8796,767233,206

Bill de Blasio became the Democratic nominee for public advocate. [26]

General election

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

2009 general electionPartyManhattanThe BronxBrooklynQueensStaten IslandTotal%
Bill de Blasio Democratic 183,91792,022205,155166,11932,153679,36672.7%
Working Families 12,6083,43418,6028,2152,40445,2634.8%
Total196,52595,456223,757174,33434,557724,62977.6%
81.5%84.9%81.7%73.2%50.5%
Alex T. Zablocki Republican 35,51513,01337,68349,98827,891164,09017.6%
14.7%11.6%13.8%21.0%40.7%
William J. Lee Conservative 4,9292,9028,73710,5235,18532,2763.5%
2.0%2.6%3.2%4.4%7.6%
Maura de Luca Socialist Workers 2,4557882,5552,0294788,3050.9%
Jim Lesczynski Libertarian 1,8122681,2231,1383674,8080.5%
Total Write-ins37173029101230.01%
Total Votes241,273112,444273,985238,04168,488934,231

Source: Board of Elections in the City of New York http://www.vote.nyc.ny.us/results.html

Bill de Blasio was elected public advocate.

See also

Candidate websites

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References

  1. 2009 Election Results Archived 2009-11-07 at the Wayback Machine ., The New York Times , published and retrieved on November 4, 2009
  2. 1 2 Hicks, Jonathan P. (November 28, 2008). "Public Advocate Race Gets More Crowded". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  3. Santos, Fernanda (October 28, 2008). "Betsy Gotbaum Says She Will Not Seek Re-election as the City's Public Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  4. Hicks, Jonathan P. (December 8, 2008). "Put Off by Term-Limits Fight, Green Ponders Another Run for Public Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  5. "Mark Green Announces Candidacy For Public Advocate" Archived 2009-03-07 at the Wayback Machine ., NY1 . Accessed February 10, 2009.
  6. Chan, Sewell (February 11, 2009). "Former New York City Public Advocate Wants the Job Back". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  7. 1 2 Hicks, Jonathan P. (December 8, 2008). "Green Shakes Up Race for Public Advocate". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  8. "Queens Newspaper New York – Queens NY News Paper- The Queens Courier > Archives > News > Top Stories > John Liu now running for City Comptroller". The Queens Courier. March 11, 2009. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  9. Paybarah, Azi, "Lappin Won't Run for Public Advocate", PolitickerNY.com, March 6, 2009. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on March 13, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
  10. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-10-07. Retrieved 2009-08-31. Board of Elections in the City of New York
  11. Sewell Chan, Liu and de Blasio Win Primary Runoffs, City Room Blog, The New York Times , Tuesday, September 29, 2009, retrieved on September 30, 2009
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  13. Wrobleski, Tom. "Zablocki meets with Gotbaum | SILive.com". Blog.silive.com. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  14. Santos, Fernanda (March 11, 2009). "Meet the Public Advocate Contenders". The New York Times. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
  15. "For New York City Public Advocate". The New York Times. August 29, 2009. Retrieved May 20, 2010.
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  17. "RELEASE: WFP Endorses Bill de Blasio for Public Advocate; Lander for Council | Room Eight". R8ny.com. July 12, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
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  19. http://www.politickerny.com/1926/gioia-rolls-out-union-calling-todays-public-advocate [ dead link ]
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  21. Wrobleski, Tom. "Zablocki gets Staten Island GOP backing | SILive.com". Blog.silive.com. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
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  26. Board of Elections in the City of New York,Statement and Return Report for Certification Run-off Primary 2009 – September 29, 2009 Crossover – Democratic Party Democratic Public Advocate Citywide, published on October 20, 2009, and retrieved on November 4, 2009]