Citizens Union 2021 Candidate Questionnaire

Citizens Union 2021 Candidate Questionnaire - City Council
Dear Candidate,

Congratulations on your decision to run for New York City Council!

Citizens Union appreciates your commitment to serve the public.

In the following pages, you will find questions regarding your positions on various reform issues and your plans for office. The form includes five short sections: serving constituent, elections and voting, police accountability, council rules and procedures, and miscellaneous.

Responses to these questions will be one of several factors Citizens Union uses to evaluate candidates running for city offices, and to issue our preference for the June primary. Read more about the method, principles, and criteria of the candidate evalatuion process here.

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If you wish to be considered, please submit the questionnaire by April 17 and no later than 48 before your interview.

If you seek our support, we will need to schedule an interview with you as part of the evaluation process. Given time constraints and the limited capacity of a member-based organization, we may not be able to evaluate all contests or candidates in this election cycle.

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If you cannot complete the questionnaire in one sitting, you can click Save and Continue Later at the bottom of every page.

Once you submit the questionnaire, you will receive a confirmation email with your responses. Citizens Union will not be able to see your answers unless you submit the form. We plan to make responses to this questionnaire public on our website, printed voters directory, and other appropriate venues (your contact information will not be published).

For any questions, please email candidates@citizensunion.org

We thank you very much for your response.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Your Info
Name*

First NameMiddle NameLast Name
Running for Council District number*
In which primary*
If elected, which legislative conference will you join (e.g., Democrat, Republican, other)?*
Age
Education
Occupation/Employer
Previous Offices, Campaigns and Community/Civic Involvement
Campaign Contact Information
Email*
example@example.com
Campaign Manager Name*
Campaign Manager Email*
example@example.com
Scheduler contact info (If relevant)
example@example.com
Phone Number*

Area CodePhone Number
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Affirmations
Have you completed the required campaign finance filings?*

YesNo
Have you qualified to receive matching campaign finance funds from the CFB?*

YesNoI did not join the program
Are you willing to be interviewed by Citizens Union’s Local Candidates Committee?*

YesNo
(Please note: interviews are prerequisites for Citizens Union's endorsements)
Signature*

Clear

SERVING CONSTITUENTS
1. For most New Yorkers, the most important thing that their council members do is provide constituent services. How would you run your office to serve your community needs? Please give specific examples.
2. If you served as an elected official, what did you do to help your constituents during the Covid-19 pandemic? Please be specific.
3. How long have you lived in the district in which you are running for office?
4. If elected, what is the first piece of legislation you would want to introduce?

VOTING AND ELECTIONS
5. How would you describe the relationship between the City Council and the New York City Board of Elections? How will you use your power as a council member to improve the operations of the NYC BOE?
6. Do you consider yourself a supporter of Ranked Choice Voting? How will you work to maintain this system and educate voters on how it works?
Citizens Union has long-championed Ranked Choice Voting, a system that will foster more positive, issue-focused campaigns, give voters more choice, ensure that elected officials are accountable to a broader spectrum of their constituents and avoid costly, time consuming and unnecessary runoff elections. Over 73 percent of New York City voters voted to approve Ranked Choice Voting in 2019.
7. The next City Council will appoint members to the city’s redistricting commission and decide whether to approve or reject the commission's districting plans. In doing so, future council members will be responsible for shaping a fair political map for the coming decade. If elected, what would your approach be in proposing or voting to appoint commission members, and in considering proposed district maps?
The city charter (Ch. 2-A) sets some rules on the who can sit on the redistricting commission and how maps should be drawn. For example, members can't be party officials or lobbyists. But those rules are not complete. Although the commission must represent all boroughs and reflect the racial and language composition of the city, there is no requirement for gender representation on it. And the charter forbids partisan gerrymandering to favor one political party, but says nothing on the drawing maps to favor incumbents or certain candidates. It also allows up to 10% population deviation between districts, the outer limit allowed by U.S. Supreme Court cases, which opens the door for substantial manipulation of districts.
8. Now that New York City has implemented Ranked Choice Voting, do you support moving to an Open Primary system (eliminating party primaries and establishing a non-partisan election system)?
Comments

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Citizens Union has been studying police accountability and performance in New York City for more than a decade. In our reports and advocacy efforts we have urged city government to strengthen the accountability of the New York Police Department to the public and create a more cohesive system of police oversight. Previous reports include: 2016 issue brief, 2013 position brief on Stop and Frisk, 2012 report on the CCRB, 2008 policy statement on police misconduct. Citizens Union's 2021 agenda for police reform, published as a report in March, calls for establishing a Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, allowing the CCRB to appeal the Police Commissioner’s decisions, making the appointment of Police Commissioner subject to advice and consent of the City Council, consolidating agencies with oversight authority, ending qualified immunity, and more.
9. Do you support making the appointment of the Police Commissioner subject to the advice and consent of the City Council?
Comments
10. Who do you think should have the final say on discipline in the police department? How would you ensure penalties are imposed on police officers that commensurate with the gravity of their wrongdoing?
Although the CCRB may make findings and recommendations with respect to discipline, the Commissioner is the final decision-maker. Recent evidence has revealed a disturbing pattern of departures by the Commissioner from the findings and recommendations of the CCRB suggesting a systemic failure to impose penalties on police officers commensurate with the gravity of their wrongdoing.
11. Do you support consolidating the three bodies that exercise oversight of the NYPD: the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), the Inspector General for the Police Department, the Mayor’s Commission to Combat Police Corruption?
All three of these agencies have frequently experienced similar problems in obtaining access to materials and witnesses from the NYPD; they perform similar and somewhat overlapping functions. Their work could be performed more effectively and efficiently if they were one agency. The CCRB’s ability to investigate complaints, obtain relevant information and prosecute wrongdoing could be strengthened as part of a larger and more comprehensive police oversight agency. A consolidated agency should have its own independent board and should be provided with access to all records required for oversight.
Comments
12. Do you support giving the CCRB prompt and full access to footage from body-worn cameras, police officers’ employment history and disciplinary records and all other document and materials in the possession of the NYPD relevant to its investigations?
Comments
13. Feel free to add any other policy proposals you support in regards to police accountability, misconduct, and oversight, or to effective policing including functions, training, and community relations.

HOW CITY COUNCIL WORKS
One of the first items on the next City Council’s agenda will be adopting its rules of proceedings. Those rules will have a substantial effect on the ability of lawmakers to advance their goals, and can send a signal to New Yorkers about elected officials’ commitment to making the Council more representative, deliberative, accountable, and efficient. In the last decade, the Council took important steps to reform its rules, including a 2014 overhaul by then-Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and a 2018 administrative change by Speaker Corey Johnson. These reforms have made the body more democratic, given members a more meaningful role in the legislative process, ensured greater equity in the allocation of discretionary funding, and made drafting procedures more transparent. Still, more work is needed enable members to function more effectively and independently of the speaker, and to increase public participation.
14. Do you support allowing bills with strong support to go through the committee process and put to a vote on the floor without needing the permission of the speaker?
Comments
15. Do you support reducing the overall number of committees so members can participate more meaningfully in fewer issues?
Comments
16. Do you support making all actions designed to influence any City Council outcome, including the choice of speaker, reportable as a lobbying expense?
Comments
17. The Council Speaker controls the allocation of a large share of the Council’s overall discretionary spending, and in 2020 it was reported that the Speaker used this power to “punish” council members who opposed the 2021 budget. How would you balance control and order in the council with reasonable dissent?
18. The ability of citizens and advocates to make their voices heard in City Hall has been severely curtailed since the council and city government shifted to work remotely. How would you propose to improve community engagement and public participation while using remote technology (in public hearings, meetings, etc.), particularly to ensure equity in participation?

MISCELLANEOUS
19. New York City has suffered an immensurable loss from the pandemic and its effects and the city’s economy, social life, and culture. What is your path to recovery from this crisis?
20. What experience have you had, if any, with good government and reform issues? (e.g. voting and elections, campaign finance, ethics, police accountability, government transparency and oversight). If you've worked to advance these goals, we'd love to hear about it.
21. What are the top three campaign promises or goals, and what action will you take to achieve them if elected? Feel free to reference an answer above rather than restate it.

ADDITIONAL INFO
Please feel free to attach any additional information such as resume, campaign brochures, or issues statements.

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What else would you like us to know about yourself?

Please review your answers by clicking PREVIEW ANSWERS below. You can submit the questionnaire at the bottom of the preview page by clicking SUBMIT.

Once you click SUBMIT, you will receive a confirmation email with your responses. If you don't see the email, please check your spam box.

If you have any further questions, you may contact us at candidates@citizensunion.org.
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Citizens Union 2021 Candidate Questionnaire - City Council

GENERAL INFORMATION

Your Info

Campaign Contact Information

Affirmations

SERVING CONSTITUENTS

VOTING AND ELECTIONS

POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY

HOW CITY COUNCIL WORKS

MISCELLANEOUS

ADDITIONAL INFO