Our 2013 NYC Candidate Questionnaire

DFNYC 2013 Candidate Questionnaire

Answers: To learn about the candidates, you can read both the questions, and specific candidates' answers at our website - click here!

Candidates - Please contact us before you submit answers: info-at-dfnyc.org. We've already done our first round of endorsements, and we'd like to learn about your race.

Questions? Ask DFNYC Political Director Richard Wallner at rwallner-at- dfnyc.org or Matt Ward at enologic-at-gmail.com

(1) Money in NYC Politics.  Large donors, specifically real estate developers and landlords, have a huge amount of influence in NYC politics due to their campaign contributions. While NYC’s matching funds programs is seen as one of the most innovative public funding campaigns in the country, many DFNYC members feel that big money donors still have too much influence and candidates still spend too much time fundraising.  Would you support a change to full public financing of campaigns, similar to the Clean Money Clean Elections programs in Arizona, Connecticut and Maine?

(2) Tenant Protection & Cost of Housing.  Do you support rent stabilization and rent control laws? What will you do to crack down on landlords that break the law?  Would you call on the state legislature to repeal vacancy decontrol and more generally, the Urstadt Law, so that New York City – and not Albany – can enact its own housing laws?

(3) Paid Sick Leave.  There is currently a bill in the city council that would require companies in NYC with 5 or more employees to give 5 paid sick days per year to each employee (if they do not already). While many councilmembers support this, it has not been brought to a vote. Supporters feel this is much needed public health legislation that would only raise labor costs by 2%, while opponents say that it would be an unfair financial burden to small business. Do you support the bill and will you actively work to get it passed?

(4) Fair Police Practices & Occupy Wall Street:  The New York City Police Department has been highly criticized for its Stop & Frisk policy, which disproportionally affects racial minorities and poor and working class New Yorkers. The NYPD has also been criticized for its treatment of activists in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Do you support ending or modifying Stop & Frisk? If running for mayor, will you keep Ray Kelly or appoint a new police commissioner?  Do you think Mayor Bloomberg and the NYPD should have handled events in the OWS movement differently and what measures will you take to protect political demonstrations? 

(5) Mayoral Control of Education.  Mayoral Control of NYC schools is set to expire in 2016, but the state legislature can renew it. If elected to city government, you will not directly vote on mayoral control, but you will have a ‘bully pulpit’ as renewal is discussed in the next 3 years. Do you support keeping Mayoral Control as is, letting it expire, or making changes, for example to the hearing process for controversial decisions?  (Examples: Co-locations of multiple schools in one building, providing district school space to charter schools, phasing out schools that have been labeled as “failing” due to high dropout rates, low test scores, or other factors.)

(6) Teacher Evaluation.  A key area where the mayor has influence in public education is in the negotiation of a contract with NYC’s public school teachers.  Please give your opinion on the following proposed ways to evaluate teachers for the purpose of tenure, salary and other job benefits:  Improvement in student test scores, observations by other teachers, student surveys, whether the teacher has an advanced degree, a principal’s evaluation of a teacher.  Should principals be allowed to do unannounced observations of teachers?  Do you have any experience negotiating labor union contracts?

(7) Co-location of charter schools. City officials do not decide how many charter schools can exist, or grant requests to be a charter school.  However, the Department of Education - currently controlled by the Mayor - may decide to provide charter schools with space, usually by "co-location" with district public schools. While more than half of NYC schools (not just charters) are co-located, it is a controversial topic when a charter school is involved. Critics argue that cash-strapped district schools should not be forced to share resources with charter schools and that co-location creates a morale problem when students and parents see the contrast. Co-location advocates argue that charter schools are public schools and should have an equal right to publicly owned resources such as buildings, charter schools do not receive funding for space and therefore operate at a severe financial disadvantage if they have to find private space, and that differences between co-located schools result from decisions the principals make about how to spend their per-pupil funding.  Do you support the DOE giving public school space to charter schools?  Sources:  Against - funding and space arguments.  In Favor - funding & space (pdf).

(8) The City Wage Tax.  New York City’s budget depends in large part on the city wage tax, which is only paid by residents, not everyone who works in NYC.  Would you call on the state legislature to allow NYC to collect the tax from people from the suburbs who work in NYC and benefit from our services (police, fire, etc.)? Would you support efforts to collect the tax from people who actually live in New York City but use a second home (a loophole not available to middle class New Yorkers with just one home) to avoid the city wage tax? If these efforts work, would you be willing to reduce the city wage tax so that workers would have more take home pay, and there would be less incentive for people to move to the suburbs, reducing our tax base? 

(9) Other Taxes.  Do you support progressive taxation?  Do you support Governor Cuomo’s approach to the marginal tax rate on high incomes?  What is your opinion on the current property tax in NYC? Would you support a federal financial transaction tax to either raise revenue, reduce the practice of high frequency trading, or both?  

(10) Poverty & the Social Safety Net: According to a 2012 report by the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, many struggling New Yorkers are eligible for welfare, but have not been able to obtain it due to onerous application requirements, and the excessive and arbitrary use of “sanctions” by the City’s Human Resources Administration (HRA). These obstacles have caused very little increase in welfare cases during the recent recession, as contrasted with large increases in Food Stamps and Medicaid. Would you change HRA to make it easier for eligible families to obtain cash assistance, connect them to jobs or meaningful job training, and reform the improper use of sanctions? How would you manage New York City's social safety net programs to ensure that people get the help they need, while at the same time preventing fraud?

(11) Homelessness. When Mayor Bloomberg first ran, he promised to introduce policies to drastically reduce the numbers of people who are homeless in our city.  But during the twelve years of his administration, the numbers of homeless have increased dramatically each year.  This is in addition to the approximately 50,000 people sleeping in shelters on an average night, according to a recent report by the Coalition for the Homeless.  What would you do to deal with this sad situation?

(12) Hurricane Sandy & Environmental Protection. The devastating impact that Hurricane Sandy had on New York City poses short term and long term challenges, namely immediate support for those who lost their homes and businesses, and climate change, respectively.  What measures do you support for helping Sandy recovery efforts, as well as energy conservation and reducing the carbon footprint of New York City?  What is your position on hydraulic fracturing and the Spectra pipeline?

(13) Gun Control.  While DFNYC members have long supported gun control, the December 14th shooting in Newtown, Connecticut seems to have changed the debate on the national level. Do you support the proposals President Obama made to (a) renew and fix the assault weapons ban, (b) ban high capacity magazines (limit the number of bullets that can be shot before reloading), and (c) improve the background check system?  Please indicate any other methods you would support to reduce gun violence, including how you would implement them, for example: gun buy-back programs, training programs for gun owners, improved access to mental health care, and involving the business community in gun safety.

(14) Choice & Marriage Equality. Please briefly state your position on the following three issues: marriage equality for gays & lesbians, a woman's right to choose, and access to birth control. (25 words or less)