De Blasio failing to keep transparency promises
The scandals and possible criminal conduct involving lobbying and pay-to-play allegations we read about daily cry out for major reforms of our political system.
Some cities, like Seattle, realizing that they can’t depend on federal or state governments, have adopted real campaign finance reform and new rules to police lobbyists. New Yorkers are increasingly cynical about the integrity of their state and local governments, and are appalled at the lack of robust anti-corruption firewalls, leaving the job of tackling wrongdoing to federal prosecutors. We need a major overhaul of our political system that requires amending the New York City Charter, and on the state level, a Constitutional Convention. In the interim there are some immediate steps that can be taken to expose and limit conflicts of interest.
One of these conflicts surfaced last week. Mayor Bill de Blasio makes no bones about the fact that his top advisors include lobbyists/consultants that represent clients with business before his administration. Furthermore, the reality is that they are hired by private entities not because of any particular genius, but because they are “close” to the mayor. While being questioned by reporters as to why he won’t turn over his email exchanges with these advisors as required by law, he and his legal team came up with a an artless dodge. The activities of these advisors and lobbyists should remain shrouded, the mayor said, because they were acting as government agents, and thus are exempt from Freedom of Information disclosures.
This intolerable intransigence totally undermines the intent of Freedom of Information laws that require all communication between government officials and people outside of the government be disclosed. These known and unknown advisors have significant commercial interests before de Blasio’s government and it is essential that the public find out the subjects and scope of their engagements with City Hall. It is hard to fathom any innocent rationale for the mayor’s stonewalling. Even if these individuals are as pure as the driven snow, the potential for abuse of the public trust is too great to paper over. The unpleasant truth is that the city and state governments are operating in a climate where there are lobbyists/consultants at every turn and these firms are awash in an unprecedented gush of money.
The notion that individuals can be declared by mayoral fiat as “agents of the city” – immune from scrutiny – should raise blaring alarms. Alexander Hamilton famously counseled that government officials should avoid commercial entanglements to avoid corruption and conflicts of interests. The de Blasio doctrine, that the communications and interactions of lobbyists and PR firms can be declared out of the bounds of public disclosure and examination, makes a mockery of transparent government. It’s even more egregious at a time where federal agents are working overtime in Albany and the city due to a totally inadequate system of oversight and toothless watchdogs when it comes to shining light on the machinations of the powerful.
If de Blasio wants to draw on his pronouncements during his tenure as public advocate and the mayor’s race he has an opportunity to make this right.
He was once, at least rhetorically, a champion of transparency. At one point during the 2013 campaign he vowed that his administration would be the most transparent ever. That means he should immediately comply with relevant FOIL requests and turn over all emails between his administration and the advisors in question, always leaning toward maximum possible release and disclosure in the public interest. Second, it would be a step forward in restoring some confidence to the integrity of his government by simply decreeing that any person who has business before the city and communicates with him or any administration official must be subject to the Freedom of Information Law.
It would be even more powerful if he immediately issues an executive order that binds his and future administrations to the commonsense objective of curbing these interactions and releasing details of all communication he has with those who are paid to seek advantage from city government. But at the very least, de Blasio must give New Yorkers confidence that his administration is taking the right steps to ensure that access to city government cannot be bought.