Green for Mayor

Public Advocate Is the Best Choice

Comments (0) Tuesday, Sep 4 2001

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That individual is Norman Siegel.

He faces a number of strong, capable opponents, most of whom have significant experience in government. Councilman Stephen DiBrienza especially has earned our respect for his 16 years of dedicated work fighting for public services for poor and working families.

Photo: Julia Xanthos

Mark Green, candidate for mayor

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But as head of the New York Civil Liberties Union for 15 years until he resigned to campaign, Siegel was a relentless and often ingenious advocate for some of the city's most disadvantaged. He organized lawsuits and public campaigns in support of underserved minority students, immigrant taxi drivers, and welfare recipients, and in opposition to police abuses and the death penalty. He won 23 First Amendment lawsuits against the Giuliani administration, no small feat considering the vindictiveness and tenacity of his opponent.

He has, in alliance with fellow progressives across the city, helped let in the light during times that were dark for anyone who believed in the importance of public protest, freedom from racial profiling and police brutality, and publicly accountable government. He speaks movingly of the perils of racial injustice, which he began fighting during the 1960s civil rights movement, and has backed his words with action.

He plans, if he wins, to augment paid staff with hundreds of volunteer complaint handlers and investigators—a prospect imaginable only given Siegel's record of rousing and recruiting others. With a proven disregard for political niceties, he promises not to relent in his investigation of official abuses no matter who the target and vows to push the limits of the office to the outermost. He calls himself a troublemaker, and we believe he will be, in all the right ways.

VoicePrimary Choices

MAYOR
Mark Green

COMPTROLLER
Herb Berman

PUBLIC ADVOCATE
Norman Siegel

BRONX BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Adolfo Carrion Jr.

QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENT
Helen Marshall

COUNCIL DISTRICT 1
Rocky Chin

COUNCIL DISTRICT 2
Margarita Lopez

COUNCIL DISTRICT 6
Gale Brewer

COUNCIL DISTRICT 7
Victor A. Bernace

COUNCIL DISTRICT 8
Philip Reed

COUNCIL DISTRICT 9
Bill Perkins