March 8, 2004

MILLER AND THE BOX.

By James Eugene*

I recently had the opportunity to listen to Gifford Miller (yet again). Again, I came away impressed by the young politician, so I will examine what I think he needs to start thinking about as he attempts to move forward as a Mayoral candidate.

Miller starts behind an 8-ball of sorts. He has only run in one Council district, so although he is Speaker and the second most powerful man in the City, only a small amount of New Yorkers have actually voted for him. This puts him at a disadvantage with respect to a borough-wide elected official, such as Virginia Fields or Adolfo Carrion, or even a city-wide elected official, such as Bill Thompson. It also puts him at a disadvantage versus Freddie Ferrer, who actually ran a City-wide race and won a wide range of voters.

Miller is smart enough to use his position as the second most powerful man in New York City to raise funds and he has done it better than any other candidate. Miller is probably smart enough to realize that he should not think that the givers love him. Many are giving to him only because he is Speaker and Miller knows this. (If he were not Speaker, his fundraising would be in the proverbial toilet bowl.) To that end, Miller realizes he must make his next political move in 2005, not years later, when his ability to raise funds would be severely diminished (indeed, although Ferrer may raise funds, he is a private citizen and must count on those who actually want him to win, rather than those who actually fear him now).

Awhile back, I wrote a column that stated that Mayor Billionaire needs to cast himself as being a man of the people. That togetherness was the key and that the City was recovering due to him and us. Mayor Billionaire either has great political advisors or he read my column (probably the former), because that is exactly what he is doing (and his poll numbers have begun to increase as a result).

But what does Miller do? It is even more problematic than the Mayor's concern with running because when Miller differentiates himself from the Mayor, the lines that he draws are quite thin. Frankly, a Miller list of accomplishments often sounds very similar to that of Mayor Billionaire. Miller might try to run from the tax increase but the fact is that the electorate knows that the difference between 18.5% (the property tax increase that was agreed to) versus 14% (what the Council wanted) and 25% (what the Mayor wanted) is almost semantic. And the other differences seem just too fine to set the two apart.

Nor will Miller get far casting the Mayor as Mayor Billionaire. Miller lives on the Upper East Side. The argument may work for Fields, Thompson, Carrion or Ferrer. It will not work for Miller. Rich is rich, billions versus millions matter little (and even if Miller is not a millionaire… hell, he lives on the Upper East Side with all those millionaires).

So my advice to Miller is more difficult to quantify. He needs to start thinking outside the box. The current political paradigms will not work for him, and his standard political speech will ultimately not win it for him. Miller can run against Pataki and Washington, but that won't beat the Mayor who is clearly just as liberal as Miller. Miller can move to the right, but Miller would hate that idea. He likes being the liberal.

The only matter unused by Miller and available to him is to question the Mayor on his supposed strength. The CEO Mayor is not a good CEO when it comes to certain agencies. And those agencies should be exposed. Finance, Buildings, HPD, and other City agencies do not get the Mayor's attention when it comes to management (they only get his attention on "big" ideas, such as 60,000 housing units at HPD). Miller can exploit this.

By striking at these agencies, Miller gets at the heart of the reason why Mayor Billionaire was originally elected… his management skill. If you argue that the Mayor cannot manage, you argue that the Mayor cannot govern. And when you dissect the agencies, you will not only find the problems, you will probably find your solutions as well (there are plenty of ideas out there, if the Speaker is willing to focus here).

But the time to investigate all this is now. Miller can't wait too long because it will take awhile to do the digging. If he can dig, then he shows the Mayoral skill of management. If he can't, then he will be an also-ran. A powerful man who could not figure out how to use his power, even if he has the energy to do so.

ELECTED NEGLIGENCE AND SAN FRANCISCO.

I am for gay marriage (but against domestic partnership with its flimsy obligations and pseudo responsibilities). But that does not mean I condone what is happening in San Francisco.

Every inauguration, a politician promises to uphold the Constitution and laws of the United States, his or her state and his or her local jurisdiction. They may disagree with these items, but they must enforce them until such time as the law is stayed or overturned.

If San Francisco can just give out marriage licenses in clear violation of State law, then the inauguration oath is just a sham or the elected official has violated his oath. The Mayor of San Francisco may believe the law is unconstitutional, but is for the process to work its way through the Courts, not for the Mayor to contravene a clear law.

This is not always pleasant. As I said, I hope that gays are eventually allowed to marry. But failure to respect the rule of law only promotes anarchy. Indeed, how would all those liberals who cheer the San Francisco actions feel if an elected official decided to prevent abortions because the official felt abortion was wrong? They would be up in arms! The idea is the law is the law and there are processes available to all citizens if the law is unjust to change the law. Ignoring those processes disrespects all of us by putting the violator above the law.

San Francisco's political establishment is another sad example of the arrogance of many of today's political leaders. They see themselves as above the law. And they only are sad when they get caught. (Are you listening John Rowland?)

* James Eugene is the pseudonym of a veteran of NYC government affairs. Inside The Big Apple will appear exclusively on the Empire Page. If you want to send tips or column ideas to James Eugene, email them to jameseugene@empirepage.com.