Following the Adams administration’s implementation of a new policy to require elected officials in city, state, and federal office to seek approval from City Hall for certain engagement with city agency leadership, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams urged the administration to reconsider the action. This measure reduces access, communication, and effectiveness of government services, in direct contradiction to the Public Advocate’s dual roles of connecting New Yorkers to city agencies and providing oversight of administration operations.
In a letter to the mayor, the Public Advocate makes clear that “Contrary to the reductive comparisons some have made, this is not about a form. This is about City Hall creating a bottleneck in government services and giving the mayor’s office the potential to throttle certain requests essential to serving constituents as the office ‘reserves the right to decline requests,’” and later notes that “This policy as designed will stymie vital interaction between government partners – preventing public service on behalf of New Yorkers in order to service a seeming need of this administration to exert further control over all government operations.”
The Public Advocate also raises concerns about the ways in which this effort to put all government actions through the mayors’ office could hurt transparency, arguing that “By putting all serious concerns through the City Hall screener, it is possible that serious issues in need of investigation, correction, and certainly public spotlighting may never see the light of day, denied by the mayor’s office for any number of reasons. This is not a way to make government work for New Yorkers, as my office is directly responsible for ensuring and as all responsible elected leaders strive to do.”
Public Advocate Williams closes his letter urging the kind of communication this policy could prohibit, and conceding that “In case this letter does not suffice, just this once, I’ll also submit the form.”
Read the Public Advocate’s full letter below.
Greetings Mayor Adams,
I write today to urge you to reconsider and rescind the new procedure your administration is imposing on city agencies, which requires elected officials to seek permission to work with our partners in government at city agencies about critical issues.
Contrary to the reductive comparisons some have made, this is not about a form. This is about City Hall creating a bottleneck in government services and giving the mayor’s office the potential to throttle certain requests essential to serving constituents as the office “reserves the right to decline requests.”
The Public Advocate’s office - charged with both connecting New Yorkers to city agencies and serving as an oversight body over those same agencies does not intend to limit our ability to perform these roles by getting permission from City Hall first. On the contrary, we call on you to rescind this inefficient, ineffective policy and enable not only our office, but elected officials at all levels, to do their duty.
Once an agency under the purview of the mayor’s office has received a contact from an elected official, they are free to make City Hall aware of that interaction – indeed, we would expect it – but not for City Hall to serve as a filter for those requests. This policy as designed will stymie vital interaction between government partners – preventing public service on behalf of New Yorkers in order to service a seeming need of this administration to exert further control over all government operations.
Furthermore, by putting all serious concerns through the City Hall screener, it is possible that serious issues in need of investigation, correction, and certainly public spotlighting may never see the light of day, denied by the mayor’s office for any number of reasons. This is not a way to make government work for New Yorkers, as my office is directly responsible for ensuring and as all responsible elected leaders strive to do.
I request to speak further with you to discuss the need to keep channels of communication open in government, and to allow for any clarifications. In case this letter does not suffice, just this once, I’ll also submit the form.
Sincerely,
Jumaane D. Williams
Public Advocate for the City of New York