Gale Brewer Takes Over Govt. Ops. in NYC

I worked on Mayor Bloomberg's three campaigns for mayor. As part of the last campaign was a commitment to start the process to create a new charter commission to address the term limit issue, put it back to the voters on a future ballot and also put on a future ballot the question of non-partisan municipal elections. I also took part in the discussions of new voting machines for NYC as an Executive member of the Independence Party. So the following peeked my interest:


NYC Council Member Gale A. Brewer has been representing the Upper West Side and Upper Clinton in the New York City Council since 2002. She was re-elected in the November 2009 general election with over 80 percent of the vote. Her service in the Council is a continuation of nearly 30 years of public service.

The Council’s Government Operations Committee officially has jurisdiction over obscure-sounding agencies. But new chair Gale Brewer could have a tangible role in how New Yorker’s vote and perhaps in reshaping municipal government, advocates say.

Brewer will in be charge of monitoring the new optical scan voting machines and a possible charter review commission.

“It’s going to fall in her lap in terms of Council oversight,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the New York Public Interest Group. “She’ll be the Council’s eyes and ears.”

The State Legislature has ultimate authority over election matters, so in ensuring that the 2010 elections run smoothly, Brewer’s only weapon will be committee hearings.

Good government groups that have been awaiting the details of the charter review commission are worried that it will be packed with supporters of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Brewer, too, is concerned that the commission will not have the legitimacy of the one in 1989 that dramatically restructured city government.

“The ones that have existed since then have not had the same caliber,” Brewer said. “I don’t know how the City Council could play a role, but it’s something we should be invested in.”

Good government groups that have been pushing for additional Council reforms see an ally in Brewer, who supported campaign finance laws and voted against the term limit extension—two major issues the committee handled.

Michael H. Drucker
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