“As Republican members of the House of Representatives and
as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change
its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of
trust between the people and their elected
representatives.
“That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing,
we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written
commitment with no fine print.”
— The Contract With America
With these words and 10 programmatic promises — including votes on
welfare reform, deficit reduction, and term limits — the
Republican Party took control of the House of Representatives in
1994, overturning 40 years of Democratic rule. Republicans in New
York City hoping to gain a toehold in the Democrat-dominated City
Council this November face an uphill battle even grimmer than that
faced by their forbears. That’s because they have one additional
disadvantage: a lack of strategy.
To be fair, there is a group of candidates, including the
high-profile challenger to Speaker Gifford Miller, Jennifer
Arangio, running on something called the “Urban Republican
Platform.” But a New York Sun editorial board meeting last
week with Ms. Arangio and her campaign manager, the creator of the
Urban Republican Platform, Robert Hornak, made it clear that the
group has managed to be simultaneously too unrealistic and too
pragmatic.
On the unrealistic side, they are promoting a budget with $3.7
billion worth of cuts. After these fictional cuts are made, they
say, the city will be able to give taxpayers a paltry 2% break on
the 18.5% property-tax hike perpetrated by Mayor Bloomberg and Mr.
Miller. With even the Democrats on the City Council talking about a
1% rollback of the property tax, an additional 1% cut is hardly the
stuff of which revolutions are made. And a revolution is what will
be necessary to turn a Republican minority that couldn’t even get
together a game of bridge — it has but three members — into a
nine- or 10-vote bloc capable of stymieing council overrides of
Republican mayors and bringing legislation to the floor.
So, in the spirit of the Contract With America, here are 10
populist proposals that Republican City Council candidates could
sign onto:
1. Cut taxes: New York City is the highest-taxed city in
America. As a first step toward lightening this burden, we will
vote to repeal the 18.5% property tax increase approved by Mayor
Bloomberg and Speaker Miller.
2. Reduce the size of the city’s government: New York City
employs about 300,000 workers, or roughly one-seventh the number
employed by the federal government. We will vote to reduce this
bloat through attrition, privatization, and streamlining of city
agencies.
3. Maintain the quality of life: Panhandling and graffiti are
back. As Mayor Giuliani made clear in the 1990s, it is these sorts
of annoyances that lead to more serious crimes and a general sense
of urban decay. We will vote to give the NYPD more resources to
fight these scourges.
4. Repeal the smoking ban: Banning all smoking in bars and
restaurants has hurt small businesses. We will vote to repeal the
smoking ban.
5. Constitute a more serious City Council: Legislating the
third-largest budget in the nation, after California and the State
of New York, the City Council has no time for frivolities such as
resolutions concerning America’s foreign policy. We will vote
against bringing any such measures to the floor.
6. Eliminate pay perks for City Council members: Members of the
City Council currently receive stipends, or “lulus,” when they are
assigned committee chairmanships. These are typically in amounts
between $10,000 and $20,000. We will accept no such perks at the
taxpayers’ expense, and we will vote to eliminate them.
7. Eliminate campaigning on the taxpayers’ dime: Currently,
candidates for City Council can accept tax dollars to finance their
campaigns. We will not make the taxpayers pay for our runs for
office, and we will vote to eliminate the public campaign funding
system.
8. Increase school choice: Lack of choice is what allows New
York City’s public school system to stagnate. We will vote to give
parents more options as to where to send their children to
school.
9. Remove barriers to housing: Restrictive zoning regulations
and building codes, as well as rent regulations that discourage
development, are the primary impediment to affordable housing. We
will vote to repeal these regulations.
10. Leave abortion alone: We will propose no legislation on this
topic.
The late speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O’Neill,
said that “All politics is local.” But the Republicans won the
House by nationalizing local congressional elections. If New York
City’s Republicans want a City Council delegation that would need
at least a minivan to carpool, they’d better take a look in their
rearview mirror.
