Dick Dadey

Running out of City Hall this afternoon - where there’s been some chatter by folks lingering in the lobby that there might be a deal on the city budget as early as tomorrow night - I saw Dick Dadey and some good-government activists outlining changes they’d like to city put in place before the elections later this year.

The ideas suggested by Citizens Union, Common Cause and other groups are fairly granular for the most part, but they could, if actually enacted, amount to a significant change in the way things work on Election Day. The proposals include:

1. Increase the number of quality of poll workers by offering comp time for city employees working the polls.  read more »

Barack Obama's decision to opt out of the public campaign finance program is "unfortunate but understandable," says Dick Dadey, executive director of the good-government organization Citizens Union.

When asked for comment, Dadey emailed:

It is unfortunate but understandable.

The federal campaign finance system hasn’t kept up with the times and the changed nature of what it now takes to run a national campaign for president.

Federal funds no longer provide enough money or incentive to participate, particularly given the huge presence in the race for president of independent expenditure campaigns aimed at attacking the nominees.

Citizens Union will now evaluate candidates that seek its endorsement by how well they live up to campaign promises.

At a meeting of the good government group’s local candidate committee last night in Times Square, C.U. Executive Director Dick Dadey said, “We're not just going to take a look at our issues of reform and major issues of statewide importance, but also ask them, what were the promises- what were the top five promises you made to your constituents two years ago. What of those have you achieved, and what have you not and if you have not, why?"

He added that the C.U., one of the oldest organizations of its kind in the city, will now "factor [legislators' accomplishments] into our evaluation and decision-making process as part of this larger effort to hold them accountable for things that they say in the campaigns.”

C.U. supported Michael Bloomberg's decision last year to, once again, release a report on his campaign promises.

Looking at campaign promises, C.U. says, will provide some kind of benchmark (if an inexact one) to evaluate incumbents, many of who have no known opponents.

The state legislature has faced some criticism because, even though many lawmakers from the city supported Eliot Spitzer's reform platform, there have been few tangible reforms.

   read more »

So, many City Council members have strong feelings about the reforms Christine Quinn proposed last week, particularly about the notion that they would lose the ability to fund specific groups through member items. Those groups would instead have to go through a R.F.P. process and be approved by various departments that are administrated by the mayor's side of City Hall.  read more »

So, how will today’s revelation affect Christine Quinn's political future?

Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf said, “We’re required to give Speaker Quinn the benefit of the doubt, especially since she announced today she was the person who alerted law enforcement to the problem.”

“We don’t know the impact because we don’t know what will occur here," added Sheinkopf, who has worked for likely mayoral candidate Bill Thompson. "The good news is, from a P.R. and political perspective, she got in front of the story. The bad news is that she’s in the story. And only time will tell if she remains in the story.”  read more »

This Presidents' Day, City Council members Dennis Gallagher and Joe Addabbo expressed their respect in a pair of ads that appeared in the February 14 edition of the The Queens Ledger.  read more »

Here, Dick Dadey of the Citizens Union, explains why using taxpayer dollars for City Council ads is bad, but using campaign funds -- which results in the expenditure of tax dollars in the form of matching funds -- to pay for those ads is good.

The city's oldest good-government group, Citizens Union, wants Alan Hevesi to resign.

I spoke to CU Executive Director Dick Dadey earlier today. Here's what he said, taking into account Hevesi's belated decision to debate his opponent:

"I think it's great that a much-needed debate is finally taking. It will not change our decision.

"These ethical issues are going to overshadow anything else that should be part of the debate...they go to the core of who is best suited to be the public watchdog against fraud and abuse. You can have all the accomplishments behind you, but if you're not scrupulous about how you conduct yourself in office, it raises a lot of questions."

This hard-line position should make CU's annual fund-raiser at the Waldorf Astoria tonight more interesting than usual. (Expected guests include the mayor and Council Speaker Christine Quinn.)

A statement from CU is after the jump.

-- Azi Paybarah

UPDATE: Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno also wants Hevesi to step down. [link fixed].