The New York Times has endorsed Bill de Blasio for a position that no one's sure should even exist. It's a position so embarrassing that it can only be released in a lightly read Saturday newspaper.

My opinion (shared by many) is that the Public Advocate position should not exist.

My "public advocate moment of zen" happened way back in the 1990s, when I was championing appreciation for model Audrey Munson. Miss Munson had posed for the statue "Civic Fame" on top of the Municipal Building (and just a few floors above the Public Advocate's office). I discovered that Miss Munson had also posed for "Miss Manhattan" for the Manhattan Bridge (now at the Brooklyn Museum), Miss Munson was the lady in the Plaza Hotel Fountain, and she was very much else. Munson was the first person to pose nude in film (re-creating her famous poses), but had fallen into obscurity and had lived that last 60 years of her life (she died at age 104 in 1996) in a mental institution. The New York Times had just written a Munson piece about my research for its City section.

The public advocate's representative told me how I could write to the mayor.

"No, I want to speak to the public advocate!" I said.

"You can't speak to the public advocate!" I was told.

"I have to speak to the public advocate. This woman who was our Civic Fame on top of this building..."

"You can't speak to the public advocate! Write to the mayor!"

"I wrote to the mayor!" Mark Green's guy clearly wasn't going to let me speak to Mark Green.

"I'm sorry to bother the 'public' advocate. I thought he listens to the public," I said, leaving the office.

Public Advocate! (spits)

LINKS:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/opinion/29sat4.html?ref=opinion

Ever since the job of public advocate was created 15 years ago in New York City, there have been questions about whether the position should exist.

(...)

We have not always agreed with Mr. de Blasio, and we worry about his coziness with the state’s powerful unions. But, over all, he has the best temperament and best record of the four candidates. We endorse Bill de Blasio for public advocate.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/nyregion/29debate.html?ref=nyregion

Why Have a Public Advocate? In Lively Debate, Candidates Make a Case