How will Jim run the Comptroller's office? What will a Jim Brennan administration stand for?
 As a proven, committed reformer with 22 years of legislative experience, Jim will be sure that the Comptroller’s office is the most independent fiscal watchdog in the City.
Institute Analysis and Real Thinking:
Under Jim’s leadership, the Comptroller’s office will become the main think tank for solving the City’s problems. He will combine that cutting-edge research and analysis with the power of the audit - and the power of the bully pulpit - to challenge City agencies to improve the lives of our people. And the focus will be on jobs, education and health care.
Protect and Improve Labor, Jobs and Wages:
Jim will vigorously enforce the City’s prevailing wage and living wage guidelines and will regularly report on the performance of City agencies in preserving and expanding jobs.
Root Out Corruption and Waste:
Jim will work closely with law enforcement, agency inspector generals, and the citizens of the City, to root out corruption and waste.
Speak the Truth and Encourage Dialogue with the Whole City:
Jim will speak the truth about the City’s financial condition, and will encourage the widest possible dialogue about the City’s options through conferences, forums, and interaction with the public.
Improve Fiscal Management and Enforce Strong Ethics:
Jim will combine prudent management of the City’s pension funds with ethical investment policies, and do all in his power to assure that the City’s pensioners, present and future, as well as the taxpayers, are protected.
And, very importantly, Jim’s audits will reach the core of City agencies, contracts and problems..
What does all this mean for the average New Yorker when Jim’s elected?
- Implementing the law could bring more health care coverage to a million New Yorkers:
Nearly two million people do not have health insurance, but about one million are eligible for public health insurance programs. Of those one million, nearly half had been enrolled but lost their insurance due to paperwork burdens and bureaucracy. At the same time, about one-third of the City’s hospitals are in serious financial distress because they cannot get compensated for caring for the uninsured. Jim’s audits and reports will be a full court press to help people get health insurance. The taxpayers will not be injured because large portions of the costs will be borne by the Federal government and the tobacco industry. In areas like home care, every dollar the City spends providing services to the needy brings in nine dollars in State and Federal funding, more than paying for itself by stimulating the local economy. - Reaching out to elderly and disabled homeowners could bring thousands tax relief:
A 2001 report showed 42% of homeowners and cooperators were not getting the property tax breaks entitled to them. Elderly and disabled homeowners lose millions because the Department of Finance has failed to do the outreach to help them participate. Jim’s audits and reports will regularly challenge the Department to fulfill its mission to help our homeowners and cooperators, especially the elderly and disabled.
- Concentrating on helping all the City’s businesses - not just big projects - could usher in an era of genuine, neighborhood-based development:
Under Jim’s leadership, the Comptroller’s office responding to businesses seeking City help now, including how many are able to get lower-cost space, lower-cost energy, or other incentives. Jim’s office will report on how much time City economic development agencies spend working on projects like stadiums and Olympics, versus preserving factories, helping small business, reaching out to immigrants, and other genuine grass-roots development.
Jim’s platform is all about thinking and acting, not about pleasing the powers that be; since he has no ambition to run for any other office, he’ll work hard for all New Yorkers.
And you can be sure that his audits will go to the root of City agencies, contracts and problems.
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