Lynne A. Weikart
Follow the Money
Some people have told me that the most interesting part of the book was the chapter on Rudy Giuliani and his decision making. I don’t agree. I think the chapter on Mayor David Dinkins is the most interesting and the most challenging to write because Mayor Dinkins faced a fiscal crisis that was as severe and difficult as the 1975 fiscal crisis. And, in my judgment, the fiscal policies of Mayor Dinkins were outstanding. Time and again Mayor Dinkins placated the bankers while keeping his public policy goals in the forefront - the “safety net” of social services to the city’s poorest citizens. However, he failed to convince the city’s citizens that he was a capable leader, and thus only served one term.Another example of the extraordinary power of the state government over the city was the struggle between Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay.
Time after time the Governor blocked attempts by the Mayor to increase taxes to deal with the city’s growing deficit. Both the Governor and State Legislature were quick to add to the city’s spending through giveaways to the unions but at the same time the state government refused to agree to increases in city taxes. Eventually, the debts became too enormous and the city came close to bankruptcy.Follow the Money is significant because so little is written about banking and its influence on the rest of society. With the latest fiscal crises facing the country, it could be that the pattern will change and the banking influence on the rest of us will be more closely examined.
The book shows that, by and large, the financial elites won on most occasions, whenever times were hard. Yet, even in fiscally hard times, mayors clearly had some discretion and achieved some of their goals – whether it was Koch demanding and finally winning the right to control the MAC surpluses, or Dinkins who insisted on money for “cops and kids” not just “cops,” or Giuliani who was determined to spend dollars on public safety and education regardless of what the financial elites said, or Bloomberg who claimed that an increase in property taxes was the only sound choice. Although private power usually dominated public policy during hard times, New York City mayors did have some wins.
Editor: Erind Pajo
Follow the Money
Lynne A. Weikart Follow the Money: Who Controls New York City Mayors? SUNY Press 194 pages, 9 x 6 inches ISBN 978 1438425320
Available here →October 21, 2009
20091021-weikart-lynne-follow-money-who-controls-new-york-city-mayors-3
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Lynne A. Weikart
Lynne Weikart is the author of several articles and books in urban finance, particularly resource allocation as well as the budgeting process, including the budgeting and financial management textbook, Budget Tools: Financial Methods in the Public Sector, co-authored with colleagues. She received her Ph.D. from Columbia and taught at CUNY’s Baruch College School of Public Affairs. In 2001 she won the Luther Gulick Award for Outstanding Academic, New York Metropolitan Chapter of the American Society for Public Administration. Before her academic career Professor Weikart held several high-level government positions including Budget Director of the Division of Special Education in New York City’s public schools, and Executive Deputy Commissioner of NYS Division of Human Rights. For several years, she also served as Executive Director of City Project, a nonprofit, progressive, fiscal think tank focused on reforming New York City’s resource allocation patterns. Now in retirement, Professor Weikart lectures at the University of Virginia, and conducting research in urban finance and politics.
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In every New York City fiscal crisis since the Depression the financial elites won.
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