Woke Democratic city Comptroller Brad Lander is under fire from fellow elected officials who say he uses his new office to promote a progressive agenda that includes keeping criminals out of jail instead of doing his job as the city’s chief fiscal watchdog.
City Councilman Robert Holden fired off a letter to the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board last week demanding it probe whether Lander violated laws when he released a report claiming the state’s controversial bail reform 2019 laws didn’t help spur New York’s crime wave.
The report, done at unknown taxpayer expense, failed to cite any crime statistics, which show murder and many other serious offenses have surged the past few years.
Holden, a centrist Queens Democrat, told COIB Executive Director Carolyn Miller he believes Lander’s March 22 report “has nothing to do with New York City’s finances.”
“Mr. Lander seems to have produced what appears to be a politically motivated report using taxpayer money and city resources, which could be in violation of the administrative purpose and spirit of his office,” Holden wrote.
Holden also questioned the report’s “timing,” saying it “coincidentally” was issued days after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she’d be pushing for more crimes to become bail eligible again in New York. Lander is backing Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a fellow progressive who supports policies to lower jail populations statewide, in this year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary.
Lander with Governor Kathy Hochul, State Senator John Liu, and Jo-All Yoo in March. Pacific Press/LightRocket via Ge“While elected officials are certainly free to endorse candidates and to run for higher office, they should not be using taxpayer dollars and city staff to lay the foundation for future political campaigns,” Holden wrote.
Although Holden is the only signatory on the letter, other Council members, including Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) and Minority Leader Joseph Borelli (R-Staten Island), told The Post Friday they also believe the COIB should review whether the left-leaning Lander is putting progressive politics ahead of his office’s responsibilities.
“His [bail] report is about pushing a progressive agenda and not about weighing in on the city’s finances,” Borelli said. “At the very least, it is evidence that the left woke is in hyperdrive trying to sell the public that everything is fine with crime in New York City.”
COIB declined comment.
Chloe Chik, a Lander spokesperson, said the report, titled “NYC Bail Trends Since 2019,” was prepared by office staff and didn’t require hiring outside help.
She said in a statement that if Holden “believes that bail trends have ‘nothing to do with city finances,’ we invite him to read the report, which shows that average stays in city jails have increased by 44%, part of the reason why the costs of operating our jail system are increasing to $1.34 billion this year.”
Lander’s bail report “is about pushing a progressive agenda,” Borelli said. Stephen Yang for NY Post“Analyzing city spending and the data on policy decisions that drive it is precisely the work of the Comptroller’s office,” she added.
Lander, 52, was elected city comptroller last November after eking out a tough Democratic primary win months earlier by less than four percentage points over former Council Speaker Corey Johnson. The $209,050-a-year job is considered the city’s second most powerful elected post after mayor.
By law, Lander as comptroller must operate as an “independently elected official” outside political influence. Lander oversees about 800 employees and the city’s $265 billion public-pension system. His office’s other duties include auditing city agencies, reviewing city contracts and approving public borrowing.
However, he typically draws criticism for using the city comptroller’s official Twitter page and other official social media accounts to promote platforms dear to him like fair wages, solar energy and gender equity about as much as he uses them to update New Yorkers on the city’s finances.
Lander spent the previous 12 years serving as a councilman representing Park Slope and other Brownstone Brooklyn neighborhoods. He was a co-founder of the council’s progressive caucus, and used the platform to call for cuts to police funding, policies aimed at reducing detainees in city jails and other lefty measures.
Despite his desire to become comptroller, Lander failed to timely file necessary paperwork to retain the post after being sworn into office in January. The state Legislature passed a bill Tuesday, which Hochul signed into law on Friday, extending the deadline and fixing the technicality allowing Lander to remain comptroller.
