Prospective Candidates for City Posts to Speak at Wagner

By Robert Polner

It may be a presidential election year, but it’s never too early to consider the local elected officials who are setting their sights on what has been called the second-toughest job in America, mayor of New York, and other citywide posts.
    The Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and the Citizens Union begin a fall series of breakfast briefings on Sept. 17, with a talk by William C. Thompson Jr., the two-term city comptroller and former Board of Education president looking to succeed Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2009.     
    The Brooklyn-born Thompson plans to focus on ways to improve the delivery of municipal services for New Yorkers. The event will run from 8:00-9:30 a.m. at Wagner’s Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue  (Puck Building, 2nd Floor, 295 Lafayette Street, at Houston). The event is free and open to the public.
    The Wagner-Citizens Union series will pick up again on Oct. 7 with a visit by Eric Gioia, a two-term member of the City Council from Woodside, Queens, and an NYU alum. Gioia is aiming toward a run for New York City public advocate, the number two ranking position after mayor.
    On Nov. 12, Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president will be the featured guest of the breakfast series.
    The Wagner-Citizens Union briefings follow appearances last spring by two other possible candidates: City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn, who may run for mayor, and John Liu, councilman from Flushing, Queens, who is also a prospective candidate for the public advocate’s post.