June Primary Preview Part 3

We Have a Hot Comptroller Race

By Arthur Schwartz

The NYC Comptroller’s Office is probably the second most important elected position in the city. The comptroller is responsible for overseeing the city’s finances and acting as a check on other city officials. 

In more detail, the comptroller’s responsibilities include:

• Conducting performance and financial audits of all city agencies;
• Serving as a fiduciary to the city’s five public pension funds totaling approximately $285 billion in assets, as of February 2025;
• Providing comprehensive oversight of the city’s budget and fiscal condition;
• Reviewing city contracts for integrity, accountability and fiscal compliance;
• Resolving claims both on behalf of and against the city;
• Ensuring transparency and accountability in setting prevailing wage and vigorously enforcing prevailing wage and living wage laws; and
• Promoting policies that enhance city government’s commitment to efficiency, integrity and performance for all New Yorkers.The comptroller leads a staff of about 800 employees—including accountants, attorneys, economists, engineers, IT professionals, budget, financial and investment analysts, claim specialists and researchers, and administrative support staff.
  Interestingly, few comptrollers have been accountants, and only one, Abe Beame in 1974, ever went on to become mayor.

In the June 23rd Democratic Primary there are two candidates: Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President, and Justin Brannan, a City Council Member from South Brooklyn.

MARK LEVINE
Mark D. Levine has been Borough President of Manhattan since 2022. Previously, he served as member of the New York City Council from 2014 to 2021, where he represented the 7th District covering the Manhattan neighborhoods of Morningside Heights, West Harlem, Washington Heights and part of the Upper West Side.

Levine grew up in Columbia, Maryland. He majored in physics at Haverford College and the University of Seville, Spain. He received a Masters in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in 1995.

Levine taught bilingual math and science at Junior High School 149 in the South Bronx from 1991 to 1993. He was a Teach For America corps member in the program’s early years.
In 1994 he founded Neighborhood Trust Federal Credit Union, a cooperatively-owned financial institution serving low-income families in the Washington Heights section of Northern Manhattan.
In 2007 Levine was elected Democratic District Leader in the 71st Assembly District, Part A, representing parts of Hamilton Heights/West Harlem and Washington Heights. He won the election for the NYC Council in November 2013 and served two terms.

During his first term he served as chair of the City Council’s Parks Committee, chair of the Council’s Jewish Caucus, and co-chair of the Council’s Affordable Housing Preservation Taskforce. Levine was lead sponsor of legislation passed in 2017 which established a right to counsel for low-income tenants facing eviction in housing court, making New York City the first place in the nation to grant such a right.

In his second term Levine served as chair of the City Council’s Health Commitee where he gained wide attention during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.

Manhattan Borough President
In 2021 Levine won an eight-way race in the Democratic Primary in the race for borough president, and took office on January 1, 2022. His accomplishments include The Million More Trees plan, which will expand the urban canopy, especially in chronically underplanted neighborhoods, the Manhattan Small Business Booster Loans program, which has provided $2 million in interest-free loans to local entrepreneurs suffering from the pandemic; and the Campaign to Curb Congestion, which advocates for the implementation of two-way, variable congestion pricing, reforming e-commerce and deliveries, and expanding cycling infrastructure, especially through a dedicated bike lane on the West Side Highway.
Levine has been endorsed by Congressmen Jerry Nadler, Dan Goldman and Adriano Espaillat, along with State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, and Assembly Members Harvey Epstein and Tony Simone, plus Village Independent Democrats.

 

Justin Brannan
Justin Lee Brannan is a politician and musician. A Democrat, he is the current New York City Council Member for the 47th District, based in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. A former musician, he was a founding member of the New York City hardcore bands Indecision and Most Precious Blood.

Brannan attended Xaverian High School in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He studied journalism and mass media at Fordham University and College of Staten Island. Brannan is an outspoken vegetarian and animal welfare advocate. He lives with his wife and two greyhounds. After touring as a punk rock musician (see below) he went to work at Bear Stearns working his way up as a clerk in their wealth management division, and working as a financier in the venture capital space raising money for start-up alternative energy companies based in Silicon Valley. Brannan later worked as a fundraising consultant for a number of non-profit humanitarian organizations in New York City.

After he left Bear Stearns he became director of communications and legislative affairs for New York City Council Member Vincent Gentile. Brannan and his wife opened a fine art school for children in Bay Ridge called The Art Room. Brannan also works closely with the 9/11 Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation commemorating the heroes of 9/11 and Building for America’s Bravest, a program that constructs Smart Homes for military members returning home with devastating injuries.

Before entering politics, Justin Brannan was a hardcore punk guitarist for the bands Indecision from 1993 to 2000 and Most Precious Blood from 2000 onwards. The bands’ messages focused on social justice, human rights, environmentalism, relationships, individuality, vegetarianism, and espousing straight-edge views against drugs, alcohol and promiscuous sex. Indecision is widely known for their song Hallowed be Thy Name.

In 2017, Brannan was first elected to the City Council from a crowded field of 10 candidates to represent southwest Brooklyn. In the City Council Brannan has served as finance chair, negotiating budgets for the last five years with the mayor.

His website says: “As Finance Chair, he fought to protect and expand the programs New Yorkers rely on most. When the Mayor proposed cruel cuts to libraries, early childhood education, cultural institutions, and after-school programs, Justin said, “Hell no!” and won.

“Now, as a candidate for New York City Comptroller, Justin is ready to take his fight for working families citywide. He’s committed to using the power of the Comptroller’s office to tackle affordability because he knows working families aren’t just struggling – they’re leaving. So every dollar of our $115 billion budget should go toward making life more livable.

“Justin is committed to fighting for a universal child care system, so no parent has to choose between paying rent and affording quality childcare.

“Justin pledges to develop a dedicated NYC Workers Housing Plan to create truly affordable housing options for city employees – teachers, nurses, sanitation workers, first responders, and all those who work hard to keep this city running.”

Brannan has been endorsed by Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, the Working Families Party, Village Reform Democrats, Chelsea Reform Democrats, Transport Workers Union and Local 32BJ Building Service Workers.