Citizens Union: Together We Can Do Anything

Since 1897, Citizens Union, a government accountability organization, has been at the forefront of reform in New York City. The nonpartisan and independent good-government group is a principled and pragmatic civic watchdog that works to ensure honest and accountable government, fair and open elections, and a civically engaged public.

The group’s latest newsletter brought to our attention NYC’s universal childcare, City Council salary raises, our former mayor’s last-minute Charter Revision Commission, and outside funds flooding local elections.

Straus Media sat down with Grace Rauh, Executive Director of Citizens Union, so she could expound upon these issues.

What brought you to your role as a social activist?

My journey to advocacy and policy work grew out of my 17-year career in journalism covering New York politics and advocating for transparent, accountable, and effective government, and that’s at the heart of what I do now at Citizens Union.

Does your organization get its revenue from fundraising, and is fundraising part of your job?

Yes, I fundraise. We don’t receive any government funding. We are funded entirely by individual donors as well as foundations.

What’s the difference between Citizens Union and Citizens Union Foundation?

Citizens Union Foundation is a 501C3 nonprofit organization, and Citizens Union is C4. Citizens Union issues political endorsements and any lobbying activity. The Foundation is more focused on civic engagement, voter education, policy, and research.

What issues are Citizens Union prioritizing for advocacy in 2026?

We are very focused on ensuring that we have an accountable and ethical government locally. The new mayor has a big opportunity to turn the page on the culture of corruption of Mayor Adams’ administration and to institute a series of reforms to restore good government to New York City.

We put out a public ethics and accountability agenda for the new administration in the Fall, and so that’s something that we are continuing to advocate for.

Your last newsletter hit on four topics, with universal childcare being first. What are the next steps now that there’s a commitment to it from the governor and the new mayor?

There is a commitment, which is incredibly exciting, but it is not a fully funded commitment yet.

We’re proud to have been a leading voice over the last two-plus years in this policy conversation and have focused on bringing business leaders to the table, because childcare is essential to recruiting talent and keeping employees here. We feel strongly that an expansion of our childcare system will unlock economic growth for New York.

The second topic is the City Council’s pay raise. What made it problematic?

Our concerns had to do with the process. The council, which had not had a pay raise for 10 years, attempted to vote through a pay raise for itself during the lame duck session. That is expressly prohibited by the city charter. The council amended its tactic to vote the pay raise through in early 2026. We said that was not the right way.

Every pay raise enacted for New York City lawmakers has happened after an independent pay commission was created to make recommendations. That is the right approach.

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Mayor Mamdani agreed

Who makes up this independent commission?

Let me bring in my Policy Director, Ben Weinberg.

Weinberg: By law, the mayor may select three people, whoever the mayor wants, as long as they fit the criteria that’s laid in the law. This commission has always, we’re talking about almost 50 years now, been qualified individuals who have done good work in assessing compensation.

Let’s move to the Charter Revision Commission (CRC), which is tasked with reviewing the NYC charter, determining more government responsiveness and transparency, examining primaries and elections, and making the municipal government more inclusive, accessible, and democratic. This seems to align with your ethos. Why denounce it?

What you just described does align with our ethos. Our concern is that [the CRC] was done on the final day of Mayor Adams’ administration. It seems designed to expressly disrupt the incoming administration by leaving behind what Politico recently described as “a booby trap for the Mamdani administration.”

We were very concerned that this commission seems highly political and designed to block the work of the City Council Charter Commission, which is in a position, theoretically, to place a number of reform questions on the ballot in November, including a local mechanism to remove a mayor for misconduct. New York is one of the only cities in the United States that does not have such a method in place.

Final point: campaign finance. What were your findings about SuperPacs that raised red flags?

Our reports tracked unprecedented SuperPac spending in our local elections last year.

One of our main findings was that SuperPac spending was a very bad investment across the board and did not lead to the result that the donors had hoped for.

Citizens Union supports the campaign finance system—the ability to amplify the power of small-dollar donors. In New York City, there are restrictions on the amount of money any one person can give to a campaign. It helps create a more level playing field.

What specific policy changes do you recommend to address this growth in outside spending?

Because a Supreme Court decision allows it, there are few options to further regulate this outside spending, so we’re focused on documenting it so that the public is aware of the big donors.

One area that we think is ripe for reform is Nesting SuperPacs, where someone donates to one SuperPac, that SuperPac donates to another. It’s like a deliberate effort to hide or disguise the identity of big-dollar donors. The public should know who is writing big checks to try and shape the outcome of our elections.

For more information about Citizens Union, its upcoming events, or to become a member, go to https://citizensunion.org/

Lorraine Duffy Merkl is the author of the novel, “The Last Single Woman In New York City.”