Charter Revision Commission Executive Director to be Named (Updated 4/7/10)

Francis Barry, Charter Commission Executive Director Candidate. Photo courtesy Staten Island Advance

Once again, the Staten Island Advance provides early coverage of events at the NYC Charter Revision Commission. This time, it’s who is likely to be appointed to direct the commission’s staff: Francis S. Barry, a close mayoral aide.

As we’ve commented before, the commission’s executive director is the key person in shaping the commission’s agenda, triaging what information gets in to the 15 part-time commission members, and, perhaps most crucially, determining what information gets out from the commission to the press and the public.

The Advance predicts that Barry’s close relationship with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg doesn’t bode well for Staten Island. Neither does it for Brooklyn, The Bronx, or Queens.

How Barry will relate to Anthony Crowell, a close Bloomberg ally and veteran charter commission member, and Rick Schaffer,  the commission’s counsel, remains to be seen.

Update: April 7, 2010. At its first public hearing, on Tuesday, April 6th, chairman Matthew Goldstein announced that the executive director of the 2010 NYC Charter Revision Commission will be Lorna B. Goodman, former Nassau County Attorney and 25-year veteran Assistant Corporation Counsel in the NYC Law Department. Ms. Goodman will head the charter commission’s staff, expected to be between 8 and 12 persons.