THE PUBLIC WHAT?(The Talk of the Town)

It does not necessarily recommend the office of the public advocate that one of the candidates currently seeking the post counts as his chief reason for campaigning a wish to eliminate the position ("I promise to report to work just long enough to fire the staff and padlock the office," he says), while another intends to reduce the officeholder's salary by half and dispense with many of the subordinate employees. A third candidate (there are nine) just graduated from college and is apparently named Damon Cabbagestalk, Jr.

And yet the office holds so much promise! Despite the fact that hardly anyone seems to know much about it--in a recent poll, two-thirds of "likely voters" in the upcoming Democratic primary couldn't name the sitting advocate, Betsy Gotbaum--public advocate is the second-ranking post in the city, its occupant next in line to the mayor in case of emergency. The public advocate, basically, is the city's ombudsman, a watchdog to monitor city services and, according to Gotbaum's Web site, "to cut through government red tape." (Of course, it's the very idea of dedicating a government job specifically to cutting through government red tape that rankles some skeptics.) But the public advocate also presides over meetings of the City Council, breaking ties when necessary. And the public advocate can bring lawsuits against government officials, like the police commissioner, as Mark Green once did, and introduce legislation.

"It's a misunderstood, maligned office that actually has huge potential, because there are already tens of thousands of public advocates," Andrew Rasiej, a first-time candidate, said the other day, explaining his aim to "connect" New York's countless well-intentioned citizens--busybodies, to some. The city teems with them: the old woman in your apartment building who's always slipping notices under your door; the movie-theatre "shusher"; the guy in the drugstore who makes sure the other shoppers know that ...