Andy Wagner

I’m supporting Ben Kallos for City Council.

Ben is a progressive Democrat, a good government type and most importantly a good guy.  A techie by temperament (Bronx Science), he became heavily involved in campus Government (SUNY Albany) and then became a lawyer (SUNY Buffalo).  

He has built his career not just engaging in public service, but engaging the public in service. To some extent the most dangerous thing you can say to Ben is “I have an idea” - with Ben’s can do attitude, 10 minutes later you will find yourself working on a cause with Ben.  

Ben has a unique skill set - sitting at the intersection of technology, law and government - Ben has championed initiatives to make the voting records of State Representatives available on-line (openlegistlation.org) and brought his unique skills to bear on issues like voting machines (showing the BOE the Microsoft publically available planned obsolescence schedule for software MS was promising would be good indefinitely).

His approach to his campaign is a bit quixotic - as a techie in the internet age - Ben has embraced an open source ethos for his campaign: looking to the community to bring in ideas and energy to build a platform to address the needs of the City.  This open source campaign is both Ben’s greatest strength, but also one of his biggest challenges - its new, its untried, it doesn’t fit the “usual campaign narrative”.  Rather than a small cadre of advisors and funders and paying lip service to community support - Ben is casting a much wider net and actually engaging the community through his campaign.

While Ben is running to represent the Upper East Side/Roosevelt Island his vision is far from parochial.  In the time I’ve known Ben, I’ve been amazed at his knowledge of the entire city... unlike many native New Yorkers, Ben gets around - even to the “outer boroughs” - and really takes advantage of the resources of the entire City.

I support Ben Kallos for City Council and I hope you will too.

Andrew E. Wagner
Brooklyn, New York