@mccourtschool. Former Biden, Obama, Clinton WH and Michigan DHHS.
Joined July 2011
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Terrific to see the mayor prioritize civil service reform. No one can say it's just about the videos. If he and his partners show real flexibility, they can move toward the public excellence New York deserves. More in the links.
Robert Gordon retweeted
So proud of @elenzner, who's a true DC treasure, for dreaming then building a new indie film center for the city. dc.citycast.fm/culture/4eye-…
Robert Gordon retweeted
Perfect timing to revisit last week's @abundance_ny Substack piece by @CV0 about civil service, digging into the real harms to New Yorkers caused by understaffing.
She shares lessons from what we've been able to do right in emergencies. Now we need better rules for every day 👇
Exclusive: the Mamdani administration will take a swing at reforming NYC's civil service system — the first serious effort by any recent mayor to revamp the antiquated, 142-year-old system that critics say deters talent and worsens staffing shortages:
nysfocus.com/2026/10/05/mamd…
Robert Gordon retweeted
I love @SecRollins' ambition to Make America Humane Again. Here are seven things she could do to make good on it:
1. Withdraw her support for the Save Our Bacon Act, which would force states to sell pork from crated pigs.
2. Restore enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act -- the USDA now has fewer than 100 inspectors for 17,500 labs, zoos, and breeders combined.
3. Withdraw her Administration's lawsuit to force Michigan to sell eggs from caged hens.
4. Implement the Horse Protection Rule against soring — deliberately injuring horses' legs — which she has now delayed three times.
5. Withdraw her plan to eliminate any cap on kill line speeds at pork plants, which increases the risk that pigs are still conscious when killed.
6. Stop paying indemnities to egg producers who cook their birds to death via Ventilation Shutdown.
7. Keep the animal welfare rules for organics that her USDA has suggested gutting.
Animal welfare is the law, and we are enforcing it. 🐾🇺🇸
@SecKennedy and I brought together partners from @USDA, @HHSGov, the @TheJusticeDept, @EPA, and @LaraLeaTrump to strengthen enforcement and protect dogs.
This year, USDA has inspected more than 2,000 dog breeder and broker facilities, trained 98 inspectors, and created a new Animal Protection Bureau to improve compliance and address violations.
HHS has launched more than 20 initiatives to reduce unnecessary animal testing and advance human-based research methods.
I want to give a special thank you to Lauree Simmons, @BDRRescue, and other organizations who champion this important effort.
@POTUS’s administration will continue to fight for animal welfare, or as Bobby said: we’re going to Make America Humane Again.
Robert Gordon retweeted
🚨New: With data added from more states, we now estimate that about 2 million fewer kids are receiving SNAP in the wake of deep cuts enacted in last year’s Republican reconciliation law. Overall, more than 5 million people have lost SNAP since July 2025. cbpp.org/research/food-assis…
Robert Gordon retweeted
I am not sure @nhannahjones appreciates just how much she inadvertently gives cover to an unacceptable status quo in education. Today via @eduwonk:
eduwonk.com/2026/09/an-educa…
Robert Gordon retweeted
This sounds so much like any of the 7,000 Third Way events we went to with Clinton in the 90s.
🚨 At the U20 Mayors Summit, Mamdani Says the Left Has Ceded “Quality of Life,” “Efficiency,” and “Fraud and Waste” to the Right
This was one of the more interesting arguments Zohran Mamdani made today at the U20 Mayors Summit, and a reminder that he can be genuinely sharp when he drops the “central casting” routine.
“In New York City, there are certain words that have taken on ideological associations.”
“Quality of life has come to be seen as somehow a right-wing concern. Efficiency… has been taken on as a right-wing concern, rooting out fraud and waste, a right-wing concern.”
Mamdani’s argument is that refusing to engage those issues actually helps the Right.
“If you are staring at an example of social disorder or social inefficiency, and the left refuses to explain either why it has happened or how they will fix it, then the right gets to point at someone in the immediate area and say, ‘That’s who did it.’”
The harder question is how much of the broader Left is actually prepared to follow the advice.
Robert Gordon retweeted
1/ In 1934, Mayor LaGuardia said it was easier to exchange a prisoner of war than to transfer a stenographer from the Tax Department to the Water Department. Ninety-two years later, NYC votes on five charter fixes, and the civil service rules he fought still aren't on the ballot.
Robert Gordon retweeted
After years of thinking and writing about why American governance is so clunky and slow, I wrote a book about how our well-intentioned laws have lots of unintended consequences.
Why We Can’t Have Nice Things comes out Dec. 1 from Norton. Pre-order now!
nicholasbagley.com
Robert Gordon retweeted
Yep. Important not to use the Vance plan to bash marriage or stay-at-home parents. The policy problem requires helping more families across the board, not pitting different family structures against each other to compete for scarce resources.
Robert Gordon retweeted
I fully endorse @PTBwrites's comments on a proposal to expand eligibility so that stay-at-home parents become eligible for the fixed pot of federal child care dollars aimed at low-income households
Few thoughts on the Hunger Games proposal to take funding from working parents and give it to married couples with a parent at home. 1/x
Of course there will need to be tradeoffs. But this proposal is zero sum because this administration's actual priorities are elsewhere: the war, the tax cuts, all the things. Those are choices too. 6/