Comptroller hopeful -Brooklyn Councilman David Yassky embraces supporter Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz on the steps of City Hall.

NEW YORK, NY July 16, 2009 —This week marked the deadline for municipal candidates to get their petitions in so their names will appear on the September primary ballot. Citywide office hopefuls need 7,500 valid voter signatures to qualify. The experienced candidates will file many more than that just to be on the safe side. In the fourth of a series of candidate snapshots, WNYC's Bob Hennelly hung out with Comptroller hopeful Councilman David Yassky.

REPORTER: On an early workday morning in Williamsburg, delivery trucks rumble through the streets by the L subway station... and Councilman Yassky greets his petition-gathering ground troops.

YASSKY: The idea is to catch people on their way to work and hand them a flyer, shake their hand and ask them if they will sign a petition to help me get on the ballot.."

REPORTER: But the Brooklyn Councilman says that since he first ran for City office 2001, the proliferation of I-Pods has made it harder to engage pedestrians whose help he needs.

YASSKY: Now, they are just more apt to ignore you when you say "Hi I am running for office here is a flyer".

REPOTER: The two term Councilman knows Willliamsburg, and he expects to encounter disengaged young people... as well as immigrant residents who aren't eligible to vote. Yassky says these days people of all ages and backgrounds have contempt for politics.

YASSKY: Politicians give people a lot of reasons to be disappointed and cynical. I mean I think that is something that I battle against everyday.

"Would you help me get on the ballot with a quick signature...."

REPORTER: A young woman is in a hurry but she pivots to give Yassky her ear.

YASSKY: Oh very quickly I am a City Councilman now. I did a ton on affordable housing that forced developers on the waterfront to include affordable...a lot on environment> I did the bill that is getting all the taxis to be gas electric hybrids. I sued Exxon Mobil to get them to clean up the oil spill in Greenpoint."

REPORTER: Yassky says that as a candidate for Citywide office he still has to be ready like a Councilman to field the occasional complaint from parents about their neighborhood public schools. He says parents tell him they like the accountability of Mayoral control but also want more input on their kids' education. He says there's room for even more accountability when it comes to how the Department of Education spends money.

YASSKY: You know the Department of Transportation enters into a contract it has to be reviewed and approved by the Comptroller not so with the Department of Education. That should change.

REPORTER: Yassky recounts his record as a fiscal watchdog as a Councilman.

YASSKY: Found million of dollars in waste. Got rid of it. Went after loopholes that the luxury developers were using to avoid paying taxes.

REPORTER: But he says his qualifications for Comptroller were well established before he was elected to the Council.

YASSKY: I started the City budget office. I did tax forecasting and learned the City budget. backwards and forwards. I was a corporate lawyer at a major law firm. and did mergers and acquisitions work. When my clients were buying a company I would go in there and go through all there books and records and that is just the sort of thing I do as Comptroller--look for problems and make sure everything was fine and find what wasn't fine.

REPORTER: Just as Yassky's volunteers get warmed up, a squad of John Liu supporters hit the intersection and start taping up signs to prepare for the arrival of THEIR Comptroller candidate. Out of 468 subway stops in the city, only Williamsburg commuters will get to shake hands with two candidates as their aides compete for voters attention.

REPORTER: This must make this the political epicentre of New York, or certainly Brooklyn. This morning?

LIU ACTIVIST: It certainly is. This is the race to watch."

REPORTER: Yassky takes the full court press from one of his rival's in stride.

REPORTER: Does this Liu thing upset you?

YASSKY: No this is pretty good territory for me. I am pretty confident I will do well in this area. So in some ways I am just happy to see him taking his time here.

REPORTER: Come say hello to David Yassky. He's running for Comptroller. Come say hello to your Councilman David Yasky............

REPORTER: For WNYC I am Bob Hennelly