New Mayor Tests Public Service Announcement Boundaries
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has flooded LinkNYC digital kiosks across New York City with his image promoting pre-kindergarten enrollment, testing the boundaries of what city ethics rules allow for an elected official. The mayor’s face appears prominently in vertical videos running on hundreds of screens in transit hubs and public spaces, marking a striking departure from his predecessor Eric Adams. City Hall spokesperson Dora Pekec defended the practice, noting that the city is not paying to run the advertisements because the arrangement falls under the franchise agreement with LinkNYC, which grants the city free airtime each month.
What the Law Says
New York Democrats enacted strict restrictions in 2007 that bar elected officials from appearing in government-funded public service announcements. The measure came after Republican Governor George Pataki’s administration used agency budgets for campaign advertising, spending millions to promote the governor across state-owned media channels. However, those rules contain a loophole that allows the city to use its free airtime allocation from franchise agreements without triggering restrictions on mayoral imagery.
Ethics Watchdog Weighs In
Rachael Fauss, director of Reinvent Albany, an ethics advocacy organization, acknowledged that Mamdani is technically complying with the letter of the law but questioned whether the practice aligns with its spirit. “Certainly the spirit of the law is, it might be better not to appear in any PSAs,” Fauss told City & State. The distinction carries weight because it highlights a critical gap in campaign finance regulations: public officials can use government airtime for political purposes if they are not directly funding the space.
The Adams Precedent
The contrast with the Adams administration is significant. Fabien Levy, Adams’ former deputy mayor for communications, confirmed that his team repeatedly requested permission to feature the then-mayor in LinkNYC public service announcements but was repeatedly denied by city lawyers. “We tried asking a bunch of times,” Levy said. “And they said no.” Two other Adams administration insiders corroborated the same account, indicating that the legal department took a conservative approach to mayoral visibility.
Election Year Restrictions
The city charter contains additional restrictions that bar elected officials and their spouses from appearing in city-funded advertisements during election years. However, those restrictions would not apply to Mamdani until 2029, when his re-election campaign would presumably begin. Pekec argued that the city is using its free airtime appropriately by promoting the mayor’s signature policy priorities. She emphasized that pre-kindergarten enrollment represents one of the administration’s highest priorities and that educational access serves a legitimate public interest. The mayor has made universal pre-K expansion a cornerstone of his platform, seeking to expand access to early childhood education across all five boroughs.
Broader Implications
The LinkNYC situation raises questions about whether New York’s ethics regulations adequately address modern digital advertising and franchise agreements. When regulations were crafted in 2007, the digital media landscape was vastly different. Today, government partnerships with technology companies create new opportunities for officials to gain prominent visibility without directly funding advertisements. Policy experts at the Citizens Budget Commission have flagged similar questions about transparency in vendor relationships and public resource allocation. The mayor’s decision to feature himself prominently in public announcements also reflects broader changes in how city government communicates with residents. Traditional PSAs featuring anonymous residents or voiceovers have given way to more personalized approaches, with elected officials directly addressing constituents. City & State reported extensively on the LinkNYC controversy and ethics considerations. City Hall maintains that this approach creates greater accountability and helps residents understand the human faces behind policy implementation, though ethics advocates continue questioning whether appearance frequency aligns with the spirit of post-2007 restrictions on mayoral advertising visibility across public-funded platforms and infrastructure partnerships.
