City Councilman Dan Garodnick came right up to the line of declaring himself a candidate for City Comptroller at a news conference on the City Hall steps this morning, telling reporters that it is something he is “strongly considering.”

Mr. Garodnick took something of an odd tack in explaining his reasons for (almost) seeking the job as the city’s chief fiscal officer–mainly that a new, inexperienced mayor is coming into office in 2014, and so an experienced hand will be need in the comptroller’s office.

“The city has real challenges right now,” he said. “We have not only a budgetary challenge with a structural deficit. We have new mayor who is coming in, whoever it is, it will be somebody who is untested as an executive, dealing with a $67 billion budget. So it is a moment in which I think it is important to have independent, reform minded people assuming the roles to protect those taxpayer dollars.” Read More