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On Thursday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the creation of a new Charter Revision Commission, tasked with finding ways around government bureaucracy. Its official name might sound familiar.
Mamdani’s commission will be known as the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his heavily derided federal initiative DOGE, which resulted in mass layoffs of federal workers and the downsizing of agencies, supposedly in the pursuit of government efficiency.
According to a press release, the commission will be tasked with reviewing the city’s charter and formulating proposals to help modernize sclerotic government. “COGE’s work is expected to include moving outdated bureaucratic barriers that slow infrastructure projects and delay services; equipping City agencies the authority, enforcement tools, and flexibility they need to deliver programs effectively; and modernizing government to improve efficiency and saving, reserve and budget practices,” it reads.
As Politico reported on Thursday, Mamdani’s commission coincides with the dissolution of former mayor Eric Adams’s panel, which he created on his final day in office. As part of the budget process, the state legislature passed a provision that allowed the mayor to disband the Adams panel, which was tasked with reviewing the city’s closed primary system.
At an unrelated press conference, Mamdani said he chose to disband the Adams commission rather than take over the previously formed panel because New Yorkers had “made it abundantly clear” that they wanted to move on from the previous administration. The mayor also weighed in on the clear reference to Musk’s DOGE, saying his commission’s name doesn’t intend to emulate the Tesla CEO’s project and that COGE will be what that initiative “should’ve been.”
“Elon Musk manipulated the fact that so many people across this country want to see a government that is more efficient. He used that as a justification to simply slash and burn so much of the services that Americans rely on,” Mamdani said. “What we are speaking about is a sincere fulfillment of a vision that ensures that city government is operating with the same level of focus that a working-class New Yorker is when they’re trying to balance their bills.”
The commission will be chaired by Patrick Gaspard, a close adviser of Mamdani’s and former U.S. ambassador under President Barack Obama. Ann Cheng, who previously worked in the New York State Executive Chamber, will serve as executive director. The panel’s other members include several veterans of city government like former Manhattan Borough president Ruth Messinger; former City Council member Carlina Rivera, who now serves as president and CEO of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing; and Kathryn Wylde, the former head of the Partnership for New York City among others.
The panel will hold its first meeting on June 4 at 5 p.m. Its first public hearing will occur on June 9 at 5 p.m. with nine additional hearings to follow in the weeks to come.
