As New Yorkers get set to go to the polls they have an opportunity to improve the weakest link in the municipal government, the City Council. Aside from Eva Moskowitz’s education hearings, it has done little constructive in recent years. It has passed resolutions dishonoring our troops and sought, in its anti-Wal-Mart campaign, to force New Yorkers to pay higher prices for groceries. Election day is a chance to change the socialist-dominated body, and we’ve had a few candidates visit our office who, if elected, would work to make the council worthy of this city.

Joshua Yablon for the Upper West Side’s 6th District. Running on the Republican line and endorsed by Mayor Bloomberg, this 31-year-old talent agent told The New York Sun that because of the high cost of living the city is “losing its best and brightest every year.” One problem is “affordable housing,” Mr. Yablon told the Sun. When the city “sets aside apartments for below market rate” it’s “forcing” the other tenants “to subsidize them” and pushing their rent “above market.” Mr. Yablon told the Sun that the city needs “fair market housing for all” which is “free market housing.” For those who can’t afford the high rent, such as the elderly and disabled, Mr. Yablon recommends a “voucher based system.”

Mr. Yablon supports increasing the number of charter schools but reckons the city needs to “explore a voucher system, especially for the poor.” He told us that it “doesn’t seem fair that only the rich can enjoy private or religious education.” Mr. Yablon would also press for the lowering of the “outrageously high” level of taxation. Mr. Yablon is an auxiliary police officer in the 24th precinct and a 2nd lieutenant in the New York National Guard. His opponent, the Democratic incumbent, Gale Brewer, while in office has championed the extension of term limits and is a supporter of far-left organizations, many of which are hostile to Israel.

Yvette Velazquez Bennett for Brooklyn’s 39th District. Running on the Republican and Conservative lines, Mrs. Bennett told the Sun education would be a key area for her. Mrs. Bennett, who home-schools her two daughters, said she would seek to introduce a school voucher system to “make things more equitable,” and she would press to increase the number of charter schools. Mrs. Bennett also said she would champion the interests of taxpayers at the council, pressing for fiscal equity and for programs to be “evaluated” to see “if they are serving the taxpayers.” She describes herself as a supporter of President Bush “in his attempts to help the Iraqi people” and calls American troops the “real heroes.” She told the Sun she’d focus on local issues important to Brooklyn’s residents, which she says her Democratic Party opponent, the seat’s incumbent, Bill de Blasio, has neglected.

Joel Zinberg for the Upper East Side’s 5th District. Running on the Republican, Liberal, and Independent party lines, and endorsed by the mayor, Dr. Zinberg is running, he told the Sun, to bring “real world experience” to the council. He’s a lawyer, professor, and surgeon, and one area he plans to focus on if elected is Medicaid fraud. Fraud, Dr. Zinberg told the Sun, costs the city about $500 million a year and he would ensure the fraud is investigated and prosecuted. He would oppose tax increases and would back the police. Dr. Zinberg is on the 19th Police Precinct Community Council. This is an open seat as the current holder, Speaker Gifford Miller, is term limited. Dr. Zinberg is up against Mr. Miller’s former aide, Jessica Lappin, who is tarred by her association with Mr. Miller’s spending excesses for his election campaign using taxpayer dollars.

Jody Hall for Staten Island’s District 49. Running on the Republican line and endorsed by Governor Pataki, Ms. Hall has worked in federal, state, and local government, which she told the Sun gives her the experience necessary to know how government works and how to reform it. Ms. Hall vows that she’d work to lower taxes and hold the council “accountable for how it spends money.” Ms. Hall supports school choice and would propose a local income tax credit – of $1,500 a child, and up to $3,000 a family – for parents to use for tuition, expenses, and anything else for their child’s education. She’s running against an incumbent, the Democratic Party’s Michael McMahon.

The City Council incumbents are getting ready to try to weasel out of the term limits imposed by voters in recent years. The ouster of the speaker, Gifford Miller, is a reminder of the virtues of term limits. These candidates, who would fight for school choice, market based housing, investigating Medicaid fraud, and lowering taxes seem like they challenge the socialist status quo and make marvelous members of the city’s legislative body. If it started moving in the right direction, maybe New Yorkers wouldn’t be so insistent on limiting the terms of its members.