“Good Morning. This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

“How many times have you heard someone running for office make a promise on the campaign trail and then, after they get elected, you never hear about that promise again? It’s a problem at every level of government in every region of the country – and a big reason why the American public doesn’t have full faith in its government.

“But I’ve always believed that when you make a promise, you keep a promise. That’s the essence of accountability. And that’s why, last week – for the fourth time since taking office – we published a Campaign Accountability Report showing our progress in turning the ideas we campaigned on into reality.  It’s our way of letting the voters know that we haven’t forgotten about those campaign promises – and it tells them how we’re doing in fulfilling them.

“During our campaign in 2005, we put forward 100 proposals, large and small – from reducing crime and building affordable housing, to expanding social service programs and growing our local economy.  In the nearly four years since our re-election, 97 of those 100 campaign proposals have either been completely implemented or are on their way to being realized.

“In recent months, we’ve achieved many of our most important campaign proposals.  For instance, we recently completed the re-zonings of Jamaica, Willets Point, and Harlem’s 125th Street, which will stimulate jobs and economic growth in those neighborhoods. In September, we’ll meet our goal of opening 100 additional new small secondary schools that have been central to our education reforms.  Fulfilling another pledge we made in 2005, we’ve built the nation’s largest electronic health records network; it covers eleven-hundred primary care physicians with more than one million patients.

“Now, I know what you’re wondering: ‘Ninety-seven out of 100 promises being fulfilled.  But what about those other three?’ Well, in each of those cases we’ve decided to take a different course of action based on new information or changing circumstances.  For example, plans to create a special ‘gun court’ in Manhattan were dropped after we were able to convince Albany to enact longer prison sentences for gun crimes.

“Our current accountability report also presents a final update on the 382 pledges we made in the 2001 campaign. Ninety percent of those promises have either been fully implemented or are on their way. Nearly every one of the other proposals has been tried but reconsidered. And that’s ok, because inevitably, you try some things that don’t work or you find other ways to achieve the same goals.

“We take all our campaign promises seriously.  It’s why we’ve published our Campaign Accountability Report at nyc.gov, and why we urge other elected officials to follow suit.  A little more accountability would make political campaigns more honest and realistic, make government more effective, and help restore faith in a system that sorely needs it.

“This is Mayor Mike Bloomberg.  Thanks for listening.”