U.S. Rep. Yvette Clark (D- Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Prospect Lefferts Gardens) has some competition building in the primary for the 2020 election, and one of those challengers is a lifelong New Yorker.
Michael Hiller has been a social justice advocate and lawyer for over 25 years, and he wants to take that experience to Washington by representing New York’s ninth congressional district. His argument is that the work he does with laws every day will help him understand how to solve problems in Congress through legislation and that he will fight for the little guy while standing up to powerful and well-connected special interests as he has during his career.
“The work that I do is akin to swimming upstream 24/7,” Hiller said about the cases he takes, which include disabilities, insurance companies, predatory lenders, and unlawful evictions. He also helps communities in lawsuits with issues like preserving black heritage sites and other land use issues, which he said has become more frequent as the number of building permits increase. He said that about half of the work he does is pro bono and that the law should be a force for good rather than something that makes the rich even wealthier.
In Congress, he has a few issues he wants to focus on that are happening nationally and in the district he would represent. He worries that the city’s affordable housing solutions mostly benefit private developers and that affordable housing is still too expensive for people he would represent. He said that these policies incentivize people from outside the neighborhoods to come into those units instead and can contribute to gentrification.
Another part of the housing problem that Hiller identified is landlords requiring prospective renters to show a lot of income, like over $200,000. “What we should be doing is empowering the federal government to create good affordable housing and to work with the states to get that done and not to rely so heavily on private developers,” Hiller said.
Hiller believes that housing is tied into other crucial issues like climate change, in which he said inaction could be catastrophic. He supports using alternative fuel sources, divestment from fossil fuels, and making city buildings environmentally friendly. Hiller even suggested steep punishments for polluting.
As a lawyer, Hiller said that his knowledge is relevant for today’s politics because of the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Donald J. Trump. He read the Mueller report and is knowledgeable on the emoluments issues and also the scandal involving the president asking for foreign help in the 2020 election.
“To me, there is no doubt he should be removed from office, and every day that he is there, he is a further injury to the United States and its people,” Hiller said, adding that not impeaching Trump would mean future presidents may think they could commit the same abuses the country is experiencing now.
Hiller stressed how grave of a mistake it is to invite foreign interference in elections and other business within the country. “Foreign leaders interfering in our elections is among the most dangerous developments to our national security in a half-century, and it’s something that must be stopped right away.” He added that it becomes difficult to know a president’s true intentions when he or she may be soliciting foreign assistance for personal benefits, and the country could wind up with a situation like what is happening in Syria and Turkey, which Hiller said is a “national disgrace and an international crisis.”
Regardless of what happens in 2020, Hiller thinks it is important that Congress investigate until all the facts are known. “I do believe it is worthwhile to obtain information concerning the damage the president has done,” he said.
If he had the chance to help conduct those investigations, Hiller said that he would be a natural because he could cross-examine witnesses, and he has over 25 years of experience of doing just that as a lawyer. “If I’m a member of Congress, I’ll be able to really question witnesses, get the facts, draw out the truth, and then use the information and data that I have obtained either to craft legislation or to spearhead investigations against wrongdoing.”
When he isn’t working, Hiller still likes to help the community. He helped co-found a youth flag football league in Brooklyn a decade ago and was heavily involved in all aspects of the league. The league started from his work with a baseball team associated with the 78th police precinct, and it was the precinct and another person that approached him with an idea to create a flag football league for Brooklyn.
Hiller faces Clarke, who has been a member of Congress since 2006 and has over $300,000 raised so far for her campaign, according to recent campaign filings.
There are currently three other contenders in the race, including Adem Bunkeddeko, who narrowly lost to Clarke in 2018.
