New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has a new acronym, and it sounds awfully familiar.
On May 28, 2026, the Mayor’s Office announced the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, a Charter Revision Commission the city says will make government work better for New Yorkers.
A democratic socialist mayor selling “government efficiency” is the kind of thing that writes itself.
So is who he put in charge.
Mayor Mamdani just launched COGE, the Commission on Government Efficiency, in response to Elon Musk’s failed project:
“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… pic.twitter.com/1ziOp8l0DD
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) May 28, 2026
Mamdani says COGE is not a play on the federal Department of Government Efficiency that Elon Musk ran early in President Trump’s second administration.
He went out of his way to bash Musk anyway, claiming Musk used the public’s desire for efficiency as a “justification” to cut services.
The mayor first had to clear out the old furniture. He moved to kill former Mayor Eric Adams’ Charter Revision Commission, calling it a relic of the prior administration, before standing up his own panel in its place.
The NYC Mayor’s Office laid out the structure and the timeline in its official announcement of the commission.
The city announcement describes COGE as a Charter Revision Commission that will review the entire New York City Charter, gather public input, and issue proposals to amend the charter. The panel is supposed to look at efficiency, modernizing government, agency authority, enforcement tools, flexibility for city agencies, savings practices, reserve practices, and budget practices.
The process is scheduled to include 10 public hearings across all five boroughs before proposals are sent to voters on the November ballot.
The same announcement identifies Patrick Gaspard as the chair and Ann Cheng as Mamdani’s proposed executive director. It lists the first public meeting for June 4 at 5 p.m. and the first public hearing for June 9 at 5 p.m. It also lays out Gaspard’s resume, including the Center for American Progress, the Democratic National Committee, the Open Society Foundation, 1199SEIU, and the Obama administration.
The first public meeting is set for June 4 at 5 p.m. The first public hearing follows on June 9 at 5 p.m.
Then comes the part that tells you what this really is.
The chair is Patrick Gaspard, and his resume reads like a tour of the progressive money-and-power circuit.
The city’s own release says Gaspard previously served as president of the Center for American Progress, executive director of the Democratic National Committee, U.S. Ambassador to South Africa, president of the Open Society Foundation, and executive vice president of 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers East.
The Open Society Foundation is George Soros’ operation. The DNC is the DNC.
That is a political resume, not a band of neutral budget hawks looking for waste.
Mamdani also proposed Ann Cheng as executive director.
Local outlet NY1 covered the launch and the obvious problem with calling a 16-member panel of allies an efficiency commission.
NY1’s account adds another important piece of the timeline. Mamdani said he was ending former Mayor Eric Adams’ so-called zombie Charter Revision Commission and replacing it with his own Commission on Government Efficiency.
He also insisted the familiar acronym was not a deliberate play on Elon Musk’s DOGE, even while attacking Musk’s federal efficiency project and saying many Americans care about government efficiency.
The local coverage also notes the political concern around the new panel. The commission is made up of 16 members described as close allies of Mamdani, with backgrounds in business, housing, government accountability, city politics, and the city power structure.
It is chaired by former Ambassador Patrick Gaspard, a former Obama aide. NY1 also noted that some good-government groups are raising alarms about the commission’s political intentions and the compressed window for getting charter proposals onto the November ballot.
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A short window, a friendly panel, and a charter rewrite headed straight for the ballot. That is the machine, not the watchdog.
Even the mainstream coverage couldn’t resist the comparison Mamdani keeps denying.
It’s not DOGE, it’s COGE: Mamdani introduces commission to make NYC more effectivehttps://t.co/rvOsC0W7Hi
— The Hill (@thehill) May 28, 2026
Musk’s DOGE went after spending and bureaucracy on behalf of taxpayers. Mamdani’s COGE puts a Soros and DNC veteran in charge of rewriting the rules of New York City government before voters get a say in November.
Same brand. Opposite mission.
This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.
