If you thought it’s over, No! The race for the next City Council speaker isn’t over.
According to a WSJ report, Council Member Dan Garodnick seemed undeterred of Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito’s declaration of victory last week. Instead, he has launched an aggressive campaign to flip a handful of her supporters to his side. Some council members have indicated their willingness to switch sides, people familiar with his coalition said.
Queens County Democratic Party chairman Congressman Joe Crowley, who is backing Mr. Garodnick, told the WSJ that Ms. Mark-Viverito’s list of 30 supporters is “softer than they’ve led people to believe.”
“This is a very fluid race. I think their number is not a hard number. The folks that are with Dan are committed to be with Dan to the end,” he said. “One thing we are hearing repeatedly is that there are people who adamantly don’t want Melissa Mark-Viverito to be the speaker. We haven’t heard that from anyone regarding Dan.”
“Calling the speaker race for Melissa today is like calling the mayoral race for Chris Quinn in May,” said Council Member-elect Rory Lancman of Queens, a vocal Garodnick supporter. “It’s important that the council be united and that we be independent of the mayor, even though we support the mayor’s agenda. Dan is the best opportunity for us to have an independent City Council.”
One person on Ms. Mark-Viverito’s list of supporters said that Mr. Garodnick is the superior choice and that switching sides is possible, arguing that many of the people on Ms. Mark-Viverito’s list feel similarly. Mr. Garodnick’s supporters said they are seeking to give members a “rationale” for switching sides.
“The City Council should pick the speaker, not the mayor and not the unions,” the anonymous Council member told the WSJ.”I still have my vote and will do what I want with it.”
Mr. Crowley is, reportedly, getting the support from non other than Governor Andrew Cuomo, Fred Dicker reported Monday morning.
“It’s clear to many of us that Cuomo and his people are working to stop Melissa because it’s not in his interest to have her in there,” said a prominent Democrat involved in the speakership battle. “It’s certainly not in Cuomo’s political interest to have another left-wing activist along with de Blasio running the city. The sense is that Cuomo wants to see de Blasio defeated on this one, so that he’ll start off as mayor weaker and not stronger, relative to the governor.”
Gov. Cuomo’s spokeswoman Melissa DeRosa said the report is “completely false and ridiculous.”
But the presumptive Council Speaker, Ms. Mark-Viverito, maintained she is confident her coalition of 30 members will hold together. “I’m extremely excited and proud of the coalition that we’ve been able to assemble of council members that have expressed their support for my candidacy,” she told the WSJ. “It’s reflective of the diversity of the city, not only racially and ethnically, but in terms of points of view and political ideology.”
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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One Response
The above article fails to point out that the entire Brooklyn delegation in the City Council have committed themselves to Ms. Viverito. That means the Council members from Boro Park, Wiliamsburgh and Flatbush.