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| Melinda Katz
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It’s not the race for mayor, that knock-down drag-out political fight that eats up all the media oxygen, but the race for Speaker of the City Council that is slowly heating up in the political shadows.
While the mayor oversees a behemoth city government and controls appointments to influential city agencies, it is the Speaker who controls legislative committees and often commands the votes to override a mayoral veto.
Since 2001, when 38 freshman lawmakers joined the 51-member City Council, they banded together under Council Speaker Giff Miller (D-Manhattan) to override the Mayor 27 times - providing both a check on mayoral authority and a powerful platform for an ambitious politician.
As Miller now faces term limits and builds up for a run at the mayor’s office, six contenders have quietly begun vying for his post. For Queens, this insider battle holds particular interest - three of the six contenders hail from this borough.
‘Unlike 2001’
The next speaker will be chosen from a class that, except for six new members, has gotten to know each other well over the last four years. A seventh freshman lawmaker may join should Councilwoman Eva Moskowitz run for Manhattan Borough President.
Many political onlookers point to that group cohesion as one factor that separates that this year’s race is very different from previous speaker battles.
“In 2001, you had so many seats that were open,” explained the chief of staff to a Queens council member not involved in the race. “[Miller] actually chose horses in the primary, at a time when a contribution of however much made a difference.”
The six most talked about successors to Gifford Miller, who will be term-limited out of office, include Melinda Katz (D-Forest Hills), David Weprin (D-Hollis) and Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans). Perhaps not coincidentally, these three ambitious lawmakers also represent three of the most coveted - and potentially lucrative - committee chairmanships in the Council: Land Use, Finance and Rules, respectively.
Also vying for the speaker’s post are Health Committee Chairwoman Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan), General Welfare Committee Chairman Bill De Blasio and Youth Services Committee Chairman Lew Fidler, both from Brooklyn.
The amount of money donated to fellow or potential council members is one indicator of how these six compare as candidates for speaker, a metric that has had some correlation to the victor in the past.
Katz, who leads the pack in money raised ($321,884) and money contributed to colleagues ($8,050), readily admits that the current race for Speaker is different from the one in 2001. “Everybody knows each other pretty much at this point, unlike when we picked a speaker in 2001,” she said in a telephone interview this week.
Things may have changed, but a lead in fundraising and contributions to her peers certainly can’t hurt her campaign.
‘A Better Candidate’
Weprin, who has raised $181,294 and has $20,701 available in matching funds, has doled out some $4,500 to his council friends, including a $1,000 contribution to Councilman James Gennaro (D-Fresh Meadows). He also doled out another $1,000 to Brooklyn’s Kendal Stewart and $500 to Helen Diane Foster (D-Bronx).
Comrie, the head of the Queens Council delegation, has not opened his wallet to as many people - which may be because he has less money on hand than his rivals. Comrie has raised $63,359 with $26,318 available in matching funds. In fact, according to the Campaign Finance Board, he’s only given a single $1,000 gift, to Gifford Miller, so far.
After hosting nearly 300 people at his campaign kick-off party in Antun’s last month, however, Comrie confirmed that his eyes are set on the Speaker’s seat. As supporters jostled one another to shake hands and be photographed with Comrie, he explained that becoming Speaker is “clearly something I’m going to work in a positive manner to obtain.”
“Money won’t be as important as it was to Gifford,” said one Comrie aide at the event. “For us, it’s really showing everyone we are the best candidates...We know the people who deal with the council on a daily basis. We can bring people to the table.
“We’re not abrasive,” the aide said. “We’re not heavy handed. [Comrie] is a unifying member.”
Magic Number 26
With money a less important commodity in this upcoming Speaker’s race, where everybody already knows everyone almost intimately, political insiders like Parkside Group’s Evan Stavisky believe old-fashioned friendship may do the trick.
“Chairman [Thomas] Manton and the Queens County Democratic Organization will be in the drivers’ seat in 2006, the same way they’re were in 2002,” said Stavisky.
“The Queens delegation will be, in all likelihood, very instrumental,” he added, “because Tom Manton is a strong leader of the county organization and because he’s well-respected by the members of the county delegation.”
Queens’ 14-member delegation forms the second largest delegation in the City Council - with at least the appearance of relative unity in their ranks.
The 16-member Brooklyn crew, on the other hand, ousted Fidler in 2003 as its leader, and then split the post between De Blasio and Al Vann. At the time, it was reported in one Brooklyn paper that De Blasio and Vann together had eight votes, and Fidler “released” his seven when the outcome seemed inevitable.
With two speaker candidates coming from both sides of the divided Brooklyn delegation, Queens’ 14 members might be that much closer to achieving a simple majority of 26 votes if any sort of unity can be achieved.
Another factor in the Speaker race, which everyone acknowledges, is the race mayor.
Of the four Democrats running for mayor, three represent different boroughs. A Democratic victor in the mayoral campaign will, in turn, wield considerable power that might impact that borough’s council delegation.
Such an outcome will be “a greater impact on the race than if Bloomberg gets re-elected,” said Stavisky.
Stavisky declined to handicap the race so far, suggesting instead that those who predict with any certainty who will emerge as Speaker “should probably be working in the stocks or at the race track rather than in politics.”
“The only thing that is certain,” he said, “is this race will come down to the wire.” |
