The Outer Boroughs, the Council Speakership and Old Lollipops
The Brooklyn Courier ran an article earlier this week on the race to succeed City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who will be term-limited in 2009. I didn’t see the article online, but a reader faxed me a copy of it, which gives (of course) special prominence to the Brooklyn candidates for the job, including Sara Gonzalez, Vincent Gentile and Leticia James.
But there are other candidates worth acknowledging, like Dan Garodnick and likely incoming member Denny Farrell, both of Manhattan.
Gonzalez’s spokesman Michael Schweinsburg makes the most colorful argument for considering a non-Manhattan candidate for the speaker’s job.
From the article:
“They [other boroughs] have licked on their lollipop too many times, so enough is enough already.”
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Sara Gonzalez?
Letica James?
If we continue the lollipop analogy used by the spokesperson for Councilmember Sara Gonzalez, to describe other boroughs that have produced City Council Speakers, I would simply respond that you would have to be a complete sucker to believe that Council Member Gonzalez could ever become the next Council Speaker.
Seniority alone is no justification. Indeed, the only reason she even has seniority is because she completed her mentor’s term, the disgraced Angel Rodriguez, after he was convicted and sentenced for shaking down a waterfront developer. In the spirit of full disclosure, I ran against Gonzalez in 2005 and even as an incumbent she failed to get even 50 percent of the vote.
Additionally, Gonzalez has only recently found her way to City Hall. The NY Post cited her a few years ago for having the worst City Council attendance record. Disturbingly, Speaker Quinn elevated her sub-committee, Juvenile Justice, to a full committee, raising her lulus but not her productivity. The committee barely meets and has not produced any significant legislation or reports.
In this latest reelection campaign, she has raised eyebrows and thousands of dollars from developers (while constituents in the district fight for a rezoning to stop displacement and gentrification), a pro-landlord group and the owner of an energy company that wants to build additional power plants on the already congested and infested Sunset Park waterfront. God only knows what she's getting from the Mayor or Quinn for voting for congestion pricing.
Gonzalez may get another term on the Council, but she will not satisfy her sweet tooth. She should look for another Candy Store.
David Galarza