With the citywide elections over last week, two returning City Council Members from Brooklyn and two newly elected Brooklyn City Council Members weighed in on the race to lead the next City Council as its speaker and replace term-limited Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
The eight current City Council Members vying to become Speaker include two Brooklyn members, Robert Cornegy Jr. (D-Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights) and Jumaane Williams (D-Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood) along with Council Members Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx), Donovan Richards Jr. (D-Queens), Ydanis Rodriguez D-Manhattan), Corey Johnson (D-Manhattan), Mark Levine (D-Manhattan) and Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens).
“What I am looking for in the new speaker is a someone who will at least have as a main priority the institution of the council, and maintain our legislative authority in assuring the council in the long-term will retain some of the power it has accrued over the last couple of decades,” said City Council Speaker Stephen Levin (D-Northern Brooklyn, Boerum Hill), who said he has sat down with all eight of the candidates seeking the position.
“One thing is because of the city charter we are not one of the strongest legislative bodies visa the executive [branch]. We have limited legislative authority so often times we have to work within the parameters curtailed by the executive or preempted by state law. So its important the next speaker really try to maintain that active role the council has developed,” he added.
When asked if he expected Mayor Bill de Blasio, who played a major role in getting Mark-Viverito as speaker four year ago, will play a major role again this year, Levin said he expected the mayor, who has to work with the council, will have an interest in how the council is led in the next four years.
“Four years is not a terribly long period of time in the institution so you want to make sure one, that the speaker is kind of steward of the body, and two, you want to make sure they are responsible in managing it,” said Levin.
Levin said he has no strong allegiance to going with either Cornegy or Williams just to get a Brooklyn speaker, but that all the candidates, including Cornegy and Williams, bring special skills to the table.
City Council Member Rafael Espinal (D-Bushwick, East New York, Cypress Hills) said he too has spoken to all eight candidates about the position. “I think the field is still wide open and we still a few weeks to go. Things will start to get interesting now that we know what the 51-member body looks like,” he said.
Espinal also said he wasn’t sure who newly-elected City Councilman Bob Holden (R-Queens) will caucus with – the Democrats or the Republicans, but noted that anytime there is a caucus of three or more members in the council it becomes a block and could play a tie-breaker role in helping decide who beocmes the next speaker.
The current three Republican Council Members are Stephen Matteo and Joseph Borelli, both representing Staten Island and Eric Ulrich (R-Queens). Holden changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican in his recent close and currently contested victory over City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley. This publication did not reach out to Holden to find out who he plans to caucus with at post time.
City Council Member-elect Alicka Ampry-Samuel (D-Brownsville, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, East Flatbush) said she has no particular favorite or particular stance on any one candidate, but that she is listening to all of their [candidates] arguments and that it is too early for her to throw her support behind anyone.
The next speaker should be fair when it comes down to committees and across the board, and to exemplify strong leadership, taking into account the lack of women and representation at the city council level, said Ampry-Samuel.
Ampry-Samuel said it was news to her that there is any particular push to have the next speaker come from Brooklyn.
City Council Member-elect Justin Brannan (D-Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst, Bath Beach) said every declared candidate for the speaker position has reached out to him.
“We need a speaker willing to put aside personal positions and personal ambition and focus on working with the entire body to ensure that our voices are heard and considered,” said Brannan.
– Kelly Mena Contributed to this story
