Andrew Friedman

Power to the Chairs?

Much of the press surrounding Christine Quinn's elevation to Speaker of the New York City Council last week has bemoaned the insider-only process by which the Democratic Party bosses in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx essentially choose the Speaker (See the editoial in yesterday's Times City Section, for an example).

I have been puzzled, though, by the fact that the press almost invariably goes on to say that in order to re-establish a more democratic Council, Speaker Quinn should take a suggestion from Citizens Union and give more power to Committee Chairs. While spreading power around in the Council may, in fact, be a good idea, it is odd that nobody seems to be focusing on the fact that some of the main horse trading and negotiating among the bosses occurs precisely over who will Chair which committee. And it is often folks who those bosses control who they want placed in charge of key Council committees.

For example, many people have guessed that Erik Martin Dilan's likely being named to Chair the Housing Committee was a trade to Brooklyn boss Vito Lopez, who has controlled Dilan, and Dilan's father before him, for years. It is hard to imagine why else an inexperienced, twenty-something, who as Tenants and Neighbors Mike Mckey noted last week on the Politicker has been remarkably bad on housing issues, would be given such an important position in the new Council.

Power-sharing seems like a great idea. But it seems important to be mindful about who we are calling for it to be shared among.

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Posted at 8:23 AM, Jan 09, 2006 in Democracy
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