City Council Speaker is an extremely powerful position that can help shape a political era in New York City. errollouis writes that the intense, behind-the-scenes jockeying for the job is taking place right now
Photo: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg via Getty Images One of the most powerful positions in city government will not appear on the ballot next Tuesday. But the next Speaker of the City Council will have more impact on the lives of New Yorkers than almost any official except the mayor.
The stakes are high, thanks to a city charter that vests an enormous amount of power in the council — particularly when it comes to spending New York’s $100 billion municipal budget and making zoning and land-use decisions that can create, kill, or transform entire neighborhoods. Far from being merely first among equals in the body, the Speaker names the members and chairs of all council committees; controls which bills make it to the floor for a vote; and hires the central staff of lawyers, planners, and administrators who are crucial to the process of drafting and considering legislation.
Gifford Miller, elevated to Speaker at the tender age of 32, worked with Mayor Bloomberg to raise taxes and slash billions from the city budget in the fraught months following 9/11, when thousands of city workers were laid off and service reductions included the closing of six firehouses . Being the Council Speaker confers a high level of raw power and influence — so high, in fact, that every Speaker of the modern era has gone on to run for higher office, although none have succeeded. That hasn’t stopped this season’s crop of hopefuls for striving mightily for the job.
Eric Adams recently told me that he intends to stay out of the Speaker sweepstakes — but it’s unclear whether he will stick with that plan if, as expected, he is elected mayor. It’s safe to assume that the caucusing that will dominate city politics in the coming weeks will include the mayor-elect, party chairpeople interested in restoring some of their power, and newly elected councilmembers, especially younger progressives who ran against their party organizations.
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