Maneuvering Starts to Succeed Miller as Speaker
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With the tenure of the City Council speaker, Gifford Miller, ending next year, several of his colleagues have begun positioning themselves to take over his job, one of the most visible public offices in the city.
More than a half-dozen names of council Democrats have been floating around City Hall as potential replacements to Mr. Miller, 35, who is being forced out by term limits and is planning to challenge Mayor Bloomberg next year.
Most of the possible candidates are reluctant to declare their intentions bluntly. They have, however, acknowledged, albeit in delicately chosen words, that they are interested, and they have started gauging support through private conversations with colleagues.
“I’m interested in exploring the option,” Council Member Christine Quinn of Manhattan said. Several sources predict Ms. Quinn will be one of the front-runners when the vote nears after the 2005 citywide elections.
“If there are people within the council who have confidence in me, I would be gratified, but it’s still early,” Ms. Quinn said.
Even without definitive declarations, there are several hard-to-miss signs when council members are eyeing higher office, especially when the position is head of their own 51-member legislature.
They make regular public appearances outside their district. They actively support other council members’ re-election bids by donating or by helping with campaigns. Those activities allow them to court support and position themselves as leaders.
Those on the shortlist to be the next “Giff,” as some at City Hall call Mr. Miller, all seem to fit that mold, some more than others. Many have contributed to their colleagues’ races and to the Democratic candidates in other key elections.
Ms. Quinn gave contributions to the campaigns of council colleagues John Liu in Queens, Letitia James in Brooklyn, Annabel Palma in the Bronx, and others. Bill de Blasio, co-leader of the Brooklyn council delegation and another probable front-runner, helped Ms. James as well as Jose Serrano, a Bronx council member elected last week to the State Senate.
“Anyone who wants to play a leadership role in the council needs to do it both governmentally and politically,” Mr. de Blasio said. “That means working with colleagues to pass legislation, and helping elect Democrats by putting your time and energy where your mouth is.” When asked whether he planned to run, Mr. de Blasio said he would like to “play an even bigger leadership role” once the new council is in place.
Lewis Fidler, another council member from Brooklyn, said that he, too, was interested in the job. When asked whether he would be able to overcome being ousted last year as his delegation’s leader by Mr. de Blasio and Council Member Albert Vann, who are now co-leaders, he answered confidently.
“This is the kind of race that’s like a marathon,” Mr. Fidler said, explaining that relationships and credibility within the council are essential for anyone serious about being speaker.
“Anyone who is attracted to government wants to have their voice heard most loudly,” Mr. Fidler said. “Leading a body of 51 public servants is a very strong calling.”
A former council member, Kenneth Fisher, said that while it is too early to handicap the race, the “leadership fight for the next speaker” started quietly long ago. In 2001, 36 of the 51 council members were forced to retire be cause of new laws on term limits, which swept in a large crop of new faces. “It’s the effect of term limits. Everyone has to look ahead,” Mr. Fisher, a lawyer from Brooklyn, said.
In addition to Ms. Quinn and Messrs. de Blasio, Fidler, and Vann, other council members who are named in almost all conversations about the race include Melinda Katz, Leroy Comrie, and David Weprin, all of Queens, and Joel Rivera of the Bronx.
Though New York’s City Council doesn’t have awesome power, it does pass local law. Its agenda is shaped by the speaker, who is generally at the center of the limelight when anything particularly significant happens at the council.
In the past, winning the 26-vote majority needed to secure the office has proven to be politically tricky. In 2002, Mr. Miller edged out his opponent, Angel Rodriguez, who later pleaded guilty to bribery charges, when he brokered a deal with the Bronx and the entire Queens delegation.
Council members from Queens were rewarded with plum committee chairmanships, which gives them higher salaries, higher visibility, more power, and more campaign contributions. Others from the county party were hired to work in Mr. Miller’s office. The speaker also created Council 2001, which raised money through his wealthy district on the Upper East Side and made donations to council campaigns across the city. Once those council members were elected, their votes were his.
If the council delegation from Queens unifies and delivers all 14 of its votes to one candidate again this year, then it can expect to keep those coveted positions.
Since Queens has several of its own strong contenders for speaker, its powerful Democratic Party boss, Thomas Manton, could anoint one of them the candidate. Some said that Queens could, however, simply decide to back a candidate from another borough, as a strategy for keeping its coveted positions.
Brooklyn, the largest delegation, has been splintered in the past, preventing it from getting one of its own candidates in the top position on the council. Brooklyn contenders insisted they don’t expect that to preclude one of their number from winning the prize.
If the past is any indication of what to expect, the politics of this speaker’s race will be intense.
In 1986, in the only previous contested race for speaker – before then, the city’s voters chose a City Council president – Peter Vallone Sr. saw his election coalesce at the last moment. He won by one vote when Robert Dryfoos, a Manhattan council member, defected from the candidate his delegation was backing, Sam Horwitz of Brooklyn, to back Mr. Vallone. Several sources said they expected the current crowded field to thin out as alliances are formed.
Mr. Vallone said any candidate for speaker needs to have three qualities: ability, seniority, and geographic clout. And, he said, even though the election won’t take place until January 2006, laying the groundwork for higher office is crucial.
“It’s like anything else. If you want to prepare for higher office you have to establish your record,” Mr. Vallone, whose son, Peter Jr., is on the council, said.
“If you have council members hopping between events that is a sign,” he said. “You are not going to become speaker by sitting back.”