Seeking to fill a position that has been vacant since summer, the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, will ask the council to confirm Hector Diaz as city clerk.

The city clerk’s duties relate largely to record keeping, such as issuing marriage licenses and recording transcripts of council meetings. The role of clerks in approving marriages made headlines in 2004, when mayors Gavin Newsom of San Francisco and Jason West of New Paltz, N.Y., defied state and federal laws by directing clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Given its $174,399 salary, the position should be considered a “plum patronage job,” according to the executive director of Citizens Union, Dick Dadey. However, under a recently passed law, the clerk now runs the Lobbying Bureau, which registers, monitors, and reports on lobbyists’ activities in the city. New lobbying laws took effect last year, giving the clerk’s office greater enforcement power and responsibilities. The previous clerk, Victor Robles, had held the position since 2001. Mr. Diaz has been the Bronx County clerk since 1996 and previously served in the state Assembly.

Mr. Dadey, whose organization monitors government performance, said that he did not think the council should be entrusted with appointing the clerk, given that his job is now to monitor their ties to lobbyists. “His oversight is more over the lobbyists who lobby City Council, but nonetheless, the enforcement of the laws affecting the council will be keenly watched,” Mr. Dadey said.