Brooklyn’s Council members scored well Wednesday in assignments to committees in the city Council under the leadership of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito.
As We reported earlier today, The Speaker and the City Council’s Rules Committee Chairman Brad Lander announced the appointments of Borough Park councilman David Greenfield as the chairman of the coveted Land Use Committee and Flatbush freshman Chaim Deutsch as chairperson of the Education sub-committee on non-public schools.
Deutsch benefited from his early support for Ms. Mark-Viverito, when he aligned himself with the Progressive Caucus long before his Brooklyn colleagues jumped on board. While it didn’t pay off with any chairmanships, Deutsch was appointed to the public safety committee and got himself to a new subcommittee on non-public schools where he is its only member, as of now.
Greenfield, who served as the middleman between mayor de Blasio and the Brooklyn County, got awarded with the highly influential Lands Use Committee, adding an additional $15K to his yearly paycheck.
Even the tiny three-member Republican Caucus managed to hold official titles in the Council under Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Minority Leader Vincent Ignizio (R-SI) will serve on the powerful Rules Committee and leadership team. Freshman Staten Island Councilman Steven Matteo will be his caucus’ minority whip. He’ll take over ranks from Queens Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich, who was named chairman of the Veterans Committee. Ulrich is the first Republican to chair a committee in the Council, due to the fact that he backed Mark-Viverito in the Speaker’s race.
But there were some disappointed members in the City Council today, all of them councilmembers who opposed Melissa Mark-Viverito’s campaign for speaker.
Councilwoman Annabel Palma of the Bronx, who previously chaired the council’s General Welfare Committee, got her chairmanship stripped and replaced by Williamsburg councilman Stephen Levin, a key supporter of the new speaker.
“It’s clear that there is retribution, there is punishment,” Palma, who was one of the last, and loudest, opponents of Mark-Viverito’s campaign and a last minute supporter of Dan Garodnick , told Capital New York. “You have the highest-ranking Latina in the Council, the second most senior member, a 10-year member, you read between the lines.”
Councilwoman Rosie Mendez of Manhattan, also a supporter of Garodnick, lost her post as chair of the council’s Public Housing Committee. “I’m disappointed I don’t get to chair something, but that’s life, we’re adults,” she told Capital New York.
Rory Lancman, a freshman councilman from Queens who also aligned with his county leader in opposing Mark-Viverito’s bid for speaker, did not receive a chairmanship. He told Capital NY he “can’t say” if his support for Garodnick played a role, but added, “many who supported Dan [Garodnick] did get committees.”
Following the city council’s stated meeting this afternoon, Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito answered questions from the press. Among the topics: whether there was political retribution against some council members who did not support her speaker bid and rules reform and the “lulu” system of additional payments to council members.
Watch the following video of the Q&A, courtesy of NY True’s John Kenny:
(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)
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3 Responses
Whoever heard of a “committee” with only one member?!? Is that some sort of joke? It sounds like it was the shrayim after nothing else was left over. It has little use when you’re banging the gravel there is no one else to listen to it being pounded.
Once again, Mr. Kornbluh, you have stretched reality and the truth. You state, that Councilman Deutsch aligned himself with the Progressive Caucus. You and I and eveyone else know that Councilman Deutsch did not and is not, aligned with the Progressive Caucus.
Why do you imply untruths?
Mr. Kornbluh, what is your agenda? Do you think that someone else’s stature is enhanced when you attempt to present untruths?
To #1- Mr. Doc
You are falling for the manipulation of the author of this article. He knows quite well, that a sub-committee, which is what Mr. Deutsch was named Chairman of, gets its members from the larger committee (Education). The Education Committee’s members were just named today.No sub-committee has its members yet, until the full committee meets.
Mr. Kornbluh, (to his shame)is trying to diminish Mr. Deutch’s appointment to a totally new sub-committee, which will totally focus on non-public school students (yeshivas. This will only help the assistance yeshivas receive in the city council.