Council's Leading Passers
October 1st, 2007
When it comes to proposing legislation and getting it passed, some City Council members fare better than others. And those on top of the list tend to have powerful committee posts and, many believe, a good relationship with City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.
A Gotham Gazette review by City Hall editor Courtney Gross finds three City Council members from Queens proposed the most legislation, with Peter Vallone number 1, followed by David Weprin and James Gennaro. Most of this legislation goes nowhere only 17 percent of the bills proposed since Quinn became speaker in January 2006 passed.
But dont doubt the mighty Quinn. While Vallone saw 26 percent of the bills he sponsored become law better than average — more than three-quarter of the bills Quinn introduced eventually passed. Quinn may be one member of a 51-person body but she introduced more than one-quarter of all bills that council has passed in the last 21 months.
When she became Speaker, Quinn talked a fair amount about democracy. But that seems largely forgotten. ” The bill doesnt come to the floor without the speakers consent,” Douglas Muzzio, a professor of public affairs at Baruch College, told Gotham Gazette. “Whatever you’re finding under Quinn,” he said, New Yorkers are seeing if not the very same thing, something close to what they saw under previous speakers.
By Gail Robinson on October 1, 2007, 11:35 amIn category: Electoral Politics, Voting
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