Quinn Gets Questioned at Crain's (UPDATE)
May 20th, 2008
For nearly half of City Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s Crain’s breakfast forum this morning, the dominant subject was none other than the council’s budget scandal — despite a concerted effort by her office to mask promote the event as a declaration of her educational priorities.
While the speaker’s address — which lasted about a third of the entire forum — stuck to issues of mayoral control and the Department of Education’s budget priorities, a question and answer period led by the Post’s Dave Seifman and Crain’s Greg David was monopolized by the slush fund scandal and whether or not the speaker would support banning member item funding of groups affiliated with family members.
(To try to navigate your own way through the council’s budget process, check out our new game: The Budget Maze).
She tip-toed around whether she would support such a measure, which is reportedly being introduced by Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr.
“I may agree with my colleagues,” she said. “I may not agree with my colleagues.”
What could be an example of divine intervention or maybe just perfect timing, just as Quinn was explaining her non-position on the bill, a cacophony of drilling from beneath the ballroom drowned out her answer. “Thank you for whoever is running the electrical system,” Quinn quipped in response to the noise.
She later reiterated her position — which is she won’t have one until the bill is debated in the council.
Quinn did somewhat defend her members earlier in the session, saying the council had not acted inappropriately by funding groups who were affiliated with family members or former staff members. The city’s Conflict of Interest Board restricts the council in only two ways: by requiring disclosure of conflicts and ensuring funding does not go to pay any family member’s salary.
By Courtney Gross on May 20, 2008, 11:14 amIn category: Gotham City
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May 20th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Quinn really has to go (As do many in the council). The state of city politics is quite sad.