It’s going to be an interesting few weeks on the New York City Council. Downtown, the wait continues for Alan Gerson to decide whether he’ll contest Margaret Chin’s victory in Tuesday’s Primary. Saying he wanted to “examine questions about the votes reported,” Gerson indicated it could be two weeks before he concedes. Meanwhile, there’s speculation as to whether Christime Quinn will have enough support to continue as Speaker of the Council. The Daily News reports on the first Countil meeting since the election:
The four council members who lost their primary races showed up and received their share of consolation and sympathy—much like members of a reality survival show e getting kicked off the island. “I’m still so physically fatigued (from the election) that nothing else has really sent in,” said Councilman Alan Gerson as other members and Council staffers kept coming up to him to shake hands or offer a bear hug. “I’m not going to go away. I’m still going to be involved in lower Manhattan.” He said his defeat in a five-candidate race to Margaret Chin was the result of a perfect storm of events that included a general low turnout except in the Chinatown portion of his district, lingering divisions within Democratic clubs, some resentment over his support of extending term limits and the presence in the race of Peter Gleason, who cut into Gerson’s base of support. He said he assured Chin—who will be the first Chinese-American to represent the district that includes Chinatown—of a smooth transition once she’s declared the formal winner.
Azi Paybarah of PolitickerNY adds:
Alan Gerson… said his vote to support the term limits extension “probably depressed our vote slightly. I don’t think it was a decisive factor.” He added, “What was more significant than term limits was the unusually low voter turnout in all the areas except Margaret’s stronghold.”
Incidentally, Margaret Chin’s campaign rejects the notion that she was only strong in Chinatown. An analysis of the precinct by precinct results, they say, indicates she performed well all over the district, including in Gerson strongholds on the West Side (more on this later today). As for the Speaker’s future, Chin said yesterday she would decide after talking in-depth with Quinn, whether to support her continued leadership of the Council. Reporters quizzed Quinn about her future yesterday:
Speaker Christine C. Quinn, meanwhile, fielded the expected flood of questions from reporters before the meeting: Were voters still mad about term limits, and is that why they ousted so many members? Was her speakership in danger? She answered each with patience and a touch of humor, but was firm in her insistence that her role as Council leader was not in danger. “I don’t know of any challengers right now,” she said.
On top of concerns about her support of Mayor Bloomberg’s successful drive to extend term limits, there seems to be growing consternation over Quinn’s unwillingness to get behind Democratic Mayoral nominee Bill Thompson. From the Daily News:
…several reliable sources confirmed that there is grumbling that Quinn might face a backlash within her ranks if she doesn’t endorse Thompson in his showdown with Mayor Bloomberg, who is running as a Republican
and Independence Party candidate. “Today, you know, barely a day and a half after the primary I haven’t made any decision on what I’m doing in either of the runoffs or in the mayor’s race,” she repeated. Quinn also wouldn’t say if she is leaving the door open to endorsing Bloomberg, with whom she’s had a close working relationship, including partnering in extending term limits last October and turning the campaign plans of many City Hall incumbents topsy turvy, including her own mayoral-bid effort.
Back downtown, the establishment appears to be coalescing around Margaret Chin. Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who backed Gerson, called Chin to offer his congratulations. A Silver foe, Paul Newell, won the district leader race in Tuesday’s Primary. A bit of context from the Daily News:
After taking on a big target in the form of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver last year and receiving just 23 percent of the vote, Paul Newell scaled back his expectations this fall and managed to score a political
victory of sorts against the powerful Lower East Side lawmaker. Newell won a district leader race in Part C of Silver’s 64th AD against Avram Solomon Turkel, a former aide to Councilman Alan Gerson. Gerson, who was supported by Silver and his club, the Harry S. Truman Democratic Club, endorsed Turkel. Neither was successful on Tuesday. According to Tuesday’s unofficial results, just 1,408 people voted in this DL race. Newell received 934, or 66.34 percent, of the vote. Turkel got 474 votes, 33.66 percent.
District leader Jean Grillo also defeated a Gerson/Silver backed challenger, Noel Jefferson. Both Newell and Grillo were involved in City Council candidate Pete Gleason’s campaign.
