County Democratic leaders have begun making calls on behalf of Christine Quinn’s bid for City Council Speaker, people close to the race tell The Politicker.
“It’s pretty much signed, sealed, and delivered,” said Leroy Comrie of Queens, who confirmed that his county leader, Tom Manton, is backing Christine Quinn of Manhattan. Meanwhile, Brooklyn leader Vito Lopez has been calling his members to rally around Chris, another Council Member said.
This means a couple of things. For one, Bloomberg’s new foil New York is an out lesbian from the Village. (And she’s the one City Hall apparently preferred.)
Second, the role of old-style county political organizations remains robust. The bottom line, one close observer told The Politicker, was that “two major players didn’t trust de Blasio at all: Manton and Lopez.” So, like Gifford Miller, Chris starts off in debt to the machines.
Here’s a quick outline of the deals, according to one smart insider: “Queens keeps chairmanships. Katz gets support for Queens BP. [The only deal in relation to Brooklyn so far is] to take care of Vito’s 5 votes.”
“This is an extension of Millerism,” griped Charles Barron, the Brooklyn radical who supported de Blasio (and who added that he still holds out hope for his candidate). “Alliances with the real estate industry and allegiance to Queens. Quinn will not be independent from Queens just like Miller wasn’t, and to me that’s disgusting.”
Finally, it’s worthy of note how rapidly the new, old-school Brooklyn boss, Vito Lopez, has turned himself into a player and revived his borough’s moribund organization. For better or for worse.
UPDATE: No sooner did this go up than two insiders with 718 phone numbers called to question the notion that Melinda Katz gets anything out of this. Apparently, she angered some in Queens County by trying to make her own deal with the Bronx. More deal details, meanwhile: Queens keeps its key committee chairs, as does the Bronx; while Brooklyn fills important open seats, notably education.
DEPT. OF CREDIT: New York Press’s Azi reported the Queens decision yesterday.
