Last week, Christine Quinn gave her first State of the City speech, which was generally well received and sparked even more talk about her mayoral prospects. But who exactly wrote it?
According to Council spokesperson Maria Alvarado, it came from outside City Hall.
“The speech was written by Eric Shuffler, who’s done speech writing for Corzine, Codey and Coscia. The Council paid for it.”
Shuffler, who lives in New York, was counselor to former New Jersey Governors Jim McGreevey and Richard Codey, and worked for former Senator Bob Torricelli before that. He’s now a lobbyist.
In the past the Council has had speechwriters on staff. This time, the Council put out a bid for the speech. Shuffler got the job.
— Azi Paybarah