From the Daily News:City Council Speaker Christine Quinn may not have Mayor Bloomberg’s billions, but she does have City Council millions.
As the Manhattan Democrat contemplates her campaign for mayor, she enjoys a political boon that has to make her opponents salivate — millions of dollars in pork that’s hers to hand out like party favors. And hand it out she does — to an Italian-American group in Brooklyn, a Hispanic center in the Bronx and an AIDS task force on Staten Island.
Like all Council members, Quinn has a pot of discretionary money to fund local concerns in her district, such as senior centers or nearby museums. But as Council speaker, she also controls a huge stash of $15.7 million that she can spread to groups around the city.
Sharing the wealth is part of her job as speaker, but as she plans to run for mayor next year, she’ll be able to boast of bringing home bacon to people far beyond her Chelsea apartment.
“Having tens of millions of dollars available to distribute to Council members and their constituents translates to votes,” said Baruch College political scientist Doug Muzzio. “It gives her an advantage, a significant advantage, as a matter of fact. The money helps her win support for legislative initiatives among Council members and also raises her profile among voters.”
Quinn spokesman Jamie McShane said the speaker doesn’t factor politics into funding decisions.
1 comment:
Meanwhile we in District 19 some of the highest if not highest taxes and yet we are 5th from the bottom in funding.
I say we march in Quinns neighborhood and let her know she sucks.
Or Licks,
Or whatever she needs to know we have had enough and we will not vote for her as mayor.
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