Whoa, here she comes

From the Politicker:

Manhattan Councilman Dan Garodnick has officially conceded the speaker’s race to his rival, Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Three weeks after Ms. Mark-Viverito declared victory and half an hour after the vote was set to take place, Mr. Garodnick released a statement throwing his support behind her.

“Today, that process comes to a conclusion, and in the spirit of strengthening the council, which animated my candidacy from the start, I now formally concede to the next speaker of the City Council, my colleague Melissa Mark-Viverito,” he said.

“I look forward to working with Speaker Mark-Viverito and to helping her to ensure that we can deliver a sound and responsible government for all New Yorkers,” he added. “I will do my part to resolve any rifts this process may have caused among our colleagues and am here to take any steps necessary to help move forward together.”

I wonder how the council members must have felt to have a candidate run unopposed.

From the Politicker:

Melissa Mark-Viverito held her first press conference as speaker of the City Council speaker this afternoon, where she brushed aside questions about her independence from the mayor and vowed to battle him on the front of member items.

“Those who continue to say that don’t know my track record of independence and a trajectory personally,” said Ms. Mark-Viverito in response to one reporter’s question on the topic. “We are a unified City Council. It’s gonna be a collective body, we’re gonna make decisions on the direction we want to go in.”

Clad in a white jacket and flanked by many of her long-standing backers, Ms. Mark-Viverito tried to demonstrate she would be an effective counterweight to Mayor Bill de Blasio–who played a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in her ascension to the speakership–by noting her disagreements with him in the past.

“I have differences with the mayor … on many issues, including the five-borough taxi plan, the soda plan, discretionary allocations,” she said, ticking off policies. “I have a consistent record of being able to be very vocal on positions that I, when I arrive at a decision, and now decisions will be made collectively obviously with my colleagues and I will express that.”

In her first time in front of the city’s large press corps as speaker, Ms. Mark-Viverito was cautious. She often spoke in generalizations and, unlike her predecessor or Mr. de Blasio, declined to call on reporters herself, delegating a press aide to do so. She also refused to delve into specifics about her legislative agenda, other than to express objections to the mayor’s plan to eliminate the ability of council members to dole out discretionary funds, abused in the past by corrupt members.

So tweeding is here to stay. Got it.