Speaker Christine Quinn purportedly stopped doling out slush fund money earlier in the year, but that doesn't mean there aren't other funds she can tap. A woman that started off as a good progressive a few years ago, Quinn has become part of the problem at City Hall and with Bloomberg at her side she's gotten even worse. The latest revelation of political favoritism is sadly unsurprising.
From The NY Post:
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has quietly been rewarding her political allies by allowing a handful of loyal lawmakers to bolster their legislative staffs with funding from her own budget, The Post has learned.[..]Every member of the council has an equal budget of $277,300 a year, with committee chairs getting an additional $40,000, to pay staff and manage an office.
But since she became speaker in 2006, Quinn has given 18 additional staffers to 14 council members including one to her own district office - from the central budget, for reasons her staff would not explain to The Post.
It isn't hard to deduce that having more staff makes things easier for the Council Members getting them. Whether the staffers work on legislation or do extra constituent service, it is a boon to any CMs that receive the extra salary expense. Quinn's explanation for it though, is far from satisfactory.
Quinn's spokeswoman, Maria Alvarado, said, "Ultimately, all staff members work for the institution of the City Council, as directed by the speaker. At times, central staff has been assigned to work with certain council members or on a legislative committee."
Alvarado can B.S. us all she wants, but anyone with at least an ounce of common sense can see through that weak excuse. Even though her predecessor engaged in the same activity, that does not make it right. New Yorkers deserve more, but Quinn's record shows she isn't willing to run an honest City Council.
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