Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Quinn And Avella Get "Perfect Attendance" But Quinn Deserves An Asterisk

This morning, before the dire M.T.A. news crowded everything out, it was reported that out of fifty-one Council Members, only two, Tony Avella and Chris Quinn, had perfect attendance. Now attendance is an ambiguous term. In this context, it refers to actual votes.

From The NY Daily News:

Only two members had 100% records - Tony Avella (D-Queens) and Council Speaker Christine Quinn (D-Manhattan).

Avella, the Council's maverick and underdog candidate for mayor, made it to all 135 of his assigned meetings and sessions.

Quinn attends full sessions only - and those committee meetings where she wants to spotlight an issue. She attended 38 meetings and sessions.

Council posts are technically part-time, although only a few members hold other jobs.

For part-time jobs, all CM's make very nice money and then some when they awarded the sweetest "lulus." Quinn of course gets the biggest stipend as she is Council Speaker, but that is beside the point.

Quinn has attended all full sessions, but when the serious issues are up for debate, she is nowhere to be found, especially during the short public comment periods that she allows for. Case in point, during the term limits extension Quinn was the guiding force for ramming the bill through the Council, but she was absent when voters came to voice their opposition to the bill. So while this set of criteria gives Quinn an A+, when it truly matters her grade drops to something like a D-.