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Woman in the news:
Next Council Speaker
in New York
Is a Doer and a
Trailblazer
By WINNIE HU, NYTimes
on the Web, January 4, 2006
New York City -- When the
Bloomberg administration pushed its plan to build a football stadium on the West
Side of Manhattan in early 2004, the City Council leadership was generally
reluctant to confront the mayor. The exception was one lawmaker,
Christine C. Quinn, who battled the plan every step of the way, marshalling
opposition at a crucial time.
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Ruth
Fremson/The New York Times
Christine
C. Quinn got a warm reception Tuesday at a center for the elderly in
Greenwich Village. |
Today, Ms. Quinn is scheduled to be
elected as the next speaker of the City Council, which would give her a
variety of tools to thwart the initiatives of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg as he
pursues what is expected to be an even more ambitious agenda in his second term.
The ascension of Ms. Quinn, 39, not only confronts the mayor with a
strong-willed opponent with firm convictions, but also one who is welcomed by
the administration as a straightforward adversary unafraid to compromise for the
sake of practical politics. In the process, she will be automatically
propelled to the top rung of New York City politicians. In the past,
speakers have gone on to campaigns for mayor or governor.
But her role as Council speaker is perhaps even more significant on a symbolic
level. As an openly gay woman, she could become a trailblazer for other
gay politicians.
"This has extraordinary significance in its own right: Chris will be the
second most powerful person in the largest city in America," said Matt Foreman,
executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "In terms
of raw political power, the size of the city budget and the Council's powers,
she will become the most powerful openly lesbian or gay official in the
country."
In six years on the Council, Christine Callaghan Quinn has proved to be both a
formidable opponent and ally of the mayor's.
As chairwoman of the Health Committee, she has sponsored legislation to provide
health care benefits to domestic partners and grocery workers over the
objections of Mr. Bloomberg. But she also provided support for his ban on
smoking in most restaurants and bars.
Yesterday, in her first news conference since emerging as the next speaker, Ms.
Quinn, who lives in Chelsea, appeared elated and a bit nervous as reporters and
television cameras followed her around a center for the elderly in Greenwich
Village.
Though short of specifics, Ms. Quinn pledged to promote "an aggressive
legislative agenda" that would revisit the issue of term limits for council
members, which she opposes and the mayor supports. Ms. Quinn said that she
envisioned her role as that of an equal partner with Mr. Bloomberg, adding that
their relationship was "a solid one, a professional one, one where we have
mutual respect."
She takes on a post that has played an increasingly central role in running the
city in recent years, with the departing speaker, Gifford Miller, often blocking
Mr. Bloomberg's initiatives and overriding his vetoes of legislation. Many
expect Ms. Quinn to take an even more active role in shaping policies, though
perhaps by consulting more with the mayor.
"She's a person who's not afraid to stand up for what she believes in," said
George Arzt, who has known Ms. Quinn for more than a decade. Mr. Arzt was
press secretary for Mayor Edward I. Koch. "But she tries to sit down and
reason with you. If not, she will go her own way."
The Council's agenda for the next four years is expected to include efforts to
extend term limits for council members from 8 to 12 years, to develop a waste
disposal plan, and to create new zoning rules for a city bursting with economic
growth and desperate for new housing.
Ms. Quinn, who lives in a rent-stabilized apartment, said that she would seek to
improve the lives of New Yorkers by preserving important social services like
senior centers, among other things.
"I want to be a five-borough speaker who targets the problems and needs that New
Yorkers face every day," she said. "I want the City Council to be a place
that in four years, New Yorkers will look back and say, 'Those people made the
challenges we face easier.' "
Ms. Quinn emerged as a vocal and galvanizing detractor of the stadium as soon as
the plan was unveiled in March 2004, helping to organize the opposition and lend
it legitimacy before others took note of the issue's potency. It was not
until November of that year that the Council speaker, Mr. Miller, spoke out
against the plan.
And through her membership on the Council, she raised major questions about the
planned public financing for the stadium in her district, which includes
Greenwich Village, Chelsea, Clinton, parts of SoHo and Murray Hill.
Despite their differences over the stadium project, Ms. Quinn has already
started to build on her relationship with Mr. Bloomberg. In recent weeks,
as she emerged as the strongest contender for speaker in a crowded field with
six other council members, Ms. Quinn was invited to Gracie Mansion for coffee
with Mr. Bloomberg, mayoral aides said. She happily obliged.
And on Monday, the mayor called to congratulate Ms. Quinn after she received the
support of the powerful Democratic organizations in Queens, the Bronx and
Brooklyn, all but ensuring that she would be elected speaker by a majority vote
of the council members today.
Mr. Bloomberg, who did not get along with the previous speaker, Mr. Miller,
pledged yesterday to work with the Council's new leader.
"I don't agree with her on everything, she doesn't agree with the administration
on everything," Mr. Bloomberg said about Ms. Quinn at a news conference at a
Brooklyn park. "But we'd be happy to work with whoever the City Council
picks."
She entered the political world after meeting Thomas K. Duane, who would be the
city's first openly gay council member, while she was running the Housing
Justice Campaign for the Association of Neighborhood and Housing Development.
She left that job to manage his 1991 campaign.
In the Council, Ms. Quinn's sensitivity has made her popular with other members
and lobbyists, who praise her receptiveness and commitment to issues rather than
adherence to any particular ideology. During hearings, she has not only
teared up with joy but also let out loud belly laughs that make her colleagues
chuckle.
But Ms. Quinn's easygoing, gregarious demeanor can also be deceiving.
Councilman James S. Oddo of Staten Island, the Republican minority leader, said
he has watched with admiration as Ms. Quinn has evolved into a skilled leader
with "a laserlike concentration" since they both started out as Council aides in
the early 1990's.
"She's lived through so many battles, and that provides you with armor for the
battles yet to come," Mr. Oddo said. "She has an institutional memory, and
she's seen the best and the worst of the City Council."
Ms. Quinn, a Long Island native, said that her leadership style would be neither
liberal nor conservative in the traditional sense, but rather pragmatic.
"What I would like to be is effective," she said. "I like to think of
myself as someone who is compassionate, and responsive and effective."
Patrick D. Healy contributed reporting for this article.
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