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In Wake of Council Scandal, Quinn Offers New Rules

May 8, 2008

The speaker of the City Council, Christine Quinn, is attempting to cast herself as a reformer at City Hall by announcing extensive new rules to govern the council’s budget process amid a growing slush fund scandal.

The rules call for local organizations to meet a host of requirements before they are included in the city’s budget, including demonstrating that they have the ability and experience to deliver the services they say they will with public funding.

The changes do not include an earlier proposal by Ms. Quinn to give control over the allocation of certain funds to mayoral officials, which had been widely denounced by council members. Frustration with Ms. Quinn’s handling of the scandal had grown so great among some members that there had been talk about the possibility of her ouster and inquiries from members about how to go about removing a sitting speaker from office, according to council sources.

Yesterday, she appeared to have a solid grip on her seat, appearing with about 20 council members to present the new rules, which will govern some $200 million in council funding.

“We want to do everything we can between now and the end of June to restore New Yorkers’ faith that their tax dollars, when they go to fund community-based organizations, are going to fund legitimate organizations that are doing the important work New Yorkers need them to do,” she said.

All organizations seeking funding and council members attempting to secure funding for local initiatives also will be required to sign conflict of interest statements.

The council plans to appoint an independent compliance officer to make sure the rules are followed and all information submitted by local groups and council members will be placed on a searchable Web site.

Ms. Quinn has come under fire in recent weeks after the disclosure that the council stashed millions of dollars behind fictitious organizations in the city’s budget. The budget practice has triggered a flurry of news reports examining the disbursement of council funds and the organizations that have received public money earmarked by council members.

New Yorkers have indicated that they do not believe Ms. Quinn and Mayor Bloomberg’s statements that they did not know about the budget practice. Fifty-two percent of New York voters surveyed by Quinnipiac University said the speaker knew the practice was going on and 46% said the mayor knew as well, according to a poll released yesterday.

Source: NY Sun Read the complete article here

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Written by NY Politics · Filed Under News 

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