City Hall Dispatch: The big winner?
Photo from DMI via Flickr
The pieces are still falling from slush-fund gate but the person who may benefit the most from this is borough president Scott Stringer.
Before all of this went down, good money would have gone to council Speaker Christine Quinn becoming the next mayor. But fairly or not, the fallout from all of this has taken away the primary reason for a Quinn candidacy--that she was a reformer, especially around budget matters.
But Manhattan pols will not be dissuaded so easily, which brings us to Stringer. Unlike every other major elected official in the city, Stringer won't be termed out in '09. He will however, be termed out in 2013, when all the other plum spots--mayor, comptroller, public advocate--will be held by an incumbent. Thus, even though he is in a safe seat, he's itching to get out of it so he doesn't have to get a real job in 2013.
For a while, speculation had focused around a race for public advocate
But with Quinn's prospects diminishing by the day, Stringer is looking more and more like someone who has set his sights a little higher:
As per The Daily Politics:
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer sounded awfully like a candidate for citywide office while chatting with WNBC's Jay DeDapper in this Sunday's News Forum interview and refused to rule out any options for 2009 - including the mayor's race...
Stringer explained his early support of congestion pricing by saying the city is facing a "transportation crisis" and "health issue" that spans all five boroughs...Stringer, one of the few electeds in the city not facing term-limts in 2009, has been speculated to be considering a run for public advocate. But he told DeDapper that "we're keeping all our options open," adding that he hopes the next round of city elections focus on "specific issues."
"And we have to have a big and bold initiative and that's up to elected officials to realize that they may not satisfy their constituency today, but they're building a legacy and a New York for tomorrow and that is how I'm going to judge what I do and what other people should do in 2009."
---David Freedlander
