NY City Council Speaker Christine Quinn Falls in Line, Yet Again, with CEO Mayor Bloomberg

Christine Quinn, yet again, shows her true colors.

On Sunday, as anticipated, NY City Council Speaker Quinn announced her support for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s plan to install himself – and by default, the rest of the two term City Council Members – in office for a third term overturning voted-in term limits.

Of course, anyone who’s followed Washington Square Park for the last four years was given a preview of how Council Member Quinn would do exactly Mayor Bloomberg’s bidding. Christine Quinn overrode the legitimate concerns of her constituents and New Yorkers who overwhelmingly contacted her office asking her to step in and help preserve the character and integrity of this beloved Park and public space — which Mayor Bloomberg was so set on bulldozing.  To no avail.

The New York Times often references that, under Christine Quinn’s leadership, this NY City Council rarely goes against the Mayor’s wishes.

And in the article “Speaker Pledges Support, but Mayor Needs More” in today’s Times:

The [Mayor’s overturning term limits] campaign, which has drawn sharp rebukes from a collection of grass-roots groups, has reinforced Mr. Bloomberg’s image as a sometimes imperious leader who may be in sync with a world of business executives but less attuned to the attitudes of ordinary New Yorkers.

Mr. Bloomberg, in organizing his campaign to extend his time in office, relied heavily on the counsel of wealthy business leaders and struck a deal with another billionaire, Ronald S. Lauder, whom he viewed as the major obstacle to his plan. And in a sign of just how confident he was, he flew to Europe last week, primarily for a series of events highlighting his international reputation as a titan of commerce.

But while he was away, an intensifying chorus of opponents began to mobilize at home, setting up Web sites, drafting opposing legislation and organizing protests against the plan as an end-run around the will of city voters by the city’s elite.

“People just don’t like the idea that one billionaire, or two billionaires, can treat democracy like a product that can be bought and sold,” said Dan Cantor, the president of the Working Families Party, which has started a campaign against rewriting the law.

Quinn’s actions are perhaps more troubling than Mayor Bloomberg’s. He is, after all, someone who came to his office by way of being a CEO of a corporation. A place in which his workers had to do as he said no matter what. He is a multi-billionaire who spent $160 million to get elected and stay elected in two campaigns. The way he relates to people and our city is remarkably different than the rest of New York. He is all too familiar with convincing publications like the New York Times and fellow billionaires like Ronald Lauder why it makes sense for them to fall in line. This is a great thing I suppose for a CEO … not so great for a Mayor in a democracy. However, in Christine Quinn’s situation, she rose up through the ranks and she knows how this all should work. She has become embedded in Mayor Bloomberg’s system to help her political career – at the expense of New York and New Yorkers.