A little over a week after City Council Member David Carr claimed victory as the city legislature’s new Republican minority leader, with half the GOP caucus voting in his favor, the other half showed up Friday to hold a do-over vote that elevated Council Member Joann Ariola to the post instead.
The dueling votes, where one half of the caucus elected a minority leader, who was then replaced by the other half, showed a growing divide between the caucus’ Queens and Staten Island representatives.
The noon vote on Feb. 7 saw Ariola (Queens) chosen as former Council Member Joe Borelli’s replacement in the minority leader’s office. She won with the votes of three council members, including herself, Vickie Paladino (Queens), and Kristy Marmorato (Bronx).
“We had a majority of the delegation, which constituted a caucus, and two members were not present,” Ariola said.
The council members who did not attend the vote were Carr and Inna Vernikov (Brooklyn). Carr had a conflicting event and Vernikov did not respond when contacted, according to Ariola.
Ariola said the vote was valid even with two lawmakers missing because they had a quorrum with a majority of three out of five members present.
The second vote came after the City Council’s general counsel and parliamentarian declined to recognize Carr’s victory, citing the lack of a quorum during the Jan. 28 vote where there were three out of six members present. Those members were Borelli — before he stepped down, Carr, and Vernikov.
“It was determined that there was no quorum at the last meeting, therefore there was no election for minority leader, leaving that office vacant,” Ariola said. “The vote that was held was against our own bylaws, because our own bylaws note that a majority of the delegation needed to be present.”
The determination followed Ariola, Paladino, and Marmorato contesting Carr’s election in a letter to Democratic Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. They contended not only that the first vote was taken without a quorum but also that Borelli did not provide 24 hours’ notice of the meeting.
However, Borelli said last week that Carr’s election was legitimate because the caucus’ bylaws do not require a quorum for selecting a new minority leader. Carr maintained that argument in a Friday statement, where he decried his election getting voided by officials chosen by Speaker Adams.
“Intervention by an unelected bureaucrat, appointed by and beholden to a Democrat Speaker, into the affairs of the Republican delegation sets a dangerous precedent and should give people of all political stripes cause for concern,” Carr said. “I continue to believe that decision to be gravely wrong, and in contravention of our bylaws.”
Nevertheless, Carr said he will not let the power struggle stand in the way of working with his colleagues going forward.
“We have serious issues confronting our city, and I will continue to be a leader and work with my colleagues on these crucial matters moving forward, no matter my title,” Carr said.
Ariola said that in her new leadership role she will be looking to grow the Republican caucus’ influence within the council and beyond.
“It’s important that this office is recognized and respected for what it is,” Ariola said. “We may be a minority delegation, but we are still members of the New York City Council, and we need to be treated with a respect as such.”
