NOTE: We are willing to publish different or opposing views to those expressed in today's responses to Friday's article.  If you feel that way, please let us know, so our readers will be exposed to all viewpoints.  Our only restrictions are on libel, indecency, and total irrelevance.

Response to "Annals of the Council":   A Tale of Morality.
Democrats Denounce Dryfoos for Lying to His Colleagues
By Secret Support of Speaker, While Feigning Opposition

By Henry J. Stern
March 14, 2005

In response to my request for additional information on our Friday article, "Annals of the City Council," dealing with the selection of a new majority leader (later renamed speaker) of the City Council, we have received, so far, three interesting communications.
 
1. An article, "Profile in Treachery," published in the newsletter of the New York County Democratic Committee in February 1986.  It was written by six councilmembers from Manhattan: Hilton Clark, Miriam Friedlander, Carol Greitzer, Carolyn Maloney, Ruth Messinger and Stanley Michels.  The statement has nine paragraphs and is an extraordinary cri de coeur, with a strong flavor of j'accuse.  We will quote the first sentence, and, if you are interested, you should link to the entire article.  If you read it, you will not easily forget it.

"As a result of the treacherous actions of our 'colleague,' Robert Dryfoos, Manhattan and its Council members suffered a major setback in the recent reorganization of the City Council that will have repercussions for years to come."

2. A letter by Douglas A. Kellner, member of the Board of Elections and former chair of the Law Committee of the New York County Democratic Party. 
 
3. A telephone call from an anonymous "political veteran," who argued that Vallone was a better speaker than Sam Horwitz would have been, and cited Vallone's endorsement in a New York Times editorial.  The source pointed out that since Gifford Miller, all speakers are likely to serve only one four-year term, since no freshman would be elected speaker, and no councilmember can serve more than two terms. Vallone served sixteen years, and became an important city-wide figure, although he lost for both governor and mayor.
 
Another point made by the old grey fox was that former Congressman Thomas Manton of  Queens, probably the most powerful of the five Democratic county leaders, has three aspirants for speaker from his borough: Councilmembers Leroy Comrie, Melinda Katz and David Weprin (in alphabetical order).  Weprin and Katz now chair the two most important committees on the Council, Finance and Land Use.  If the new speaker is from Queens, other borough delegations are likely to demand one or both of these committee chairs.

NYCivic adds these thoughts of our own: what will become of Majority Leader Joel Rivera, the son of the Assemblyman Jose Rivera, leader of Bronx County, and the younger brother of Naomi Rivera, the Bronx's newest assemblymember?  What new combinations, if any, will be formed to limit the power of Queens?  The next speaker will be chosen just twenty years after the Vallone-Horwitz squeaker.  Who will squeak the loudest in January 2006?  Will the new mayor try to influence the Council's choice?  Will he/she succeed?

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