The City Council’s small Republican caucus is facing an internal crisis after half of its members contested the validity of an election for a new minority leader that took place Tuesday and elevated Staten Island Councilman David Carr to the role.
The election was called to name the chamber’s new Republican minority leader in light of this weekend’s resignation of Staten Island Councilman Joe Borelli, who has for years held the post.
Only three of the GOP caucus’ six members — Borelli, Carr and Brooklyn Councilwoman Inna Vernikov — showed up for the vote. They voted unanimously to make Carr the next minority leader.
But later Tuesday, the caucus’ other three members — Queens Councilwomen Joann Ariola and Vickie Paladino and Bronx Councilwoman Kristy Marmorato — filed a formal complaint with Council Speaker Adrienne Adams asking her to reject the results of the election.
In the complaint, a copy of which was obtained by the Daily News, the three dissenting members wrote the vote wasn’t valid as Borelli, Carr and Vernikov cannot on their own establish a majority quorum required for the election to be legitimate. They also wrote Borelli didn’t provide them with “adequate and sufficient” notice about the vote.
“The certificate is facially defective and should be declared void on its face,” they wrote to the speaker.
Ariola, who spearheaded the complaint, has herself been angling for the minority leader job.
Reps for the speaker didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Carr pushed back and told The News that his fellow Republicans are misunderstanding the rules. He said the Open Meetings Law that sets the quorum rule isn’t applicable to a minority leader vote and that he thereby gets to assume the role, as he’s the most senior member of the caucus.
“Because they weren’t there, they count as negative votes. So it was three yeses, and effectively three nos, right? That’s a tie,” he said, adding that a tie result allows the most senior member to take the minority leader post. Carr also said he has already filed the certificate of the internal election with the city clerk’s Office.
Borelli backed up Carr.
“Where is the reference to a quorum, or even the requirement to hold a meeting of the conference for electing a leader in our bylaws?” he said in a text. In terms of his colleagues’ complaint, Borelli added: “The speaker has no role here, per the Council rules.”
After nearly a decade in the Council, Borelli announced over the weekend that he’s resigning at the end of this week — before his term is up at the end of 2025 — to become a lobbyist for the Washington, D.C.-based Chartwell Strategy Group.
Ultimately, the role of Republican minority leader in the Council doesn’t come with a lot of power.
The six Republicans are outnumbered by the Council’s 46 Democrats, who are generally able to pass any legislation and budgetary measures they want without input from the GOP flank.
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