Weprin Aims to Become City Council Speaker

One of northeast Queens’ own is vying to replace Christine Quinn as City Council speaker early next year.

Councilman Mark Weprin, D-Oakland Gardens, is one of six Council members in the running for the position. Other candidates include Melissa Mark-Viverito, Inez Dickens, Dan Garodnick, James Vacca and Anabel Palma.

The candidates are currently making their cases for why they should hold the position and the Council will internally vote for the new speaker on Jan. 8.

Weprin, who defeated Joe Concannon earlier this month during the general election in the race to retain his seat, said that he would focus solely on being the speaker if elected and had no plans on running for higher office.

"Every speaker has, so far, run for mayor," he said. "I have no intention of running for mayor or any other office. My emphasis will be focusing on being the best speaker I can be. It won't be about publicizing me, but about publicizing the City Council."

He said he believed that his being elected to the Council's top position would also be great for the borough he represents.

"I think it would be great for Queens," he said. "We've had a Manhattan mayor and speaker for 12 years, so I think it would be great to have an outer borough speaker, especially Queens. I'd do everything I could to make sure Queens was well represented." 

Quinn was voted in as the City Council’s speaker, which is the second most powerful office in city government, in 2005.

Patch wants to know: Do you believe that a City Council speaker from Queens could bode well for the borough? If Weprin wins, what are some of the top issues he should focus on for Queens?