Sam Levin

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Mike Bloomberg at a press conference.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced today that he is ending a controversial policy that requires food stamp applicants to be fingerprinted -- a move that has pitted him squarely against Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The news today is also one that puts Bloomberg in direct opposition with City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn (and a handful of other local politicians).

At the center of the debate is the policy that requires all food stamp applications and recipients in New York State to be fingerprinted, which the governor, along with a group of advocates, says creates a stigma around receiving welfare, slows down the process, and creates barriers to reducing hunger. But Bloomberg, who butted heads with Cuomo on the policy back in January, has repeatedly defended fingerprinting, arguing that it stops New Yorkers from abusing the benefits and saves the city millions of dollars by stopping fraudulent recipients.

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Christine Quinn, the Speaker of the City Council, frontrunner for being the Democratic nomination as the next mayor, and bride to be this month, gave her pleasant reaction to Obama's endorsement of same-sex marriages this afternoon.

Says Quinn, in the above video, "For me, someone's who's getting married a week from Saturday, to see this announcement, and to know that as Kim [Catullo] and I walk to the altar, we walk there not just by our fathers, not just by the great State of New York, but we're being walked there by the President of the United States."

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Sam Levin

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, responding to the mayor's budget proposal this afternoon.

Mayor Mike Bloomberg released his $68.7 billion executive budget proposal today and patted himself on the back for leading the city in a speedy recovery that's better than the rest of the country. The new budget for 2013 has no tax increases and relies on $6.2 billion in savings generated through deficit closing actions his city agencies have taken since 2007, the mayor reported today at City Hall.

He began his presentation by telling reporters that the city's job growth has improved faster than the rest of the country, thanks to the diverse economy he has supported and the many successful industries that are attracting folks to New York.

Of note, the mayor's budget increases city funding for education from $13.3 billion in 2012 to $13.6 billion in 2013, which will up the total number of teachers in the school system and maintain overall funding levels -- a part of the budget that the City Council and its speaker are applauding.

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Sam Levin

City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez at a student rally earlier this year.

In response to reports of his spokesperson's controversial past, City Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez has fired staffer David Segal -- which seems to have only ignited further controversy.

And now the Councilman, who represents parts of upper Manhattan, is left to handle the fallout from the news without his top spokesman.

The drama for the Councilman unfolded Friday morning when the New York Post reported that Segal, when he was 19, had served time in federal prison for throwing a burning rag into an Army recruiting station in the Bronx in protest of the Iraq war. It's a part of his history that he had disclosed to the City Council when he was hired, and legally, it would be a violation of state law if the Council considered a criminal conviction in making an employment decision (unless the conviction directly related to the position he was seeking).

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Sam Levin

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Mayor Mike Bloomberg standing together earlier this week.

The ongoing disagreement between Mike Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn on living wage legislation isn't damaging their relationship, the mayor said today.

Or at least, he's still planning on attending her upcoming wedding -- and doesn't think the controversial bills are going to be much of a topic of discussion at the celebration.

"All I know is I'm going to her wedding, and we're gonna have a good time, and I don't think that living wage is going to come up as a subject at the wedding," Bloomberg told reporters today.

Questions this morning about the mayor's office clashing with the City Council came a day after Bloomberg vetoed Quinn's prevailing and living wage bills, which essentially would require that businesses pay employees higher wages -- $10 an hour plus benefits, instead of the current $7.25 minimum hourly wage -- at some city-subsidized developments.

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via nyc.gov feed.

As expected, Mayor Mike Bloomberg today vetoed the City Council's wage legislation, but unlike his past public comments on the matter, he didn't go so far as to compare the bills to Communism.

Still, if the legislation passes, Bloomberg will sue.

The proposals in question were the prevailing and living wage bills, which essentially would require that businesses pay employees higher wages -- $10 an hour plus benefits, instead of the current $7.25 minimum hourly wage -- at some city-subsidized developments.

The bills are significant because they have come to represent a politically important challenge for City Council Speaker Quinn, a mayoral hopeful who has been forced to navigate the competing interests of business and labor leaders in negotiating the legislation. Additionally, the living wage battle has pitted the mayor against Quinn, who has typically been seen as the potential successor most aligned with Bloomberg's views, especially given their pro-business records.

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Sam Levin

Christine Quinn takes questions today at the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council meeting.

Though most expected candidates haven't even officially announced their campaigns for mayor, a big part of the race to replace Mayor Mike Bloomberg is already taking form in the area of education policy.
This week, mayoral hopefuls have been offering their views on the current Administration's education record, and this morning, we got a chance to hear from City Council Speaker Christine Quinn -- who supports key aspects of Bloomberg's policies.

On Tuesday, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, and former comptroller Bill Thompson -- all expected to run for mayor in 2013 -- debated Bloomberg's controversial school closure policy and weighed in on the system of mayoral control of the school system.

The Voice sat in on part of the Chancellor's Parent Advisory Council meeting at Tweed Courthouse this morning, where Quinn, another likely mayoral candidate, stopped by to update the advisory group of parents on the City Council's education efforts.

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Police Commissioner Ray Kelly

Asked today about rumors that Police Commissioner Ray Kelly might be interested in running for mayor in 2013, several mayoral hopefuls chimed in -- but would only say that he's good at his current job.

The New York Post reported today that a top state Republican is pushing Kelly to run for mayor and that the police commissioner is open to the idea. The head of the New York Police Department -- who has been criticized for his stop-and-frisk policies and for the department's surveillance of Muslims -- has said that he's flattered that folks are interested in having him run for mayor, but that he doesn't plan on it.

Today, Kelly said he's focused on his current job.

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via NYU 2031

As the 2013 mayoral elections near, the expected candidates are looking to build platforms through the work in their current jobs. For Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn -- who will likely go up against each other in the race to replace Mayor Mike Bloomberg -- the controversial expansion of New York University in the Village is one opportunity to influence a development issue that will impact the city for decades and beyond.

But Quinn's not quite ready to talk about it yet.

This week, Scott Stringer, standing beside NYU President John Sexton, announced his support of a scaled-back version of NYU's two-decade expansion in Greenwich Village, pushing the project one step forward in the lengthy review process mandated by the city.

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Yesterday, we reported that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn lost support from a major business group for a living wage bill that she has been carefully negotiating.

That disappointing loss for Quinn, an expected mayoral candidate, doesn't seem to make much of a difference for Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who said this morning -- as he has said over and over again -- that he's fundamentally not a fan of the legislation.

But today on his weekly radio show, Bloomberg went further than offering an economic critique of Quinn's proposal: He said he would sue if need be.

This latest threat marks a serious clash between the current mayor and the mayoral hopeful, who have sometimes been seen as close allies -- though Quinn, likely thinking ahead to 2013, has made some efforts to distance herself from the mayor.

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