Cards on the table

After more than a month of jockeying and more than a dozen forums and debates, the public phase of the contest to be the next City Council speaker is over. Now the process enters the back rooms of political bosses and union powerbrokers, where who knows what pressure will be wielded and who knows what deals will be cut.

What’s also going dark is the movement of any campaign money into and out of the accounts of Councilmen Robert Cornegy, Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Donovan Richards, Ydanis Rodriguez, Ritchie Torres, Jimmy Van Bramer and Jumaane Williams.

Due to a blind spot in the Campaign Finance Board disclosure schedule, the last glimpse New Yorkers got about the contenders’ contributions and expenditures came on Nov. 30

Any cash in or cash out during December and leading up to the Jan. 3 vote for speaker won’t be made public until Jan. 16 — which is after the new Council boss will be anointed, er, elected.

Which is why the eight men must voluntarily make complete and regular disclosure of all their contributions and expenditures right up to the moment their colleagues vote. In November, this page asked all eight, and all eight agreed.

We’ve already heard from Levine, who says that in the first week of December his campaign has received two contributions totaling $750 and spent $2,285. Levine should make public the details with names and amounts.

The same must go for the other seven, including the finances of any political committees any of them have set up under the far looser state rules.

Gentlemen, it’s time to show and tell.