Speaker has it both ways
Didn’t sign Progressive Caucus vow, but still member
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams confirmed Thursday she did not sign the Progressive Caucus’ controversial new mission statement — but remains a member of the group nonetheless due to an administrative quirk.
The Council caucus’ size was trimmed nearly in half last week as 15 members left after refusing to put their name on the new “Statement of Principles,” which includes a pledge to fight for reducing the “size and scope of the NYPD.”
By the virtue of her speakership, Adams is a so-called “ex-officio” member of all Council caucuses, including the progressive phalanx. But she told reporters Thursday afternoon that she did not ink the statement of principles that prompted the Progressive Caucus exodus.
“I did not sign, as I would not sign anything that the [Black, Latino and Asian Caucus], that any other caucus produced for the
Council, so the answer is no,” she said in a news conference at City Hall.
The speaker also sought to downplay the significance of last week’s Progressive Caucus implosion — and said Council Democrats are united behind making sure all city government agencies have appropriate funding and staffing levels.
“That’s missing from the mayor’s preliminary budget,” the speaker said, referring to Mayor Adams’ first proposal for next fiscal year’s municipal spending plan. “So the work of all of the caucuses really is to unite behind the budget, so we’re going to look at it together, collaboratively.”
Despite the speaker’s kumbaya edict, the Progressive Caucus shakeup has caused a rift among New York City Democrats.
In an appearance on MSNBC last Thursday, Mayor Adams excoriated the “woke” Democrats in charge of the Progressive Caucus, claiming they’re out of touch with the values of their constituents.
“That is not who we are as Democrats, and I’m going to continue to stand and state that we are pro-public safety, and we’re pro-proper policing,” Adams said.
Caucus Progressive leaders have pushed back by arguing Adams’ budget blueprint would jeopardize public safety in slashing spending on social services in favor of keeping NYPD funding effectively flat.
A few hours before Speaker Adams’ Thursday afternoon press conference, the beef over the Progressive Caucus realignment spilled into the open on the City Hall steps.
A group of pro-police demonstrators — including a woman wearing a “Make the NYPD Great Again” baseball cap — had gathered on the steps to call for better pay for NYPD officers, and as progressive Council members walked past them to enter the building, they were met with jeers.
“Vote him out! Vote him out!” the pro-police protesters chanted as Brooklyn Councilman Lincoln Restler, the Progressive Caucus’ co-chairman, walked past.