Pols go AWOL

4 seeking Council seats slacking on Albany votes

FOUR STATE Assembly members are vying for seats in the City Council — but they haven’t had great track records showing up for votes at their current gigs, attendance records show.

All four Democrats were among the 25 members with the highest percentage of missed votes, according to an attendance analysis by State Watch that was shared with the Daily News by John Doyle, who is up against Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj for a Bronx Council seat. Gjonaj missed 158 votes — or 15%, according to State Watch.

“His attendance record this year has been extremely poor, because he’s focused on running for this office,” Doyle, a former staffer to state Sen. Jeffrey Klein, told The News. “Again: your job is to pass bills.”

Doyle intends to make his opponent’s attendance an issue — with plans to put out this week a web video showing Gjonaj deny the attendance record at a candidate’s forum in Throgs Neck, when yet another contender for the seat, Victor Ortiz, said he’d missed 14% of votes.

“I assure you I did not miss 14%,” Gjonaj responded, according to a clip included in Doyle’s video. Asked about Gjonaj’s attendance record, a spokeswoman said he’d been dealing with the death of a friend at the time of the votes.

“Toward the end of this session, Mark Gjonaj missed three days to bury his close friend and chief counsel, Will Madonna,” Jennifer Blatus said.

Gjonaj is one of several state lawmakers seeking City Council gigs — which comes with a much shorter commute and a much bigger paycheck.

Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez, who is seeking Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s seat in East Harlem and the Bronx, missed 497 votes — or 49%, per State Watch. Blatus, also a spokeswoman for Rodriguez, cited his work securing funding for local projects and said he’d faced health and family issues.

Francisco Moya, seeking the Queens seat being left by Councilwoman Julissa FerrerasCopeland, missed 188 votes, or 18%. He told The News he’d missed sessions for important issues in the district, including events concerning a 19-year-old Ecuadoran student being detained by immigration authorities. Moya is the first EcuadoranAmerican elected official in the country.

A fourth Assembly member seeking a Council seat, Felix Ortiz, missed 134 votes, or 13%. His office didn’t return a message seeking comment.