Spotlight on the speaker

Eight men are jockeying to become the next City Council speaker starting in January. The contest must be conducted in an open and transparent fashion, unlike what happened four years ago. Back then, one contender, named Melissa Mark-Viverito, got valuable free assistance from a connected lobbyist.

She was later fined $7,000 by the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, incurring $145,000 in legal bills — but not until after she won the job. Chalk it up to the cost of doing business. This time, Robert Cornegy, Corey Johnson, Mark Levine, Donovan Richards, Ydanis Rodriguez, Ritchie Torres, Jimmy Van Bramer and Jumaane Williams all better know that they cannot accept free stuff, particularly not from lobbyists who represent clients before the Council.

But turning down freebies is only one obligation. Unless something changes, candidates will be able to pocket thousands of dollars from connected interests and spend that same cash on insider consultants to help them land the job, and the public will be none the wiser.

That’s because, under Campaign Finance Board rules, all contributions and expenditures covering the period from Oct. 24 to Nov. 30 will be reported to the public on Dec. 4. But after that, things go dark. There will be no public reporting again until Jan. 16 — after the new boss has the gavel — making the key period a big blind spot.

The eight candidates must voluntarily make complete and regular disclosure of all their contributions and expenditures throughout December, up to and including the day their colleagues vote.

Anyone who doesn’t shouldn’t be speaker.