New York Post

A City Council Democracy Problem

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Most members of the City Council refused to say how they’ll vote on overriding Mayor Adams’ veto of the How Many Stops Act — which is pretty damning evidence of how undemocrat­ic the Democrat-dominated body has become.

The mayor vetoed it because it would clearly make police officers burn too much time, including overtime, filing paperwork on every interactio­n with the public. Yet of 35 councilmem­bers The Post asked about forcing the bill into effect, 25 either gave us a “no comment” or no answer at all.

Which means they don’t think they owe it to voters to say where they stand. Maybe they don’t want to bother with what their constituen­ts think?

Council Speaker Adrienne Adams was a major force in pushing the bill through the first time ’round: She’s reportedly demanding a show of loyalty, a “you’re with me or you’re against me” moment. Which again cuts each member’s constituen­ts out of the equation, for all that Democrats these days shout about “preserving our democracy.”

We’re pretty sure that opinion in at least some members’ districts — say, Gale Brewer’s Manhattan ’hood and Eric Dinowitz’s Bronx one — would be firmly against taking cops off the street with pointless bean-counting paperwork.

If Adams’ veto doesn’t stand, expect crime to start rising again, when it’s still far above pre-pandemic levels. And the override vote should be close, so each member who votes to force How Many Stops into law will bear full blame for every additional crime. Maybe then they’ll care what the voters think.

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