Out Of Spigner’s Shadow Comrie Redefines The Rules

When Archie Spigner’s chief of staff Leroy Comrie announced his candidacy to succeed his boss as City Councilman for District 27, many voters were suspicious. For 27 years, southeast Queens had been virtually synonymous with Spigner, a Democrat, who as the Council’s fiery Deputy Majority Leader presided over his region with distinct and often unfettered dynamism. With Spigner finally ousted from office by the institution of term limits, the choice of Comrie, a top insider in the previous administration, appeared to be brazenly familiar.
"They thought that I’d just be an extension of the Councilman, but I’m a different person," argued Comrie, reflecting upon the Democratic primary he won en route to his decisive victory in the general election. In the primary, Comrie struggled to unify his party convincingly behind himthough he was the Councilmans heir apparent squeaking by his challenger, lawyer Helen Cooper-Gregory, by only a couple of hundred votes. The closeness of the final count, Comrie believes, was neither a rebuke of his candidacy, nor a condemnation of Spigner’s legacy; it was a cry for change for change’s sake. Now Councilman, Comrie, with all due respect to his political mentor, is confident that he will leave his own mark upon the City’s legislature, fulfilling the expectations of his supporters, and dispelling the reservations of those who viewed him as Spigner by another name.
By all indications, Comrie is off to a rousing start. Last week, Comrie earned the first committee chair appointment of the new Council, garnering by unanimous vote the Rules, Privileges and Elections Committee, held previously by former Forest Hills Councilman Morton Povman. His confirmation as the body’s parliamentarian assures that Comrie will be a major player in the Council, and augurs further prestige and power for Queens’ Democratic contingent within the City legislature. He has already used his chairmanship to alter the legislative rules of the Council to increase the accountability of the Speakers office, requiring the Speaker to submit quarterly reports detailing his expenses.
Comrie’s post comes as a reward for his involvement in securing the votes to wrest the hotly-contested race for Council Speaker away from Brooklyn’s Angel Rodriguez and into the hands of Manhattan’s A. Gifford Miller. Miller’s unanimous victory last week was an important achievement for Queens’ Democratic leadership, which had pulled hard for the new Speaker. As a consequence, it may be in line to win control of the Land Use or Finance Committee, or both, which along with Rules are the three most influential chairmanships of the Council. Speaker Miller "realizes that Queens had a pivotal role in his becoming Speaker," according to Comrie. "I am quite sure that he will make sure that Queens is highly regarded in whatever way we need," Comrie continued.
What Queens needs first and foremost, Comrie said, is education reform. Comrie is decidedly for dissolving the Board of Education, and "80 percent ready" to turn control of the schools over to the Mayor. His hesitancy to do so stems from a determination to protect schools from being tyrannized by one agenda. Comrie maintains that the Council should have a significant influence on education to insure that there are "checks and balances" within the system, among them some sort of budgetary oversight. He says that the lack of these safeguards has rendered school boards impotent and marginalized the input of parents, teachers, administrators and students.
Comrie is no stranger to school board strife. A former president and current member of Community School Board 29, when Comrie led the board his district was frequently rent by controversy, troubles which Comrie attributes to the structural failures of the education system that he will now attempt to root out as a Councilman.
But education reform, according to Comrie, a graduate of Jamaica High School, must also be approached on the grass-roots level. Merely drafting the Mayor as Schools Chancellor does not suffice. In order for schools to improve, an inclusive and progressive discourse must thrive within the board and the district, so that the needs of the constituency can truly be understood and addressed, he said.
The importance of being a sensitive public advocate, said Comrie, is the primary lesson he has gleaned from his mentor, Spigner. "He taught me to read, talk, know the people, be nice to everyone, research issues, [and] be informed." It is by reaching out to the people through town halls, the Internet, and community functions, among other means, that Comrie plans to combat such ills of his district as its antiquated sewer system, ground water contamination, over-construction, and the ignorance of some residents as to their duties as citizens of New York State (taking out the garbage, acting in a good neighborly fashion, etc.).
While their methods might be fundamentally the same, Comries report presents a stark contrast to his predecessors vim and vigor. The Councilman speaks in a slow, almost monotonous tone, measuring each phrase with precision. He appears a man far more accustomed to acting behind the scenes, than glowing in the limelight. Still, he seems undaunted by the challenges of his new role. "It was a profound pleasure for me to walk the halls [of City Hall] as a member, rather than as a staffer."