A trio of Republican council members are contesting the recent election of Council Member David Carr as the Republican Caucus Minority Leader.
The vote took place in person at City Hall on Tuesday, Jan 28, with only three of the six Republican Caucus members in attendance.
The members present at the meeting included Carr (Staten Island), outgoing minority leader Joe Borelli (Staten Island), and Inna Vernikov (Brooklyn).
Meanwhile, Council Members Joann Ariola (Queens)- who was running for the position of minority leader- Vickie Paladino (Queens) and Kristy Marmorato (Bronx) were not present at the meeting.
During the meeting, Borelli resigned from his position as minority leader and nominated Carr for the role. The three present members all voted for Carr, while Ariola, Paladino, and Maromato did not vote as they were absent. Borelli resigned from his position as minority leader on Tuesday as he is transitioning to the private sector to work as a lobbyist.
The vote has stirred controversy amongst the Republican Caucus as Ariola, Paladino, and Marmorato filed paperwork on Tuesday after the voting process to contest the vote directly, with Ariola calling it “illegitimate.”
Council member Ariola told QNS she feels the vote was “theatrical.”
“ I believe…this was done for theatrics, and Council Member and Minority Leader Borelli did this because he thought he could get away with something knowing that he had to leave pretty quickly to take his job with a lobbying firm,” she said.
Ariola asserts that she and the two absent council members did not receive transparent communication about the meeting agenda.
”The notice sent to me did not say there was a vote for minority leader. It was very vague, and it said to be at the minority leader’s office at 12 noon to discuss issues,” Ariola said.
The council member said that a notice of the meeting had not been sent 24 hours before; instead, she said that Borelli had sent an email about a caucus meeting on Monday evening after regular business hours.
Ariola said she could not attend in person, and when she saw the email after 9 a.m. on Tuesday, she immediately responded to Borelli’s email. In her email, Ariola noted that any business requiring a vote could not be taken as there was no quorum of majority members. According to Ariola, a quorum requires four members to be present for a vote.
Ariola added that Borelli opened a Zoom link for the meeting on Tuesday, giving council members notice about 35 minutes before the start of the Zoom meeting. Ariola told QNS she was unable to attend virtually and responded immediately.
Council Members Paladino and Marmorato were expected to vote for Ariola, which would have caused a tie vote of three to three. AMNY reported on Tuesday that Borelli said that, according to the caucus bylaws, Carr would win a tie because he is the more senior member, having been sworn in a few months before Ariola.
Ariola told QNS, however, that Borelli was misinterpreting the bylaws.
According to Ariola, the bylaws state that a majority of the minority delegation will elect the minority leader. Additionally, should there be a tie in the vote for a minority leader, the council member from the minority delegation with the longest tenure will assume the role of minority leader.
“ Which means that would be Joe Borelli because he is still the senior member of that council and of that caucus. So Joe Borelli is interpreting it in his own way,” Ariola said.
She added that he essentially had two votes by relinquishing his position to Carr, “which is not legal anywhere.”
Ariola pointed out that Staten Island has held minority leadership for over 20 years, adding that Borelli has previously said that he wants to keep the leadership in Staten Island to maintain “leverage” regarding more monetary resources for the borough.
“Why shouldn’t another borough, like our borough of Queens, which is often a forgotten borough who have the same amount of council members in it, to the two that they have in Staten Island, Why shouldn’t that come back to Queens now? And, we have control and a seat at the table for the budget and budget negotiations and things of that nature,” Ariola said.
On Tuesday, after the caucus meeting, Ariola, Paladino, and Maromato submitted a letter of objection to City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the county clerk, and the office of general counsel to not accept the certificate of the vote and request a new vote be held.
“ In essence…there’s a certificate filed that has signatures on it that is Joe Borelli, David Carr, and Inna Vernikov saying that a vote was held, and there is an objection to that vote with the signatures of Kristy Marmorato, Vicky Paladino, and Joann Ariola,” Ariola said. “When you have two pieces of paper that have three names on each, in a six-member caucus, it proves there was no quorum.”
Ariola told QNS the rejection letter signifies a fight for integrity within her party. “We’re not doing this because… I don’t want you to win, and I want to win. We want to do this because it wasn’t right,” Ariola said. “It should be done right. And when the vote is taken right, and when a minority leader is chosen, we will work forward from there.”
“When choosing a leader for your party, especially in the city council, it should be a person of integrity, and all three members who participated in that theatrical performance showed a lack of integrity. It’s upsetting and quite saddening,” Ariola said.
QNS reached out to the offices of the other members of the caucus and is awaiting a response.
