Velazquez disputes reports of mayor getting Mark-Viverito elected speaker
The conventional wisdom following the election of Melissa Mark-Viverito as the new council speaker is that Mayor Bill de Blasio had such a strong hand in her candidacy, she might not have won without his help.
U.S. Rep. Nydia Velazquez is seeking to blow that theory out of the water.
Velazquez (D-Brooklyn-Manhattan) said the elevation of Mark-Viverito wasn’t just de Blasio’s doing and that a group of elected officials had been pushing for her to succeed Christine Quinn for more than two years.