Dilan Vows to Stick to His Vote on Community Safety Act

Council Member Erik Dilan will commit to overriding the mayor’s veto on two Community Safety Act bills on Thursday August 8. The commitment blocks one of the last hopes for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto to stick on the racial profiling bill.
Dilan Vows to Stick to His Vote on Community Safety Act
Kristen Meriwether
8/7/2013
Updated:
8/7/2013

NEW YORK—Council Member Erik Dilan will commit to overriding the mayor’s veto on two Community Safety Act bills on Thursday August 8. The commitment blocks one of the last hopes for Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto to stick on the racial profiling bill.

On July 23, Bloomberg vetoed Intro 1080, which expands the city’s racial profiling rules and allows citizens to sue if profiled, and Intro 1079, which will create an Office of the Inspector General. Intro 1080 passed with just 34 votes, the minimum for a veto proof majority.

Since the vote, which took place in the wee hours of the morning on June 27, Bloomberg has tirelessly tried to persuade at least one council member to change their vote.

The Daily News reported on July 30 that Mayor Bloomberg was pushing for Dilan to take the vacant Board of Elections (BOE) executive director position. A spokesman for the mayor denied the claim, according to the News.

At the August 6 BOE meeting, Mike Ryan, a district attorney of Staten Island, was voted to the top position, which had not been filled since 2010.

The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA) began a campaign targeting Council Members Jessica Lappin, Mark Weprin, and Dan Garodnick. PBA members handed out flyers in the council members’ districts, encouraging their constituents to not vote for the council members in the upcoming election.

Garodnick is running unopposed for his District 4 seat, and Lappin is running for Manhattan Borough President. Weprin was running unopposed, however, on August 3, Joe Concannon announced on Facebook he will run against Weprin on the Reform Party Line.
“Their [sic] is a storm brewing in District 23 as hypocritical, arrogant and self serving incumbents seeking to enrich themselves are pandering and wondering will the voters ever take heed?” Concannon wrote on Facebook.

Concannon will need 450 signatures to get on November’s ballot, but claims he will get thousands.

With Dilan’s vote secure, Weprin promising he will withhold the political pressure, and Speaker Christine Quinn vowing the veto will hold—despite being against the bill herself—it appears Mayor Bloomberg will have to go the litigious route to stop this law from passing.

The Council will vote to override the veto at the next stated meeting, which will be held on August 22.