It appears that Speaker Chris Quinn got the message — and so, too, has the municipal commission that establishes council-district boundaries.
The panel has redrawn lines approved just last month. Thus, serial groper Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D-Brooklyn) remains in his current district — dampening any plans the disgraced legislator may have to run for the City Council next year.
Speaker Quinn sought the change some 10 days after The Post’s Sally Goldenberg revealed an initial line redrawing that looked conveniently favorable to Lopez: It would’ve moved his home into the neighboring district wherein resides his power base — the Ridgewood Bushwick Senior Citizens Council.
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Speaker Quinn
It also would’ve had a secondary impact on Quinn’s mayoral aspirations, as the district was largely crafted by Lopez ally Erik Dilan, who could deliver Quinn a large number of Latino votes.
Quinn initially denied any role in how the commission had drawn up the line — never mind that she had five appointees to the commission and could demand changes before the council approved the map — if she so chose.
Apparently, she did choose — and eventually did the right thing.
Yet the fact remains that the original lines would have become law had The Post not blown the whistle on the scheme.
As the saying goes: “Character is what is displayed when no one else is watching.”
Had Speaker Quinn — whose mayoral campaign will significantly focus on issues such as bullying, sexual harassment and domestic violence — not even entertained the suspicious map in the first place, she could have saved herself the embarrassment of a seeming quid pro quo arrangement with the odious Lopez.
She didn’t, and now she’ll have to live with the consequences of having “done the right thing” — only after being caught with her fingers in the redistricting jar.
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Quinn’s Vito Veto
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Quinn’s Vito Veto
