Activist Shames City Council Speaker Hopefuls Who Snubbed Forum

WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Three of the eight candidates for City Council speaker missed a Tuesday night debate on criminal justice issues — and the organizer made sure the crowd knew it.

Glenn Martin, the president of JustLeadership USA and an influential leader of the movement to close Rikers Island, called out Councilmen Corey Johnson, Donovan Richards and Ritchie Torres for skipping the forum at Columbia University’s Horace Mann Hall, saying they snubbed a conversation on some of the city’s most pressing issues.

All three initially said they’d attend, Martin said, but pulled out in the week leading up to the event. That left Coucilmen Robert Cornegy, Mark Levine, Ydanis Rodriguez, Jimmy Van Bramer and Jumaane Williams on the stage.

“We will not be insulted, we will not be ignored and we will not be silenced," Martin said as he introduced the forum. "I am rarely ever this upset as I am on this stage this evening."

Johnson went further, "aggressively" lobbying other candidates not to show up, Martin said. He told Martin he had a prior commitment Tuesday night and could only attend a few of the many forums leading up to the speaker election, Martin said.

Johnson's office did not respond to an email from Patch seeking the Chelsea Democrat's account of why he skipped the event. But a spokesman for Richards said Johnson did not lobby the Queens councilman "in any way."

"Council Member Richards had a family emergency, so unfortunately we had to cancel earlier this (Tuesday) afternoon," spokesman Jordan Gibbons said in an email. He didn't give details of the emergency.

Torres' office also did not respond to Patch's request for comment. But the Bronx Democrat told City & State that he decided not to attend without any lobbying from Johnson. It's "neither feasible nor reasonable" for him to attend a forum each night, he told the magazine.

"How does publicly attacking council members further the cause of criminal justice reform?" Torres told City & State. "The problem with the progressive movement is that it tends to devour its own."

JustLeadership and several other criminal-justice advocacy groups held the forum leading up to the Council's election of a speaker to replace Melissa Mark-Viverito, who leaves office at the end of the year. The winner of the race between eight Democrats will have immense influence over legislation and policy priorities.

The five candidates who did come largely agreed on the issues they discussed. All want to close Rikers Island faster than Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has a 10-year plan to shutter the jail complex.

And all five pledged to support controversial police reform bills, even under the threat of a mayoral veto. Those include the Right to Know Act, a package of two bills that would require cops to identify themselves in interactions with civilians and require consent for most police searches.

"We’ve got to have a hearing. We’ve got to have a vote," Van Bramer said. "We’ve got to let democracy happen here in the City Council."

All five also support ending cash bail payments, especially for people accused of nonviolent crimes. Locking people up in Rikers because they can't afford bail effectively criminalizes poverty, several candidates said.

Levine said the city could start closing down Rikers' nine jails one by one to shutter the infamous complex in fewer than 10 years. The Council should also start picking sites for new, smaller jails in every borough except Staten Island right away, candidates said.

"The system’s working how it was designed to work, so we have to upend the system in order to make it correct," Williams said.

The 51 Council members — 48 Democrats and three Republicans — will elect a new speaker in January after the newly elected members are sworn in.

(Lead image: From left: City Councilmen Jumaane Williams, Robert Cornegy, Mark Levine, Jimmy Van Bramer and Ydanis Rodriguez wait to take the stage before Tuesday's forum for Council speaker candidates. Photo by Noah Manskar)