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City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer Named Majority Leader

By  Jeanmarie Evelly and Colby Hamilton | January 22, 2014 3:44pm 

 Queens rep Jimmy Van Bramer has been tapped for the role of majority leader of the City Council, officials announced Tuesday.
Queens rep Jimmy Van Bramer has been tapped for the role of majority leader of the City Council, officials announced Tuesday.
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DNAinfo/Jeanmarie Evelly

QUEENS — Queens pol Jimmy Van Bramer has been tapped for the role of majority leader of the City Council, officials announced Tuesday.

The councilman, who represents Sunnyside, Woodside and Long Island City, was elected to the post — the second most powerful spot in the council — by new Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the rest of his colleagues on Tuesday.

"Needless to say, I'm deeply honored," Van Bramer said. "I'm anxious to get to work."

The councilman said his goal is to help serve as a "bridge," between Mark-Viverito and the members of the council.

"My office is their office, and I look forward to being that person in this City Council," he said.

Part of his new role will include co-chairing the Budget Negotiating Team to help oversee the city's budgeting process.

He will also serve as the chair of the Cultural Affairs and Libraries Committee, a position he held in his previous term.

Van Bramer worked for more than a decade as a community organizer for the Queens Library before he was elected to the City Council in 2009.

"Any office is what you make it, is what you bring to it," he said. "And I'm going to bring a lot of passion, a lot of energy to the work of being majority leader, just like I brought to the work of council member in the 26th district."