NEW YORK — The day after Mayor Michael Bloomberg vetoed two controversial police oversight bills, Council Speaker Christine Quinn said that the council was scheduling to push the bills forward in late August.
“I anticipate that both of the vetoes will be overridden,” Quinn said during a city hall press conference on Wednesday. But, she said, she would not be changing her vote to join the majority when they vote to override the bias bill.
“I think my position will remain consistent on both of the bills," said Quinn. "That said, I expect both of the bills to be overridden.”
Bloomberg and his law enforcement allies have used a heavy hand with members who helped pass the legislation a month ago, particularly white members who were crucial to getting to the 34 super majority needed to thwart a veto.
The Patrolman’s Benevolent Association has targeted council members Jessica Lappin and Daniel Garodnick in Manhattan, and Mark Weprin in Queens, with mailings and police officers on the ground, handing out literature denouncing the bills. Bloomberg himself even went so far as to try to recruit a Republican to run against Weprin.
In his messages on the vetoes, Bloomberg said the NYPD is already “subject to more internal and external oversights than any other police department in the United States.” He warned that an inspector general would cause confusion and chaos inside the department, while the bias bill would “unleash an avalanche of lawsuits.”
Council members who support both bills have been outspoken about their plan to override the vetoes promised by the mayor. Queens Councilman Leroy Comrie, the head of that borough delegation in the council, said the mayor’s veto showed how out of touch his administration was with communities.
“This Act will help build back the trust that is critical between precincts and their communities in order to find those who are actually breaking the law, and not the innocent people are who stopped every day,” Comrie said in a statement.
