It’s the city’s second most powerful public office, but the race to become City Council speaker has more in common with a papal conclave than a mayoral election.
For only the third time in modern history, the Council is in the early throes of the byzantine process by which the 51 members from every neighborhood, ethnic background and political stripe must select a new leader. Despite those differences, the process will ultimately generate consensus (or near-consensus) by January, if the past is a guide.
The normally fraught procedure is even messier than usual because nearly half of the City Council will be new in 2014—meaning that aspiring speakers must woo not only current seat-holders, but those likely to be elected in November as well.
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