City Comptroller to Review City Council Budget

In the wake of revelations that the City Council had a slush fund (for rainy days when the mayor would cut budgets), City Comptroller William Thompson told City Council Speaker Christine Quinn that his office would review how the council uses discretionary money. In a letter, he wrote, "It remains clear…that the Council’s process was conceived and used to deflect legitimate inquiry into how our City’s tax dollars are being allocated.”

The NY Times plays up how Thompson and Quinn are both interested in being the Democratic mayoral candidate in 2009, and the Sun points out how Thompson's letter to Quinn was "letter reached reporters just moments before Ms. Quinn appeared at a press conference in the East Village, ensuring that she would face immediate inquiries about the fictitious groups." Thompson denied any political motivations for releasing the letter and Quinn said she looked forward to working with him, “I have no doubt that whatever efforts he takes relevant to this will be of the highest professional caliber.”

City Councilman Charles Barron told the Observer's Azi Paybarah and the Daily News' Elizabeth Benjamin that Quinn should resign while the investigation is taking place, "She put the comptroller on the line. She put the mayor on the line. I know both of them are angry with her...Christine has not been honest and forthcoming." You'll recall that Barron is no fan of Quinn, after she fired his aide Viola Plummer.