City Council Civil War: Attempt to Overthrow Majority Leader Thwarted
Monday, May 07, 2012
Providence City Council Majority Leader Seth Yurdin (Ward 1) survived an attempt to oust him from his leadership position this weekend, GoLocalProv has confirmed.
A dissident group of Council Members, led by Ward 3 Councilman Kevin Jackson, were expected to caucus Sunday evening at Hope Street Pizza on the East Side, but the group was unable a round up the eight-person majority needed to wrestle the number two spot on the Council away from Yurdin.
Under the plan, which took form Friday night shortly after Councilman John Igliozzi learned he was going to be removed as chairman of the Finance committee after calling for changes to the recently passed pension reform ordinance, Jackson would have become Majority Leader.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
But a last minute deal negotiated throughout the weekend threw the plans into flux, and could result in no leadership changes at all. The deal, those close to the situation say, would involve Igliozzi maintaining hold of his position as Finance chairman and would award seats on certain Council committees to Council Members who currently do not serve on any committees at all.
Currently Jackson, Carmen Castillo (Ward 9), Luis Aponte (Ward 10), Davian Sanchez (Ward 11) and Bryan Principe (Ward 13) are not members of any committees, which stems from an incident that took place 16 months ago when several Council members sided with Aponte over Ward 5 Councilman Michael Solomon in a battle for the Presidency.
“If I caused [more Council members] to get on certain committees, then I consider this a victory,” Jackson said Sunday night. “This is definitely a moral victory.”
This wasn’t the first attempt to move Yurdin, who has a frosty relationship with several Council members, out of his role as Majority Leader. Deputy Majority Leader Nick Narducci (Ward 4) made a similar move last year before Solomon stepped in to negotiate an agreement that kept leadership intact.
But Jackson claims it was the Taveras administration who stepped in to support leadership this time, helping to broker a deal that allowed Yurdin to remain in his role. Mayor Taveras himself, sources say, spoke with Council President Pro Tempore Terry Hassett this weekend to make sure he would not sign on to his colleagues’ attempt to overthrow Yurdin.
Publicly, the administration and the Council have appeared to be a united front, which is one of the reasons state officials have allowed the city’s leaders to navigate their financial problems instead of bringing in a budget commission. Any appearence that the Council was in turmoil could have been damaging to the way Governor Chafee's office and ratings agencies view the city.
But Jackson said he was unhappy that Taveras may have played a role in a Council spat.
“The Mayor claims he doesn’t get involved with Council politics,” Jackson said. “That’s exactly what happened here. [The Council] is a dictatorship, it’s worse than a dictatorship. To have the Mayor support that regime is just wrong.”
Asked why Taveras would step in to settle a Council feud, Jackson said it all comes down to politics.
“He has the best of both worlds now,” Jackson said. “He has us, the group that supported him from the beginning, and now he has [a relationship] with Solomon, who didn’t support him by the way.”
The Taveras administration refused to comment.
Yurdin did not respond to a request for comment.
UPDATE: Today's Finance committee hearing has been canceled. Igliozzi will remain chairman.
Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected]