Report: Carrion Will Head New White House Office of Urban Policy; Has Implications for Bronx Politics

The New York Post got to the news first. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion will be tapped by President-elect Obama to run his newly created office of Urban Policy.

If in fact this report is accurate, then Carrion’s BP seat will be filled by special election. (He had one more year to go in his current term and was planning to run for comptroller.)

That could well test the engine of the brand new Bronx Democratic machine and could play a role in resolving the state Senate leadership crisis. For instance, the party could tell Sen. Ruben Diaz that they’ll pull out all the stops to elect his son, Ruben Diaz, Jr., to replace Carrion, if he stands down from his threats to withhold his support from the Democrats’ choice for majority leader. That would reduce the Three Amigos to the … well, you come up with a catchy name for a team of Pedro Espada and Carl Kruger and post it in the comments.

Here’s the little bit Obama’s transition Web site has to say about the Office of Urban Policy.

And according to a report in the Washington Post, the director of the office will report directly to the president. According to the Post, “Senior Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett told black columnists last month that the office would better coordinate federal efforts to help America's cities, and she called the head of the office ‘really a critical position.’”

And since it's not official yet, we'll leave you with this Gotham Gazette rundown of who's for and against an Adolfo promotion.