Who's the most powerful City Council member representing the Bronx? It's Annabel Palma, according to a list ranked by City Hall News that came out last month. Palma was number 3 on a list of 50 city reps (Christine Quinn was not included, since as Council Speaker she was automatically ranked the most powerful member).
The bi-monthly political paper based their choices on a formula that considered five factors: the number of bills the Council Member has passed, the number of bills they've introduced, the number of committee hearings they've chaired this year, how significant those committees are, and the amount of member item money they've scored.
Here are the complete (Bronx) rankings. The full list of all 50 Council members and how they fared was in the July 28 edition of City Hall News.
#3--Annabel Palma
#6--James Vacca
#14--Maria del Carmen Arroyo
#17--G. Oliver Koppell
#24--Melissa Mark-Viverito
#31--Joel Rivera
#47--Fernando Cabrera
#48--Larry Seabrook
We were surprised to see Joel Rivera's name at number 31 out of 50, since he holds the important position of Majority Leader. According to the list, Rivera has passed 2 bills and has introduced 13 since he succeeded his father, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, in the 15th Council District back in 2001 (Palma, by comparison, has passed 11 bills and introduced 102 since she took office in 2003).
