The worst New York City Council members

All photos by William Alatriste

Who is the worst New York City lawmaker? According to our analysis, it’s New York City Councilwoman Darlene Mealy.

The Brooklyn lawmaker had the worst attendance, showing up less than 75 percent of the time last year. She didn’t introduce a single bill in 2016, and was the prime sponsor of one bill signed into law. She failed to respond to a constituent question. It took five days to reply to a press request. Of the 48 members on Twitter, she has the fewest followers. Even Ruben Wills, recently expelled from the City Council following a corruption conviction, ranked higher. (A summary of his rankings is below for comparison.)

RELATED: The best New York City Council members

Rounding out the bottom five are Inez Barron, Peter Koo, Debi Rose and Annabel Palma. None introduced more than two bills last year, and none had more than two bills enacted. Rose and Palma both missed more than 29 percent of their meetings, in part because of absences excused for medical reasons. This may strike some as unfair, but an extended absence can affect performance – and it appeared to do so, judging by their other scores.

Rose rejected her ranking, suggesting City & State see all the new parks, school seats and libraries, repaved roads and good jobs in her North Shore district in Staten Island.

“My constituents know that I represent their interests where it counts, when I vote and when I fight for and secure the parks, libraries, school seats and quality jobs that they deserve,” she said. “That is my measure of success, not how many laws I add to the books or social media followers I have.”

Koo argued that “quantity does not equal quality” when it comes to legislation, and that “overregulation does not equate to effective government.” He described his one 2016 bill signed into law “as the first significant good government reform to the 50-year-old landmarks law.” And he dismissed the use of English-language Google results, saying City & State failed to account for “our many, active Chinese and Korean-language publications.”

“Finally, it is hurtful and frankly racist to think that the value of a proud Asian immigrant elected official such as myself should only be measured by their coverage in English-language media,” Koo said, adding, “Their absence speaks volumes about the accuracy of this survey.” (When Google search results are omitted, Koo remains in the bottom five.)

The other three - Mealy, Barron and Palma - did not respond to requests for comment.

RELATED: Ranking all New York City Council members

Darlene Mealy

No. 50: Darlene Mealy

Attendance: 74.2% (No. 47)
Bills introduced: 0 (tie for No. 46)
Bills enacted: 1 (tie for No. 34)
Constituent response: None
Communications response: 5 days (No. 38)
Google results: 26,100 (No. 31)
Twitter followers: 1,074 (No. 48)

Inez Barron

No. 49: Inez Barron

Attendance: 85.6% (No. 37)
Bills introduced: 2 (tie for No. 38)
Bills enacted: 1 (tie for No. 34)
Constituent response: Auto-reply only (tie for No. 25)
Communications response: None
Google results: 4,900 (tie for No. 46)
Twitter followers: No profile (tie for No. 49)

Ruben Wills

No. 48: Ruben Wills*

Attendance: 32.3% (No. 50)
Bills introduced: 0 (tie for No. 46)
Bills enacted: 1 (tie for No. 34)
Constituent response: None
Communications response: None
Google results: 34,900 (No. 24)
Twitter followers: 4,109 (No. 36)

Peter Koo

No. 47: Peter Koo

Attendance: 93.6% (No. 16)
Bills introduced: 0 (tie for No. 46 )
Bills enacted: 1 (tie for No. 34)
Constituent response: None
Communications response: 25 hours, 33 minutes (tie for No. 32)
Google results: 18,300 (No. 39)
Twitter followers: 1,262 (No. 47)

Deborah Rose

No. 46: Deborah Rose

Attendance: 66.7% (No. 49)
Bills introduced: 1 (tie for No. 42)
Bills enacted: 2 (tie for No. 29)
Constituent response: None
Communications response: 3 hours, 25 minutes (No. 23)
Google results: 15,330 (No. 43)
Twitter followers: 4,849 (No. 30)

Annabel Palma

No. 45: Annabel Palma

Attendance: 70.5% (No. 48)
Bills introduced: 1 (tie for No. 42)
Bills enacted: 1 (tie for No. 34)
Constituent response: 17 hours, 7 minutes (No. 13)
Communications response: None
Google results: 36,100 (No. 23)
Twitter followers: 1,347 (No. 46)

* Wills was recently removed from the New York City Council after being convicted on corruption charges. 

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.