A not-so-easy first 100 days for NYC Council Speaker Julie Menin

A New York City Council staffer was detained by federal immigration authorities. The Mamdani administration poached the head of the body’s finance division. Efforts to discipline a council member over Islamophobic social media posts devolved into a messy legal battle. The chair of a key council committee was embroiled in a federal bribery investigation. A multibillion-dollar deficit has led to contentious budget negotiations with a powerful new mayor.

Julie Menin’s first 100 days as speaker of the City Council haven’t been smooth sailing. A little over three months in, she’s faced a number of thorny political issues – more perhaps than many of her predecessors were forced to confront early in their tenures. The majority of these challenges aren’t of her own making, but some pose the threat of becoming bigger issues down the line.

“This has not been a fair 100 days,” former City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. “The universe deserves to give Julie a very calm, quiet next 100 days.”

The City Council has meanwhile barreled forward with its legislative duties, Menin at the helm seeking to project productivity and strength. On April 16, her official 100th day as speaker, she touted accomplishments like a package of bills aimed at combating antisemitism, legislation imposing new guardrails on the city’s use of emergency contracts and the launch of a new tool giving the public greater insight into how city agencies are spending money. On Friday morning, Menin released a walk-and-talk style video highlighting wins. 

The council has so far overridden 17 of the previous mayor’s vetoes and introduced over 1,200 pieces of legislation, passing a combined 111 introductions and resolutions. That’s certainly not nothing, though it’s worth remembering that the majority of members are returning this legislative session and that many of the bills were reintroduced. Many observers said Menin had a strong start. 

“One way to do this in my opinion would have been to sort of see what’s going on, see how popular Zohran is, see what he’s going to accomplish and react accordingly,” said Jason Goldman, former chief of staff to then-Speaker Corey Johnson. “Julie has taken a different sort of tact, which is ‘I’m just going to get things done right away.’”

In an interview, Menin pointed to the detention by ICE of Rafael Rubio, the City Council data analyst, as a low point. Rubio was detained by federal immigration authorities while attending a routine asylum appointment appearance early this year. A judge ruled that he would be deported last month. “That was in my first week. It was day six and we learned that he’d been detained,” Menin, who convened an emergency presser after getting the news, recalled. “That was certainly heartbreaking, enraging, sobering all at the same time.” 

The speaker has been less candid about how she’s handling controversies surrounding two of her fellow council members: Republican Council Member Vickie Paladino and Democratic Council Member Farah Louis. 

Menin took action early on when it came to Paladino, stripping the Republican council member of the majority of her committee assignments over Islamophobic comments she made on social media. After Paladino doubled down on the rhetoric, the council’s standards and ethics committee charged her with disorderly conduct – the first part of a multi-step disciplinary process. The Republican council member sued Menin and the legislative body, arguing that speech from her personal social media account was protected by the First Amendment and that she was being targeted for her conservative politics. A federal judge heard oral arguments for the case last week and has yet to make a ruling – though whatever the outcome, the issue has devolved into a messy political squabble with little precedent. 

The situation with Louis, while different from Paladino in a number of ways, is perhaps more complicated for Menin. News broke earlier this month that federal prosecutors were investigating the Brooklyn Democrat and several others in a bribery probe tied to the appropriation of city funds to a homeless shelter provider. Louis, whose home was raided, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and she’s yet to publicly respond to the unfolding scandal. Still, Louis currently chairs the council’s Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises, a committee pivotal to shaping council action on housing and development.

It’s unlikely that the standards and ethics committee will take any immediate action to investigate Louis, but there are other ways Menin could theoretically distance herself. So far, she’s said the council is monitoring the situation, emphasizing that the federal investigation must proceed fairly and expeditiously. 

Several people interviewed for this story said they were surprised that Menin hasn’t taken any public action yet – whether that’s bringing the matter forward for a vote to strip Louis of her chair assignment or cutting off her access to discretionary funding. “It’s hard to imagine how you can be under potential federal investigation or be the subject of a potential federal investigation while chairing the Zoning and Franchises committee which requires you to negotiate with developers,” one former City Council official said. 

Louis steered over $450,000 in city funds to BHRAGS Home Care Corp, the Brooklyn-based provider at the center of the federal probe, Gothamist recently reported. (The council is not directing any more funding to the provider while the investigation unfolds, according to a council spokesperson. Discretionary funding is also not typically allocated until the end of the budget process in June.)

“We’re still evaluating the information. There is not a lot of new information here,” Menin said, declining to say whether Louis would continue chairing the committee. “Certainly, if new information becomes available we will take any action that is needed.” 

Pointing to how the speaker stripped Paladino of many of her committee assignments early in her tenure, one Democratic council member said that Menin has proven herself as someone who will act decisively when facts come to light.  

“If we’re looking at that as a measure of predictive action, I mean look … Farah hasn’t been charged. We don’t know a lot about the substance behind the case that she has,” they said, requesting anonymity so they could speak openly about the standards and ethics’ process. “I think a lot of us do recognize that she does have a powerful committee, but right now we also lack the facts.”

A handful of members acknowledged that the past few months have been fraught with unexpected political challenges, but they also expressed confidence in Menin’s handling.

“The fact that the council continues to be a productive body and navigate these very complex things, speaks to her leadership,” Deputy Speaker Nantasha Williams said. “I mean yes, it’s been tricky, but these are things unfortunately either that she’s inherited or things that have happened as she has become speaker.”

Looming large over the past couple of weeks is the increasingly contentious budget negotiations. About a month ago, the mayor swiped the head of the council’s finance division, tapping Richard Lee to serve as commissioner of the Department of Finance. When Mamdani floated a proposal to raise property taxes as a “last resort” option to help close the city’s multibillion dollar budget gap, Menin quickly fired back, declaring it out of the question. 

“The first 100 days of anybody’s administration is going to be defined by the early legislative wins and how they prioritize the budget,” said Democratic strategist Yvette Buckner, praising Menin for how she advocated for small business owners and homeowners. “(Menin) appears to be thinking creatively and out of the box.”

Things took a particularly nasty turn however after the council released its annual budget response, which Mamdani slammed, claiming that the proposal would result in sweeping cuts to agency budgets. A video released by the mayor’s team zeroed in on Menin, calling her out by name – spurring a snowball of criticism from his allies that ranged from attacks on her wealth to accusations that she was trying to sabotage the democratic socialist mayor. Many of the council members leapt to social media to respond, defending both the speaker and their proposal. While tensions have since somewhat died down, the matter underscored the celebrity clout the mayor wields. It also raised some speculation that Mamdani was laying the groundwork to blame the council for where the budget ends up.

“Facts matter. It's important to always be honest and truthful when you're disseminating information,” Menin said. “I think that's why you saw that level of blowback, particularly from council members and others.”

It wasn’t the first social media pile-on Menin’s been the subject of. She faced criticism for her decision to appear on Sid Rosenberg’s radio show in February, especially after the right-wing host later went on an Islamophobic tirade against the mayor, likening Mamdani to a “cockroach.” More recently, Menin faced backlash for declining to release her taxes – something the mayor willingly did.

Not everyone in the council has been pleased with how Menin has handled budget negotiations or what she’s deemed to be a priority over the past 100 days. One of the bills in the antisemitism package, a controversial measure directing police to develop a plan for protest “buffer-zones”outside of schools, passed with just 30 votes – short of a veto-proof majority. With the council’s Progressive Caucus voting against the measure, it was one of the first bills in years that needed support from the body’s five Republicans to pass. 

“In her first 100 days, the speaker has not yet demonstrated herself to be a leader who is willing to make hard decisions and govern responsibly,” one Democratic council member said, requesting anonymity so they could speak openly. “I hope she grows into the role.”

Former City Council Member Keith Powers said that Menin and Mamdani are both contending with challenges inherited from their predecessors – if anything, perhaps that can help bring them together. Powers served under former Speaker Adrienne Adams’ whose relationship to former Mayor Eric Adams completely deteriorated by the end of their terms.

“The mayor and the speaker are dealing with the mismanagement of the last four years and doing their best to clean it up. Of course, they’re going to have their own paths about how they get there,” Powers said. “But one thing we don’t want to see happen is another repeat of that situation.”