Congressman's dream job complicates City Council speaker's race

Crain's New York Business:

The City Council speakership isn't the only leadership perch the Queens Democratic boss has on his mind.

Rep. Joseph Crowley—now the chairman of the minority Democratic delegation, which is fourth on the party's leadership ladder—aspires to succeed Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi. To achieve that dream, he will want the unified support of all 10 Democrats in his hometown's delegation. And many of those members have horses in the race for council speaker, which is technically determined by a vote of the 51 council members.

Crowley appears poised to control at least 11 votes in the chamber and will likely cut a deal with the Bronx Democratic machine and one or more other power brokers to anoint one of the eight council speaker candidates. In making that deal, political observers agreed, he will also have to placate his colleagues in the House so as to keep his own ambitions on track.

This may prove tricky, as the local members of Congress have coalesced around different council speaker candidates. Here's what Crain's has learned about what each House member is thinking: