Gale Brewer. Via Wiki Commons.

A coalition of female leaders called on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn to bring the Paid Sick Time Act to a vote yesterday. Quinn has said economic conditions are not good enough yet to support the bill, which would require businesses with five or more employees to provide five days of paid sick leave each year, saying that it would place too much of a burden on the city’s small businesses. Introduced by Councilwoman Gale Brewer in 2010, the legislation has the support of 37 Council members—enough to override a veto by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who opposes the bill. Addressing Quinn by name, representatives from several different unions and organizations urged the speaker to bring the bill to a full vote. When asked whether the speaker’s tepid response to the bill would cost her support among women in her expected mayoral campaign next year, Brewer said, “Until it does pass, I think that she will find challenges from some of the women, but we are going to work with her to pass this legislation.”

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Gloria Steinem via Wiki Commons.

2013 Mayoral Race

Gloria Steinem is pressuring Christine Quinn on the paid sick leave bill.

Bill de Blasio took in heavy donations from the taxi industry, which he has supported.

And Quinn took in quite a bit from a developer that was exempted from the living wage bill.

Manhattan

Voting machines in the Espaillat/Rangel primary didn’t count hundreds of votes.

The WFP is backing Adriano Espaillat’s Senate bid – after first backing Rangel over Espaillat in their congressional race.

Brooklyn

An anti-Vito Lopez faction of the Satmar community held a victory party for Nydia Velazquez.

Andrew Goundardes has $155K on hand for his challenge to Marty Golden.

Staten Island

Michael Grimm was cleared of charges by the House Office of Congressional Ethics.

State Senate

Mark Grisanti is already spending big on his re-election bid.

Elsewhere

The NYC Board of Elections will change its flawed vote-counting procedure.

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Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Dozens of low-wage, Spanish-speaking workers descended on Councilman Erik Martin Dilan’s district office in Brooklyn yesterday afternoon to deliver 1,800 postcards from his constituents declaring their support for a paid-sick leave bill. But the councilman said he would have been happy to talk to them, had he knew they were coming. “They showed up unannounced,” he said. “I didn’t know they were coming at all.” Dilan is one of 14 Council members to not have sponsored the paid-sick leave bill, which is currently been shelved by Speaker Christine Quinn. Immigrant rights group Make the Road New York organized the postcard delivery yesterday. Dilan is running in a primary against Rep. Nydia Velazquez, who issued this statement to City & State about the rally: “This is a simple matter of justice.  All working people should be given paid time off when they fall ill and can’t go to work.   Not only is this the right thing to do, but it makes workers more productive over the long term.” Dilan declined to comment on the congresswoman’s comment, but said his own views on paid sick leave were evolving. “She’s certainly entitled to her opinion, and I wish the group would have told me they were coming. It appears my opponent in this race knew that this group would be coming to my office. But look, I share the sentiment overall, but I want to see what the final bill looks like.”

From City & State’s Heard Around Town, May 10, 2012. To read more from City & State click here.