The 'No Thanks' Club

Here is Hiram Monserrate, one of only five City Council members to have voted against a 25 percent pay raise for the council. The others were Michael McMahon, Andrew Lanza, Darlene Mealy, and Tony Avella. One insider gave me some speculative reasons for why some of them might have voted this way: McMahon hopes to run for Staten Island Borough President and this vote will give him ammunition to repel Conservative Party accusations that he's a free-spending liberal. Lanza doesn't care about Council pay because he's going to the state Senate. Avella, the only declared mayoral candidate, always objected to increases salaries and taking lulus. My secret brain trust didn't crack the mystery of Mealy. As for Monserrate, he explained himself to reporters after the vote by saying that he simply doesn't like the process of awarding himself a pay increase. Here he is. -- Azi Paybarah