‘Rejiggering’ of NYC Council committees has pol Inna Vernikov expecting ethics probe over gun arrest
They’re gunning for her.
A Jewish Brooklyn pol who avoided criminal charges after carrying a gun to an anti-Israel rally could soon be sanctioned or even expelled by the City Council — after a committee was reorganized to stack the deck against her, sources told The Post
The Standards and Ethics Committee is expected to probe Councilwoman Inna Vernikov’s actions at the Oct. 12 rally at CUNY’s Brooklyn College – now that a key ally of hers was booted as its chair, sources said.
On Thursday, Councilman Kalman Yeger (D-Brooklyn) was replaced by Sandra Ung (D-Queens), part of a slew of controversial new Council committee assignments backed by Speaker Adrienne Adams.
“The feeling is the committee will go after Vernikov, especially since a lot of members are not happy that [law enforcement] decided to do nothing with Inna’s case,” said one lefty council member.
Yeger, an Orthodox Jew, was not expected to move ahead with a probe against Vernikov once prosecutors in November dropped the charges against her because they couldn’t prove her weapon was capable of firing bullets.
Both he and Vernikov are also no longer ethics committee members under the reorganization.
“This is political weaponization of a committee that is supposed to pursue justice,” Vernikov fumed to The Post. “Councilmember Yeger was removed from the ethics committee so that the Council can pursue a path of punishment against a Jewish Republican, even though no crime took place and all charges were dropped.”
The ethics committee has the power to issue penalties against council members, including expulsion, fines, and strip committee posts.
Yeger, a moderate Democrat, said the speaker never told him why he lost his chairmanship.
“If what … I heard is true, the idea of rejiggering the ethics committee to come to a pre-determined outcome is itself unethical and an abuse of the Council’s ethics process,” he said.
Ung and Adams did not return messages.