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Four On Council Want Subpoena Power

By Jeffrey B. Cohen

August 06, 2009

So, Councilman Pedro Segarra told Mayor Eddie A. Perez that it was lame that the mayor's staff wasn't coming to council budget meetings, and he threatened to seek subpoenas if he had to.

Then Perez told Segarra that he should, in so many words, back off -- and, while he was at it, take a little time to correct his apparent misunderstandings of the city's budget process.

And then Segarra -- getting a bit like high school, right? -- told Perez that Socrates probably wouldn't like the way they're disagreeing, and he then again threatened subpoenas if the mayor's staff didn't show up at council budget meetings.

And THEN, after study hall (OK, not really), Segarra and three of his friends...

...put in a resolution for the next council meeting that would grant subpoena power to the council's Operations, Management and Budget Committee to study last year and this year's budgets.

Segarra's three friends are Democrats Kenneth Kennedy and Matt Ritter, as well as Minority Leader Larry Deutsch, of the Working Families Party.

But Segarra and his three friends don't mean squat on the city council of nine. The question now is, can Segarra find a fifth?

Click in Related Links box to see the resolution: