Council Speaker: I Am Not Target of Investigations

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is stating emphatically that she is not a target of federal and local investigations into the City Council, and she is standing by her statement that she learned about the existence of fictitious organizations in the budget only within the last several months.

When asked if she would say under oath that she directed her staff to eliminate the fake groups as soon as she learned of their existence, Ms. Quinn said that when she became aware of the fictitious organizations, which she said was in the late fall or early winter, she "instructed the staff to notify the authorities."

"I would say that under any oath, under any situation," she said yesterday during a press conference at City Hall. She added: "That is the answer to the question, whoever poses it and whatever oath or document I have my right hand on."

Ms. Quinn, who has faced criticism for hiring a criminal defense lawyer at a cost of $600 an hour with public funds, said she was advised by a law firm hired to represent the City Council, Sullivan & Cromwell, to obtain her own lawyer for the investigation into the council by the U.S. attorney's office and the city's Department of Investigation.

"It was the feeling of Sullivan & Cromwell that when I was called in to be a witness that it would not be appropriate for them to also represent me, because they represent the institution," she said. "The legalese of why they think that, you would need to ask them as the lawyers, but that was their belief, and I am following it, because my highest goal here is to be fully cooperative with all of the authorities that are involved in this ongoing investigation."

The investigation into the council's spending of discretionary money appears to be expanding, with investigators questioning employees of some city-funded nonprofit organizations, including several that have received funding from Council Member Larry Seabrook of the Bronx, the New York Times reported yesterday. The city already had frozen $912,244 in funds Mr. Seabrook tried to send the Bronx African American Chamber of Commerce, which for years had an office across the hall from the council member's office, the Times wrote.

The New York Post reported yesterday that the Department of Investigation is looking at the discretionary spending records of six council members: Maria Baez and Mr. Seabrook of the Bronx; Erik Martin Dilan, Charles Barron, and Al Vann of Brooklyn; and Hiram Monserrate of Queens.