City Council Issues Six Subpoenas to Mayoral Officials in Velella Probe
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The City Council issued six subpoenas to current and former Bloomberg administration officials as it sought details about the early release of ex-state Senator Guy Velella from jail last month.
The council’s unusual legal action yesterday comes after Mayor Bloomberg accepted the resignations this week of the four members of the Local Conditional Release Commission, the panel that voted to let Velella out of jail after he had served only three months of a one-year sentence in a bribery case.
The subpoenas compel the four former members of the commission, plus the panel’s executive director, Louis Gelormino, and director, Eileen Sullivan, to testify at a City Council committee oversight hearing on Monday.
Since the council won the power to issue subpoenas in 1990, it had done so only twice – to compel a Giuliani administration official to appear in 1996 and to obtain parks department records in 2001.
The former chairman of the release commission, Raul Russi, resigned Monday after a meeting with Mayor Bloomberg, who has said he did not think Velella should have been released early. The panel’s three other members – Jeanne Hammock, Irene Prager, and Amy Ianora – resigned Wednesday after meeting with the mayor.
Mr. Bloomberg replaced Mr. Russi with Fordham University Law School professor Daniel Richman. The other members have not been replaced.
A Bloomberg spokesman yesterday declined immediate comment on the subpoenas, citing the city’s Department of Investigation inquiry into Velella’s release.
At a City Hall news conference yesterday, Council Speaker Gifford Miller said the Bloomberg administration had refused to provide information about circumstances leading up to the early release. “The level on non-cooperation is literally unprecedented,” Mr. Miller said. “They have refused to answer basic questions about this affair.”
But Mr. Bloomberg said yesterday he was unaware of any questions that had gone unanswered. “As far as I know, they have no investigation,” Mr. Bloomberg said. “I don’t know that they’ve asked us anything.”
Also yesterday, WNYC-FM reported that Mr. Russi’s company recently signed a $25 million contract with the city’s Department of Homeless Services. A Department of Homeless Services spokesman confirmed the contract.
