BUFFALO COMMON COUNCIL
Lack of data on travels brings threat of subpoena
The Common Council is threatening to flex its subpoena powers if Mayor Byron
W. Brown’s administration continues to ignore lawmakers’ demands for data about out-of-town trips by city officials.
For the second time in a month, the Council has warned it might take the rare step of slapping the administration with subpoenas, this time over the travel data.
The first warning followed the mayor’s office failure to provide information about how many officials have take-home vehicles. Both the Council and The Buffalo News requested a list of vehicles two months ago, but the information has yet to be released.
Lawmakers have been waiting even longer for out-of-town travel data. The Council made the request April 15, and South Council Member Michael P. Kearns, chairman of the Finance Committee, said at least a half-dozen departments and a city development agency have yet to comply.
On Tuesday, Kearns directed Timothy
A. Ball, the Council’s top legal adviser, to begin investigating steps the Council would need to take to issue subpoenas. Kearns said the unresponsiveness by some of Brown’s Cabinet members signals a lack of “respect” for the Council and a disregard for the need to have transparency in City Hall.
“This isn’t a witch hunt,” Kearns said. “We’ve been very patient with them.”
Kearns said he was particularly eager to see a roster of all out-of-town travel involving officials from the Buffalo Economic Renaissance Corp. The city development agency is controlled by Brown and, for the most part, operates independently of the Council.
“They’re hiding behind a shadow government, and we don’t know how many trips they’ve taken,” Kearns said.
He claimed Buffalo’s former strategic planning chief used agency funds for frequent business trips. Timothy E. Wanamaker resigned several months ago to take a government job in a Los Angeles suburb.
Some of the data provided so far, Kearns added, lacks the level of detail some lawmakers want. He cited the mayor’s trip to Las Vegas last year to attend an annual convention of the International Conference of Shopping Centers.
“When he went to Las Vegas, what was the end result of the trip? What did the city gain?” Kearns asked. “We want people to travel, but we also need to know what results these trips produce.”
Finally, Kearns said he wants documentation that no city funds were used on Brown’s treks to other states earlier this year to take part in Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Peter K. Cutler, Brown’s communications director, emphasized that no city money was used during any Clintoncampaign trips. But Cutler declined to commment on Kearns’ threat to use subpoenas to obtain travel data.
