{"id":52232,"date":"2025-11-25T23:06:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T23:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52232\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T23:06:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T23:06:09","slug":"nyc-council-speaker-hopeful-julie-menin-floats-using-subpoena-power-a-potential-check-on-mamdani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/52232\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC Council speaker hopeful Julie Menin floats using subpoena power, a potential check on Mamdani"},"content":{"rendered":"

In vying to become the City Council\u2019s next speaker, Julie Menin has in private conversations floated bringing back use of the chamber\u2019s subpoena power, a tool that could be a check on incoming Mayor Zohran Mamdani\u2019s administration<\/a>, according to three sources familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not unusual for city agencies to refrain from providing all the information and documents requested by the Council \u2014 an issue that has become especially pitched under Mayor Adams<\/a>, whose outgoing administration has several times refused outright to show up to Council hearings.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the Council has in recent decades rarely used its subpoena authority. Outgoing Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, for instance, hasn\u2019t once issued a subpoena under her four years as the chamber\u2019s top leader despite heightened tensions with the mayor\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams speaks during a press conference before a New York City Council meeting at City Hall in Manhattan, New York on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (Shawn Inglima for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Against that backdrop, Menin, a Democrat who represents the Upper East Side<\/a>, has this year in running to become the Council\u2019s next speaker told fellow members she\u2019d be willing to be more hawkish and issue subpoenas, the three sources told the Daily News. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Menin has referenced that willingness in a broader context about a need to perform oversight of city agencies once Mamdani, a democratic socialist, takes office Jan. 1 with hopes of enacting an ambitious affordability agenda.<\/p>\n

In a statement Tuesday, Menin acknowledged she has talked about how she would as speaker increase the Council\u2019s use of subpoenas, but said she did not do so in the context of Mamdani.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe City Council has historically failed to fully utilize its subpoena power when it comes to holding bad corporate actors accountable,\u201d Menin said. \u201cMuch like Mayor-elect Mamdani, I want to use every tool at our disposal to go after businesses that flout our laws and operate without proper scrutiny \u2026 I would make sure the Council uses its subpoena power to protect the interests of all New Yorkers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Menin, who did not endorse Mamdani\u2019s mayoral run, has emerged as one of two front-runners in the Council speaker race<\/a>, which is decided internally by the body\u2019s 51 members via a vote in the chamber early next year. In campaigning for the job, she has positioned herself to fellow members as the more moderate candidate in the contest, pitching herself as someone who can both work with the incoming mayor on priorities like childcare while also being able to push back on him when necessary, sources familiar with her outreach efforts said.<\/p>\n

In addition to the issue of subpoena power, the sources said Menin has privately affirmed she would not as speaker simply be a rubber-stamp on the Department of Community Safety<\/a>, a $1 billion agency Mamdani proposes to launch to take over certain responsibilities from the NYPD, such as handling mental health calls. The Council will likely need to approve any launch of the agency, and Menin\u2019s position indicates she\u2019s not going to move to do so without serious deliberation.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Mayor Eric Adams shakes hands with City Council Member Julie Menin at City Hall on Friday, June. 23, 2023, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes\/AP Images for Power to the Patients)<\/p>\n

A Menin spokesman said she\u2019s supportive of removing police from responding to some mental health crises, but confirmed she wouldn\u2019t act on any such steps without extensive deliberation in the Council.<\/p>\n

The other leading candidate in the speaker\u2019s race is Brooklyn Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, a progressive Democrat who has occupied the more left-leaning lane in the contest. In trying to line up support for her speaker bid, Hudson has vowed to work closely with Mamdani on implementing his agenda.<\/p>\n

Some Hudson-supporting Council members say Menin\u2019s campaign signals she may try to block Mamdani\u2019s agenda. \u201cIt\u2019s one thing to say you\u2019re going to be a check on the mayor, it\u2019s different to position yourself as an antagonist,\u201d said one progressive Council member, who spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Menin\u2019s positions on being a check on Mamdani has earned her support from some of the Council\u2019s more conservative members, who are uneasy about Mamdani\u2019s left-wing agenda and relative inexperience in government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is, in part, why she has my vote,\u201d Queens Councilwoman Joann Ariola<\/a>, the Council\u2019s Republican minority leader, told The News this week, referencing Menin\u2019s commitment to oversight of the incoming Mamdani administration. \u201cShe would be a check and a balance on the mayor\u2019s office when necessary \u2026 We have admittedly a mayor coming in who doesn\u2019t have a lot of experience so I would feel a lot more comfortable with her as a resource.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York City Council Member Julie Menin delivers remarks as 32BJ SEIU and Power to the Patients rally outside of New York-Presbyterian Hospital for more affordable and honest healthcare, Wednesday, May 29, 2024 in New York. (Jason DeCrow\/AP Images for Power to the Patients)<\/p>\n

Mamdani has yet to exert any public-facing influence in the speaker\u2019s race, and it\u2019s unclear if he will try to do so. Ideologically, he is the most aligned with Hudson.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Mamdani declined to comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n

With Josephine Stratman\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In vying to become the City Council\u2019s next speaker, Julie Menin has in private conversations floated bringing back…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[446,302,19077,4048,9,24,56,63,65,64,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-52232","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-adrienne-adams","9":"tag-city-hall","10":"tag-julie-menin","11":"tag-mayor-adams","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-nyc-headlines","17":"tag-nyc-news","18":"tag-zohran-mamdani"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}