But that does not address the whole question, which necessarily includes the latter part of it, "to a group such as the commission proposed in the petition"? The italicized part is the most important part of the question.
If you've read the City Charter and "noticed that various other groups were granted subpoena power", why is it that you have not made any observations or drawn any conclusions about the limited authority that City Council has to grant subpoena powers, the nature of the entities to whom City Council can grant same, and the very limited nature of those subpoena powers once granted to such entities?
Because I've seen nothing to suggest that it is the City Council's right or responsibility to decide which groups should (or shouldn't) be allowed to include a provision for subpoena power in their petition. There's every indication that the NYC voters are ultimately deciding if the City Charter should be modified, and to what extent.
Still, even if the City Council
did reject the petition after the initial submission (for reasons unrelated to signature verification), that rejection can be overridden by submitting an additional 15,000 verifiable signatures.
At what point would the evaluation you're referring to take place? After the initial submission, or some point after that?
Did you not notice, while you were reading the City Charter, that the entities upon whom the City's limited authority to grant subpoena power has been exercised, are very few, and did you not notice that those entities are very specific to NYC's geographical boundaries, and do not (and can not) reach beyond same? Did you not notice that nearly all of those entities are specifically related to oversight of the workings of NYC departments and agencies? (And the couple that are not specifically related to oversight of NYC departments and agencies exclusively are closely related: i.e., an environmental control board and humans rights commission)
I did. Of course a NYC City Charter is only going to explicitly cover NYC - no surprise there. Regarding those other entities - I fail to see the relevance, because again, I don't see where the City Council's
authority even factors into this.
According the NY Municipal Home Rule Law (in the section describing a city charter amendment initiated by petition):
1. A local law amending a city charter (however extensively) or providing a new city charter, also may be adopted in accordance with the provisions of this section.
"However extensively".
(similar thoughts snipped)
Do you know the answer to that question? If not, just say so, but do not just avoid the question. Better yet, if you don't know the answer, why don't you seek the answer from the drafters since you are supporting the petition?
I thought the question had already been answered - either way, it's not something I fully understand. Based on what I've read, it sounds like you're right, and they do not have any
authority in other cities/states. They can still
issue a subpoena; however, it would then have to be accepted/approved by the State Court in whichever state the subpoena is sent to.
Beyond that (e.g., Federal subpoenas), I don't know.
For instance, if you were able to point me to the specific provisions of the relevant legislation upon which the petition-drafters rely in order to bring the requested relief within the purview of City Council's authority, that would be something for me to go and look at, consider, interpret, and then we could engage in a much more specific and meaningful discussion about it. You know, an exchange of thoughts, ideas, interpretations, and conclusions backed up by cited authorities, precedents, and all that good stuff. But if you don't even know what provisions of relevant legislation the petition is relying upon, then perhaps you should reconsider putting blind faith in it and perhaps you should reconsider simply parroting what you read on the petition site.
(bolding mine)
For one thing, I would not research something on a site designed to promote the very thing I'm researching. I've pasted specific sections of the petition because it seems to me that very few people participating in this thread have even
read it.
With regard to a meaningful discussion, and everything in
bold - we'll see what happens. I'd love nothing more than to have those types of discussions in this forum, but it never seems to work out that way. I'll leave it at that.
