The Trenton Times published the following article on May 7, 2013. To read the full article, click here.

After subpoenas, Trenton Mayor Tony Mack, 17 others appear before committee investigating Obama bust

By Alex Zdan/The Times 
on May 07, 2013 at 3:13 PM, updated May 07, 2013 at 3:16 PM

TRENTON — The City Council’s probe into the funding for a bust of President Barack Obama in City Hall intensified today, as 18 people including Mayor Tony Mack appeared before a three-person investigative committee after being issued subpoenas.

The individuals, most of them city employees, spent varying amounts of time in the closed-door session, testifying under oath about the process ofraising private funds and purchasing the faux-bronze sculpture. Some were in for a few minutes, while mayoral aide Anthony Roberts spent more than an hour testifying.

“What we were interested in is how much individuals gave, because we never got a full accounting of the funds,” Councilman Zachary Chester, the subcommittee chair, said after hearing the testimony.

Nearly $1,300 of public funds from the mayor’s office budget were used to purchase a stone base for the bust, but participating officials have maintained the rest came from private donations. The money for the stone base was later repaid by donors to avoid the appearance of impropriety, Roberts’ attorney John Warenda said.

Mack was subpoenaed and appeared today, but his testimony was rescheduled so the mayor could obtain legal counsel, Chester said. The subpoenas are not related to the federal indictment of Mack last year on six counts including bribery, extortion, wire and mail fraud after an FBI sting. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.

The Obama bust hearing was conducted in a closed session in the council’s conference room, with city employees called in one at a time to testify. The other waited in the larger council chambers outside the room.

Many of the employees said they were frustrated by the proceeding, which they felt was a waste of time.

“That’s a given,” said Public Property division director Harold Hall, a close Mack associate who gave a donation for the bust. “You saw all the bodies in there.”

Fire Director Qareeb Bashir said he was trying to get back to his duties as quickly as possible.

“I have a lot of work to do,” Bashir said as he waited.

The council has been digging into the matter for five months, since Council President Phyllis Holly-Ward spoke with employees who she said were coerced to make donations. Holly-Ward said last year that she had referred the matter to an unspecified law enforcement agency.

In January, council unanimously voted to create the three-member investigatory committee, which would have subpoena power and look into the bust funding.Subpoenas were handed out in late April, the witnesses said.

Warenda gave copies of correspondence between Roberts and the council that he said provided information about the bust funding.

“The concern is the inquiry has been asked and answered several times already,” Warenda said as he waited to enter the session.

Chester said council members had been dissatisfied with Roberts’ earlier responses to their queries and could not get him to appear for questioning during a regular meeting. In a letter to council in January, Roberts admitted he failed to come before the body when asked twice that month, attributing his absences to illness and a previously scheduled event.

Roberts’ lengthy testimony today was “tedious and fair,” Warenda said after emerging from the conference room around 1 p.m.

“It’s a lot of miniutae, but that’s pretty much par for the course when you’re doing an investigation,” Warenda said.

Chester said the process went well and was worthwhile. After years of frustration over projects, contracts, and deals Mack’s administration has pursued, the decision to fully investigate the bust came because the council found the collective will to proceed.

“We have conversations about what we can do,” Chester said. “The question is, are the seven of us ready to do them?”