N.Y. Yankees President Ordered To Appear Before Assembly Committee

January 14, 2009 7:20 a.m. EST

Albany, NY (AHN) - New York Yankees president Randy Levine was subpoenaed Tuesday by a New York Assembly committee investigating the use of public funding involving the new Yankee Stadium.

Levine, along with the city's Industrial Development Agency chairman Seth Pinsky, will appear Wednesday before committee assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester).

Brodsky has been probing public funding for the newly-built stadium, which opens this coming spring.

Brodsky believes city and team officials have allegedly altered property assessments and now wants more documents supporting the Yankees' request for public-backed financing.

The office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg slammed Brodsky's order for subpoena.

"I guess it makes for good political theater because it's the Yankees, but when it comes to valuable taxpayer dollars, decisions should be made on return, not rhetoric," the mayor's spokesman Andrew Brent told Newsday.

"The deal leverages a federal program and will result in New York City getting back more tax revenue than it will cost and the South Bronx getting thousands of new jobs and more than $1 billion in private investment," Brent added.

In the continuous investigation of the stadium's financing, Brodsky said there aren't enough permanent jobs that the project will create, thereby negating the team's request to call for public funding.

In addition to the grant totaling $940 million in tax-exempt bonds and $25 million in taxable bonds, the Yankees want additional bonds--$259 million in tax-exempt bonds and $111 million in taxable bonds.