Councilman: Snow cleanup probe goes slowly

The New York City councilman at the center of claims that a union-ordered slowdown may have delayed the city's cleanup of the late-December blizzard said Thursday that probes of the charge are going slowly.

"I think this investigation is having a very difficult time getting traction," said Queens Republican Dan Halloran outside federal court in Brooklyn, where he had been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.

Halloran triggered a wave of publicity when he reported earlier this month, on the basis of conversations with two Sanitation Department supervisors and three workers, that deployment of plows may have been slow-walked in retaliation for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's planned demotion of 100 supervisors.

The charge triggered four different federal and local probes, but recent reports have indicated that investigators have been unable to corroborate the story and are beginning to wonder if Halloran made it all up.

Leaving the courthouse after about 15 minutes, Halloran said he met and exchanged information with prosecutors, but did not appear before the grand jury. He said he would likely be back next week.

Halloran has identified the supervisors he spoke to, but has refused to name the three workers - saying that they approached him for legal advice and that, while he refused to represent them, their identities were protected by attorney-client privilege.

He said prosecutors questioned him about the basis for his privilege claim during the visit Thursday.

The councilman said he isn't surprised at the lack of progress, surmising that the slowdown he was told about may have been confined to a small number of employees and that no one would be anxious to get their co-workers in the crosshairs of a criminal investigation.

"There's a brotherhood there," he said. "They have every reason to not break ranks."

Union officials have denied any slowdown effort, and Bloomberg also has said he doesn't believe it happened.