Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel issued subpoenas to three cellphone companies that failed to provide records on cellphone use at City Hall, part of a rapidly escalating dispute over billing practices.
Greuel, who is running for mayor, accused the companies of using "stall tactics" to hamper her investigation, which focuses on whether they billed the city accurately and, as required under their contracts, reworked phone plans to fit the usage of each city department and cut costs.
The three companies — AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint — were given two months to provide billing data from 2006 to June 2011, Greuel said. "It's absurd that businesses doing business with the city of Los Angeles want to deny the city access to cellphone bills," she said.
An AT&T spokesman said company officials had been working amicably with Greuel on her request. To back up its case, the company released a Dec. 24 letter it sent asking Greuel to provide authorization from each city department to produce the billing data. Those authorizations are needed because city departments independently negotiate their own cellphone contracts.
"As I stated in my correspondence to Ms. Cynthia Varela of your office on Oct. 23, 2012, AT&T Mobility is prepared to provide information but must ensure compliance with its regulatory obligations related to such information," wrote Kevin Strom, AT&T's government segment sales manager.
Sprint spokeswoman Stephanie Vinge Walsh said her company had been providing documents to Greuel's office since September. "In light of our extensive research, effort and cooperation with the L.A. City Controller's office over the past months, we're disappointed that the City apparently has decided to serve a subpoena," she said in a statement.
Greuel spokeswoman Shannon Murphy described AT&T's request for authorization as "an excuse" to avoid releasing the information. Asked if her boss had responded to AT&T's request, Murphy responded: "We have not, and we don't need to."
The request for subpoenas was first submitted to the city clerk's office Dec. 20 as part of Greuel's follow-up investigation to a May 2011 audit that found that optimization of cellphone plans at a handful of city agencies could have saved between $370,000 and $1 million.
She also requested a subpoena for Verizon Wireless on the same day. But that company turned over the records in the last week. Because each city department has its own cellphone contracts, some agencies have their billing information and some do not.
Greuel's subpoena announcement drew criticism from City Councilman Eric Garcetti, one of her opponents in the mayor's race. Garcetti spokesman Jeff Millman described Greuel's 2011 audit as "incomplete" and said it shouldn't have taken her so long to obtain the remaining details. "We've had four years of a press release controller," Millman said. "And L.A. cannot afford a press release mayor."
Greuel campaign strategist John Shallman responded by saying that when Garcetti was council president, he and his colleagues were "asleep at the wheel while millions of dollars were wasted."
david.zahniser@latimes.com
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