Bruno, Spitzer feud heightens with claims of misuse of police
By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press Thursday, July 5, 2007
ALBANY -- The feud between Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno and Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer escalated Thursday with Bruno calling for Spitzer to be investigated for abusing the powers of his office.
Spitzer aide Darren Dopp, however, said what Bruno called "political espionage" is simply "basic record keeping" by state police. Dopp also called for some combination of investigations by the inspector general, attorney general and the Albany County district attorney to settle the conflict.
The latest round of accusations came as Bruno defended himself against what he sees as attacks orchestrated by Spitzer.
On Thursday, Bruno claimed that Spitzer used a state police detail, which Bruno had requested for security, to spy on the senator's travels in Manhattan for legislative business and to attend political fundraisers. As proof of political spying, Bruno pointed to one-page descriptions by state police of where he was picked up and dropped off by troopers on three trips in May. Two of them were written by state police, one was a schedule from Bruno's office used by state police.
Bruno said that shows state police kept a log of his whereabouts for political reasons, but didn't compile travel logs for the governor or anyone else.
"I am also requesting the attorney general and Albany County district attorney to convene grand juries to assess the criminal liability of the governor for his abuse of power of his office and the misuse of the state police for political espionage," Bruno said.
Bruno said the state Senate Investigations Committee, headed by Republicans, could later subpoena the Democratic governor as part of its own review.
Bruno had no other claims of espionage: "I shudder to think ... how do I know? If the governor is capable of this, what else is he capable of?"
Dopp denied there was any spying.
"There has never been any surveillance of Majority Leader Bruno by the state police," said Dopp. "The state police work from schedules supplied by the majority leader's office. No special records are kept beyond a simple accounting of a state police vehicle's use."
Dopp said Bruno's office supplied the travel records and state police simply used that as the basis for their reports on driving Bruno around Manhattan for meetings. Dopp said the same process is used for Spitzer and others, but agrees Spitzer's reports look different from Bruno's because Spitzer's schedule is more detailed and rarely requires additional notations or redrafting by state police drivers.
"It was standard operating procedure," Dopp said, speaking for the former prosecutor and attorney general.
Dopp acknowledges there are no state police-compiled logs or reports on Spitzer's travels as there are for some of Bruno's trips. He said state police might have written their own log because the itinerary from Bruno was originally given orally, or redrafted a record based on what Bruno had provided in writing.
For example, the state police "Transportation Assignment for Sen. Joseph Bruno" for May 3 included: A 2 p.m. helicopter flight to the West 30th Street helipad in Manhattan and a state police car drive to the Sheraton Hotel; a 7 p.m. dinner at an Italian restaurant on a specific East Side block; an 11 p.m. a drive back to the hotel. The names of people Bruno met were not listed. The "Gov.'s Schedule" for travel on May 24, includes:
--Departing from LaGuardia Airport at noon for Fort Drum in Central New York, a series of meetings from 1:25 p.m. 2:30 with specific top Army officers, unidentified soldiers and their family; A 2:30 p.m. press conference; a 3 p.m. departure for Massena followed by a series of meetings with town and city officials, a union president; a 4:40 p.m. press conference and a 5:15 p.m. departure for LaGuardia. A half-dozen people with whom Spitzer met were identified.
"There is no special surveillance whatsoever -- never," Dopp said.
The claims of espionage were first reported Thursday in the New York Post amid growing conflict between Bruno and Spitzer. It began Sunday, when the Albany Times Union reported about travel records that showed Bruno used state aircraft, approved by the governor's office, on several days, including three that featured Republican fundraisers at night. Business and government leaders on Tuesday said they met with Bruno on official business those days, which -- under a much-criticized ethics policy -- appears to legitimize Bruno's use of state aircraft.
The conflict prompted Common Cause, the New York Public Interest Research Group and other good-government advocates to call for a "bright-line" standard for the use of state resources such as the planes and helicopters. The groups want the state Ethics Commission and Legislative Ethics Committee to require reimbursement for political use.
Meanwhile, Bruno has called for a criminal investigation of his local newspaper, which he has accused of publishing damaging leaks by Spitzer. The Albany County District Attorney's office has received a letter from Bruno's office regarding the Times Union of Albany, spokeswoman Heather Streeter Orth said Thursday. She declined further comment.
On Tuesday, Bruno spokesman John McArdle said a Times Union advertising salesman made "an attempt at extortion," calling another aide trying to get Bruno to buy ads to counter news articles critical of Bruno in the newspaper.
Times Union Publisher Mark Aldam denied the accusation.
"To imply any breach of integrity by The Times Union strikes me as an unfair attempt by Sen. Bruno's office to redirect attention from recent public reports toward the media company responsible for the initial reporting," Aldam said in a prepared statement Tuesday.
OPENING GATES OF 'EL' BRUNO RETALIATES WITH CALL FOR 'CRIMINAL' PROBE OF SPITZER By FREDRIC U. DICKER, State Editor
FLY-SPY: Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno is demanding a probe of Gov. Spitzerafter the Democratic governor allegedly used State Police to track the Republican legislator's travel.July 6, 2007 -- ALBANY - Furious state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno yesterday accused Gov. Spitzer of ordering the State Police to track him for "political espionage" - and called for special grand juries to investigate the governor's possible "criminal liability."
Bruno, reacting to yesterday's bombshell report in The Post disclosing that Spitzer had targeted Bruno for an unprecedented State Police surveillance program, also announced that he was "activating" the Senate Investigations Committee to look into whether Spitzer abused the powers of his office.
A source said the committee may soon subpoena "internal e-mails and other documents" from the governor's office dealing with the circumstances under which the State Police were instructed to keep records of Bruno's travels.
"When the governor abuses his power, it not only works against his political enemies, it undermines the entire fabric of democracy," said Bruno, who asked the state Attorney General and Albany County DA to empanel grand juries.
Bruno charged that Spitzer's "pattern of behavior over the years, his repeated physical threats to state officials and others, his complete and total disregard for the truth, and now his willingness to use the State Police for surveillance in hopes of gaining some type of political advantage should send shivers up the spine of every New Yorker and raise serious questions about his fitness to serve in the state's highest office."
Spitzer announced that Kristine Hamann, whom he appointed as inspector general in February, would investigate.
Darren Dopp, Spitzer's communications director, insisted that nothing illegal or improper had occurred, contending, "We are confident that proper procedures were followed at all times."
He called The Post's report "grossly inaccurate and false," insisting, "There has never been any surveillance of Majority Leader Bruno by the State Police."
"When they have been asked to drive the majority leader, the State Police work from schedules supplied by the majority leader's office. No special records are kept beyond a simple accounting of a state police vehicle's use," Dopp insisted.
However, Dopp has repeatedly claimed in recent days to The Post that a special monitoring program to track Bruno's whereabouts was put into effect in early April.
The surveillance program produced detailed stop-by-stop records of Bruno's travel in New York City as he was driven by a state trooper in a state-owned vehicle.
The Post report noted that Dopp admitted that no such records were kept when state troopers drove Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David Paterson.
Dopp changed his story twice yesterday, first insisting in the morning that the same records kept on Bruno were kept on Spitzer and Paterson, and asserting they would be made publicly available.
But by the afternoon, Dopp referred questions to State Police spokesman Lt. Glenn Miner, who told a different story.
Miner said Bruno's detailed travel records were created only after the senator had completed his travels and only after Dopp asked the State Police to do so to respond to a media inquiry about Bruno's travels on state aircraft.
Dopp, meanwhile, contended the record-keeping resulted in part from a complaint by Conservative Party Chairman Michael Long that Bruno had shown up at a party fund-raising event with an escort of armed troopers.
Long, however, strenuously denied Dopp's claim and yesterday called on Spitzer, whom he spoke with privately on the telephone, to publicly apologize for making the charge. Long later said Spitzer refused.
For his part, Dopp insisted that he had been "cavalier" in referencing a "hearsay" account of Long's alleged complaint and insisted he never claimed it had served as "some kind of rationale for some kind of policy change by the State Police."
But in a Tuesday e-mail to The Post, Dopp wrote, "There was an incident late last year in which Mike Long called to complain about Joe bringing armed troopers into his fund-raising event. Long thought it was highly inappropriate and it probably was. Recalling that incident, the SP made some changes, keeping their people in the background, going unmarked, and, yes, keeping basic records, i.e. logs.
"I maintain that all of this was the right response," Dopp continued.
Long made public a letter to Spitzer in which he urged the governor to "find the fabricator" who claimed he had made a complaint against Bruno.
"It appears that someone in your office, someone who would fabricate such a bald-faced lie, is not suited for government work," Long declared.
IT'S said that the Roman em perors had slaves who ac companied them during im perial processionals for the sole purpose of whispering these words in their ears: "Caesar, thou art mortal."
Eliot Spitzer, thou art mortal.
The emperors needed to hear this deflationary message at their moment of great triumph because it's precisely when everyone is singing your praises and cheering you on that you can lose your good senses.
Too bad for Spitzer nobody was whispering in his ear. For most of the past decade, nobody has given Spitzer any reason to think he was anything but a political savior, a walker-on-water, the most potent cleanser since Mr. Clean.
Nobody, that is, until Joe Bruno, the most powerful Republican in the state and someone that Spitzer needs to have at least minimally civil relations with.
Instead of trying to cultivate Bruno, which is what an astute politician would have done, the novice governor apparently tried to use his own private police force to dig up dirt on the GOP honcho - first, perhaps, to blackmail him, as a senior state official suggested to The Post, and then, when that didn't work, to ruin him.
In response, Bruno is doing something positively sacrilegious. He's taking Spitzer's halo, breaking it over his knee and saying, "How do you like that, rich boy?"
Bruno is calling the governor on his conduct. He's accusing Spitzer of being no better than a Third World dictator, which really isn't fair.
But then, Spitzer is a past master when it comes to treating people unfairly.
Two years ago, Spitzer called an 80-year-old retired banker during a vacation in Mexico and threatened to destroy the banker simply because the banker had criticized Spitzer's prosecution of another tycoon.
"It's now a war between us," Spitzer told John Whitehead. "I will be coming after you."
That has always been Spitzer's way. He terrified Wall Street with threats and invective - and the threat of bringing a case that, good or lousy, would tie up a firm in knots for years unless the firm agreed preemptively to a "voluntary" series of measures ordered by Spitzer.
For this problematic behavior, Spitzer was garlanded like a Roman general back from Gaul. He rode his noble reputation like the great steed Bucephalus into the public forum of the governor's race in 2006 and won the most lopsided gubernatorial victory in the history of this state.
Whereupon, he returned to his traditional role of acting not like a just ruler but instead like a goon.
He told a Republican assemblyman, "Listen, I'm a f- - -ing steamroller, and I'll roll over you and anybody else."
And according to The Post's Fred Dicker, Spitzer set the New York State Police on Bruno in an extraordinarily questionable manner.
His spokesman said he did it because Mike Long, the head of the state's Conservative Party requested an investigation into questionable practices by Bruno.
"A bald-faced lie," says Long.
Uh-oh.
If Long is telling the truth, it looks like Spitzer sicced the state cops on Bruno so he could find something to blackmail the Republican State Senate's majority leader with.
What did he find? Bruno rode on a state-owned aircraft to three fund-raisers - but despite efforts to suggest Bruno made improper use of the helicopters in traveling to New York City, it now appears Bruno was also traveling on business relating to his role as the majority leader of the state Senate.
Bruno's out of trouble. Spitzer's trouble is just beginning.
Aside from raising questions about his unseemly attempt at digging up dirt on a political rival, he has also made it clear to friends and opponents alike that he will say and do anything in pursuit of his goals.
Oh shadow, you are correct...however Spitzer will come out the winner here. He is too polished for politics. Bruno is clearly not good at this stuff. Let the freakin' games begin!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Bruno isn't as polished as Spitzer but he is very politically connected and has a lot of pull in the Senate. Spitzer may get nothing that he wants thru the Senate if Bruno has his way.
Public advocates blast Spitzer and Bruno feud Updated: 7/6/2007 5:28 PM By: Ken Jubie
The state Legislature may be on vacation, but it's still busy at the Capitol. All week there's been a war of words and allegations between Governor Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. But some say that story has overshadowed a larger issue.
We spoke with several public advocates who work closely with the Legislature, and they seem to all agree that this latest feud is just childish.
The Governor is calling on Bruno to be investigated for using state police and a publicly-funded helicopter to attend a fundraiser. And the Senator wants Spitzer investigated for abusing gubernatorial power to spy on him.
Good government groups say it's stopping progress from being made on important issues such as campaign finance reform, Wick's law, congestion pricing and the capital budget.
The state Legislature may be on vacation, but it's still busy at the Capitol. All week there's been a war of words and allegations between Governor Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. But some say that story has overshadowed a larger issue.
Barbara Bartoletti of the NYS League of Women Voters said, "This doesn't accomplish the people's business. It just simply raises rhetoric and, you know, after a while the public says a pox on both your houses."
Russ Haven of NYPIRG said, "It's not productive. It's gone beyond just establishing your turf. And now it appears to be a distraction and an impediment."
NYPIRG and other public interest groups are calling for the creation of an independent ethics commission to police these problems within state government.
The groups are also pushing for a way to document travel so taxpayers don't have to pay for partisan activity.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
I don't really like Mr. Bruno. He seems to be cocky and arrogant. And Mr. Spitzer seems to be the same. They both seem cocky, arrogant and self centered and out of touch with the people that they are suppose to be serving and representing.
Political turf battle turns ugly at Capitol Debate has devolved to barbed insults, profanities BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
ALBANY — Remember when Albany was just dysfunctional, instead of like an episode of “COPS”? The traditional Albany gridlock over often subtle differences in legislative bills has built into claims of using taxpayer-funded state aircraft for political fundraisers and a counterclaim of political espionage. Squaring off are freshman Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who promises to reform Albany’s status quo, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, who was first elected to the chamber when Spitzer was in high school. The political debate has devolved to barbed insults and profanities, threats to political fortunes and futures, and macho warnings of knockdown fights — at least politically. “These guys have escalated from just being political enemies to real, honest-to-God bitterness,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute and a former New York political reporter. “Democrats are expected to fight with Republicans. But they are not expected to hate each other.” “That can’t be good for anyone for getting anything done,” Carroll said. “I don’t remember anything like this.” Veteran lawmakers are shaking their heads, too. “There’s a real danger that the public interest gets shunted aside by dueling political strategies and everyone needs to take a deep breath and think carefully about that,” said Democratic Assemblyman Richard Brodsky of Westchester, long one of Albany’s most combative politicians. The New York Post’s front page shouted it Thursday, “Police State Gov sicced cops on Joe.” That’s where Bruno accused Spitzer, days after he tagged the Democrat “a rich spoiled brat,” of masterminding political espionage that included the state police drivers assigned to Bruno for security in Manhattan. Spitzer’s aides denied that, saying what Bruno called conspiracy was just basic — and standard — record keeping. “I’ve been in government 31 years,” Bruno, 78, told reporters, “I’ve never experienced anything quite like this.” The 48-year-old Spitzer fueled an already-simmering conflict two weeks ago by taking his huge popularity into the home districts of a few Republican senators who are clinging to a slim majority in the chamber. In homes, on street corners and in editorial board interviews, Spitzer pitched his case to senators’ constituents: Their local guy went on vacation after the scheduled June 21 close of session with major issues involving public safety and the upstate economy left undone. Spitzer made it clear that those who oppose his reform of Albany and its influence by special interests in campaigns are part of what he once called “an aura of unseemliness” that surrounds Albany. Spitzer also touched the perfect nerve for Bruno, who brags of his hard-scrabble boyhood along the boxcars in Glens Falls and his penchant for being on time and on task in a deadline-challenged Capitol. The Ivy League governor called the Senate Republicans lazy and beholden to special interests, and implored voters to tell them “get back to work, earn your keep, earn your pay.” Then Bruno waded in with a charge of his own: He blamed Spitzer for releasing records last week that question whether Bruno used state aircraft to attend GOP fundraisers in Manhattan. So what’s the end game? Spitzer and Bruno say they each just want to get the people’s business done, but their way. “I have made it eminently clear to my friend, Joe Bruno, and all the other legislators, that we can join shoulder to shoulder, take steps to reform the politics, and if we do so we will all be partners in a wonderful move forward,” Spitzer said last week from his second home in rural Columbia County. But if they don’t? “I will be able to transform the government of the state through the executive power of the governor,” Spitzer said. By that, he said he will direct reforms through policy and action of the state’s agencies that touch on New Yorkers’ lives from health care, environment, schools and the economy. Along the way, Spitzer would try to paint Republican senators as opposing reform. That could set up what Bruno has insisted has been the Democratic governor’s goal all along: A Democratic majority in the Senate to go with the Democrat-led Assembly — and no Republicans to check them. “It would be helpful,” Spitzer added, “to have a Senate that understood what we need to do.” That’s where Spitzer’s most reliable ally, Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith comes in. Next year, he’ll get his shot at further reducing the 33-29 GOP majority, which includes seven incumbents who are older than 70, three in increasingly Democratic districts, and an election year expected to draw a big Democratic turnout spurred by the chance to replace a GOP president low in the polls. “If people want to fight, well, go for it,” said Bruno, a former boxing champ when he served in the U.S. Army. If Spitzer doesn’t “learn how to be governor,” the Senate Republicans will continue to accuse of him of standing in the way of further property tax cuts for senior citizens, revitalization of the upstate economy, and other bread-and-butter issues, Bruno said. By contrast, Bruno claims Spitzer is “obsessed” with campaign finance reform, an Ivory Tower notion of no interest to the public. Spitzer “grew up an elitist,” Bruno said, “he never had to make difficult decisions about what you do for money.” Bruno has also tried his hand at touching off what critics have long claimed is Spitzer’s short fuse. Bruno has referred to Spitzer’s wife, Harvard-trained lawyer Silda Wall Spitzer, as his “missus” after she hosted a campaign fundraiser. And Bruno has recently resurrected the state Republican Party’s criticism of Spitzer dating back more than a decade when he borrowed millions from his father for an early run at attorney general. “I think the governor went for very important goals with a take-no-prisoners approach,” said Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist at the State University of New York at New Paltz. “And Bruno seems to have found a line about a rich guy used to getting his way that may resonate with some people.” Predicting what comes next isn’t easy. Spitzer doesn’t appear content to play the old Albany game that Republican Gov. George Pataki did for much of 12 years of fighting with Bruno or Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon, compromising for “half a loaf,” then fighting all over again. He wants a new game. “It’s hard to break the mold of that three-step dance that’s been so popular in Albany for so long,” said Lee Miringoff of the Marist College poll that tracks New York politics. MIKE GROLL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, right, listens as New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, RBrunswick, speaks during a legislative leaders meeting in this May 30 file photo.
Bruno asks AG to investigate Spitzer Updated: 7/9/2007 By: Erin Billups
ALBANY, N.Y. -- While one-house bills collect dust, the battle between Governor Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno rages on.
Bruno said, "You would think the Governor of this state would have more important things to do."
Spitzer said, "I wish Joe hadn't sent those letters because I think it's going to be a distraction, a waste of time."
These latest comments are in reference to the recent letter Bruno sent to the Office of Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, asking him to look into misuse of police surveillance by the Governor.
The New York Post reported Spitzer used state police to watch Bruno's political activities for wrongdoing.
The war of words between Governor Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno continues. Both politicians held press conferences that inevitably dealt with the ongoing feud. Our Erin Billups has more on the latest on the situation from the Capitol.
Bruno said, "I asked the Attorney General to just do a thorough review and investigate the resources that the Governor and the office have used to do the kinds of things that they have been apparently been conspiring to do."
But Spitzer says he's no longer the Attorney General and he's not going out of his way to investigate Bruno. He says what the state police did, they did according to Bruno's direction.
"We responded to a FOIL request and have done nothing more," said Spitzer. "We have acted in a way that is not only proper but is critically appropriate in the context of issues that have been raised."
"That is just not true, and the AG was reached by the Governor's people. I think it's just sad and unfortunate, and we really have to get on with our lives," said Bruno.
The Governor says he also wants the focus back on turning bills into laws. He says despite rumors that the Assembly won't be back until fall, he believes they will reconvene if there's a need, which, he says, there is.
Spitzer said, "I have the capacity to call special sessions. But as I've said before, while I won't hesitate to do so, I won't do it unnecessarily. I will do it where there is utility, where I believe bills would get passed."
Bruno says the Senate will be in session on Monday, July 16.
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MIKE GROLL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, right, listens as New York Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, RBrunswick, speaks during a legislative leaders meeting in this May 30 file photo. 
