Spitzer has hurt his chances to get anything accomplished during his tenure as governor. He's going to have problems getting things passed in the legislature because of the bad feelings created by the unsuccessful smear of Bruno. What kind of a job is Spitzer doing when he doesn't know what his own people close to him are doing?
Scandal could imperil policy deals Probes may freeze prior agreements BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
Months of hearings and investigations into the Spitzer administration’s use of the state police to damage the governor’s biggest political foe could threaten to sideline several major policy agreements that only a week ago seemed sure things. Tax breaks for older New Yorkers, construction projects around the state and campaign finance reform are some of the issues that could get frozen by the scandal that erupted Monday when Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said two top Spitzer aides conspired to smear Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Already, Senate Republicans are asking for committee investigations that could include subpoenas of high-ranking Spitzer staff. “The investigations committee should try to get answers to some of the questions the public is pondering, like how far up the chain of command this goes,” said Sen. Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican. He said the Legislature needs to investigate the Democratic administration despite the report prepared by Cuomo, also a Democrat, and the state Inspector General’s Office, headed by a Spitzer appointee. Another investigation, by Albany County District Attorney David Soares, determined no laws were broken. “I said to Joe [Bruno], we have got to put what happened in the past behind us,” Spitzer said in Buffalo. “I apologized, but let’s move forward.” The report triggered swift action by Spitzer against the aides, who Cuomo said plotted to use the state police to track Bruno when he used state aircraft and state police ground escorts on days he attended Republican fundraisers. The trips were found to be legal under state law since Bruno also did official state business on those days. The report said Communications Director Darren Dopp and No. 2 homeland security aide William Howard sought records on Bruno’s travel. If the records didn’t exist, they asked troopers to re-create them from memory. They were then going to turn them over to a newspaper reporter and embarrass Bruno, according to Cuomo’s report. Spitzer, who has worked to cut into the Republicans’ majority in the Senate, said he knew nothing of the conspiracy and his aides misled him. He suspended Dopp indefinitely without pay and reassigned Howard outside the administration but didn’t say where he would work. But Skelos notes Cuomo’s investigators apparently never questioned Spitzer or a top aide mentioned in the report, Secretary to the Governor Rich Baum, who received two e-mails related to the plot. Cuomo’s report doesn’t show any e-mail responses or testimony by Baum or Spitzer among the “dozens of witnesses” interviewed. Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner said Spitzer’s counsel provided the e-mails and Baum and Dopp refused requests to be interviewed. Dopp, however, supplied a sworn written statement. Lerner said investigators didn’t request to speak with Spitzer or Bruno because Cuomo’s team didn’t have evidence of criminal or improper activity by them. Dopp and Howard had no immediate comment. “My sense of the governor’s management style of the past is that it went further up the chain of command than the report indicates,” Skelos said. “That’s where the investigation committees should go.” “I did not, would not tolerate that activity,” Spitzer said, adding that he doesn’t track news stories being written or reporters’ requests for documents. “I’m running a state government with 190,000 people, a budget of $125 billion dollars. We work on doing the people’s business.” Legislative investigations can take months and include public questioning of subpoenaed witnesses. The Senate Republicans have a stake in making time stand still on the issue that Bruno on Tuesday called “this still unfolding situation.” But Spitzer is trying to move forward on some major agreements announced last week and on the economic revitalization issues that won him a record share of the vote in November. For example, Spitzer was in Buffalo on Tuesday announcing economic revival initiatives. “The Eliot Spitzer brand was cleaner than clean, whiter than white, and now it’s been sullied,” said Michael Robinson, senior vice president of Levick Strategic Communications, a Washington-based company that deals in political crisis management. “When you say you’re going to be Caesar’s wife and you turn out to be Brutus, you have a problem.” Spitzer’s reputation as a handson, 18-hour-a-day manager may also become an issue, with the governor insisting he didn’t know of the political plot, Robinson said. In a political crisis, he advises officials to say nothing that would dig them deeper — nothing adversarial or arrogant — and then “move away from this. Find something, a piece of legislation or something, and reach across the aisle and be harmonious.”
It was hardly shocking Monday to hear that staffers of Gov. Eliot Spitzer abused their power to dig up dirt on Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, then plant the dirt with the media. The real surprises were 1) that Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigation wasn’t a whitewash, and 2) that Spitzer wasn’t in on the political dirty trick. At least it appears that Cuomo pulled no punches with his probe, and that Spitzer was telling the truth when he insisted he had no knowledge of the campaign to make trouble for his chief political adversary. But there’s no real way to know, and it’s certainly plausible that Spitzer (with Cuomo’s cooperation) hung a couple of top staffers out to dry just to save his own skin and mend fences with Bruno. Even as it stands, the episode is a gross humiliation for the governor, who rode into Albany on the high road but has failed to deliver on his promise for improved government ethics. It’s highly ironic that the governor’s fallout with Bruno — why staffers set out to embarrass the Senate majority leader — was over his refusal to yield to the governor on campaign finance reform. So for the time being, Spitzer — or at least the people who work for him — appears to be just like all the rest. It’s still early in his administration, but he’s now going to have to work doubly hard to prove that he’s not just another slimeball hypocrite.
By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau Wednesday, July 25, 2007
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno today said he wants an investigation into the role Gov. Eliot Spitzer may have played in having state police keep records of the Senator's travels in New York City.
Terming the creation of records tracking Bruno's trips to New York City a case of ``political espionage,'' as well as ``the use and the abuse of public resources, the State Police,'' Bruno said his Senate Investigations Committee as well as the State Commission on Investigations, may soon launch inquiries.
The Brunswick Republican added that he is confident the Senate Committee, if it deems necessary, could subpoena Spitzer and others, forcing them to testify about the use of State Police.
``I am fully confident that we have subpoena powers and that we can subpoena the governor, anybody,'' he said.
Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson, however, said she believed Senate hearings would be a ``waste of state taxpayer dollars,'' because as far as they are concerned, this episode has ended with the report that Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released Monday.
That report concluded that no laws were broken but that the governor's staff had misused State Police in getting them to create a record of Bruno's travels in New York City earlier this year.
Two of Democratic governor's top advisors, Richard Baum and Communications Director Darren Dopp, who has since been suspended, refused to give sworn testimony to the AG's investigators.
All I can hear is: He touched me...stop looking at me.....stop it.....mommy he is looking at me.....she's laughing at me.....it's my turn.....get out of my room....you cant use my computer.....dad, he used my towel......stop it.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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
Nah,,,,just a 'brotherly' politician......look---they are all the same.....control of the power and $$.......no ideas, no moving along, nothing, nada, nill.........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Bruno: Probe 'Troopergate' Senate majority leader seeks investigation of governor in creation of air travel records
By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau First published: Thursday, July 26, 2007
SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno on Wednesday called for a legislative investigation, and possibly an outside probe, into whether Gov. Eliot Spitzer played a role in having State Police create records of the senator's travels in New York City.
The Spitzer administration, after several days of apologies and statements that it wanted to get past the scandal, shot back by calling the Senate's investigation "purely partisan" and challenged whether lawmakers can investigate the inner workings of the executive branch.
Spitzer also reorganized his criminal justice team in an effort to "restore public confidence."
Bruno and others wouldn't rule out the possibility of subpoenaing Spitzer about the affair dubbed "Troopergate." A legislative subpoena of the governor could mark a first in state history, according to experts.
"This is not going to go away. It's not going to get swept under a rug," Bruno, R-Brunswick, said in declaring the Senate Investigations Committee will consider a probe of the Democratic governor's actions. Bruno might ask the State Commission of Investigation to look into the matter as well.
Bruno dismissed the governor's apology, which he said he received in a call while riding a tractor on his Rensselaer County farm.
"He's sorry for what has happened but if there are cover-ups the public has a right to know," Bruno said.
Bruno called on Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to have his chamber join the Senate in the investigation, but Silver's office declined, saying a report issued Monday by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found no laws were broken.
"Any investigation would be purely political in nature and a distraction from issues that are important to New Yorkers," said Silver spokesman Dan Weiler.
Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira, who heads the Investigations Committee, said he has sought supporting documents from Cuomo's explosive report, which concluded that two top Spitzer aides improperly had the State Police create records of Bruno's trips to New York City in order to release them to the media. Bruno condemned that as "political espionage," and part of an attempt by the governor to smear him in the press.
"I haven't made any decision one way or another," Winner said, adding that he will discuss the matter today with other Republican committee members today, including Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos, who Tuesday suggested Spitzer was involved in the scheme. The governor says he was not.
The Legislature is scheduled to be in session today to consider an anti-congestion plan for New York City.
Winner said he believes the committee has the power to subpoena Spitzer, but "I would see that as just a huge last resort."
Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said 'a Senate investigation would be "a complete waste of state taxpayer dollars for purely partisan and political purposes."
She also said the Senate "lacks the constitutional authority to conduct investigatory hearings into the internal operations of the governor's office," but that "it's far too early to be discussing executive privilege."
Bruno's remarks, made at Saratoga Race Course on the season's opening day, is the latest chapter of a drama that started earlier this month with a Times Union story on his use of a State Police helicopter and drivers during trips to New York City. The trips, Bruno said, were for state business, but on three occasions the senator also hosted fund-raisers there. Shortly after that, Bruno said his schedules, given to the newspaper under a Freedom of Information Law request, had been generated by what he termed "surveillance" by State Police of his movements. Cuomo's office looked into both the travel and the allegations of surveillance.
Cuomo's report found no evidence of covert surveillance and said no laws were broken but found said Spitzer staffers crossed ethical boundaries in prompting State Police to create the records. Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton handled the request, going outside the chain of command.
Two of the governor's staffers, Communications Director Darren Dopp and the governor's secretary, Richard Baum, refused to testify, choosing instead to give written statements.
Spitzer has put Dopp on indefinite unpaid leave from his $175,000-a-year job.
Assistant Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security William Howard was removed from Spitzer's office and has gone on paid leave. Howard, who had worked under former Gov. George Pataki, remains in his $175,900 post as administrative director of the Center of Homeland Security Research, Training and Education, part of the State University of New York. He had gotten the job in January and had been on loan to the governor's office, according to SUNY spokesman David Henahan.
Baum was not implicated in Cuomo's report, but Bruno on Tuesday characterized him as a possible instigator.
"Baum is involved in many, many places," Bruno said. "Richard Baum was there and if he had no knowledge of what was going on, shame on him."
While the Senate Investigation Committee's authority is in question, the State Commission of Investigation, a bipartisan panel, has "a broad statutory mandate to investigate any matter concerning the public peace, public safety and public justice," including the conduct of public officers and employees, according to its Web site.
Commission spokesman Steven Greenberg said it neither confirms nor denies any investigations it may be doing.
Spitzer had proposed disbanding the commission, saying it hasn't been very active.
Political observers noted that if lawmakers or the SCI subpoena Spitzer, it could be a first.
"I'm not aware of that ever happening in the state of New York," said Joseph Zimmerman, a University at Albany political science professor. The governor also named Denise O'Donnell, his criminal justice commissioner and a former U.S. Attorney and Democratic candidate for attorney general, as assistant secretary for criminal justice, who is in charge of State Police. She replaces LaiSun Yee, who takes Howard's job.
Spitzer said the move was done "to restore public confidence in one of our most important government functions." Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.
It's just a friendly game of "toss the red herring"........it's what they are not getting big press on that worries me......even the media goes fishing......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Ethics panel probing Spitzer scandal Governor calls action ‘routine’ BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
The state Ethics Commission has authorized its staff to start a preliminary investigation into the scandal in which top aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer used state police in a plot to discredit Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The letter from the Ethics Commission’s executive director states the commissioners have acted and “authorized staff to review facts and circumstances” of the case that has dominated the Albany agenda since state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released an investigative report Monday. Unlike Cuomo, in this case, the Ethics Commission has subpoena power to compel testimony. The letter, dated Thursday and addressed to Cuomo, was provided by a state official on the condition of anonymity because the investigation hadn’t been officially announced. When told of the letter, state Ethics Commission spokesman Walter Ayres confirmed it came from the investigative agency. Ayres said the probe is a “preliminary investigation” reviewing all that Cuomo produced, which could be followed by the commission’s own interviews and documents searches. Spitzer’s office, however, considers it a routine “review” of Cuomo’s records. The commission seeks all interview transcripts, notes, e-mail and other material from Cuomo’s investigation, but it can compel testimony under oath. Cuomo’s interviews were voluntary because he lacked subpoena power in this case. Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said the governor’s office has offered to produce all the records it had provided to the Office of the Attorney General and the Inspector General’s Office. “After the issuance of a report like the attorney general’s, it is common practice for the New York State Ethics Commission to ask to review pertinent documents to determine whether it should open its own investigation,” she said. “We trust that the commission will appropriately determine whether or not further inquiry beyond the OAG’s and IG’s now closed investigations is warranted.” Cuomo’s report released Monday concluded that Spitzer’s Communications Director, Darren Dopp, and William Howard, assistant deputy for public safety, compiled and created records with the direct involvement of the acting superintendent of state police to show that Bruno used state aircraft on days he attended Republican fundraisers in New York City. Dopp and Howard planned to release the records to a reporter, the report concluded. Neither Dopp nor Secretary to the Governor Rich Baum, mentioned in the report as receiving e-mails from Dopp and Howard, gave testimony to the attorney general. The letter was written the same day Spitzer, a former prosecutor, refused during a news conference to say whether it was appropriate that his top aides failed to fully cooperate with investigators looking into their use of state police against Bruno. “I was not involved” in the decision, Spitzer said at the raucous news conference. He said he knew of the request that the aides testify. Spitzer has repeatedly denied knowing about the plot to discredit Bruno, the state’s top Republican. “I find it very difficult to believe these trusted staffers and confidants kept their leader in the dark,” state Sen. Stephen Saland, a Poughkeepsie Republican, said Thursday. Cuomo’s report “raises questions about what the governor knew or should have known.” The Ethics Commission is headed by Chairman John Feerick, who Spitzer has chosen to lead a new entity in the coming months that will regulate ethics and lobbying in Albany. Feerick appointed Herbert Teitlebaum as executive director of the Ethics Commission in June. The Senate Committee on Investigations also sought records from Cuomo on Thursday and is considering its own probe, stated Sen. George Winner Jr., an Elmira Republican. On Sunday, the day before the report was issued and after the Cuomo investigation was largely completed, Baum and Dopp submitted sworn statements through the governor’s counsel’s office. Spitzer, the former crime-busting attorney general who made international headlines as the “Sheriff of Wall Street,” defended the decision not to provide testimony. He said Thursday that it wasn’t necessary for Baum and Dopp to be questioned after Cuomo determined no crime was committed. Baum, in an interview Thursday, said the decision was consistent with policy. “The Attorney General’s Office asked the counsel’s office for testimony from me, and I guess from Darren Dopp,” Baum said. “In general, the counsel’s office frowns on sworn testimony of people in the executive chamber who advise the governor because they prefer to not have wide reaching questions about the advice to the governor.” “It was all done through counsel’s offi ce,” Baum said. Hours before, Spitzer was pressed in a news conference on whether refusal to testify would have been acceptable if he was still attorney general. “As a prosecutor, I will tell you [that] you pursue facts until it’s your conclusion, unquestioned, and you reach the legal determination that needs to be made,” he said. “The attorney general reached its conclusion, and without any hesitancy or doubt, there were no violations of the law. There were judgment errors that were made that were egregious.” Spitzer said Thursday that the written statements by Baum and Dopp were “sufficient for the attorney general to close its investigation.”
It sure sounds ;like the Dems don't want an investigation into the Bruno debacle. what are they afraid of. The Dems don't have any trouble investigating the frivolous things that that don't like in Washington. When the shoes on the other foot they just want everyone to forget about it.
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