Gov. Spitzer was more deeply involved in the Dirty Tricks Scandal than he has publicly admitted – having gone as far as consulting with former Communications Director Darren Dopp before the aide handed confidential State Police travel records involving Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno to an Albany newspaper.
Dopp, who left his post in the Spitzer administration amid the growing scandal, met with Spitzer and other top aides to discuss disclosing the documents, according to a lengthy article in this week’s New Yorker.
Spitzer had repeatedly claimed he didn’t have a hand in leaking the detailed State Police records, purportedly showing that Bruno (R-Rensselaer) was misusing state aircraft.
What’s more, Albany District Attorney David Soares repeatedly contended – in a September report widely described as a whitewash – that Spitzer actively sought to prevent Dopp from disclosing the supposedly damaging information after concluding it failed to show any wrongdoing.
One investigator probing the scandal called The New Yorker’s revelation “significant because it means that Spitzer hasn’t been telling the truth about the extent of his involvement, which is what we suspected.”
“It also shows that Soares didn’t know what was going on,” the investigator continued.
The governor has repeatedly refused to answer detailed questions about the scandal, and two of his top aides failed to cooperate with a probe conducted by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, triggered by a July 5 report in The Post.
Soares was forced last month to reopen his initial investigation as a result of Dopp’s possible perjury before the state Public Integrity Commission, in which he contradicted an earlier sworn statement he gave on the scandal.
New Yorker writer Nick Paumgarten’s many hours of access to Spitzer for his generally favorable article were in sharp contrast to the limited, 45-minute, interview granted Vanity Fair’s David Margolick, whose far more critical – and better received – article on the governor also appeared this week.
Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson contended there was nothing new in the New Yorker article because the governor has admitted he knew State Police documents were going to be released.
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Spitzer’s decision to hire lobbyist Bruce Gyory as his special liaison to the Legislature has led some insiders to say the governor picked the wrong man for the job.
Gyory’s uphill task is to repair the considerable damage that Spitzer’s aggressive treatment of lawmakers has dealt his hopes of winning legislative approval of his policy agenda.
Instead of Gyory, the governor should have picked Lt. Gov. David Paterson, who developed close personal ties to Bruno when he served as Senate minority leader, and has at least cordial relations with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), the insiders say.
“Paterson would have been the ideal person for the job, so it looks to me like the governor really wasn’t all that serious about wanting better relations with the Legislature,” the administration source said.