By John Burtis
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Eliot Spitzer, who ruled Wall Street, as New York's attorney general, a few short years ago with an iron fist, subpoenas, gross innuendos, and wild attributions, seems to be at it again as New York's governor. Only this time he has been called out for his office's employment of his state police to manufacture documents designed to slur his key opponent.
Yep, Mr. Spitzer just couldn't let bygones be bygones as he settles into the biggest leather chair in Albany, where he's now being exposed for trumpery, and even the left liberal New York Times has indicated a slight distaste for his latest and highly questionable activities.
According to the New York Times' July 23rd article, "Spitzer Aides cited for use of Police to Tarnish Bruno", Mr. Spitzer is the victim of an overzealous staff and one of his closest advisors, who "improperly used the New York State Police to gather information on the governor's chief rival, the State Senate majority leader, in an effort to plant a negative story and damage him politically."
And the sordid details of this bad behavior - where the acting State Police Superintendent, Preston L. Felton, who is spearheading a new recruitment plan to insure future diversity in NY's premier law enforcement agency, stands accused of ordering members of his elite force to manufacture damaging documents under the apparent direction of Mr. Darren Dopp, a longtime advisor to the embattled governor from the Endicott, NY, area and a former Binghamton, NY, reporter- are even being called into question by Spitzer's replacement as New York's attorney general, Andrew Cuomo.
Can you imagine a political and legal problem of such magnitude that it would result in a Democrat attorney general openly acting accusatory toward a freshly minted Democrat governor in the capital city of the Empire State? And can you really believe that something as serious as this damaging scheme was limited to the feckless frivolity of the governor's aides?
But there appears to be some merit to the charges. Mr. Cuomo found that Mr. Dopp and his fellow aides had conspired to obtain details of Bruno's travel with the express intent of giving it to the media. Additionally, Cuomo found that Mr. Preston L. Felton crafted documents detailing Bruno's schedules and his queries for transportation from whole cloth.
Cuomo's own report stated that, "We conclude that the governor's office was acting pursuant to a plan, which preceded any FOIL (freedom of information) request, to show that Senator Bruno had misused state aircraft."
Wow, so Governor Spitzer, noted for his hands on style during his AIG investigation of 2005, and who has also been called "Wall Street's Eliot Ness" in the past, today professes no idea that the most trusted aide working out of his office is in league with the superintendent of the state police to fabricate documents to smear the top Republican in NY - the most dedicated of Mr. Spitzer's foes? No, not that. And further, he's shocked at the behavior.
And the premier question is this: Would the acting superintendent of the New York State Police really create phony documents at the behest of a mere office based lackey? Or would he fall on his sword in this caper if he thought that the governor had given the full OK or an order in this matter?
In the end, if the firestorm dies down sufficiently, Mr. Dopp will be suspended and probably fired, the acting state police superintendent will have his once brilliant future clouded or ended for acting as a yes man to an overreaching governor's aide in cobbling together fake documents for a political attack, and a few flunkies will be banished from the governor's offices forever.
And yet, it is perfect Elito Spitzer high camp – running rough shod over anyone and everyone who is perceived as a threat to his future political plans. Only now he has enough folks to act as buffers.
But having been called on the carpet, publicly, for these blatant shenanigans--which are similar in nature to those practiced by our country's chief personal privacy advocate, Senator Chuck Schumer, also of New York, when staff members on his Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee illegally obtained private financial information on Michael Steele of Maryland, who ultimately ran unsuccessfully for US Senator and of which the NY senator knew nothing--it is now claimed, with crossed fingers no doubt, that Mr. Spitzer's early glowing description of his commitment to honesty and transparency in government may suffer as a result.
His was a clarion call to arms similar to the empty promises made by House Speaker Pelosi, before her deeds and statements showed her as just another Democrat machine politician whose most loyal minion, Honest John Murtha of Haditha fame, called the very idea of ethics rules, "…total crap."
Andrew Cuomo has accused the governor's office of acting corruptly and Governor Eliot Spitzer is busily firing, suspending, investigating, and acting outraged in this deeply disturbing matter.
And the final question is this: who really bought the brand new brush which the disgraced minions used to spread the newly manufactured tar?
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