Politics on the Hudson

Lawyers for aides to Gov. Spitzer have been notified this afternoon that Albany County District Attorney David Soares will not convene a grand jury Wednesday on whether former communications director Darren Dopp gave conflicting statements to investigators, sources told Gannett News Service.

Dopp has been at the center of a revived probe by Soares over whether he committed perjury by allegedly providing conflicting reports to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the state’s Public Integrity Commission over the release of travel documents aimed to damage Spitzer’s political foe, Senate Republican Leader Joseph Bruno.

At the crux of the inquiry is that Dopp said in a statement to Cuomo investigators that the release of documents on Bruno should have been handled through channels other than Spitzer’s office. Yet he later apparently told the integrity commission that he didn’t necessarily see any problem with releasing the documents.

Speculation was that Soares planned to convene a grand jury Wednesday on Dopp, but sources close to the case said that the grand jury will not take place.

It’s unclear, though, whether the case has been postponed or dropped indefinitely. Dopp was suspended as Spitzer’s communications director in July after a report by Cuomo’s office found he acted improperly in compiling the travel documents on Bruno.

Cuomo and Soares, in separate investigations, found no criminal wrongdoing, however.

Soares reopened the case at the request of the Public Integrity Commission after its interview of Dopp in its own probe.

Soares has since subpoenaed Dopp’s private journal that he kept as Spitzer’s press aide apparently to see whether Dopp made any references to the so-called Troopergate scandal.

One theory is that Soares may not move forward because Dopp’s statement to Cuomo was not a sworn statement, meaning it could not be used as evidence of perjury.

A Soares’ spokewoman said the office “does not comment on anything related to the grand jury.”

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