Probe Of State Police Underway
On the heels of findings that former Gov. Eliot Spitzer worked with State Police to release travel records on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, new Gov. David Paterson has authorized Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to do an investigation of whether State Police are improperly targeting state officials.
Paterson wrote a letter to Cuomo last night giving him broad subpoena and investigatory powers to look into the State Police operations. The New York Post had the story this morning.
Cuomo said this morning he will be reviewing all facets of how State Police gather information and whether they are specifically targeting elected officials at the request of other leaders.
Cuomo said his office has had “a disturbing number of complaints” about State Police tactics.
“This is a really positive, gutsy step of leadership,” Cuomo said of Paterson on Fred Dicker’s show on 1300-AM in Albany. “I think he’s saying, ‘Look we’ve had evidence of real political interference in the State Police; it’s unconscionable, it’s not what he wants the State Police to be and he’s acting. ”
A report by Albany County District Attorney David Soares on Friday found that Spitzer worked with aides and the State Police to release Bruno’s travel records to show that Bruno was using state aircraft for political purposes. Spitzer also had aides set up a New York Times interview with a former State Police leader Daniel Wiese to show that Bruno’s use of aircraft had long been a concern.
Bruno quickly credited Paterson for calling for the investigation. In fact, the Post has reported that the reason why Paterson has revealed so much of his personal life is because he was concerned State Police was gathering information on him.
“The Governor’s request is timely and appropriate and I’m confident that Attorney General Cuomo will conduct a thorough and diligent investigation that will bring more clarity to this disgraceful situation on behalf of all New Yorkers who have a right to know,” Bruno said.
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As someone posted recently, Fred Dicker of the NY Post has almost single-handedly blown open the entire Troopergate scandal, going way back to last summer. Glad to see there is a link to his story today with the latest news on it.
I also would recommend Bill Hammond’s op-ed column in today’s NY Daily News. It is about the total disaster the state budget is going to be. NY is headed for a big fall. Worse than it already is.
new york has been mismanaged for years..this notion of
unfunded mandates allows the state lawmakers to pander to
their special interest groups while the bill is paid by
local property tax payers..in addition the layers upon
layers of village, town, city, county government make
it so unweildy that the cost has become prohibitive.
in fact westchester is either the highest taxed or
near the highest taxed county in the nation..and what
do we get for our troubles….we get a county
government that wants to spend more on staffing…to
do their part time jobs….