Ex-State Police head fumed at Troopergate records release
  Former Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton said he never knew travel records his department gathered on now-former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno would be published in a newspaper. The information was released by now-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office in response to a Freedom of Information Law request from the media. The release of records became known as Troopergate, and Spitzer’s office was found to have released them in an attempt to discredit Spitzer’s lead political rival.
  Felton’s comments were part of thousands of pages of documents released by Albany County District Attorney David Soares’ office, one of several agencies that investigated Troopergate. Felton faces a potential $10,000 fine for his involvement in Troopergate from the state Commission on Public Integrity, which also probed the release of records.
  “They had to scrape me off the roof because that’s not why, you know, those were given to him…’’ Felton said, according to the records released by Soares. He was referring to former Spitzer aide William Howard, to whom he had been sending records of Bruno’s travels.Â
  In another part of his testimony, Felton, who retired earlier this year, said his officers were asked to use a siren and red lights to help a “dignitary,’’ presumably Bruno, get through Manhattan traffic. They refused.       Â
  “We will not break the law to get people through traffic,’’ he said.
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Felton says that he never knew these records would be make public. If he is to be believed, he assumed either:
1. Spitzer was just planning to sit sockless by the fire with a glass of chardonnay and read the reports to his wife while they both laughed and warmed their tootsies.
2. Rather than release any of this info, Spitzer was planning to simply blackmail Bruno by having one of his underlings tell him what he had, and telling him, further, what the deal would be for them not to be released.
Felton and Spitzer should both be prosecuted, never mind these toothless, unethical “Integrity” committees.
spitzer is gone, bruno is gone – who cares
Who cares? The good people who insist upon Felton and Soares being held accountable care. Those who are interested in waning governmental ethics, on both sides of the aisle, care. I care. Lady Liberty cares. Good company, these.
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the new york state police is nothing more than a Gestapo, ready to take orders from political big-shots no matter how illegal the orders. In Troopergate they just happened to get busted. Who can forget the Greg Ball incident? Greg Ball sends out a robocall telling people to call Leibell at home, and then says Leibell’s home phone number. Two people called Leibell at home. Two people. Big deal. Well, you don’t call Vinny at home, despite what Vinny just wrote recently in his letter to the judge claiming he was always receiving constituents visits and calls at his home at all hours of the day and night. NO constituents called Vinny at home, and as a result of this robo-call Vinny called his gestapo in the state police, and for two weeks the State police were following Ball around everywhere he went. All because Ball put out Vinny’s home number, a number he got from the board of elections. Yeah that’s the REAL Vinny, and the REAL state police.
Who was successfully prosecuted in this imbroglio? As I recall, large pensions were gratuitously handed out and everyone skated away, unscathed.