Winner: Troopergate Subpoenas Likely To Be Dropped

October

Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira, confirmed today that Senate Republicans are expected to drop their subpoenas that sought records that showed former Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s attempts to smear political foe, former Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno.

Winner, head of the Senate Investigations Committee, told Gannett News Service that a settlement is being discussed between Senate Republicans and Gov. David Paterson’s office. Since Spitzer’s office had fought the release of any records to the committee, Paterson’s office would have to withdraw its lawsuit and then Senate Republicans would lift its subpoenas.

“Most of everything we had sought will have been released, and therefore under those circumstances to continue with the time and expense of the litigation may not be necessary,” Winner said.

But Winner said that any deal would need to include language that would not prohibit the committee from being able to seek documents from the executive branch in future cases.

“I believe that we were successful in preserving our principles here and our constitutional rights, so I don’t want anything to come out of this in any way, shape or form to contradict that,” he said.

Investigations by Albany County District Attorney David Soares, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the state Commission on Public Integrity led to thousands of documents to be released publicly.

So Winner questioned whether there is much left to pursue, except he said the committee may seek documents pertaining to Herbert Teitlebaum, the embattled chairman of the public integrity commission. He is reportedly under investigation by the Inspector General’s Office for possibly leaking information about the commission’s probe to Spitzer officials.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 6th, 2008 at 2:28 pm by Joseph Spector.
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2 Responses to “Winner: Troopergate Subpoenas Likely To Be Dropped”

ed1 October 6th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
There is at least one suicide associated with this probe. Spitzer has never admitted to any of it. The former head of the State Police disappeared from view. Soares, who obviously hindered prosecution and was accused of malfeasance, still sits. And this noble gentleman basically says that everything is cleared up and it’s time to drop everything. So, what else is new in Albany this week?
Jiminy Cricket October 6th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
You’re right, Ed. It stinks.

Spaking of messes, the Journal News is reporting an author and the Civil Liberties Union are suing Yonkers because the police department there won’t open its files on the unsolved murder in 1952 of local Teamsters boss John Acropolis.

I can think of two big reasons why not.

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