THE "PORK" IN NEW YORK, Thoughts of an older American on Constitutional Government in the USA Options

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

In support of my statement that the political DA is the legal advisor to a citizen GRAND JURY, and not the individual actually running the GRAND JURY, I refer to NYSCPL section 190.25(6) as follows:

6. The legal advisors of the grand jury are the court and the district attorney, and the grand jury may not seek or receive legal advice from any other source.

Where necessary or appropriate, the court or the district attorney, or both, must instruct the grand jury concerning the law with respect to its duties or any matter before it, and such instructions must be recorded in the minutes.

end quotes

INSTRUCTIONS MUST BE RECORDED IN THE MINUTES …

With respect to citizen GRAND JURIES in NYS, the NYS CPL leaves no stone left unturned with respect to how the GRAND JURY is to function, and from the standpoint of a common citizen such as myself, the NYS CPL is easily understandable, and it is elegant in its simplicity …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — August 21, 2007 @ 6:13 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5250#comments

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

That this ARTICLE of the NYS CPL I am quoting from in here, ARTICLE 190, THE GRAND JURY AND ITS PROCEEDINGS, governs the proceedings of the citizen GRAND JURY in the State of New York, which citizen GRAND JURY would be comprised of common people just like us out here in the countryside, is made incandescently clear by the statutory language of sub-section 5 of NYS CPL S 190.20 Grand jury; formation, organization and other matters preliminary to assumption of duties, to wit:

5. After a grand jury has been sworn, the court must deliver or cause to be delivered to each grand juror a printed copy of all the provisions of this article, and the court may, in addition, give the grand jurors any oral and written instructions relating to the proper performance of their duties as it deems necessary or appropriate.

end quotes

THE COURT MUST DELIVER OR CAUSE TO BE DELIVERED TO EACH GRAND JUROR A PRINTED COPY OF ALL THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ARTICLE …

EACH GRAND JUROR …

Not just one …

For a citizen GRAND JURY is not some political circus …

It is a very serious undertaking …

BY WE COMMON FOLKS OUT HERE …

In accordance with OUR written laws …

And not the political whims of some political DA who is angling for position …

For himself …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — August 21, 2007 @ 6:25 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5250#comments

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

In the State of New York pursuant to sub-section 1 of section 190.55 Grand jury; matters to be heard and examined; duties and authority of district attorney:

1. A grand jury may hear and examine evidence concerning the alleged commission of any offense prosecutable in the courts of the county, and concerning any misconduct, nonfeasance or neglect in public office by a public servant, whether criminal or otherwise.

end quotes

This section of OUR NYS laws says in clear and unambiguous language that this SPITZER-ITIC TROOPERGATE FIASCO is the province of a citizen GRAND JURY here in NYS, right now as we speak in here, whether or not DA David Soares thinks that criminal conduct might have occurred …

That the citizen GRAND JURY in NYS is not beholden to a political DA like David Soares to determine what witnesses shall appear before the citizens comprising the GRAND JURY is made patently clear by the statutory language of sub-section 3 of NYS CPL section 190.50 Grand jury; who may call witnesses; defendant as witness, to wit:

3. The grand jury may cause to be called as a witness any person believed by it to possess relevant information or knowledge.

If the grand jury desires to hear any such witness who was not called by the people, it may direct the district attorney to issue and serve a subpoena upon such witness, and the district attorney must comply with such direction.

At any time after such a direction, however, or at any time after the service of a subpoena pursuant to such a direction and before the return date thereof, the people may apply to the court which impaneled the grand jury for an order vacating or modifying such direction or subpoena on the ground that such is in the public interest.

Upon such application, the court may in its discretion vacate the direction or subpoena, attach reasonable conditions thereto, or make other appropriate qualification thereof.

end quotes

So …

While a political DA may be ultimately successful in blocking the GRAND JURY’S access to a witness who has been subpoenaed by the citizen GRAND JURY, IF the GRAND JURY directs the DA to subpoena the witness, the DA must initially comply …

Which statutory language from OUR NYS CPL serves to illustrate the relationship between a citizen GRAND JURY here in NYS, and a political DA like David Soares in Albany County …

And so …

And clearly, with regard to what witnesses it shall have before it, the political DA like David Soares is subordinate to the will of the citizen GRAND JURY …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — August 21, 2007 @ 7:05 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5250#comments

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

And as far as I am concerned, Mike, this TROOPERGATE FIASCO now belongs before a non-partisan citizen GRAND JURY, where common citizens like us are the exclusive judges of the facts ...

And to me, the TRIGGER for having this TROOPERGATE FIASCO brought before a citizen GRAND JURY right now is easily found in the news item "Prosecutor says travel scandal report still incomplete" by MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press, last updated 1:32 p.m., Tuesday, August 21, 2007, wherein is stated:

In Tuesday's editions, the Times Union of Albany cited "a person familiar with the investigation" in reporting that Soares "has found no criminality" in his review of the scandal.

State Inspector General Kristine Hamann, a Spitzer appointee, also investigated and reached a similar conclusion without issuing a report.

Spokesman Steven DelGiacco said it would have been "redundant" and they also concluded "that two officials of the governor's office had engaged in serious misconduct."

end quotes

TWO OFFICIALS OF THE GOVERNOR'S OFFICE HAD ENGAGED IN SERIOUS MISCONDUCT ...

If I were a member of a GRAND JURY right now, Mike, I would be moving for subpoenas of Dopp and the Howard dude based upon this statement by the DelGiacco dude right above here about serious misconduct ....

And that is not a process that a DA like P. David Soares can short-stop, Mike ..

If the GRAND JURY wants subpoenas issued for Dopp and Howard to make an inquiry into misconduct in office by public servants, David Soares as DA would have to comply as a matter of law spelled out in ARTICLE 190 of the NYS CPL .....

And so ...

When I read THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS article "Spitz scandal prober 'close' - Albany DA vows to uncover truth in Troopergate" by JOE MAHONEY, ALBANY BUREAU CHIEF, Tuesday, August 21st 2007, 4:00 AM wherein is stated:

ALBANY - Investigators are "getting closer" to determining whether any laws were broken in the scheme by Gov. Spitzer's aides to discredit his top Republican rival, Albany County District Attorney David Soares told the Daily News yesterday.

Soares, interviewed outside his office, said he had not decided yet whether to place the matter before a grand jury, suggesting he would first have to determine whether a crime was committed.

end quotes

I have to wonder what game DA David Soares is playing at here, since the matter does not have to be criminal for the GRAND JURY to make inquiry into it, now that a finding of MISCONDUCT has been made by the SPITZER-ITE Inspector General ...

And so ....

Posted by: John Galt | August 22, 2007 5:23 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...3.html#comments

[Livyjr]

"Unchecked Spitzer arrogance could mean 4 long, lonely years"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Tuesday, August 21, 2007

It's quiet in political Albany, too quiet, and we have Eliot to thank for that.

Midway through his first year in office, the new governor we elected last November has become a rumor, seldom seen, seldom heard.

Nobody wants to ride on his band wagon these days.

That kick-butt, sharp-tempered, smart-as-hell lawyer from Manhattan who was going to clean up this town and get government working again has had his wings clipped, that's for sure.

So how long is he going to sulk over it?

So now what?

Give up?

That's not an option, governor.

Plan A known as "On Day One ..." turned out to be a bust because Eliot Spitzer's monumental arrogance coming in as chief executive permeated his staff and their attitudes.

That arrogance is the direct link between Eliot Spitzer and those accused of going unethically too far to undo Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, the scandal that hangs in the air.

Overzealous, cocky, nasty, disrespectful, our way or the highway.

Those are the words I've heard most often from both sides of the aisle and from those regulated or doing business one way or another with government about the first seven months of the Spitzer administration.

This is an administration with no friends, even among like-minded reform Democrats.

That's why nothing of any great substance is getting done.

Eliot Spitzer elicits a negative reaction from nearly everyone who has to deal with him and that is simply an ineffective way to govern.

But does he recognize it?

There is no hard evidence yet that he really does.

He says he's sorry about what's come to be called Troopergate, and takes responsibility for the actions of his staff.

But sorry for what?

For getting caught?

For the profiteering going on by his opponents over it?

It's hard to say because he has gone quiet on us, and has not given the public the painful long form explanation it deserves for his involvement, and any sense that his personality fault is the root cause of it all.

Right along, Spitzer has claimed his hot temper and attorney-general-for-life attitude have been a plus for him by shaking up people.

He is mistaken.

Thus far, they have been his undoing, the reasons he has fallen so dramatically from grace.

Even the people who voted for him have got the message.

That mandate of last November?

Gone.

If he were running for office today, John Faso would be governor.

So now what?

First and foremost, Eliot Spitzer has to admit the error of his approach and start over as governor, as difficult as this may be.

Otherwise we are in for a very long four years, and oblivion at the other end for the man many expected just months ago to be the first Jewish president.

Talk to the people, governor.

Show your vulnerabilities.

The court of public opinion can be far more forgiving than any court of law if mistakes are admitted and personal faults are thoroughly aired and genuinely recanted.

But that same court can condemn the unrepentant arrogant to the dust heap of history without any remorse, or appeal.

Your choice, governor.

State government at the moment is in paralysis.

The Spitzer governing team appears in shambles.

We're being treated to the inevitable side show of partisan hearings by the Senate Investigations Committee.

Democrats have launched a public relations counter offensive poo-pooing those hearings, and saying let's just all hug, get back to the people's business and let the various investigations conclude whatever it is they conclude.

The trouble is, the people's business at the moment is Troopergate and establishing the integrity of the governing administration.

As annoying and partisan as it is, Republican senators have every right, and even obligation, to raise as many questions as they can.

That's what checks and balances in government are all about.

Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is trying desperately to keep this issue well fanned, and that's politics.

But who gave Joe Bruno that opportunity?

Eliot Spitzer.

Who will be responsible for the Senate remaining Republican because of the checks and balances lesson that will come out of Troopergate?

Eliot Spitzer.

But far more important, who is responsible for state government being at a standstill?

Eliot Spitzer.

Spitzer partisans can dismiss Bruno's circus as much as they want, but there's only one governor to set the agenda for all of government and at the moment he's making like Rip Van Winkle.

So wake up, governor, and get on with why we elected you in the first place.

Not for your arrogance, but for your drive, brilliance, new ideas and better solutions.

Absolutely nothing stops you from regaining momentum out of the current stagnation by putting on the table, for the public inspection, a great big package of upstate development plans, for example.

The best way to deal with a crisis like this is to work through it, very publicly and openly.

But not before a chastened governor acknowledges with genuine contrition that he needs to be a different Eliot Spitzer, and will be.

Otherwise, as I said, a very long four years.

LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK POST

"GOV'S DIRTY-TRICKS COLONEL DANIEL WIESE"

August 20, 2007 -- INVESTIGATORS say a controversial state official with strong ties to Gov. Spitzer and former Gov. George Pataki is a key figure in the ongoing dirty-tricks scandal, The Post has learned.

Daniel Wiese, a one-time State Police colonel and now the state Power Authority's $175,000-a- year inspector general, is suspected of guiding his protégé, acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton, through his deep involvement in the Spitzer administration's plot to destroy the career of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer), State Police and investigative sources said.

Wiese once headed Pataki's personal-security detail, which Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found had - at the direction of Felton and top Spitzer aides -covertly created special records aimed at proving Bruno was improperly using a state helicopter for political purposes.

One of the State Police officers who chauffeured Bruno and helped prepare the records had unusually close ties to Wiese, the sources said.

Wiese - who, as a police officer, pleaded the Fifth Amendment to avoid testifying in a federal corruption probe - was a close, personal friend and neighbor of Pataki's in the tony Putnam County hamlet of Garrison and, a source said, shared the former governor's well-known hostility toward Bruno.

Wiese was also a close, personal friend of Zenia Mucha, Pataki's former communications director and a bitter Bruno enemy.

"Wiese made it clear to members of the [security] detail that they weren't to do anything extra for Bruno the way they would do for other VIPs," said a State Police source who has been interviewed by investigators probing the dirty-tricks plot.

Wiese has told friends in the State Police that he is also a "close" friend of Spitzer's, dating to the 1980s, when both worked in Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's office.

Two sources said Wiese has also claimed to be the godfather of one of Spitzer's daughters.

A spokeswoman for the governor denied the claim.

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson refused to say whether the governor wanted the Power Authority to continue to employ Wiese.

Four years ago, the Pataki administration granted Wiese a special waiver allowing him to collect a $60,000 State Police retirement pension while working full-time as the Power Authority's inspector general.

A few months later, Pataki repeatedly refused to answer questions about why Wiese was still working for the state after the Village Voice's disclosure that he refused to answer questions under oath before a federal grand jury probing his alleged interference in an investigation of state corruption.

Wiese did not return a call to his office seeking comment.

Felton refused to comment "on advice of counsel."

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08202007/news/...c_u__dicker.htm

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Elizabeth Benjamin

"'No idea' on Bruno - Ex-state police big denies GOP claims he planned Troopergate"

Monday, August 20th 2007, 4:00 AM

In a highly unusual move, former Gov. George Pataki's one-time top bodyguard is defending himself against rumors that he was the key player behind the Troopergate scandal.

In an exclusive interview, Daniel Wiese, a former state police lieutenant colonel who headed the Republican governor's security detail and has a longstanding relationship with Democratic Gov. Spitzer, called any suggestion that he was involved in the scandal "a fantasy."

"I had no idea what was going on," Wiese said, adding that his decision to talk was to "get the truth out there."

Citing anonymous tips from inside the state police, Senate Republicans say Wiese has had influence over the agency in absentia for several years from his dual post as head of security and inspector general at the New York Power Authority.

The GOP suspects Wiese was behind the Spitzer administration's dirty-tricks scheme to use the state police to collect potentially damaging information on Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.

One high-ranking Senate official called Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton "a puppet" who wouldn't do anything without running it past Wiese first.

While admitting he is an adviser and close friend of Felton's - the top cop even attended the wedding of Wiese's daughter last month - Wiese repeatedly insisted the two never discussed Bruno.

"I have always had the utmost respect for Sen. Bruno," Wiese said.

"[Felton] never talked to me about this at all."

Spitzer and Wiese worked together in the Manhattan district attorney's office in the late 1980s and early '90s and have been friendly ever since.

Technically, Wiese left the state police in 2003.

But he remained an unpaid adviser to the law enforcement agency and the governor.

Wiese said he dropped that role in April - a month before Spitzer aides hatched their plan to use the agency to keep tabs on Bruno, according to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's July report.

This isn't the first time Wiese's name has been linked to controversy.

Wiese invoked his Fifth Amendment rights in the late 1990s before a federal grand jury probing the alleged sale of parole in exchange for campaign contributions during Pataki's first gubernatorial bid.

A Pataki fund-raiser and three state parole officials were ultimately convicted, but Wiese was never charged.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is poised to announce today his three appointments to the 17-member commission that will consider the fate of Mayor Bloomberg's congestion pricing plan, according to a source.

The appointments will all be lawmakers.

However, despite his own opposition to the mayor's plan, Silver is unlikely to tap the plan's most outspoken critics, the source said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2007/08/20...on_bruno-5.html

[Livyjr]

"Top state cop list narrows further"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, August 20, 2007

Members of the state's law enforcement community say they believe Field Commander Bart Johnson's name is rising to the top of the list of candidates rumored to become the next State Police superintendent.

That suggests the odds of acting Superintendent Preston Felton getting the post are slim.

Felton's chances for the job diminished, observers say, when his name surfaced in the Troopergate scandal surrounding Gov. Eliot Spitzer's administration.

Felton, according to an investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, violated the chain of command and had State Police create reports recounting Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno's travels to Manhattan on days of political fundraisers using state aircraft and State Police as chauffeurs.

Felton, according to Cuomo, was acting at the behest of William Howard, Spitzer's homeland security deputy, who was working with the governor's communications director, Darren Dopp, on a plan to embarrass Bruno with the information.

Dopp and Howard were disciplined; Felton was not.

He said he was worried about his job if he refused the request.

Even though some members of the Long Gray Line hope Felton will survive Troopergate, Senate legislative insiders and some troopers are pessimistic.

Currently the agency's third in command, Johnson, 52, has a solid reputation, has positioned himself as a homeland security leader and is well known.

If he wins approval, he would leapfrog acting First Deputy Superintendent James Harney, 55, the No. 2 in command of the State Police, and considered a trooper's trooper, one insider said.

Mandatory retirement age for most sworn members of the State Police was 57 until a bill signed last week raised it to 60.

There is no mandatory retirement age for the superintendent.

Anti-Spitzer mystery

There's a new anti-Spitzer e-mail campaign going on, and a bit of a mystery behind it.

Reporters received several missives criticizing Spitzer on economic development last week from something purporting to be the Walter J. Mahoney Republican Club in Buffalo -- which doesn't appear to exist.

(Mahoney was a real person, a lawyer who served in the state Senate from 1937 to 1964.)

A check of the group's Web site shows it was registered Aug. 14, two days before the first e-mail, using Domains by Proxy, a service that shields the identify of people who create Web sites.

A similar anti-Spitzer e-mail effort in the Troopergate affair also started through Domains by Proxy, but the creator, Michael Caputo, a longtime Republican operative, says he has nothing to do with the Mahoney campaign.

Caputo, who's also from Buffalo (and Florida), maintains he's working on his own and not with the GOP, Senate Republicans, Bruno or his consultant in the scandal, Roger Stone, who's based in Florida.

The Mahoney sender hasn't answered a request for more information.

Contributors: State editor Jay Jochnowitz and Capitol bureau reporter James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5424 or e-mail jjochnowitz@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK POST

"DOUBTS ON PROBERS GETTING JOB DONE"

By FREDRIC U. DICKER

August 20, 2007 -- ALBANY - The state Ethics Commission investigative team probing the Spitzer administration's dirty-tricks scandal is made up of a former food inspector, a retired Navy officer and a just-transferred employee of the scandal-linked Inspector General's Office, The Post has found.

Official hiring and payroll records show the Spitzer-controlled commission has only three investigators on its 20-person staff, leaving some close to the probe convinced it won't be able to do a thorough job.

Commission spokesman Walter Ayres provided The Post with the investigators' names but he refused requests for their résumés, claiming that a special Freedom of Information Law exemption prevents such a disclosure.

However, state Committee on Open Government Executive Director Robert Freeman, the foremost authority on the FOI law, said the information could, and should, be provided.

Ayres identified the three investigators as Robert Shea, Horace Campbell and Lawrence Maurello.

Records show Shea worked for nearly 20 years as a food inspector with the Department of Agriculture and Markets before joining the Ethics Commission in 1991.

Campbell, said a source close to the commission, retired from the Navy.

He joined the commission the same year as Shea did.

Maurello began working at the commission on July 12, after leaving an investigative post at Spitzer's Inspector General's Office.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08202007/news/...c_u__dicker.htm

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL

"Free Breaking News: Top Spitzer Aide Retains Lawyer for Albany Probes"

By Joel Stashenko

August 20, 2007

ALBANY - Richard Baum, secretary to Governor Eliot Spitzer, has retained an attorney with experience in the impeachment proceedings involving former President Bill Clinton and former Connecticut Governor John Rowland to represent him during investigations of Mr. Baum's role in a plot to tarnish Mr. Spitzer's chief political opponent.

Steven F. Reich is a partner at Manatt and director of the firm's Government Litigation Unit whose specialties are in white-collar criminal and civil litigation matters.

Mr. Reich led the team of Manatt attorneys that served as special counsel to a select committee of the Connecticut General Assembly in 2004 to consider whether to recommend that Mr. Rowland be impeached.

After eight days of evidentiary hearings led by Mr. Reich, Mr. Rowland resigned.

Mr. Reich said he did not know Mr. Baum before being hired by him.

"Rich retained me simply to help guide him through an unfamiliar process," Mr. Reich said in an interview Friday.

"Because I have handled these types of matters in the past, I'm able to give him insight into what to expect as we move forward."

Mr. Reich declined to discuss other aspects of his representation of Mr. Baum, who is the second most powerful figure in the governor's office behind Mr. Spitzer himself.

He would not say when Mr. Baum retained him.

Mr. Reich said he will represent Mr. Baum before the state Ethics Commission and the Albany County district attorney's office, two entities with active investigations into the scheme to use State Police to track Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and generate incriminating evidence of his use of state aircraft for an Albany newspaper.

Mr. Reich said he would also represent Mr. Baum if other entities look into the matter as well.

The investigations and government operations committee in the Senate, which has subpoena power like the ethics commission and Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares, has not ruled out conducting its own investigation.

From 1999-2001, Mr. Reich was senior associate counsel to Mr. Clinton, supervising a legal team that defended the president in investigations by independent counsels, federal prosecutors and congressional committees.

In 1998, he was deputy chief investigative counsel to Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment of Mr. Clinton.

He also served as impeachment counsel to Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and Democrats in the U.S. Senate.

An investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo into the scheme to discredit Mr. Bruno indicated that Mr. Baum received electronic mails from Mr. Spitzer's communications director, Darren Dopp, and assistant secretary for homeland security, William Howard, in which Mr. Dopp and Mr. Howard discussed efforts to compile travel records on Mr. Bruno.

Mr. Cuomo's report recommended that Mr. Dopp, Mr. Howard and Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton should be considered for disciplinary actions.

It did not do so for Mr. Baum.

Mr. Dopp has been suspended without pay since July 23, the day Mr. Cuomo's report came out.

Mr. Howard has been reassigned to another agency.

Mr. Felton was not punished.

Mr. Cuomo's investigators sought to question Mr. Baum and Mr. Dopp but do not have subpoena power in cases of possible official corruption.

Both men signed statements that were not included in the July 23 report.

Also Friday, the general counsel for the Hearst Corporation called on the state ethics commission to withdraw a subpoena for the reporter whose story initiated inquiries into a plot against Mr. Bruno.

Eve Burton said she would go to state Supreme Court to quash the subpoena if commission Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum denies her request to voluntarily drop efforts to seek testimony from Albany Times Union reporter James M. Odato.

The information on Mr. Bruno's use of aircraft was given to the Albany Times Union under a Freedom of Information Request and published July 1 in a story by Mr. Odato under the headline "State flies Bruno to fundraisers: Taxpayers finance trips of Senate majority leader to New York City political events."

Mr. Cuomo's report concluded that Mr. Bruno did not violate any guidelines on the use of planes.

The ethics commission on Thursday issued new, more restrictive rules.

Ms. Burton said in an interview that the state Shield Law, Civil Rights Law §79-h and other provisions in the law and the state Constitution, protect Mr. Odato from testifying about his news gathering work on the Bruno flight story or other articles.

"I have explained to the [ethics commission] the working and mechanisms of the Shield Law and the privilege of confidentiality and the strong protections under the rest of the law," Ms. Burton said.

"I have voluntarily asked Teitelbaum to withdraw the subpoena in the spirit of doing an independent investigation and not making us an arm of the investigation."

There was no immediate response from the ethics commission Friday.

The Hearst Corporation is the parent company of the Times Union.

Ms. Burton denied that the paper was used by the Spitzer administration to stain Mr. Bruno at a time when the senator and Mr. Spitzer were wrangling over campaign finance reform and other issues.

"The idea that there is some sort of single-source manipulation conspiracy is beyond the pale," she said.

Inspector General's Role

[sizxe=3]Also Friday, Senate Investigation and Government Operations Committee Chairman George Winner said he will ask the state Inspector General Kristine Hamann to appear at a planned meeting of the committee for early September to discuss the office's role in investigating the attempt to tarnish Mr. Bruno.

Ms. Hamann's counsel, Nelson Sheingold, told the committee last week that the inspector general pulled out of a parallel investigation she conducted at the same time Mr. Cuomo was probing the affair when she realized Mr. Baum was involved.[/size]

The inspector general reports to the secretary to the governor.

Ms. Hamann has the power to transfer her office's subpoena powers to the attorney general, and she should have done so when her office realized it would be conflicted because Mr. Baum had at least some knowledge of the activities of Mr. Dopp and Mr. Howard, Mr. Winner said.

"There still has never been a definitive explanation of why that wasn't done or envisioned by her office when they obviously are faced with that type of a conflict," Mr. Winner, R-Elmira, said.

"That seems to be the uncovered flaw in the operation of her office."

Mr. Winner said legislation is being developed to have the inspector general report to someone other than the secretary to the governor.

That provision was added in 2004 when the inspector general's office was created in statute.

It had previously been a creation of executive order and it reported directly to the governor.

Michael Boxer, first deputy inspector general, declined comment Friday.

Also Friday, a source familiar with Mr. Soares' investigation said Mr. Dopp has spent several hours being interviewed by the district attorney's investigators.

The source would not say whether Mr. Dopp has been under oath.

- Joel Stashenko can be reached at jstashenko@alm.com

http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.j...d=1187341331796

[Livyjr]

"Consultant to resign, denies threatening Gov. Spitzer's father"

By MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press

Last updated: 12:33 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2007

ALBANY -- A prominent political consultant for the state Senate Republicans has agreed to resign following reports he made a threatening phone call to the father of Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Roger Stone, who began working for the Senate Republican Campaign Committee in June, denied making the taped call and said he was "set up."

But Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno said the news reports on the allegation "can only serve as a distraction from the real issues -- the abuse of government power, political espionage and a cover up of information."

Bruno said Stone "has agreed to resign and end his relationship with us at our request."

Lawyers representing Bernard Spitzer said their investigation showed the Aug. 6 call came from a phone at Stone's Manhattan apartment.

The caller -- recorded on an answering machine -- tells the 83-year-old real estate developer that he's going to be subpoenaed to testify before the state Senate investigations committee about 1994 campaign loans to his son, then threatens his arrest if he doesn't appear and uses expletives and insults referring to the governor.

Letters about the call were sent to Sen. George Winner, an Elmira Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, and to the state Ethics Commission, according to Spitzer attorney Jeffrey Moerdler.

He told the Times Union of Albany he didn't request an investigation, but the matter is now with government investigators.

Stone, 55, said the phone number cited by Bernard Spitzer's lawyers is his, but the apartment is owned by a Spitzer fundraiser and someone else could have gotten inside to make the call or used other technology to mimic his voice and that number.

Stone worked for the Committee to Re-Elect the President that helped President Nixon beat George McGovern in 1972 and for Ronald Reagan in 1980 and 1984.

In 2000, he helped George W. Bush win the presidential vote recount in Florida.

Stone told The Associated Press he did not make the Spitzer call and it "has to be a fabrication."

"I would submit that such a message could be made, fabricated, and I will have voice experts inspect it," Stone said.

"Just as they tried to set Sen. Bruno up, they are trying to set me up, I guess because I have been effective on the Senate Republican Majority."

Winner said Wednesday he hadn't yet received the letter from Spitzer's lawyers or the tape, which has already been posted on the Internet.

He also said that Stone has nothing to do with his committee.

"As such I think that they should have referred this probably to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office rather than me," Winner said.

"The allegations would appear to be aggravated harassment."

"I'd report it to the district attorney's office if it occurred."

Walter Ayres, spokesman for the ethics commission, said the letter is being reviewed and the commission will take any appropriate action, but they "only have jurisdiction over the executive branch of state government."

Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican, and Gov. Spitzer have been at odds for months and sparring most recently over the efforts of two Spitzer aides to discredit Bruno by releasing details of his state-funded travel for both public and political business.

On July 30, Winner's committee held a reform hearing where Republican senators called for independent investigations into whether the Spitzer aides misused state police for political purposes in tracking Bruno's use of state aircraft.

Both Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Inspector General Kristine Hamann found no illegal conduct but criticized two Spitzer who had state police gather particularly detailed information on Bruno's use of state aircraft.

Bruno called it political espionage.

Spitzer has said he didn't know about it and apologized.

Winner said his committee is not investigating Spitzer's 1994 campaign loans from his father, but in a July 23 letter he asked the Senate Elections Committee "to look into the issue of loans as it relates to the ability of wealthy self-financed candidates and the level playing field issue as they compete against lesser, ordinary type of joes."

"And to the extent that what happened in 1994 and 1998 is in need of statutory revisions, then that would be appropriate for the elections committee to look at in the context of campaign finance reform," Winner said.

The loan at issue was given by Bernard Spitzer to help his son repay a $4.3 million bank loan in the 1994 Democratic primary for attorney general, which Eliot Spitzer lost.

------

Associated Press Writer Valerie Bauman in Albany contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

"City's former GOP boss charged with forging signatures"

Associated Press

Last updated: 8:12 a.m., Thursday, August 23, 2007

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A former chairman of the Syracuse Republican Committee has been charged with felony counts of forging signatures on Independence Party nominating petitions.

Robert Gardino, 68, of Syracuse, was arraigned Wednesday in city court on one felony count of first-degree offering a false instrument for filing and three felony counts of second-degree forgery.

Gardino was accused of forging the names between July 7 and 10 and then filing the petitions with the Board of Elections on July 19.

The three people whose names were forged told authorities that they did not sign the petitions.

One of the candidates, Kevin Kuehner, provided a statement, saying Gardino admitted to him that he forged the signatures as the last three in the petition because he wanted to finish the page and the weather was too hot to go out again for more.

Gardino was released on his own recognizance.

His case was adjourned until Sept. 24.

------

Information from: The Syracuse Post-Standard, http://www.syracuse.com

[Livyjr]

"NY Army captain accused of taking bribe to steer Iraq contracts"

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

Last updated: 5:43 p.m., Thursday, August 23, 2007

NEW YORK -- A U.S. Army captain was freed Thursday after his arrest on charges that he promised to help a company secure military contracts in Iraq in return for a $50,000 bribe.

Capt. Austin Key, 27, of Watertown, N.Y., was arrested late Wednesday and charged with one count of bribery, which carries a potential penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Wong told a magistrate judge that Key "was caught red handed in Iraq accepting what he believed to be a $50,000 bribe."

Key was responsible for $500,000 bail, although he was not required to post any cash or assets to secure the sum in part because he was expected to remain under the supervision of the U.S. Army at Fort Drum, N.Y., where he is stationed with the 10th Mountain Division.

Lt. Col. Paul Swiergosz, a division spokesman, said Key was a logistics officer.

Key's defense lawyer, Raymond R. Granger, declined comment outside court.

Federal authorities said the charges arose from actions Key took this month when he was stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, as a field ordering officer responsible for overseeing the administration of service and supply contracts worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Key was accused of demanding $125,000 in July from a U.S. citizen who owns a business that provides services and supplies in Iraq through U.S. Army contracts, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said Key told the person, who was identified in court papers only as a confidential informant, that the money would ensure that the informant's company could continue to obtain Army contracts.

The business person reported the demands to law enforcement authorities, who arranged an Aug. 11 meeting at the U.S. military base at Camp Liberty at which Key told the informant he would help him secure future Army contracts in exchange for $50,000, the complaint said.

Key also demanded what would amount to the equivalent of 5 percent of any contracts Key steered toward the informant's business, the complaint said.

At an Aug. 15 meeting, the informant gave Key $50,000 in cash, the complaint said.

As he left the meeting, law enforcement authorities stopped Key and recovered the money.

According to the complaint, Key admitted in a written statement to federal agents that he had agreed to steer contracts to the informant in return for the bribe.

------

Associated Press writer Jessica Pasko in Albany contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK POST

"'SCANDAL' REPORTER OFF HOOK"

By FREDRIC U. DICKER

August 21, 2007 -- ALBANY - A subpoena for an Albany Times-Union reporter used by the Spitzer administration to distribute suspect information in the dirty-tricks scandal has been put on hold, a spokesman for the state Ethics Commission said yesterday.

Commission Spokesman Walter Ayres said the panel would not require reporter James Odato to appear at a session tomorrow.

The newspaper said the subpoena was indefinitely adjourned under an agreement signed by commission Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum and a lawyer for the paper's parent company, the Hearst Corp.

No details were provided.

Ayres conceded the agreement was reached last Friday, even as he was telling journalists from other newspapers that the subpoena was still in effect.

He claimed secrecy requirements didn't let him correct the misinformation provided the press.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08212007/news/...er_off_hook.htm

[Livyjr]

THE ITHACA JOURNAL

"It's easier for Spitzer to run than hide from ‘Troopergate'"

Jay Gallagher / Commentary

This week Gov. Eliot Spitzer went to Watkins Glen to be the grand marshal at a NASCAR race, to the Harlem to unveil a plan to help poor people rise into the middle class and to Oneida County to give away $2 million to help preserve jobs.

Also this week, he publicly mourned the passing of Yankees icon Phil Rizzuto and of socialite-philanthropist Brooke Astor, announced some key appointments to his administration and signed a raft of bills, including one to help Hudson Valley municipalities protect open space.

In addition, he joined New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to announce the construction in the Bronx of the first “green” subsidized-housing project in the state and later talked about aid for victims of flooding in Delaware County.

Then he announced that Citibank will help the state to increase funding for legal service for low-income New Yorkers.

Despite all of that activity, he did nothing to deal with the most pressing matter facing him: the continuing fallout from the so-called “Troopergate” scandal.

In fact, at an appearance in Harlem, he told reporters he would no longer respond to inquiries about the matter.

“I'm not answering those questions any more,” he said.

Before then, his mantra since July 23, when a report from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo was released, was that he had done nothing wrong and cooperated fully with Cuomo's investigators.

Cuomo's report found Spitzer aides had used the State Police to gather potentially damaging information about Spitzer's main political rival at the Capitol, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County.

First he denied any knowledge of the matter and disciplined two of his aides for their roles in it.

He suspended without pay Communications Director Darren Dopp and demoted deputy Homeland Security secretary William Howard.

Then he tried apologies, first personally to Bruno, and then through reporters to everyone else.

Then he wrote an apologetic column that appeared in The New York Times and delivered an apologetic speech at the Chautauqua Institute in the southwestern corner of the state.

Then more recently, he has enlisted the aid of fellow Democrats to bash Republicans for not letting the issue die.

Yet the issue hasn't, and won't.

Instead, Bruno, himself under investigation for his business activities by the FBI, has stepped up his attacks, saying Spitzer has lost the confidence of most lawmakers and isn't temperamentally suited to be governor.

Bruno understands that the longer the issue is dragged out, the better the chances for his Republicans to hold onto their two-seat majority in the Senate next year.

The Senate Investigations Committee, which has held one hearing on the matter, will certainly hold more.

The story continues to dominate media coverage of the Capitol.

That shows no signs of letting up either, although Spitzer being out of town for the last couple of weeks has muted things somewhat.

But he can't stay away forever.

Now that disciplinings, apologies, evasions, stonewalling and counterattacks haven't worked, what can the governor do?

He can start by answering questions like:

* Why didn't he compel two of his top aides, Secretary Richard Baum and Dopp, to speak to Cuomo's investigators?

At first he said Cuomo's probers were satisfied to get sworn statements from the two men, but a Cuomo spokesman said later that the investigators did want to talk to these two key figures.

* Why did he say state Inspector General Kristine Hamann also probed the matter, when we learned last week at the GOP Investigations Committee hearing that she dropped the matter when it appeared Baum, her boss, might be involved?

And why not have her confer subpoena power onto Cuomo, so he could compel people to testify?

* Why didn't he mandate the release of all e-mails connected to the case — including ones sent or received by the private accounts of his top aides?

* Why not appoint a special prosecutor, and agree to testify himself in public?

These specific loose ends, of course, lead to the larger question, which is, if the governor has nothing to hide, as he has repeatedly insisted, why not be as forthcoming as possible?

That's the way to put the issue behind him and everyone else.

And if it turns out he does have something to hide, it will surely come out eventually, and sooner is better than later.

Contact Gallagher at Jgallagh@gannett.com.

Originally published August 21, 2007

http://www.ithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll...F1014%2FOPINION

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

"OLD BOYS DOWN TO FEEDSTORE SMELL A RAT IN STONEGATE FIASCO"

Yes sir, after putting their heads together all day today down to the feedstore up here, and studying over the recent news story “Consultant to resign, denies threatening Gov. Spitzer’s father” by MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press, last updated 12:33 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2007, the old boys are of the unanimous opinion that this alleged call by this Roger Stone dude to Bernard Spitzer is nothing but A LOAD OF PURE CRAP cooked up by the SPITZER-ITES to draw heat off of beleaguered Eliot Spitzer …

And the credit for that break-through belongs to none other than the DP’s own Dr. Ravi Batra, who said in connection with the STONEGATE FIASCO that the SPITZER-ITES “Doth Protest Too Much” ….

And LE VOILA, as they would say down there in New York City …

Thanks to Mr. Ravi Batra, the whole fallacy of the SPITZER-ITE position became plain as day, when the old boys stopped to consider who exactly the SPITZER-ITES were PROTESTING to ….

And that brings us back to this recent news story “Consultant to resign, denies threatening Gov. Spitzer’s father” by MICHAEL VIRTANEN, Associated Press, last updated 12:33 p.m., Wednesday, August 22, 2007, wherein is stated:

Lawyers representing Bernard Spitzer said their investigation showed the Aug. 6 call came from a phone at Stone’s Manhattan apartment.

The caller — recorded on an answering machine — tells the 83-year-old real estate developer that he’s going to be subpoenaed to testify before the state Senate investigations committee about 1994 campaign loans to his son, then threatens his arrest if he doesn’t appear and uses expletives and insults referring to the governor.

Letters about the call were sent to Sen. George Winner, an Elmira Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, and to the state Ethics Commission, according to Spitzer attorney Jeffrey Moerdler.

end quotes

HUH?

WHAT?

What’s with this, folks?

And for an answer, let’s return to that same article, wherein George Winner is quoted as follows:

Winner said Wednesday he hadn’t yet received the letter from Spitzer’s lawyers or the tape, which has already been posted on the Internet.

He also said that Stone has nothing to do with his committee.

“As such I think that they should have referred this probably to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office rather than me,” Winner said.

“The allegations would appear to be aggravated harassment.”

“I’d report it to the district attorney’s office if it occurred.”

end quotes

YES …

Why didn’t the SPITZER-ITES PROTEST to the DA?

Why did they PROTEST to Winner, who has no authority over this kind of alleged criminal matter ….

Or the Ethics Committee, either …

Whose spokesperson is quoted in that same article as follows:

Walter Ayres, spokesman for the ethics commission, said the letter is being reviewed and the commission will take any appropriate action, but they “only have jurisdiction over the executive branch of state government.”

end quote

You would think the SPITZER-ITE lawyers would know these things, and so would not have wasted the effort asking either to get involved when the lawyers would know they had no jurisdiction …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — August 23, 2007 @ 6:48 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5274#comments

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by Ravi Batra: That today’s "politics as usual" permits this type of horrible behavior where a governor's 83 year old father is made a target in a political war with his son is beyond comprehension and breeches the lowest floor of decency ....

JOHN GALT RESPONDS: What really breeches the lowest floor of decency to us countryfolks up here, Mr. Ravi Batra, is today's "politics as usual" which allows politicians like Eliot "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer to target a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York investigating public corruption in the state government and have him falsely incarcerated as an alleged dangerous mental patient in a corporate secure mental facility in Troy, New York based on nothing more than a fraudulent incarceration order provided by a politically-connected medical doctor in Troy to shut his mouth foreveraftermore as a witness against the corrupt State of New York ...

We upstate folks find that to be quite obscene, Mr. Ravi Batra ...

And we find the involvement of Eliot "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer in the cover-up of that incident to be quite troubling and disturbing, along with the "HO-HUM" attitude of people like yourself towards that cover-up ....

That's what we find obscene, Mr. Ravi Batra ...

That people in NYS can just say "SO WHAT" in the face of that ....

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | August 23, 2007 6:17 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...e.html#comments

[Livyjr]

ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE

"Inspector general won't shift case to Cuomo's office"

JAY GALLAGHER, Albany Bureau Chief

(August 21, 2007) — ALBANY — In the latest volley between the Spitzer administration's chief watchdog and the state Senate, the inspector general Monday rebuffed a suggestion she turn over an investigation of a former Spitzer aide to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"I am writing to advise you that I am not referring this matter to the attorney general's office," Inspector General Kristine Hamann said in a letter to Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner, R-Elmira.

Hamann has been investigating whether the former Spitzer aide, Stephen Mitnick, browbeat a state utilities regulator over the issue of whether Consolidated Edison Co. should be penalized for its role in a blackout in Queens last summer.

The regulator, Public Service Commission member Cheryl Buley, said Mitnick called her at least 10 times, and threatened her with political retribution if she didn't do what he wanted.

Mitnick has since resigned.

On Thursday, Winner wrote to Hamann urging her to turn over the investigation to Cuomo, since she reports to the same top Spitzer aide, Richard Baum, that Mitnick also reported to.

Winner called that "an obvious conflict..."

Not so, Hamann said Monday.

"The unique ability of the inspector general to investigate allegations without regard to politics or divisions between the branches of government is most vital when the subjects of those allegations are high ranking members of the governor's staff," she wrote in a letter to Winner.

The issue of Hamann's independence from Baum was raised earlier this month in regard to the "Troopergate" scandal.

A Hamann aide told Winner's committee that she abandoned the investigation of the misuse of State Police to try to damage a political opponent of Spitzer when it became clear that Baum's role needed to be examined.

But in her Monday letter to Winner, she called that "a unique and highly unusual set of circumstances" not relevant to the Mitnick probe.

Hamann hasn't said when her investigation of Mitnick, which has been going on for months, may be concluded.

Also Monday, Winner invited Hamann to appear before his committee on Sept. 5 to discuss a bill he's introduced that would require what she refused to do voluntarily: immediately refer investigations to the state attorney general if she runs up against a conflict of interest.

Hamann spokesman Stephen DelGiacco said she had not yet received Winner's invitation and therefore couldn't comment on it.

"It's inconceivable that she wouldn't want to provide information about changing the statute that affects her office," Winner said.

Democrats blasted Winner for calling the hearing.

"These guys just don't know when to quit," said state Democratic Party spokesman Jonathan Rosen.

"Senate Republicans should end the partisan theatrics and join the governor in getting back to work on the real issues that matter to working families."

"Let's end the show trial, leave the investigating to the investigators, and get back to work."

JGALLAGH@Gannett.com

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/p...0%2F1002%2FNEWS

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"State Inspector General Defends Spitzer Inquiry"

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: August 21, 2007

ALBANY, Aug. 20 — The state’s inspector general, Kristine Hamann, defended her brief but turbulent tenure on Monday in her first detailed interview since her office became embroiled in a controversy over the Spitzer administration’s effort to use the state police to tarnish a political rival.

Senate Republicans say that Ms. Hamann, who was appointed by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in February, failed to conduct a thorough investigation into a scheme involving some of Mr. Spitzer’s top aides to discredit the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno.

They have also criticized her for not referring her investigation to Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, which would have given Mr. Cuomo authority to subpoena those aides.

One of those aides, Richard Baum, is Ms. Hamann’s direct supervisor.

At the direction of the governor’s counsel, Mr. Baum and Darren Dopp, the governor’s communications director, declined to speak to Mr. Cuomo’s investigators, leaving lingering questions about how much Mr. Spitzer or Mr. Baum knew about the plan.

Both men have denied knowing that anything improper was being done.

Ms. Hamann asserted — both in the interview and in a letter she sent to a top Republican Senator on Monday — that she conducted her inquiry in good faith and could not have referred the matter to the attorney general because he found no evidence of illegal conduct.

Mr. Cuomo, who like Mr. Spitzer is a Democrat, conducted a parallel inquiry and issued a scathing report last month that found that the governor’s staff had misused the state police and suggested disciplinary action against three officials.

Ms. Hamann concurred in Mr. Cuomo’s findings and did not issue her own report.

“When they finished the report, they said there was no criminal conduct,” Ms. Hamann said.

“If they say there’s no criminal conduct, I cannot make a referral.”

Some lawmakers — including a top Democrat — disputed that assertion and an official in Mr. Cuomo’s office testified recently that Ms. Hamann could have referred the matter to the attorney general.

State law appears to give department and agency heads broad discretion to refer matters to the attorney general “in relation to any matters connected” with their departments.

But Ms. Hamann said her office had researched the relevant statute and concluded that it had only been used to make criminal referrals.

Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat who wrote the law that created the inspector general’s office, said on Monday that the inspector general should have been able to refer the case whether or not Mr. Cuomo had concluded there was criminal conduct.

“I’m not sure why she’s taking the position she’s taking,” he said.

“Specific authority is given to her to determine the need for further investigation by another state agency."

“If she wanted the attorney general’s help in a further investigation, she had the authority to get that done,” he added.

Ms. Hamann began her investigation at Mr. Spitzer’s request, but then quietly suspended it when she learned that Mr. Baum might have been involved.

Republicans have criticized her for not publicly acknowledging that her investigation had been suspended until one of her aides disclosed the fact during a Senate hearing this month.

But Ms. Hamann said she had taken her investigation as far as she could.

“We did what we thought was right at the time and articulated what I thought was true, which is that we were done,” she said.

Pressed on whether she should have said from the beginning that her investigation was a limited one, she said, “The attorney general took the lead, they issued this report, and they asked me to join in it, and I did, and they had completed their investigation and I knew I was done.”

Ms. Hamann said she determined that she had a conflict of interest related to Mr. Baum shortly before reading the Cuomo report, but had already determined on her own that there had been no criminal wrongdoing.

Ms. Hamann, however, did not interview key aides to the governor involved in the case, including Mr. Baum and Mr. Dopp.

The matter has raised new questions about the effectiveness of the inspector general’s office, which was created to police the executive branch and its myriad agencies.

Critics of the office say it is too beholden to the governor to conduct independent investigations, and Senate Republicans said on Monday that they planned to introduce legislation to compel the inspector general to refer investigations to the attorney general when there are conflicts.

They also threatened to issue a subpoena to compel Ms. Hamann’s testimony at a hearing early next month.

“What we need to do, once and for all, is to remove the suspicion, get concrete answers to all the questions and clear the air,” Senator George H. Winner Jr., chairman of the Senate Investigations and Government Operations Committee, who is a sponsor of the proposed new legislation, said in a statement.

In the interview, Ms. Hamann would not commit herself to appear voluntarily before the committee and rejected a call from the Senate to refer an unrelated investigation of a former Spitzer aide to the attorney general.

“In almost every case, you can argue a conflict,” she said of her job.

“An inspector general’s office is within the organization, so normal analyses of conflict can’t really apply here because you are necessarily within the organization."

"But if you say that an organization doesn’t have the right to police itself, how can an organization really try and move forward?”

Ms. Hamann, 55, first met the governor in the 1980s, when she was a more senior prosecutor in the division of the Manhattan district attorney’s office where he then worked.

She served as co-chairwoman of one of the governor’s transition committees — one exploring criminal justice policy issues — after his election last November.

Inspectors general have been low-profile figures in Albany, charged with exposing corruption at state agencies and public authorities.

Ms. Hamann called her situation unprecedented, having presided over an investigation that led to questions about her direct supervisor.

“As far as I knew, this had never happened before,” she said.

“There was no road map.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK TIMES

"State Inspector General Defends Spitzer Inquiry"

By DANNY HAKIM

Published: August 21, 2007

ALBANY, Aug. 20 — The state’s inspector general, Kristine Hamann, defended her brief but turbulent tenure on Monday in her first detailed interview since her office became embroiled in a controversy over the Spitzer administration’s effort to use the state police to tarnish a political rival.

One of those aides, Richard Baum, is Ms. Hamann’s direct supervisor.

At the direction of the governor’s counsel, Mr. Baum and Darren Dopp, the governor’s communications director, declined to speak to Mr. Cuomo’s investigators, leaving lingering questions about how much Mr. Spitzer or Mr. Baum knew about the plan.

Ms. Hamann asserted — both in the interview and in a letter she sent to a top Republican Senator on Monday — that she conducted her inquiry in good faith and could not have referred the matter to the attorney general because he found no evidence of illegal conduct.

“When they finished the report, they said there was no criminal conduct,” Ms. Hamann said.

Ms. Hamann began her investigation at Mr. Spitzer’s request, but then quietly suspended it when she learned that Mr. Baum might have been involved.

Ms. Hamann said she determined that she had a conflict of interest related to Mr. Baum shortly before reading the Cuomo report, but had already determined on her own that there had been no criminal wrongdoing.

Ms. Hamann, however, did not interview key aides to the governor involved in the case, including Mr. Baum and Mr. Dopp.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/21/nyregion...amp;oref=slogin

THE NEW YORK POST

"ELIOT AIDE LAWYERS UP - CHIEF-OF-STAFF HIRES BUBBA'S EX-LEGAL ACE"

By FREDRIC U. DICKER State Editor

August 21, 2007 -- ALBANY - A top aide to Gov. Spitzer has hired an experienced criminal lawyer - who once defended President Bill Clinton - in connection with the explosive dirty-tricks scandal.

Richard Baum, the governor's chief-of-staff, hired Steven Reich, a partner in Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, to represent him before the state Ethics Commission and the Albany County District Attorney's Office, according to the New York Law Journal.

Both agencies are investigating the plot by top Spitzer aides to use the State Police to gather damaging information against Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)

The plot was outlined in a bombshell July 23 report from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

"Rich hired me simply to help him through an unfamiliar process," Reich told the Journal.

"Because I have handled these types of matters in the past, I'm able to give him insight into what to expect as we move forward."

From 1999 to 2001, Reich was senior associate counsel to Clinton, defending the president in investigations by independent counsels, federal prosecutors and Congress.

While Baum was not named as one of the plotters, he was identified in the Cuomo report as receiving e-mails from two other key Spitzer aides subsequently disciplined for their involvement in the anti-Bruno effort.

It was revealed last week that now-suspended Spitzer Communications Director Darren Dopp had hired prominent Albany-area criminal-defense lawyer Terrence Kindlon, while William Howard, a now-demoted homeland-security aide, hired a Manhattan-based lawyer.

Meanwhile, in other scandal developments, Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner (R-Elmira) announced a special hearing would be held Sept. 5 to hear testimony from Spitzer's inspector general, Kristine Hamann, who reports to Baum and has become linked to the scandal.

Winner said he was prepared to subpoena Hamann to attend the session if she rejected an "invitation" to testify on the circumstances under which she recused herself from investigating the scandal.

She had initially claimed after the Cuomo report was issued that she had conducted a full investigation, and waited several weeks to disclose that she hadn't completed her probe.

Hamann, who first agreed and then refused to attend a committee meeting earlier this month, had no immediate comment on the threatened subpoena.

Meanwhile, she rejected a call from Winner to recuse herself from investigating another Baum-connected Spitzer administration scandal.

Winner late last week urged Hamann to step aside from her probe of allegations that former Spitzer energy adviser Steven Mitnick, a top Baum aide, threatened a member of the state Public Service Commission in order to stop that member from backing an investigation of last year's Queens blackout.

Hamann responded that "since all members of the executive branch ultimately report to Mr. Baum and the governor, this argument, if accepted, would eviscerate my statutory duties which mandate the inspector general to investigate the workings of the executive branch at every level, including members of the governor's executive staff."

fredric.dicker@nypost.com

http://www.nypost.com/seven/08212007/news/..._lawyers_up.htm