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

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Say, GregNYC ....

This is not to attack you or call you a LIBTARD, or anything, but we upstate folks notice that you are always hoping that Joe Bruno will go to jail soon ....

And dude, to be frank with you, we are wondering how you envision that scenario going down ...

Do you think that Joe Bruno is going to just wake up some day, and say to himself that he is a really bad dude who deserves to go to jail, and then he is going to get in his car and drive himself there?

Because if it don't happen that way, it is not going to happen at all ...

The George W. Bush/Karl Rove U.S. DEPARTMENT OF NOT A SCINTILLA OF JUSTICE is sure not going to send him there if that's what you are thinking, dude ....

Not after BUSHITE Bertie Gonzales made an example out of U.S. Attorney Carol Lamm by firing her for putting Randy "HEY, BIG DUKE MY MAN IN THE SLAM" Cunningham in stir for being corrupt, anyway ....

Who do you think picks the head U.S. Attorney up here, anyway?

When Karl Rove is in charge of who gets to be a U.S. Attorney, and who doesn't, there is no hope coming from that quarter, if you thought they were going to put Joe Bruno in jail ...

And so ....

Hate to burst your bubble, but that's the way we see it up here ....

And in 2005, a BUSH judge on the federal bench up here openly condoned the "marketing" of political protection up here by Joe Bruno's crowd ....

And so ...

Joe Bruno has a federal "STAY OUT OF JAIL" card, thanks to that Bush judge ...

And so ...

Reality bites, don't it, dude?

But that's the way real life is ...

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | July 26, 2007 6:45 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...er_grilled.html

[Livyjr]

"AP NewsBreak: Ethics Commission probes Spitzer scandal"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 6:22 p.m., Thursday, July 26, 2007

ALBANY -- The state Ethics Commission has authorized its staff to start a preliminary investigation into the scandal in which top aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer used state police in a plot to discredit Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.

The letter from the Ethics Commission's executive director states the commissioners have acted and "authorized staff to review facts and circumstances" of the case that has dominated the Albany agenda since state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released an investigative report Monday.

Unlike Cuomo, in this case, the Ethics Commission has subpoena power to compel testimony.

The letter, dated Thursday and addressed to Cuomo, was provided by a state official on the condition of anonymity because the investigation hadn't been officially announced.

When told of the letter, state Ethics Commission spokesman Walter Ayres confirmed it came from the investigative agency.

Ayres said the probe is a "preliminary investigation" reviewing all that Cuomo produced, which could be followed by the commission's own interviews and documents searches.

Spitzer's office, however, considers it a routine "review" of Cuomo's records.

The commission seeks all interview transcripts, notes, e-mail and other material from Cuomo's investigation, but it can compel testimony under oath.

Cuomo's interviews were voluntary because he lacked subpoena power in this case.

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said the governor's office has offered to produce all the records it had provided to the Office of the Attorney General and the Inspector General's Office.

"After the issuance of a report like the Attorney General's, it is common practice for the New York State Ethics Commission to ask to review pertinent documents to determine whether it should open its own investigation," she said.

"We trust that the commission will appropriately determine whether or not further inquiry beyond the OAG's and IG's now closed investigations is warranted."

Cuomo's report released Monday concluded that Spitzer's Communications Director, Darren Dopp, and William Howard, assistant deputy for public safety, compiled and created records with the direct involvement of the acting superintendent of state police to show Bruno used state aircraft on days he attended Republican fundraisers in New York City.

Dopp and Howard planned to release the records to a reporter, the report concluded.

Neither Dopp nor Secretary to the Gov. Rich Baum, mentioned in the report as receiving e-mails from Dopp and Howard, gave testimony to the attorney general.

The letter was written the same day Spitzer, a former prosecutor, refused during a news conference to say whether it was appropriate that his top aides failed to fully cooperate with investigators looking into their use of state police against Bruno.

"I was not involved" in the decision, Spitzer said at the raucous news conference.

He said he knew of the request that the aides testify.

Spitzer has repeatedly denied knowing about the plot to discredit Bruno, the state's top Republican.

"I find it very difficult to believe these trusted staffers and confidants kept their leader in the dark," state Sen. Stephen Saland, a Poughkeepsie Republican, said Thursday.

Cuomo's report "raises questions about what the governor knew or should have known."

The Ethics Commission is headed by Chairman John Feerick, who Spitzer has chosen to lead a new entity in the coming months that will regulate ethics and lobbying in Albany.

Feerick appointed Herbert Teitlebaum as executive director of the Ethics Commission in June.

The Senate Committee on Investigations also sought records from Cuomo on Thursday and is considering its own probe, stated Sen. George Winner Jr., an Elmira Republican.

On Sunday, the day before the report was issued and after the Cuomo investigation was largely completed, Baum and Dopp submitted sworn statements through the governor's counsel's office.

Spitzer, the former crime-busting attorney general who made international headlines as the "Sheriff of Wall Street," defended the decision not to provide testimony.

He said Thursday that it wasn't necessary for Baum and Dopp to be questioned after Cuomo determined no crime was committed.

Baum, in an interview Thursday, said the decision was consistent with policy.

"The Attorney General's Office asked the counsel's office for testimony from me, and I guess from Darren Dopp," Baum said.

"In general, the counsel's office frowns on sworn testimony of people in the executive chamber who advise the governor because they prefer to not have wide reaching questions about the advice to the governor."

"It was all done through counsel's office," Baum said.

Hours before, Spitzer was pressed in a news conference on whether refusal to testify would have been acceptable if he was still attorney general.

"As a prosecutor, I will tell you (that) you pursue facts until it's your conclusion, unquestioned, and you reach the legal determination that needs to be made," he said.

"The attorney general reached its conclusion, and without any hesitancy or doubt, there were no violations of the law."

"There were judgment errors that were made that were egregious."

Spitzer said Thursday that the written statements by Baum and Dopp were "sufficient for the attorney general to close its investigation."

But the statements weren't accepted for use in the report.

"We told the governor's counsel's office that we wanted to interview Darren Dopp and Richard Baum," Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner said Thursday.

"Our investigators decided not to include the written statements as they did not have the chance to interview Dopp and Baum."

Baum said the decision by the counsel's office not testify isn't in writing.

He also said he doesn't know why Howard's interview with investigators was approved.

"The counsel's office offered a sworn statement from me that spoke to the core accusations or the core questions being posed by the report and the sworn statement spoke to those questions," Baum said.

"And they received that and closed the investigation."

"That's what I know."

Baum said he received two e-mails from Howard and Dopp apparently regarding the political scheme, but "I didn't respond or engage ... I have no recollection of engaging."

Baum said neither he nor Spitzer knew of the political scheme underway by Dopp and Howard.

Spitzer also refused to comment on what he would do if subpoenaed by the Legislature to compel testimony about how much the governor knew about the political plot.

"We have not gotten there," Spitzer said before the Ethics Commission probe was confirmed.

"It is not necessary at this point."

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Pardon me here, folks, but WE are getting gamed here by Eliot Spitzer and young Andrew Cuomo and the media when we are told that young Andrew Cuomo does not have the right to subpoena testimony in the CHOPPER-GATE FIASCO that is now playing in the on-going SOAP OPERA that is NYS government ...

And in support of that statement, I refer to section 6 of ART. 2 of the NYS Executive Law wherein is clearly stated as follows:

S 6. Examination and inspection by the governor.

The governor is authorized at any time, either in person or by one or more persons appointed by him for the purpose, to examine and investigate the management and affairs of any department, board, bureau or commission of the state.

The governor and the persons so appointed by him are empowered to subpoena and enforce the attendance of witnesses, to administer oaths and examine witnesses under oath and to require the production of any books or papers deemed relevant or material.

end quotes

EMPOWERED TO SUBPOENA AND EXAMINE WITNESSES UNDER OATH ...

Supposedly, "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer acted under this authority when he tasked young Andrew Cuomo to investigate this matter, because "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer's duty is to "take care that the laws are faithfully executed" and any authority that he has to act DERIVES from OUR laws ....

And this language does not require a law degree to understand ...

A five year old child up here can understand it ...

So, please, the media, and "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer and young Andrew Cuomo, stop lying to us and stop trying to mislead us ...

We had way too much of that crap back in the days of Mario Cuomo, and then George Pataki, and so ...

We are sick to death of it now ...

And now ...

Well, we have the BLOGS which we never had before ...

And we are expressing our disgust with this lying by people in positions of high authority that is going on now, and here I am referring directly to "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer, and perhaps young Andy Cuomo, as well ..

And so ....

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...0.html#comments

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Pardon me here, folks, but WE are getting gamed here by Eliot Spitzer and young Andrew Cuomo and the media when we are told that young Andrew Cuomo does not have the right to subpoena testimony in the CHOPPER-GATE FIASCO that is now playing in the on-going SOAP OPERA that is NYS government ...

And in support of that statement, I refer to section 6 of ART. 2 of the NYS Executive Law wherein is clearly stated as follows:

S 6. Examination and inspection by the governor.

The governor is authorized at any time, either in person or by one or more persons appointed by him for the purpose, to examine and investigate the management and affairs of any department, board, bureau or commission of the state.

The governor and the persons so appointed by him are empowered to subpoena and enforce the attendance of witnesses, to administer oaths and examine witnesses under oath and to require the production of any books or papers deemed relevant or material.

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by topo: John, I'm wondering about the interpretation of the word "appointed" particularly given that the AG is an elected official in his own right with his own duties and responsibilities laid out in the state constitution ....

JOHN GALT REPLIES: Howdy, topo, good to see you back around, dude ...

And as you say, topo, yes, the AG is an elected state official in his or her own right, and all ARTICLE V of the NYS Constitution, entitled "Officers and Civil Departments", has to say about the NYS AG is as follows:

Section 1. The comptroller and attorney-general shall be chosen at the same general election as the governor and hold office for the same term, and shall possess the qualifications provided in section 2 of article IV.

The legislature shall provide for filling vacancies in the office of comptroller and of attorney-general.

No election of a comptroller or an attorney-general shall be had except at the time of electing a governor.

end quotes

So all the NYS Constitution does, topo, with respect to the NYS AG, is to provide for his or her election, nothing more ....

The NYS Constitution DOES NOT provide the NYS AG with his own duties and responsibilities ...

Those duties and responsibilities ARE NOT spelled out in the state constitution ...

To the contrary, they are laid out in quite specific detail, as are all things in NYS government, in the laws of OUR state as enacted, and in the case of the NYS AG, that is ART. 5 of the NYS Executive Law, wherein is stated in section 60 as follows:

S 60. Department of law. There shall continue to be in the state government a department of law.

The head of the department of law shall be the attorney-general who shall receive an annual salary of one hundred fifty-one thousand five hundred dollars.

end quotes

So in NYS, topo, the AG is a part of the Executive Branch of OUR NYS government, and as such, the NYS AG is not an independent position!

In essence, the NYS AG works at the direction of the governor, not independent of the governor, as can be clearly and plainly seen from a review of section 63 of ART. 5 of the NYS Executive Law, to wit:

S 63. General duties. The attorney-general shall:

1. Prosecute and defend all actions and proceedings in which the state is interested, and have charge and control of all the legal business of the departments and bureaus of the state, or of any office thereof which requires the services of attorney or counsel, in order to protect the interest of the state, but this section shall not apply to any of the military department bureaus or military offices of the state.

No action or proceeding affecting the property or interests of the state shall be instituted, defended or conducted by any department, bureau, board, council, officer, agency or instrumentality of the state, without a notice to the attorney-general apprising him of the said action or proceeding, the nature and purpose thereof, so that he may participate or join therein if in his opinion the interests of the state so warrant.

Section 63(2} is more relevant to the relationship between the governor and the AG, in this case, young Andrew Cuomo, with respect to this exact investigation:

2. Whenever required by the governor, attend in person, or by one of his deputies, any term of the supreme court or appear before the grand jury thereof for the purpose of managing and conducting in such court or before such jury criminal actions or proceedings as shall be specified in such requirement; in which case the attorney-general or his deputy so attending shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties in respect of such actions or proceedings, which the district attorney would otherwise be authorized or required to exercise or perform; and in any of such actions or proceedings the district attorney shall only exercise such powers and perform such duties as are required of him by the attorney-general or the deputy attorney-general so attending.

end quotes

In NYS, topo, pursuant to OUR Bill of Rights, the citizen Grand Jury makes determinations about violations of law where misconduct by a public official is alleged, NOT YOUNG ANDREW CUOMO .....

The job of the NYS AG, when requested by the governor, is to manage that inquiry, NOT TO SIDESTEP IT, OR FIND WAYS AROUND IT IN COLLUSION WITH "STEAMROLLER" SPITZER AND HIS COUNSEL, which is exactly what appears to have taken place here, at least according to this Rich Baum dude ...

And sect 63(3) of ART. V of the NYS Executive Law is instructive as well:

3. Upon request of the governor, comptroller, secretary of state, commissioner of transportation, superintendent of insurance, superintendent of banks, commissioner of taxation and finance or commissioner of motor vehicles, or the head of any other department, authority, division or agency of the state, investigate the alleged commission of any indictable offense or offenses in violation of the law which the officer making the request is especially required to execute or in relation to any matters connected with such department, and to
prosecute the person or persons believed to have committed the same and any crime or offense arising out of such investigation or prosecution or both, including but not limited to appearing before and presenting all such matters to a grand jury.

end quotes

I submit, topo, that there, we are very close to the heart of the matter here ....

"Upon request of the governor ...."

That is what started this investigation, topo ....

"Investigate the alleged commission of any indictable offense or offenses in violation of the law which the officer making the request is especially required to execute ...."

That, topo, I submit, was the nature of the request made of young Andy Cuomo by "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer ...

I submit that according to section 63 (3) of the NYS Executive Law which binds both "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer and young Andy Cuomo's actions in this matter, once that request was made, and it was, young Andy Cuomo had no choice but to follow through ACCORDING TO THE LAW:

"And to prosecute the person or persons believed to have committed the same and any crime or offense arising out of such investigation or prosecution or both, including but not limited to appearing before and presenting all such matters to a grand jury ...."

end quotes

According to Rich Baum in the story "AP NewsBreak: Ethics Commission probes Spitzer scandal" by MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press, last updated: 6:22 p.m., Thursday, July 26, 2007, NONE OF THAT EVER HAPPENED ....

According to what I am reading, "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer and young Andy Cuomo and the "STEAMROLLER'S" counsel all got together, and they pulled a SHAM on us ....

They concocted a faux investigation that protected Spitzer and Baum and the DOPPSTER and the Howard dude, as well, by by-passing a Grand Jury and by indemifying them from criminal prosecution by saying there IS NO EVIDENCE of criminal conduct, when Spitzer and his counsel and young Andy Cuomo in essence hid the evidence instead ...

They are trying to gull us, topo ....

Play us for fools ...

They are by-passing the law, topo ...

Spitzer and young Andy Cuomo are making a mockery out of OUR state laws ....

And that brings us to section 63(4) of ART. 5 of the NYS Executive Law, wherein is stated:

4. Cause all persons indicted for corrupting or attempting to corrupt any member or member-elect of the legislature, or the commissioner of general services, to be brought to trial.

end quotes

Were Eliot Spitzer and his crew trying to corrupt Joe Bruno?

In my mind, anyway, that is something that needs to be investigated ....

But Eliot Spitzer and young Andy Cuomo now appear to be compromised, the pair of them, and so, young Andy Cuomo cannot be trusted to uphold and enforce section 63(4), and that is a problem, topo ...

For it denies those of us in Joe Bruono's district equal representation under the law ...

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | July 27, 2007 6:26 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...the_day_74.html

[Livyjr]

"Poll: Spitzer needs to testify in scandal; Cuomo stock rises"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:43 p.m., Friday, July 27, 2007

ALBANY -- Half of New Yorkers suspect Gov. Eliot Spitzer knew more than he has said about a plot by his aides to use state police against Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno, according to a WNBC-Marist College poll released Friday.

Eight in 10 voters also think Spitzer should testify in any further investigation.

Even so, Spitzer -- who has told reporters he was misled by his aides -- continues to enjoy strong job approval ratings in the poll, which was conducted Wednesday and Thursday amid heavy news coverage of the controversy.

Meanwhile, the man who detailed the scandal in a report Monday, Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, is for the first time Albany's most popular statewide official.

Cuomo's rating jumped to 52 percent, up from 40 percent in March.

Even Republicans -- 40 percent -- and upstaters -- 46 percent -- say he is doing an excellent or good job.

Cuomo's investigative report found that although no laws were broken, two top Spitzer aides collected state police data for release to a reporter to discredit Bruno for using state aircraft on days he attended Republican fundraisers.

Spitzer suspended one aide and transferred the other.

Cuomo has also spent much of the spring on his national investigation of conflicts of interest between student loan companies and colleges.

The state Legislature and Congress acted on reforms Cuomo recommended.

But the poll focused on Spitzer, the "Sheriff of Wall Street" during his eight years as attorney general and a Democrat who won a historic share of the vote last year, in part by promising to clean up Albany.

"On the one hand, you have political fallout of a major nature for the governor," said Lee Miringoff of the Marist poll.

"The good news is that the events of the past week didn't dramatically change how voters view him."

Spitzer was rated excellent or good in his job by 47 percent of those polled, up from 43 percent in March.

But that's low for the Democrat who won office in November with a historic 69 percent of the vote, Miringoff said.

And New Yorkers still think Spitzer is the guy for the job: 66 percent -- more than in March -- think he is good for the state and more than half think he is a "new kind of independent politician" who is changing Albany for the better.

Still, 41 percent feel his style is too confrontational for a governor.

"People don't think he was forthcoming (in the scandal)."

"They think he should testify," Miringoff said.

"But as far as how he's doing in Albany, that is basically intact."

Bruno, however, remains in low esteem outside his Albany-area district.

The poll found that just 26 percent of New Yorkers said the longtime Senate majority leader was doing an excellent or good job.

The story is the same for Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver of lower Manhattan, who attracted the highest ratings from only 28 percent of those polled.

There was no immediate comment from Spitzer or Bruno.

Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner declined comment.

The telephone poll of 554 registered voters has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

------

On the Net:

http://www.maristpoll.marist.edu

[Livyjr]

"Ethics Commission takes on Spitzer scandal"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 12:03 a.m., Friday, July 27, 2007

ALBANY -- A scandal that snares two of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's top aides and has prompted questions about the reform-minded governor's knowledge of a plot to use state police to discredit a political opponent is now in the hands of an ethics investigations body Spitzer has sought to strengthen.

The state Ethics Commission has authorized its staff to start a preliminary investigation into the plan by two Spitzer aides to use state police to track Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno's use of state helicopters to New York City on days he attended GOP fundraisers.

Spitzer suspended one aide indefinitely -- Communications Director Darren Dopp -- and transferred a public security aide -- William Howard -- after the plan was revealed in an investigative report by Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

But the state Ethics Commission has subpoena power, which in this case Cuomo didn't.

That means the Ethics Commission could compel Dopp and Secretary to the Gov. Rich Baum or even Spitzer to testify on the matter.

Dopp and Baum refused to be interviewed by Cuomo's investigators, submitted written statement instead, and Spitzer wasn't asked.

Ethics Commission Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum wrote Cuomo on Thursday saying the commissioners have acted and "authorized staff to review facts and circumstances" of the case.

Ethics Commission spokesman Walter Ayres said the letter refers to what he termed a "preliminary investigation."

It involves a review of all that Cuomo produced, and could lead to the commission's own interviews and documents searches.

Spitzer's office, however, considers it a routine "review" of Cuomo's records.

"The Ethics Commission has requested the attorney general and the inspector general to provide their files for the Commission's review," state Ethics Commission spokesman Walter Ayres said late Thursday in a written statement.

"The Commission has made no determination as to whether to investigate these matters."

Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said the governor's office has offered to produce all the records it had provided to the Office of the Attorney General and the Inspector General's Office.

"After the issuance of a report like the Attorney General's, it is common practice for the New York State Ethics Commission to ask to review pertinent documents to determine whether it should open its own investigation," she said.

"We trust that the commission will appropriately determine whether or not further inquiry beyond the OAG's and IG's now closed investigations is warranted."

"I am absolutely certain that the ethical footing of this administration is on firmer ground than it ever has been," Spitzer told reporters Thursday afternoon.

He said he hopes to move on to other state issues, working with Bruno.

The Ethics Commission is headed by Chairman John Feerick, who Spitzer appointed and has chosen to lead a new and stronger entity in the coming months that will regulate ethics in the executive branch and lobbying in Albany.

Feerick appointed Teitelbaum as executive director of the Ethics Commission in June.

The Senate Committee on Investigations also sought records from Cuomo on Thursday and is considering its own probe, stated Sen. George Winner Jr., an Elmira Republican.

Bruno had no comment Thursday.

Cuomo's report released Monday concluded that Dopp and Howard, assistant deputy for public safety, compiled and created records with the direct involvement of the acting superintendent of state police to show Bruno used state aircraft on days he attended Republican fundraisers in New York City.

Dopp and Howard planned to release the records to a reporter, the report concluded.

The letter was written the same day Spitzer, a former prosecutor, refused during a news conference to say whether it was appropriate that his top aides failed to fully cooperate with investigators looking into their use of state police against Bruno.

"I was not involved" in the decision, Spitzer said at the raucous news conference.

He said he knew of the request that the aides testify.

Spitzer has repeatedly denied knowing about the plot to discredit Bruno, the state's top Republican.

"I find it very difficult to believe these trusted staffers and confidants kept their leader in the dark," state Sen. Stephen Saland, a Poughkeepsie Republican, said Thursday.

Cuomo's report "raises questions about what the governor knew or should have known."

Spitzer, the former crime-busting attorney general who made international headlines as the "Sheriff of Wall Street," defended the decision not to provide testimony.

He said Thursday that it wasn't necessary for Baum and Dopp to be questioned after Cuomo determined no crime was committed.

Baum, in an interview Thursday, said the decision was consistent with policy.

"The Attorney General's Office asked the counsel's office for testimony from me, and I guess from Darren Dopp," Baum said.

"In general, the counsel's office frowns on sworn testimony of people in the executive chamber who advise the governor because they prefer to not have wide reaching questions about the advice to the governor."

"It was all done through counsel's office," Baum said.

Hours before, Spitzer was pressed in a news conference on whether refusal to testify would have been acceptable if he was still attorney general.

"As a prosecutor, I will tell you (that) you pursue facts until it's your conclusion, unquestioned, and you reach the legal determination that needs to be made," he said.

"The attorney general reached its conclusion, and without any hesitancy or doubt, there were no violations of the law."

"There were judgment errors that were made that were egregious."

Spitzer said Thursday that the written statements by Baum and Dopp were "sufficient for the attorney general to close its investigation."

"The counsel's office offered a sworn statement from me that spoke to the core accusations or the core questions being posed by the report and the sworn statement spoke to those questions," Baum said.

"And they received that and closed the investigation."

"That's what I know."

But the statements weren't accepted for use in the report.

"We told the governor's counsel's office that we wanted to interview Darren Dopp and Richard Baum," Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner said Thursday.

"Our investigators decided not to include the written statements as they did not have the chance to interview Dopp and Baum."

------

AP Writer Michael Hill contributed to this report from Albany.

[Livyjr]

"Poll: Spitzer needs to testify in scandal; Cuomo stock rises"

By MICHAEL GORMLEY, Associated Press

Last updated: 4:43 p.m., Friday, July 27, 2007

[b][color=red]ALBANY -- Half of New Yorkers suspect Gov. Eliot Spitzer knew more than he has said about a plot by his aides to use state police against Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno, according to a WNBC-Marist College poll released Friday.

Eight in 10 voters also think Spitzer should testify in any further investigation.

"People don't think he was forthcoming (in the scandal)."

"They think he should testify," Miringoff said.

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

Posted by Slow Hands: How did this guy go from "The Steamroller" to "Tricky Dicky" in 8 months?

JOHN GALT RESPONDS: He already was "TRICKY DICKY, THE STEAMROLLER" in upstate NY when he was the AG ....

But his slick press operation kept people's attention focused off of that, which was easier back then because we upstate folks did not have the BLOG-O-SPHERE available to us as we do today ...

Now, it's a whole different "game" for these politicians like the "STEAMROLLER" ....

The exclusivity in getting out their "message" they enjoyed in the past has been stripped from them by UNCENSORED BLOGS such as this one ....

This is a first in our lives up here in upstate NYS, where we never had direct access to our fellow citizens in NYS like this before ...

In August of 2001, the "state" inproperly used a state employee and the NYSP BCI to "remove" a licensed professional engineer in upstate NYS who was investigating on-going government corruption in the NYS Dept. of Health and the DEC and the Office of Professional Discipline of the NYS Education Dept. involving politically-connected licensed professionals making and filing false reports to obtain what were bogus "approvals", which is a misdemeaneor carrying a sentence of a year in jail ...

The "state" removed this individual by creating for him a false criminal and psychiatric history, and then had a political doctor in Troy, NY write up a false psychiatric involuntary commitment order for this individual which destroyed him and his credibility ...

"TRICKY DICKY, THE STEAMROLLER" covered that all over, as if it had never happened, and in doing so, indemnified the perps from any criminal prosecution whatsoever, despite a written letter from Hon. Patrick McGrath of Rensselaer County Court expressing his belief that federal and state criminal statutes had been violated ....

The compliant "press" in the Albany area aided and abetted that cover-up, and we had no way of getting the news out, ourselves ...

So we look at what is happening now as the reward of "TRICKY DICKY, THE STEAMROLLER's" HUBRIS back then ...

It restores our belief in TRUE JUSTICE being beyond the ultimate control of people with no integrity such as "TRICKY DICKY, THE STEAMROLLER" Spitzer ....

What happened to that engineer to us is an unforgivable offense against the people of the State of NYS ...

Spitzer saw to the destruction of that individual as if he were nothing but vermin, and in the course of doing so, the SPITZER-ITES buried the sworn statements of an Albany, NY Police Officer who was an eye-witness to the alleged criminal conduct, as well as the statements of an NYSP BCI Investigator who was himself complicit in what went down ...

And now ...

The past catches up with "TRICKY DICKY, THE STEAMROLLER" Spitzer ....

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | July 28, 2007 8:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...ieve_spitz.html

[Livyjr]

"Ethics panel has ties to Spitzer - Committee may have conflict in probing governor's conduct"

By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau, Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Saturday, July 28, 2007

ALBANY -- When it was revealed earlier this week that the state Ethics Commission might look at the Troopergate scandal enveloping Gov. Eliot Spitzer, it didn't go unnoticed that the commission's chairman, former Fordham law school Dean John Feerick, was chosen by Spitzer for the job.

As it also turns out, the former law firm of Herbert Teitelbaum, the ethics panel's executive director, has been a six-figure contributor to Spitzer.

Some, including Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, the Senate deputy majority leader and a member of the Senate Committee on Investigations, question the commission's independence.

"Senator Skelos holds Dean Feerick in high regard but there are certainly concerns about the governor's influence over the commission," said Skelos' spokesman Thomas Dunham.

The Senate investigations panel is also considering an inquiry into whether more people in the governor's office were involved in a scheme to misuse State Police to discredit Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

Teitelbaum previously worked at a prominent New York City law firm that has donated more than $100,000 to the governor, according to state Board of Elections records.

The Bryan Cave law firm has donated to both the Spitzer-Paterson '06 and Spitzer 2010 campaign funds.

The donations accounted for $117,208 of the $118,796 the firm gave to various committees in the past four years.

Teitelbaum, who was named last month to the $140,000-a-year position on the Ethics Commission, has since left the firm and severed any financial connections to it, said commission spokesman Walter Ayres.

Teitelbaum has also made personal contributions to former Gov. George Pataki, as well as given $1,000 to John Faso, the Republican who lost the 2006 gubernatorial race to Spitzer.

Such contributions aren't unusual in Albany, where political supporters of state officials frequently end up on key panels.

While critics may wonder how a commission can fully investigate people whom the panel's members have been appointed by or have supported politically, Ayres said that may come with the territory when it comes to getting well-informed members.

"If you're going to say the only people who serve on the commission are people who've had no interest in politics their whole life, are those the people you want here?"

"I'm not so sure," said Ayres.

Spitzer's spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said the administration trusts the commission will "appropriately determine" whether further inquiry is warranted, and that "the commission's charge is to provide impartial deliberations and we're sure they'll do that."

Others on the five-member Ethics Commission have made contributions over the years, with Robert Giuffra giving to Spitzer during his attorney general days, as well as to Pataki and Faso.

Giuffra was selected by Pataki.

Additionally, Carl Loewenson gave money to Spitzer's 2002 attorney general campaign.

(The attorney general and state comptroller choose one commission member each, while the governor chooses three).

The Ethics Commission is the latest organization to emerge as a potential player in the scandal.

The affair began earlier this month with a Times Union story that relied partially on records of flights and ground travel during trips that Bruno, R-Brunswick, made to New York City using a State Police helicopter and police drivers.

The story, which noted three of the trips occurred on days Bruno attended major Republican fundraisers, used records obtained through the state Freedom of Information Law.

But it was later revealed that those records had been re-created by State Police at the behest of Spitzer's advisers, now-suspended communications director Darren Dopp and William Howard, deputy secretary for homeland security.

Howard has since been reassigned.

Cuomo's report concluded Dopp and Howard improperly had State Police create records of Bruno's travels for the purpose of discrediting him.

And Bruno has characterized the creation of those records as a form of political espionage.

The plot thickened with news that two key players, Dopp and Spitzer's secretary, Richard Baum, refused to testify in Cuomo's investigation.

Instead, they supplied sworn statements, which the report did not use.

Friday, Spitzer told the New York Times he would allow Baum and Dopp to testify before the Ethics Commission and was inclined to testify himself if he received clearance from his legal counsel, David Nocenti.

Meanwhile, trouble grew inside his own party.

On Friday, the Staten Island Advance reported Democratic Sen. Diane Savino of Brooklyn was calling for Baum, Dopp and Howard to be fired.

Also, a WNBC/Marist Poll showed half the 554 registered voters questioned said Spitzer knew his advisers were trying to plant a negative story about Bruno and 80 percent said the governor should testify.

Spitzer's approval rating, however, was up to 47 percent from 43 percent in March.

The poll was done Wednesday and Thursday, with a margin of error of 4.5 points.

Karlin can be reached at 454-5758 or by e-mail at rkarlin@timesunion.com.

[Livyjr]

"Bruno wants Spitzer questioned in state police scandal"

By CHRIS CAROLA, Associated Press

Last updated: 7:23 p.m., Wednesday, July 25, 2007

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- After two days of apologies, prosecutor-turned-Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Wednesday criticized as "purely partisan" a call for more investigation into his administration's misuse of state police against a political opponent.

The target of the tracking by state police, Republican Senate leader Joseph Bruno, insisted the public needs to know if Spitzer was involved in the plot that has resulted in one top aide suspended and another about to be reassigned.

"I believe for the first time in the history of this state, an executive -- the governor's office -- has seen fit to abuse the power of that office to spy and track and attempt to really destroy what apparently the governor's office considers a political rival," Bruno told reporters Wednesday.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's report released Monday concluded that Spitzer Communications Director Darren Dopp and William Howard, assistant
deputy for public safety, compiled and created records with the direct involvement of the acting superintendent of state police to show Bruno used state aircraft on days he attended Republican fundraisers in New York City.

On Wednesday, State University of New York Spokesman David Henahan said Howard has been on loan to the governor's office since January, and is technically already employed by SUNY as director of the Center for Homeland Security, Research, Training and Education at a salary of $179,500.

Howard is using personal days until his next assignment is set, Henahan said.

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

In the State of NY, topo, WE, THE PEOPLE elect OUR Attorney General, INDEPENDENT of who we elect as governor ...

The ATTORNEY GENERAL IS OUR ATTORNEY GENERAL, not Eliot Spitzer's Attorney General ...

In the State of New York, topo, the right of the PEOPLE to inquire into misconduct in office of public officers like "STEAMBOAT" Spitzer is ABSOLUTE!

ART. 1, SECTION 6:

The power of grand juries to inquire into the wilful misconduct in office of public officers, and to find indictments or to direct the filing of informations in connection with such inquiries, shall never be suspended or impaired by law.

end quotes

To make that inquiry properly, topo, WE, THE PEOPLE of the State of New York need a truly independent Attorney General to manage that inquiry pursuant to sect. 63(2)&(3) of the NYS Executive Law ....

And so ...

I am of the mind that in this matter of TROOPER-GATE, young Andy Cuomo has compromised his integrity as OUR Attorney general in whatever deals he made with "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer and the "STEAMROLLER'S" counsel to protect Spitzer and Baum and the DOPPSTER, and the Howard dude, who makes a salary of $179,500 from SUNY as director of the Center for Homeland Security, Research, Training and Education ...

So big punishment for him, ain't it?

Having to go back to his high-paying day job, while Eliot "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer and young Andy Cuomo play games with us by talking of his punishment ...

Yeah, right!

This guy Howard's salary could go a long way toward helping this state be a better place for its citizens by tossing the Howard dude out on his ***, and by putting that money back in OUR treasury for a start on a tax break for us older folks on fixed incomes who are living in poverty in upstate NY ...

To me, topo, young Andy Cuomo is no longer trustworthy to protect OUR Bill of Rights from Eliot "STEAMROLLER" Spitzer and his crowd ....

And so ...

Just my thoughts on the matter, right now .....

Take them for what they are worth, as always ...

And we shall all be well served by that ...

And so ...

Posted by: John Galt | July 28, 2007 2:54 PM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli...ieve_spitz.html

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

We country folk are simple folk, topo ....

So your words come through, loud and clear ...

JUSTICE ..

IS NOT ...

THE PROPERTY ....

OF ELIOT SPITZER ...

Nor Joe Bruno, for that matter ...

JUSTICE BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE ...

At least in NYS ...

WHERE WE HAVE OUR OWN BILL OF RIGHTS ...

Which means what it says independent of what George W. Bush might think about it, at least according to OUR NYS Court of Appeals in 1996, in Ricky Brown et al. v. State of New York, 89 NY2d 172:

"Constitutions assign rights to individuals and impose duties on the government to regulate the government's actions to protect them."

"It is the failure to fulfill a stated constitutional duty which may support a claim for damages in a constitutional tort action."

"The underlying rationale for the decision, in simplest terms, is that constitutional guarantees are worthy of protection on their own terms without being linked to some common-law or statutory tort, and that the courts have the obligation to enforce these rights by ensuring that each individual receives an adequate remedy for violation of a constitutional duty."

"If the remedy is not forthcoming from the political branches of government, then the courts must provide it by recognizing a damage remedy against the violators much the same as the courts earlier recognized and developed equitable remedies to enjoin unconstitutional actions."

"Implicit in this reasoning is the premise that the Constitution is a source of positive law, not merely a set of limitations on government."

end quotes

And where we upstate countryfolks still thank a higher power than Eliot Spitzer for OUR LIBERTY ...

And so ...

Ring-side seats, topo, and here we are ....

How is that about the meek inheriting the earth?

Ah, something sappy like that, anyway ...

And so ..

Posted by: John Galt | July 28, 2007 2:29 PM

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

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Jul 28 2007, 01:41 PM

[Livyjr]

THE WASHINGTON POST

"Half of New York voters say Spitzer knew of smear: poll"

Reuters

Friday, July 27, 2007; 3:36 PM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - About 50 percent of New Yorkers say Governor Eliot Spitzer knew about an attempt by his top aides to use a local newspaper to discredit his chief Republican foe, according to a WNBC/Marist Poll on Friday.

Governor Spitzer was faulted by a report last week by the state attorney general which said Spitzer's aides tried to blot the senate majority leader's reputation by saying he misused state helicopters.

Some 62 percent of New Yorkers also want another probe into whether Spitzer's staff tried to plant stories claiming Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno misused state aircraft, the WNBC/Marist Poll said.

Though the governor has said his staff misled him, two of the aides involved only gave the attorney general brief sworn statements, and their decision not to answer questions under oath has kept the controversy alive.

An even bigger majority of voters -- 80 percent - said the Democratic governor "should be required to testify" in another investigation.

The feud has derailed much of Spitzer's reform agenda and left many financial issues hanging, from a $300 million package to boost the economy and construction laws that drive up the cost of public schools.

The scandal also has dealt the governor a major setback in his bid to gain control of the senate.

Bruno, who only has a three-seat majority, now has a much stronger hand.

Spitzer, the hard-driving former prosecutor who won office last November with a commanding 70 percent majority, has been criticised in the media since Monday when the state attorney general reported the results of his investigation.

Though Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said no crimes were committed, the Democrat added that Spitzer's aides wrongly inserted the state police into politics when they requested data on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's trips.

Spitzer responded by indefinitely suspending his chief spokesman and reassigning his liaison to the state police.

Despite unfavorable coverage, Spitzer has a 47 percent approval rating, according to the July 25-26 poll.

That is up from 43 percent in March, according to the survey, though it had a 4.5 percent margin of error.

Bruno, in contrast, has only a 26 percent approval rating though one in four voters had no opinion.

The state's top GOP leader has demanded more probes and at least one more is already underway.

The ethics commission, which unlike the attorney general can subpoena the governor's office, has begun its own review.

New York's governors appoint the bipartisan commission's five members though one is nominated by the comptroller and one by the attorney general.

Cuomo clearly has gained from the scandal, partly because his report was seen as hard-hitting.

His approval ratings shot up 12 percentage points to 52 percent from March, according to the survey of 554 voters.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...577.html?sub=AR

[Livyjr]

DATE July 29, 2007 ACCOUNT NUMBER N/A

TIME 6:30-7:00 AM AUDIENCE 119,036

NETWORK LOCAL

PROGRAM News Forum

State Senator JOE BRUNO: The steam has gone from the steamroller, the wheels have come off the steamroller, and now he's got to face facts.

Governor ELIOT SPITZER: I spoke to Joe yesterday morning, as I've recounted, and said to him, `Joe, we have got to put what happened in the past behind us.'

I--as I've said before, I said, `What happened was in error.'

I said very clearly, `I apologize, but let's move forward.'

GABE PRESSMAN, host: In microcosm, that's the story of the clash that's dominated Albany politics in the past week.

A report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found Governor Spitzer's staff had used the state police to gather information about the Republican majority leader of the state Senate, Joseph Bruno; that the police were used to collect and create information about Bruno's use of state planes and helicopters on trips that involved both business and political activities.

The report said there was no unlawful conduct, but two of the governor's aides refused to be interviewed by the attorney general.

And Bruno says he's determined to have a Senate committee investigate further, something the governor rejects as a waste of taxpayers' money.

Announcer: From Studio 6B in Rockefeller Center, this is a presentation from News Channel 4 HD, NEWS FORUM.

Now your host, senior correspondent Gabe Pressman.

PRESSMAN: Good day.

And we'll examine this controversy from two perspectives today.

We'll interview Governor Spitzer's press secretary Christine Anderson first, and later, the deputy majority leader of the State Senate, Dean Skelos.

Welcome, Miss Anderson.

Ms. CHRISTINE ANDERSON: Thank you.

PRESSMAN: Miss Anderson, the State Ethics Commission has just announced that it will investigate the scandal or controversy in which two top aides to the governor have been involved, or are alleged to have been involved.

They have subpoena power.

Do you think that the governor's aides will testify?

Ms. ANDERSON: Look, the investigation by the attorney general's office and the inspector general's office is closed.

But what's often common is for the Ethics Commission to request documents and to determine -- make a determination as to whether or not they should look into this and investigate the matter further.

And that's kind of what's going on right now.

We've reached out to them and offered to produce all the documents that went to the attorney general's office and the inspector general's office.

And we have every, you know, faith that they will make the determination as to whether or not they need to look into this further.

PRESSMAN: Do you expect that if they ask the governor's staff to testify that they will do so willingly, or under subpoena?

Ms. ANDERSON: You know, it's a hypothetical question right now, so I probably wouldn't go into it.

That said, we cooperate with investigations.

PRESSMAN: The governor has said in the past that his staff was fully cooperative, and yet the attorney general's report said that they did not testify.

They didn't interview them.

They put out statements--sworn statements.

Ms. ANDERSON: Mm-hmm. Right.

PRESSMAN: But they did not go before the investigators.

Ms. ANDERSON: Right.

I think this is one of those substories within the story that's--could have been contributed to by statements on both sides.

Let me just step back and tell you what did happen.

They had obviously requested interviews of Darren Dopp and Richard Baum.

When they did request those interviews, which was at some point, I believe, over--end of last week or the weekend, they had already informed our counsel's office that they had made a determination that there was no illegal conduct and no surveillance.

So at that point we decided to submit--our counsel's office made the decision to submit sworn statements.

PRESSMAN: Mm-hmm.

Ms. ANDERSON: Those were accepted, and they closed their investigation.

So the important thing to remember is they thought they had enough evidence to make a determination, which they did, and they closed their investigation.

PRESSMAN: Darren Dopp is the communications director.

Your boss, actually.

Ms. ANDERSON: Right.

PRESSMAN: And Richard Baum is the secretary to the governor and the chief of staff.

Ms. ANDERSON: Mm-hmm, right.

PRESSMAN: And these two individuals, do you think that they're likely to cooperate fully, including testifying if they're asked to by the commission?

Ms. ANDERSON: By the Ethics Commission?

PRESSMAN: Yeah.

Ms. ANDERSON: Again, it's a hypothetical question.

PRESSMAN: Right.

Ms. ANDERSON: I think, you know, we have to look back on what did happen, which is sworn statements were given that were very clear.

The attorney general's office saw fit to close their investigation.

We don't believe any further investigations are necessary, but we leave it up to the Ethics Commission to make that determination.

And we'll get to that point when we get to it.

PRESSMAN: And what about...

Ms. ANDERSON: That said, we cooperate with investigations.

PRESSMAN: What about Senator Bruno?

He seems intent on having an investigation by a committee of the State Senate.

Ms. ANDERSON: Well, again, hypothetical question.

We do not believe an initial investigation at this point, or hearings, are necessary.

You know, personally, I wonder what that--what that says for the attorney general's report.

He did a very thorough investigation.

Senator Bruno referenced that it as a thorough investigation, that it was fair and independent.

And now he's questioning that report.

So, hypothetical at this point.

PRESSMAN: You don't think that Bruno has the truth at heart?

Ms. ANDERSON: Excuse me?

PRESSMAN: Is Bruno--is his motivation to find the truth?

Ms. ANDERSON: Look, I have every respect for Senator Bruno, and I understand the position he's in right now.

I think it's important to remember what Eliot has said, which is that he's taken responsibility for this, and stepped up to the plate and said this cannot be allowed to happen under my watch.

One of the first things he did Monday morning was called Senator Bruno to say, `I'm terribly sorry.'

'This should never have been allowed to happen, and we are taking corrective measures to insure that we clean up our house.'

One of the two things we stand for--and if you look back on the state of the--state of the--state of the state, or the inaugural address, Eliot said the two things--two pillars were economic development and ethics in government and government reform.

So when one of those two pillars is shaken, Eliot is the type of leader to really take a step back and think, `What do we need to do to make sure this is not repeated?'

So in terms of Senator Bruno we've called, we've acknowledged that mistakes were made, and that we are taking corrective measures that are -- were recommended by the attorney general's report.

We're taking that very seriously.

We are definitely internally giving this--giving this a really solid look.

PRESSMAN: Do you think Senator--do you think Senator Bruno's playing politics?

Is that what you're saying?

Ms. ANDERSON: You know, I wouldn't want to go and make any allegation like that.

I think if you look at it, we are not going to quibble with the findings of this report.

We are accepting--we're taking responsibility for it, accepting its recommendations, and we are attempting to both correct, take disciplinary action in the hopes that we can move forward.

I certainly would hope that Senator Bruno wouldn't try to turn this into a partisan issue, you know, and distract from the work at hand.

I think, you know, this has been an issue that Eliot has said, `I will confront head-on,' which he is doing currently and has done all this week.

But Senator Bruno's a public servant, and I know he wants to see us move on with governing.

Yesterday, the Senate moved to pass congestion pricing in the Assembly.

And that was great progress, and we're hoping we can continue.

PRESSMAN: Do you think this is going to jeopardize the governor's reform agenda?

Ms. ANDERSON: I think I have to go back to what I just said about the two pillars of our administration, which are, you know, ethics in government and
government reform, and economic development and transforming our economy.

When one of those two pillars is shaken by something like this, clearly, that's going to cause us to take a step back, look at how that occurred, and what we can do to correct it and move on.

I think history will show that this governor is on the side of reform, that he is pushing a reform agenda, and he will continue to.

He will spend the next, you know, months and years working to ensure the public that that...

PRESSMAN: How's it...

Ms. ANDERSON: ...that hasn't changed.

PRESSMAN: How's it possible, since he's known as a micromanager?

Ms. ANDERSON: Right.

PRESSMAN: How's it possible that he didn't know what was going on?

Ms. ANDERSON: Micromanager might not be the right word, so I'll quibble with that a little bit.

PRESSMAN: OK.

Ms. ANDERSON: He's a manger in the sense that he knows what to be personally involved with, and he also knows what to delegate.

He's not the type of manager that would be personally involved in FOIL requests or media requests.

As his press secretary, I certainly know that from a day-to-day basis.

He's certainly interested in what's coming in the papers.

He's a--he's a reader of several newspapers every day, and a voracious consumer.

But is not--he's not personally involved in FOIL requests, and shouldn't be.

We wouldn't be able to govern if we had a governor that was involved at that level.

PRESSMAN: I'd like to play something that Senator Bruno said in the recent past.

Here it is:

Sen. BRUNO: The governor's people refused--people at the highest level, they refuse to sit and answer questions.

What did they do?

They made a little statement.

And these are the people who are the closest to the governor.

I'm indicating that we have a committee with subpoena powers.

The Assembly has a committee with subpoena powers.

If we have to activate that committee we will.

PRESSMAN: You have said that it's a waste of the taxpayers' money...

Ms. ANDERSON: Mm-hmm.

PRESSMAN: ...to have a further investigation.

Ms. ANDERSON: It could potentially be.

Well, again, I think it calls into question the attorney general and the inspector general's findings.

They concluded their investigation, they thought they had enough evidence to do so.

And they said there was absolutely no illegality or surveillance going on.

Their job is not to investigate legal conduct, their job is to investigate illegal conduct.

And that is what they did.

They accepted--the attorney general's office accepted sworn statements and felt they had enough to close their investigation.

And I think that's telling.

PRESSMAN: In view of what the attorney general found, do you think that the ethics of this administration very early in the game are in tatters?

Ms. ANDERSON: Well, let me take another step back.

I think if you look at how productive the last six months have been--and I don't think there's any arguing that this governor has done some tremendous things very early on, from ethics reform, budget reform to a budget that cut a billion dollars in health care spending.

And you know--you know the list as well as I do.

I think that's why--the early accomplishments, and the speed with which we were really getting things done is why that this is so--this is such a troubling
occurrence to all of us, that it's caused us to take a step back and regroup and think through how this is allowed to happen.

So I think Eliot, what he said to all of us when he first joined the administration, is we are going to hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards.

Those two pillars, again, were what he was referencing.

And he said we have to be better, and we have to hold ourselves to the highest standards.

Clearly, there were some lapses in judgment, and clearly to members of the administration did not exercise good judgment, and allowed themselves to lose sight of what we stand for.

That doesn't mean the larger administration has lost sight of our goals.

The governor will be dogged in making sure that the administration realizes--continues to realize, you know, that we need to stand for that.

PRESSMAN: Is he very upset about the fact that a man he trusted, people he trusted, have been implicated in this?

Ms. ANDERSON: Yes.

PRESSMAN: Upset about his own judgment?

Ms. ANDERSON: He is upset that this was allowed to happen on his watch, and he takes full responsibility for it.

These are people that he likes very much, that he's had, in one instance, a long relationship with; in another instance, this is a public servant of several administrations, Bill Howard, who really is great man who helped us coordinate natural disasters and others during our past six months, and what -- he's a holdover from the Pataki administration...

PRESSMAN: Right.

Ms. ANDERSON: ...who we all had a great deal of respect for.

So I think at a personal level it's very hard for the governor to lose close advisers who he trusted.

That said, I think he is very deeply troubled that A, he was misled, and secondly, that these individuals lost sight of a very clear line that should never have been crossed.

We cannot allow the state police to be politicized, and the governor has said that, has taken full responsibility for it.

He's put in place...(unintelligible)...to try and correct that.

PRESSMAN: But as Harry Truman said, "The buck stops here."

Stops on his desk.

Ms. ANDERSON: Eliot continues to say that.

He believes it.

PRESSMAN: Thank you...

Ms. ANDERSON: He does.

PRESSMAN: ...very much, Christine Anderson, the governor's press secretary, for joining us this morning.

After the break we'll continue our discussion with deputy majority leader of the State Senate, Dean Skelos.

Stay with us.

Ms. ANDERSON: Thank you.

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

This post has been edited by Livyjr: Jul 29 2007, 06:07 AM

[Livyjr]

THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS DAILY POLITICS BLOG:

And who she really seems to pull the rug out from under in that interview is young Andy Cuomo ....

The more I read, the more certain it seems that that faux "investigation" by Cuomo was contrived right from the get-go in a lame attempt by Spitzer, Cuomo and the "STEAMROLLER'S" consigliere to pull the wool over our eyes ....

Which is standard operating procedure in these instances ....

Tell people that you are going to investigate, and then tell them that you did investigate, but you did not find any evidence of wrongdoing ...

Which is a "conclusion" that you already decided on BEFORE the "investigation" was announced ...

The "DAME SNOW JEOPARDY" ...

Pick your conclusion first, and then "arrange" the "facts" to support the conclusion that you want supported ...

A cheap lawyer's trick that is easy to see through in reality, but what the hey, it still works every time because people are so gullible ...

And they don't question "AUTHORITY", in this case, both Spitzer and young Andy Cuomo, who is very popular in NYS right now ...

And so ...

Ms. ANDERSON: Right.

I think this is one of those substories within the story that's--could have been contributed to by statements on both sides.

Let me just step back and tell you what did happen.

They had obviously requested interviews of Darren Dopp and Richard Baum.

When they did request those interviews, which was at some point, I believe, over--end of last week or the weekend, they had already informed our counsel's office that they had made a determination that there was no illegal conduct and no surveillance.

So at that point we decided to submit--our counsel's office made the decision to submit sworn statements.

Posted by: John Galt | July 29, 2007 8:29 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypoli..._a_scandal.html

[Livyjr]

"Harassment rampant on rails"

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press

First published: Friday, July 27, 2007

NEW YORK -- The daily $2 subway ride comes for many city straphangers with the peril of unwanted advances, lewd comments or random groping as they zip beneath the city, according to a report released Thursday on subterranean sexual harassment

report, titled "Hidden in Plain Sight," found that 63 percent of those responding reported they were sexually harassed on the subways.

Of that group, 96 percent said they didn't report the incident -- an indication that lecherous behavior on the trains is often accepted, said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer.

"The credo of 'what happens underground, stays underground' has got to be broken," said Stringer, who released the report.

"The harassment and assault of women in the subway system has been going on for decades."

The survey was compiled from 1,790 responses collected from New York City subway riders in all five boroughs, although Stringer acknowledged the results were not scientific.

Instead, the report said, the responses provide "an invaluable snapshot of a problem that persists but is inherently difficult to quantify."

The New York Police Department responded that crime on the transit system is at a record low, and police have arrested 119 people this year for sexual abuse or lewdness on the subways.

Jeremy Soffin, spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said his agency's work with police has contributing to record numbers of subway riders.

"That said, we understand how important it is to provide a safe, secure and comfortable environment for our riders," said Soffin, citing increases in high-tech subway cars and video surveillance as evidence of the MTA's safety commitment.

[Livyjr]

THE ALBANY, NEW YORK TIMES UNION CAPITAL CONFIDENTIAL BLOG:

Comment by Mike: John, Your argument has an inherent fallacy — the Governor cannot and will not request the Attorney General to investigate HIMSELF under the circumstances.

Self-incrimination, anyone?

JOHN GALT RESPONDS: Mike, in all sincerity, dude, your argument is the one with the inherent FALLACY with regards to “self-incrimination” ….

This is New York State, Mike …

I don’t know how they do it anywhere else, but here in NYS, the right of citizen GRAND JURIES to make inquiry into alleged misconduct in office by public officers such as “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer is ABSOLUTE, Mike …

And if public officers like “STEAMROLLER” Spitzer refuse to testify before such a GRAND JURY, they are out of office, dude …

Section 6 of ART. 1 of the NYS CONSTITUTION BILL OF RIGHTS, Mike:

§ 6. No person shall be subject to be twice put in jeopardy for the same offense; nor shall he or she be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or herself, providing, that any public officer who, upon being called before a grand jury to testify concerning the conduct of his or her present office or of any public office held by him or her within five years prior to such grand jury call to testify, or the performance of his or her official duties in any such present or prior offices, refuses to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent criminal prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, shall by virtue of such refusal, be disqualified from holding any other public office or public employment for a period of five years from the date of such refusal to sign a waiver of immunity against subsequent prosecution, or to answer any relevant question concerning such matters before such grand jury, and shall be removed from his or her present office by the appropriate authority or shall forfeit his or her present office at the suit of the attorney-general.

The power of grand juries to inquire into the wilful misconduct in office of public officers, and to find indictments or to direct the filing of informations in connection with such inquiries, shall never be suspended or impaired by law.

end quotes

Eliot “STEAMBOAT” Spitzer is NOT EXEMPT from the provisions of sect. 6 of ART. 1 of OUR State Constitution, Mike ….

If he won’t talk, then it’s time to toss his *** out, and to get a more honest person in there in his place …

And so …

The NYS CONSTITUTION trumps Eliot “STEAMBOAT” Spitzer, Mike ….

That’s reality in NYS, if nowhere else in America …

And so …

Comment by John Galt — July 28, 2007 @ 7:16 pm

http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=5122#comments

[Livyjr]

"Pursuit of Bruno story is a public service"

By REX SMITH, Editor

First published: Sunday, July 29, 2007

of people will find it amusing, others simply ironic, for a newspaper editor to complain about inaccurate reporting. Yes, ha ha ha.

A lot has been said and written in recent weeks about the Times Union's role in the current blow-up at the Capitol.

Surely you know about it: Aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer induced State Police to track Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno's movements when he used state aircraft, then lied about why they compiled the information.

We're involved because the material they put together was the basis for a July 1 story in this newspaper.

The state Republican chairman suggests that means we must have been guilty of "collusion or incompetence."

Bruno, who was already angry about our coverage of him, insists we "don't care about the facts."

The fact is that nothing in our story was inaccurate.

Nothing our reporters did was unusual or unethical.

I'm not hanging my head these days, folks.

I thought you might want to know why.

Guilt by association is a pretty easy way to get your reputation tarnished.

Just ask anyone who has been identified as a "mob associate" or who met with Jack Abramoff.

Alongside that, the notion that our staff was colluding with the wrong-doers was given weight by an inaccurate and unfair characterization in a report issued last week by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Regular readers of this column (which usually appears on Saturdays) may remember my explanation that our reporter Jim Odato, acting on a tip from a confidential source, had filed a request under the state Freedom of Information Law for information about travel on state aircraft of all the state's top officials.

He got documents revealing details of flights by Bruno, Spitzer and Lt. Gov. David Paterson, the only officials who flew on the taxpayers' dime during the first five months of the year.

What we couldn't have known was that some of the information turned over to us under that FOIL request had been created by the acting State Police superintendent specifically at the request of Spitzer aides -- and that their goal apparently was to embarrass Bruno.

The governor's communication director and liaison to the State Police pulled troopers and investigators "squarely into the middle of politics, precisely where they do not belong," according to the Cuomo report.

There's nothing unusual about a reporter listening to a confidential source for story leads.

Consider, for example, the role of the source known as Deep Throat in telling reporters for The Washington Post where to look for evidence of White House criminality during Watergate.

Our tipster surely had a motive other than an aversion to the waste of taxpayer resources on state helicopter flights, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have acted upon the tip to seek information of value to our readers.

Kelly McBride, who leads the ethics program at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, told an interviewer on WNYC radio Friday that what the Times Union had done was "the standard way of doing business in journalism," yielding "an incredibly valid story, journalistically."

Nor is it unusual for newspapers to publish true information that may have been produced by sources who didn't follow all the rules.

In that regard, the Pentagon Papers come to mind -- documents that were illegally released to the Post and The New York Times that revealed the lies being peddled to American citizens about the disaster engulfing our troops in Vietnam.

There's an analogy here that may be useful.

Prosecutors often can't use evidence against criminals because it turns out to have been obtained illegally, a concept often known in the law as "the fruit of the poison tree."

That's not the way it works in journalism.

One person's snitch is another person's whistle-blower.

If the information we obtain is true, it's appropriate to share with readers.

None of this is to suggest any disagreement with the conclusion of Cuomo, Bruno and even Spitzer that what was done to compile information that eventually came to our hands was wrong.

But there was no wrongdoing at the hands of this newspaper.

We filed a FOIL request, got documents and wrote a solid story based upon those records.

Unfortunately -- here's the part where the bad reporting comes in -- Cuomo's report raises suspicion about a second FOIL that we filed on July 10, nine days after our first story on Bruno's travels was published.

The report called the timing of that FOIL "odd," suggesting it was asking for documents already provided.

If anybody from Cuomo's office had asked before impugning our reputation, we could have cleared things up.

The second FOIL request virtually matches the first, except for two phrases.

"I want to make it clear that I also request records through the end of June 2007," Odato wrote.

That sentence wasn't cited in the Cuomo report, but it explains Odato's motivation: We intend to continue monitoring state aircraft use, and the first batch of information turned over to us covered only the first five months of the year.

A second new phrase in that FOIL asked the governor's office to turn over schedules and other information on "anyone else... for which you have such materials."

That arose, I believe, from my concern that we closely examine travel by any officials, not just Bruno.

Our first story had found that Bruno's travels on the helicopter coincided with major political fundraisers, but that Spitzer and Paterson also had done some political work while traveling on the state aircraft.

We wanted to make sure we weren't being steered to information only on Bruno when others might have been acting similarly.

It turned out, of course, that the steering had begun long before we got the tip that we should look into the travel.

Cuomo's investigation concluded that Spitzer's aides set out to gather the information on Bruno specifically to pass along to the media.

That wasn't illegal, Cuomo said, but it was surely unethical.

What Bruno did with the state aircraft wasn't illegal, either, the report concluded.

But Cuomo found that on some of the days we reported about Bruno's chopper trips downstate he did a minuscule amount of official business -- about 40 minutes on one day when there was a big GOP fundraiser.

McBride says the role of the press is rightly "not just being a watchdog over laws, but asking, 'Do the laws appropriately protect the taxpayers' money?' "

That's what we did.

Many people are attaching the word scandal to what has unfolded here, and there's every indication we could be hearing about it for a long time.

Some keen political observers tell me that outside Albany and those who follow state politics in New York City, people aren't paying much attention.

But it's big news for us, and we'll be covering it fully and honestly.

In fact, heads held high, that's what we've done so far.

Rex Smith is editor of the Times Union.

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"Dr. Richard F. Daines"

Albany, New York Times Union

First published: Monday, July 23, 2007

Commissioner, Department of Health

56, Stanfordville, Dutchess County

Personal: Married to Linda Daines, manager of private client services at Goldman Sachs; children William, 27, third-year student at Cornell Medical School; Katherine, 25, financial analyst; Andrew, 21, student at the U.S. Naval Academy, currently on leave as a Mormon missionary in Malaysia.

Hobbies: Gardening on his farm and woodworking.

What he does: Oversees the state Department of Health.

How he got there: Bachelor's degree in history from Utah State University, 1974; served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Bolivia, 1970-1972; medical degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1978, residency in internal medicine at New York Hospital and board-certified in internal medicine and critical care medicine; medical director at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx, New York, 1987-1999; medical director at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital Center in 2000, promoted to president and CEO in 2002. Nominated as health commissioner by Gov. Eliot Spitzer in January.

Salary: $136,000

How is this job different from being a hospital CEO?

"The spectrum is just quite amazing."

"The public health, epidemiology and science piece that we have all the way up to hospital financing and regulatory things, its tremendous breadth of challenges."

What was it like being on the government side of the budget process?

"I moved so quickly from being a hospital CEO and looking at it from that point of view to joining the administration and seeing it from a different point of view."

"I thought I brought some balance to it, in understanding how hospitals both look at the specific policy implications of reimbursement changes and at the same time you have to add up a bottom line."

"You have to make the bottom line agree with the policy buckets that the money comes in from."

Did the Berger Commission go far enough?

"They went as far, in their judgment, that they could, and given the challenges that we are meeting in implementing it, I think we've got plenty to do with it."

"We think it will also precipitate more changes."

"We are hearing about additional plans from systems that are subject to Berger requirements and systems that aren't."

"... Some forward-looking people are using it as a springboard to do even more."

What do you hope to accomplish during your term as commissioner?

"I list a lot of things."

"In terms of public health goals, we have goals to improve health care indicators for large groups of people."

"A very discrete one is to reduce the number of smokers."

"We are also looking at obesity and diabetes.

"A second one is to implement an information technology structure for the whole state."

"We have a hospital and long-term care restructuring which begins with Berger but will continue."

"We are in the midst of re-evaluating health care reimbursement, and Medicaid is the piece we control most directly."

"We are revising both hospital and ambulatory reimbursement."

"We are taking a look at the indigent care system.

"... The overarching goal for all of that is to incrementally move toward universal health care so essentially every New Yorker has health insurance."

How did your experience as a Mormon missionary shape your career?

"Learning Spanish and living in a different culture for two years piqued my interest."

"Just simply the Spanish alone made my career in New York City medicine a lot easier because I started practicing in the south Bronx."

"I probably spoke more Spanish than English."

Why do you work at a standing desk?

"It's been shown that one of the ways people can successfully balance their intake of calories and how many calories they burn is some people naturally stand and move and agitate around their office all day and they burn a few more calories than people who just sit in a chair."

"The difference of a few calories a day, over a year, over a decade, is why some people get overweight and some don't."

-- Cathleen F. Crowley

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NEWSDAY

"Official Misconduct"

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo gets lots of kudos for the way his office put together the facts in his report last week on the Bruno-Spitzer fiasco.

But his conclusion that Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office engaged in no “unlawful” conduct is raising a few questions.

The problem: They reached that conclusion while two top Spitzer aides — Secretary Rich Baum and now-suspended communications director Darren Dopp -- refused to be interviewed.

They reached it while accusing another key player, homeland security aide William Howard, of lying to them.

They didn’t put Spitzer himself under oath.

One prominent law professor, NYU criminal-law expert Stephen Gillers, believes Spitzer aides may in fact have violated New York’s “Official Misconduct” statute, a misdemeanor.

It prohibits a public servant from knowingly engaging in an “unauthorized exercise of his official functions” with intent to obtain a benefit, including financial or political advantage.

If Dopp and Howard lied to the state police about a freedom of information request to get them to compile data on Bruno, as Cuomo’s report found, it could apply, says Gillers:

“I think it’s a pretty close fit.”

Cuomo's office won't respond publicly, but not all legal experts are so enthused.

Former Manhattan prosecutor Daniel Horwitz says New York doesn't have a law that explicitly makes it a crime to lie to the state police superintendent, and the official misconduct law is typically directed at a more concrete personal benefit than the discrediting of Joe Bruno.

"I just don't see it," Horwitz says.

"...To try to fit a square peg in a round hole here would be inappropriate."

Another expert, Eric Lane of Hofstra law school, said that if, for example, Spitzer ordered his aides to lie to the police to get them to create documents that would hurt Bruno, it might technically make up official misconduct.

But Lane’s still not sure there’s enough of a tie between the aides and the benefit to prove the crime, and his gut tells him that Cuomo was right to leave it to politics, not prosecution.

“I just don’t think this is what the criminal statutes are for,” Lane said

Lurking in the background: Questions about the process used by Cuomo's office.

He didn't have subpoena power.

When Baum and Dopp refused to talk, he didn't ask Spitzer to make them and didn't ask the state Inspector General -- who was running a parallel investigation -- to subpoena them.

And the office has given no sign that it intends to pursue sanctions against those that, the report indicates, may have lied.

In another recent case, CIA leak prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald refused to reach a conclusion about whether any underlying crime was committed while some people were refusing to talk and others were, he believed, lying.

That, argues Gillers, is the more standard practice.

"Any law enforcement agency is not going to come to a conclusion with gathering all the facts," he says.

"The failure to do that is not good prosecutorial practice."

Posted by Admin, web@newsday.com, on July 30, 2007 9:36 AM | Permalink

http://weblogs.newsday.com/news/local/long..._continued.html

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"Capital Region housing market continues slide"

By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer, Albany, New York Times Union

Last updated: 12:31 p.m., Monday, July 30, 2007

The Capital Region housing market continues to cool, according to numbers released today by the Greater Capital Association of Realtors.

Albany County, where the overall number of closed sales in the years first six months edged up one percent, compared to the same period last year, was the regions only county to see an increase in sales.

In Saratoga County, closed sales fell a whopping 15 percent.

In Rensselaer County, sales were down six percent.

Schenectady County saw the regions deepest decline in the years first six months.

The number of closed sales there was down 17 percent.

[Livyjr]

"More Spitzer staff changes possible - Internal review under way in wake of attorney general's report on misuse of State Police"

By DANNY HAKIM, New York Times

First published: Monday, July 30, 2007

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been reviewing his administration's internal operations, and more personnel changes are possible in the wake of a report that his staff misused the State Police to discredit a political rival, people with knowledge of the review said Sunday.

Spitzer has already taken action against two staff members.

Christine Anderson, the governor's press secretary, said Sunday that there is no "shake-up planned; we're still in the process of doing our internal review."

"Are changes a possibility?"

"Sure," she added.

The governor is moving swiftly to try to put the matter behind him, but he and his staff will likely face scrutiny for months.

Republicans appeared unmoved by the governor's apology "to all New Yorkers" in an article published on the Op-Ed page in Sunday's editions of The New York Times.

In the article, Spitzer said that "we made mistakes" and that his administration's recent conduct "represents just the opposite" of the high ethical standard he promised to bring to Albany.

Referring to Spitzer's article, John E. McArdle, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, said "there's nothing in there that's going to deter us from proceeding with what we are doing."

"My sense is that we still haven't gotten to the bottom of who was involved and what did they know and when did they know it," he said.

Senate Republicans are seriously mulling their own investigation, and McArdle said that Sen. George Winner Jr. would meet on Monday with officials from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office in anticipation of a potential inquiry.

Winner is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations.

A week ago, Cuomo's office issued a scathing report that found the governor's staff had misused the State Police to gather information about Bruno in an effort to plant a negative article about him in the media.

The attorney general's report concluded that no laws were broken.

Spitzer, a Democrat, has maintained that he was misled by his staff and knew nothing about the effort to discredit Bruno, the state's top Republican.

The governor indefinitely suspended his communications director, Darren Dopp, and reassigned William F. Howard, the assistant secretary for homeland security and the governor's liaison to the State Police.