The Spitzer Situation

Let me recap the Eliot Spitzer situation as described by the Times:

Governor Spitzer and his top aides were thumped by State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for their use of the State Police to dig up potentially embarrassing travel information on Republican State Senate leader and political rival Joseph Bruno.

However (and here you might want to start humming "That's What Friends Are For"), there was a little bit of criticism directed at the force and focus of the Cuomo investigation - two of Spitzer's top aides were allowed to avoid any vexing questions and simply submit depositions.

The Times also added this, late in a story about the newly-disgraced Darren Dopp:

Mr. Dopp, who did not respond to requests for comment, has a long connection to the Cuomo family. Governor Cuomo gave him his start in politics, recruiting him away from The Associated Press in 1988. Mr. Dopp was a favorite of Mr. Cuomo’s and, by some accounts, was friendly with his son too.

“Andrew, I think, understood that Darren served Mario very well,” Mr. Lapetina said. “Darren had a rapport with Andrew as well.”

...

After several years as a press aide to Mr. Cuomo, Mr. Dopp became the governor’s liaison to the Southern Tier, a move that took him close to his boyhood home. After Mr. Cuomo left office in 1994, Mr. Dopp served as spokesman for Michael J. Bragman, the majority leader of the State Assembly, before he joined the staff of Mr. Spitzer, then the attorney general, in 1999.

Now Republicans are calling for the State Senate to probe this; Spitzer plans to continue to stonewall, and good luck to him.

Here is a bit of hand-wringing from the Times editors. 

The NY Post has led the charge on this (a quick 1, 2, 3), but we bet the Wall Street Journal will join in with vigor - their law blog provided a reminder of the powerful enemies Spitzer has made over the years and they editorialized about the "The Spitzer Method" on Wednesday.

Let me cite this from the Post since in my experience all their links go bad quickly:

THE EDITORS

July 24, 2007 -- YESTERDAY, Gov. Spitzer insisted he'd known nothing about his aides' abuse of the power of his office in their effort to "get" Sen. Joe Bruno.

Funny - when did he stop reading The Post?

Back on July 5, Post State Editor Fred Dicker blew this scandal open with a scoop headlined "GOV'S TROOPER SNOOP JOB ON BRUNO / ORDERED POLICE TO TRACK GOP FOE'S MOVEMENTS." Dicker noted that "Gov. Spitzer targeted state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno for an unprecedented State Police surveillance program."

The headline of that day's Post editorial asked, "An Abuse of Power?" We warned, "If, in fact, Spitzer sicced troopers on Bruno, the governor's effectiveness will be significantly constrained. . . . If Spitzer wants to avoid spending the coming months - if not years - attempting to govern under such a cloud, he would do well to commission an independent investigation of the facts already on the record, and of those which might come later."

                        

Slate had a round-up as well, and Forbes waxes nostalgic about Spitzer's past employment of similar press tactics.

The key see-saw - New York was a Democratic state before Eliot Spitzer came along and it will be a Democratic state after he leaves.  The question is how much pain State Dems will be willing to endure aiding Spitzer in his improbable cover-up before they pull the plug and move on.

And Andrew Cuomo is both the fellow who investigated Spitzer and his likely heir - what an odd situation.  Oh, well - what kind of a country are we living in where the son of a popular ex-governor has to wait awhile before ascending to the family throne?

Comments

[Neo]

From WSJ:

With the disclosure this week that close aides misused state police in an effort to damage a Republican rival, [NY Governor Eliot] Spitzer is facing the same kind of high-profile scrutiny that he was famous for inflicting upon others -- from Wall Street executives to radio conglomerates -- as New York's attorney general. In a role reversal, the aggressive Mr. Spitzer now is on the defensive and vowing to make amends. ...

While the report by [Democratic] Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found that no laws had been broken, it found that a close Spitzer aide schemed to create and give detailed reports to the media showing that Mr. Bruno had been using state aircraft to attend fund-raisers and other political events, rather than for state business as Mr. Bruno had certified. ...

The report found that the governor's communications director, Darren Dopp, and his top liaison to the state police pressured the state police to create, and in some instances re-create, records of Mr. Bruno's use of state aircraft and police escorts.

The report also suggested that the governor's staff gave a false story to investigators to explain why the information was being gathered, saying they were acting on a Freedom of Information Act request from a newspaper.

How can it possibly be the case that lying to investigators and pressuring police to falsify records broke no laws?

Scooter call your lawyer.

[Jane]

Cuomo is downright vile. What's the chance we can get two birds with one stone?

[Sara]

OT - Malkin, Bryan at Hot Air, and Ace are reporting:

Update 2:54pm Eastern. Ace reports that the soon-to-be wife of Scott Thomas Beauchamp is…TNR staffer Elspeth Reeve. According to the TNR masthead, she’s a reporter-researcher for the magazine. Or was? According to Discarded Lies, a TNR staffer was fired this morning. Update again…I just called TNR’s office and left a message for Reeve. She still works there. Will see if she calls back.

In Ace's post, he questions is he husband or fiance?

[BobS]

Not so fast, Clintinoids Spitzer and Cuomo.....NY State Ethics Commission to investigate

http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/N/NY_BRUNO_FLIGHTS_NYOL-?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=NORTHEAST

[BobS]

Not so fast, Clintinoids Spitzer and Cuomo.....NY State Ethics Commission to investigate

http://breakingnews.nypost.com/dynamic/stories/N/NY_BRUNO_FLIGHTS_NYOL-?SITE=NYNYP&SECTION=NORTHEAST

[maryerose]

As far as Spitzer -what goes around comes around. I remember him shaking down some wall street financiers the president of AIG was one I think and he was finally stood up to. Some charges were either dismissed or were not prosecuted for lack of evidence. Cuomo and Spitzer are both sleazy. No wonder the Kennedy girl divorced Cuomo. I did like Mario at times when I was young and foolish.

[Paul Zrimsek]

All the publisher of the Post needs now is a reporter wife who can interview a staunch Democratic CEO of a major brokerage who'll be supporting a Republican for Governor next time... oh, all right, who also supported a Republican last time, but only because Spitzer kept saying nasty things about CEOs of major brokerages.

[Jane]

Spitzer tried and convicted CEO's not for what they knew, but rather what he said they should have known. The exact same standard should be applied to him (even tho the contention that he didn't know is laughable). And by all means give him a jury of his peers. Let's get all those guys sitting in jail who did the exact same thing.