Posted on 07/31/2007 6:40:57 AM PDT by jmyrlefuller
Gov. Spitzer shot down a Republican proposal to make Attorney General Andrew Cuomo a special prosecutor to reinvestigate the dirty tricks scheme waged against Senate GOP leader Joe Bruno.
Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner (R-Elmira) had said such a move would give Cuomo the power to subpoena evidence and question Spitzer aides who ducked his first inquiry. Republican senators would shelve their own planned investigation to make way for Cuomo, who is a Democrat like Spitzer, he said.
About 10 minutes after Winner's news conference, Spitzer's office said no.
"The appointment of a special prosecutor is unnecessary" because his first probe and an inquiry by the governor's inspector general found no criminal conduct, spokeswoman Christine Anderson said.
Winner then said the Senate may have to move ahead with its own probe.
"The governor is not exactly being transparent in the effort to get to truth, justice and the American way," Winner told the Daily News in a telephone interview.
In his letter to Spitzer, Winner said, "We believe that additional investigation is warranted to assure the public that you were not personally involved in the actions."
Cuomo's office wouldn't comment on whether he wanted another crack at the case.
After Cuomo's July 23 report found Spitzer aides improperly enlisted the state police to collect data on Bruno's use of state aircraft for a newspaper story, the governor suspended Communications Director Darren Dopp and reassigned homeland security adviser Bill Howard.
Anderson said the governor's office is cooperating with a preliminary investigation by the state Ethics Commission. That panel's chairman, former Fordham Law School Dean John Feerick, and director Herbert Teitelbaum are Spitzer appointees.
Republicans are skeptical the commission - with the governor's appointees in its top two positions - will pursue the scandal aggressively.
Sources close to Bruno said if the Senate opens its own probe, investigators will likely seek the hard drives of the computers used by the administration officials linked to the dirty tricks.
Spitzer's camp disputed a published report suggesting that the administration had hindered Cuomo's probe by giving special counsel status to two lawyers working for the governor, Sean Patrick Maloney and Peter Pope.
An administration official, speaking on background, said "attorney-client privilege" would not have shielded Maloney and Pope from answering questions if they knew of the scheme.
(((Ping)))
Dirty,dirty.dirty!
(The louder he talked of his honor,the faster we counted the spoons)
Excellent line.
I first heard former Prime Minister John Major use it in a speech.As soon as I heard I understood how witty and pertinent it was.
Thanks for the ping.
Bruno realizes (as does Spitzer) that Cuomo wants to be Governor so badly that he’d work his tail off to find dirt even on a fellow Dem.
Spitzer has been all talk, more of the same, and dissapointing.
And it’s only been 6 months.
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