Home Delivery

Sex scandal pre-empted Spitzer Choppergate indictment

BY MICHAEL AMON AND JAMES T. MADORE | michael.amon@newsday.com
james.madore@newsday.com

10:50 PM EDT, March 28, 2008

Article tools

E-mail

Share
- Digg
- Del.icio.us
- Facebook
- Fark
- Google
- Newsvine
- Reddit
- Yahoo

ALBANY - Prosecutors considered trying to indict Eliot Spitzer for official misconduct for his role in the Choppergate affair but decided not to after the former governor unexpectedly resigned in a prostitution scandal, according to a report released Friday by Albany District Attorney David Soares.

The highly anticipated report was an about-face from one the DA's office released in September clearing Spitzer of any wrongdoing. The latest showed that Spitzer was deeply involved in the effort to embarrass Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno by releasing travel records compiled by the New York State Police last May and June.

Spitzer denied any involvement in the affair in statements to reporters and to prosecutors last August. Prosecutors did not ask Spitzer for an interview for this report, said sources with knowledge of the matter.

In a statement, Bruno criticized Soares for not bringing charges and blasted the September report "as cover for then-Gov. Spitzer and his administration."

The 20-page report released Friday is based largely on the sworn testimony of Spitzer's former communications director, Darren Dopp, who directed the compilation of records on Bruno and was suspended last July after Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office revealed the efforts. Dopp was granted immunity for his testimony.

"If Dopp's testimony is credited, then former Gov. Spitzer's answers were not truthful," the report said. A Spitzer spokeswoman declined to comment.

Had Spitzer remained in office, prosecutors would have put the matter before a grand jury, the report said. But they decided that state law would not allow them to prosecute Spitzer after his resignation because he is no longer a "public servant," according to the report. The report divulged the following details:

Spitzer knew that reporters were asking about Bruno's travel records in early May and approved keeping track of them.

Spitzer nixed a press release about the records on May 17, saying it would be a "distraction" while negotiating legislative issues with Bruno.

On June 25 or 26, after legislative negotiations broke down, Spitzer told Dopp to release the Bruno records. When Dopp said Bruno may be angered, Spitzer said: " -- -- him," according to the report.

After a story appeared in the Times Union of Albany, Spitzer sent e-mails to staff seeking more media reports on Bruno's records and provided analysis of some newspaper articles.

Bruno Friday called on Gov. David A. Paterson to fire the Spitzer aides who were involved and continue to work for the governor. "This scandal was a blatant abuse of government power," Bruno said.

Soares reopened his investigation in October to determine whether Dopp had committed perjury in a sworn statement to the attorney general's office in July. The district attorney also looked into whether Spitzer aides coerced Dopp to give a false statement.

In a statement, Soares said many details of the Choppergate affair could not be revealed because of executive privilege and grand jury secrecy rules. The attorney general's office ruled Friday that Paterson could not waive those secrecy rules for prosecutors.

Cuomo, who did his own investigation of Choppergate, said in a statement: "Those who sought to minimize this incident, or isolate the conduct to one or two midlevel staff, were wrong."