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Contender's eyes on the spies

Senate hopeful turns to private detectives to snoop on GOP rival, dig dirt on her family in preparation for run

BY GLENN THRUSH | Newsday Washington Bureau

May 4, 2006

WASHINGTON - Soon after she entered the New York Senate race in March, Republican K.T. McFarland told surprised supporters that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton had dispatched helicopters to conduct surveillance over her East End vacation house.

In fact, someone was spying on McFarland: McFarland herself.

The former Reagan-era Pentagon aide paid $12,000 to Investigative Group International, a detective agency, to dig up dirt on her own family, to see if they could withstand the scrutiny of a Senate bid, according to campaign finance records.

McFarland, who claimed later that the Clinton remark was a joke, has also hired an unnamed detective to snoop on her main Republican foe, ex-Yonkers mayor John Spencer.

Spencer had a widely reported extramarital affair with a subordinate that resulted in the birth of two children. Spencer, who has made no secret of the affair, divorced his wife of 30 years and married the mother of the children.

During a Tuesday appearance on NY1 News, McFarland's top political adviser, Ed Rollins, accused Spencer of "bigamy," lying to voters about his affair, loose morals and nepotism.

"I've had one of the best detective firms in New York looking at this," said Rollins, who has been paid $27,000 by the campaign since January.

"If McFarland did hire private investigators for whatever reason, it's really unbelievably hypocritical coming from the person who told the Suffolk County [Republican] Executive Committee that Hillary Clinton was spying on her bedroom and flying helicopters over her beach house," said Spencer spokesman John McLaughlin.

In an e-mail, Spencer accused Rollins of "vicious personal attacks" and cited the statements as proof McFarland is getting desperate.

"They are pathetic, and they should be ashamed of themselves," he said.

McFarland distanced herself from Rollins, but has no plans to fire the operative. "I have made it clear from the start that I don't like mudslinging and attack politics," she said in a statement. "Mr. Spencer's personal life is of zero interest to me and I don't expect it to come up again."

Spencer and McFarland trail incumbent Clinton (D-N.Y.) badly in the polls.