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Cuomo seeks to ID State Police probe tamperers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

May 8, 2008

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ALBANY - Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants the New York Power Authority to provide the names of employees who deleted e-mails from a computer and phone used by the authority's inspector general, Daniel Wiese.

Cuomo also asked the authority to do everything it can to restore the missing e-mails from backup systems and provide them to his office.

Wiese, a former state trooper, was named in Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares' investigation of aides to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer who used the State Police to gather information on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Spitzer's chief political rival. Soares found no criminal wrongdoing but concluded that Spitzer, who later resigned in a prostitution scandal, may have lied about his role in the plot.

Gov. David A. Paterson asked Cuomo to investigate allegations State Police have been improperly monitoring elected officials for years, but the probe has been stymied by the deletion of e-mails from Wiese's computer and BlackBerry.

In a letter sent Tuesday to NYPA president and chief executive Roger Kelley, Cuomo said Wiese's e-mails were deleted April 1 - the same day the investigation was announced.

"It appears that NYPA's IT system deleted many past e-mails on Wiese's computer system. These e-mails are relevant to this investigation," Cuomo said in the letter.

Wiese was put on indefinite paid leave last month.

"We will do everything in our power to get to the bottom of the matter and take appropriate action - including holding accountable any personnel who acted in an inappropriate manner," Power Authority spokeswoman Christine Pritchard said.

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