Welcome, Guest.
Please login or register.
Bruno vs Spitzer ~ Troopergate
Rotterdam NY...the people's voice    Rotterdam's Virtual Internet Community    New York State  ›  Bruno vs Spitzer ~ Troopergate Moderators: Admin
Users Browsing Forum
No Members and 18 Guests

Bruno vs Spitzer ~ Troopergate   This thread currently has 9,550 views. |
10 Pages « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 » Recommend Thread
Admin
September 23, 2007, 5:44am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE
Soares differs with Cuomo on scandal

Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com.

   We have the report from the Albany County district attorney on the so-called Troopergate scandal, and what strikes me about it is the difference in tone compared with the earlier report from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.
   Both concluded that Gov. Spitzer’s staff had committed no crime in compiling logs of Sen. Joe Bruno’s travels on state helicopters, but that is the end of the similarities.
   Cuomo’s report was universally described by my journalistic colleagues as “scathing,” as indeed it was, slashing away at questionable behavior by the governor’s staff and relegating the “no crime” conclusion to throwaway status. District Attorney David Soares’ report, on the other hand, is temperate and forgiving of the governor’s staff.
   To refresh your memory, Joe Bruno, majority leader of the state Senate, had been using state helicopters to travel to New York City for fund-raising events for himself and his fellow Republicans, and a few members of the governor’s staff set about documenting that practice in order to feed the information to the press.
   They went about it in an underhanded way, telling the state police they needed to respond to a Freedom of Information request when one wasn’t yet in hand, but there’s no question in my mind, at least, that what they were trying to do was worthy, i.e. expose to the light of day Sen. Bruno’s use of public resources for partisan purposes.
   Cuomo concluded that the governor’s liaison to the state police, William F. Howard, “himself abused the resources of the State Police and tarnished the reputation of the agency which he testified he holds so dear,” to select just one harshly worded quote from Cuomo’s 53-page report.
   Soares concluded that since the executive chamber is responsible for the use of state aircraft, and since the executive chamber oversees the state police, which also has responsibility for state aircraft, “it would be within the authority of the Executive Chamber to collect information from the State Police concerning the usage of its aircraft.”
   Which is exactly what I would say.
   As for feeding information to the press, Soares notes that the job description of the governor’s communications director includes “maintaining relations between the Governor’s Office and the various press media,” and concludes, “he would appear to be acting within the scope of his authority by turning over to the press information that the public has a right to know.”
   Which is what I would say also.
   In sum, according to Soares, there was no “improper exercise of official function,” which is in stark contrast to the prosecutorial tone that was adopted by Cuomo.
   Since all these personages — Spitzer, Cuomo and Soares — are Democrats, what’s going on? Why does one Democrat (Soares) basically exonerate the governor’s staff, while the other Democrat (Cuomo) rips the pants off them?
   I don’t know. It may have to do with ill will between Cuomo and Spitzer. It may have to do with Cuomo trying to establish his bona fides as a potential governor.
   As for why the Senate, under the aforementioned Joe Bruno, has chosen to hire a former U.S. attorney at a cost of half a million dollars to conduct further investigation into the actions of the governor’s office, I guess that’s pretty clear. It’s to keep “Troopergate” alive as long as possible and to divert people’s attention from what I believe is the heart of the matter, his own use of state helicopters to tote him around to Republican fund-raising banquets. What I call Choppergate.
   As for where the Senate gets half a million dollars to spend in this manner, I will leave you to fi gure that out for yourself.
Logged
Private Message Reply: 90 - 146
senders
September 23, 2007, 2:12pm Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
Quoted Text
As for feeding information to the press, Soares notes that the job description of the governor’s communications director includes “maintaining relations between the Governor’s Office and the various press media,” and concludes, “he would appear to be acting within the scope of his authority by turning over to the press information that the public has a right to know.”


Quoted Text
It may have to do with Cuomo trying to establish his bona fides as a potential governor.


Quoted Text
As for why the Senate, under the aforementioned Joe Bruno, has chosen to hire a former U.S. attorney at a cost of half a million dollars to conduct further investigation into the actions of the governor’s office, I guess that’s pretty clear. It’s to keep “Troopergate” alive as long as possible and to divert people’s attention


This would be a great Thanksgiving dinner.....I think I will invite them all.....wine anyone????


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 91 - 146
Admin
September 25, 2007, 4:31am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
CAPITOL
Bennett backs scandal probe
Ex-superintendent Bennett: Ethical questions must be resolved

BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter

   State police counsel Glenn Valle clashed Monday with Republican members of the Senate Investigations Committee as he defended the role of Acting Superintendent Preston Felton and other state police personnel in the bitter dispute between Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick.
   Valle said the governor’s aides were entitled to seek information about where state police had taken Bruno, regardless of whether a newspaper had filed a freedom of information law (FOIL) request. That’s because it was the role of the governor’s office to determine whether Bruno was entitled to be transported by state police and, under the rules in effect at the time he was, whether he did some official business along the way.
   But the panel’s other witness, former State Police Superintendent Wayne Bennett, said he had never received the sort of request from the Executive Chamber that Felton got in this case. He said state police regulations require that all FOIL requests be in writing and be handled by a records officer. Bennett said he never handled one.
   Interviewed outside the hearing room, Bennett said he would not have done what Felton did, and it is proper for the Senate committee to pursue the matter because state police personnel “have the right to get on with their business free of any suspicion.”
   Bennett said he had read reports on the case by state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares, and agreed with them that there appears to be no illegal conduct. But while he thinks Felton acted “with a clear conscience,” Bennett said the ethical questions involving the acting superintendent and the Spitzer aides “have got to be resolved.”
   Bennett said the state police need a permanent superintendent, but declined to say whether he thought that person should be Felton. “That’s not for me to judge,” he said. “That’s for the governor and the state Senate.”
   Bennett retired as superintendent earlier this year and is now public safety commissioner for the city of Schenectady.
HEATED HEARING
   The committee hearing was heated, with the two Democrats on the panel objecting to the proceedings, which one of them, Sen. Thomas Duane, D-Manhattan, repeatedly interrupted, saying testimony should focus on proposed legislation rather than the Cuomo report.
   Valle said that report by the attorney general, which was critical of Felton and Spitzer aides William Howard and Darren Dopp, was in part “very misleading or outright wrong.”
   Cuomo’s spokesman did not return a call for comment.
   Asked by committee Chairman Sen. George Winner, R-Elmira, to explain why Felton, according to Cuomo’s report, said he would be shocked and angry “if it should turn out that there was no pending FOIL request” at the time Spitzer’s aides sought the information, Valle said Felton was saying he would be upset if he had been misled by the governor’s aides. Felton thought the governor’s aides were responding to a FOIL request, Valle said. But, he said, the aides would have been entitled to the information from state police regardless of whether there was such a request.
   Answering Republican complaints that the state police recreated records about Bruno’s travel, Valle said that was a legitimate attempt to come up with the requested information, because Bruno’s itinerary had been mistakenly discarded by police.
   Winner noted that a recreated document was inaccurate, and said the governor’s aides were acting from political motives, seeking to damage Bruno.
   “The driver wasn’t asked to lie,” Valle said. “ . . . It was just an attempt to restore information.”
   When Sen. Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Centre, said one of Valle’s answers appeared “very cynical,” Valle responded: “Sir, that insults my integrity.”
   The committee, over Democratic objections, voted to authorize Winner to subpoena Felton and others to compel their testimony. Felton had declined to appear voluntarily at the Senate hearing, citing an ongoing investigation by the state Ethics Commission, which has since been taken over by the new Public Integrity Commission.
   Winner said the governor should testify in public before the commission. However, the Ethics Commission did not generally take testimony in public. Spitzer Press Secretary Christine Anderson said the governor will not tell the Public Integrity Commission how to conduct its business, but is willing to testify before it.

MIKE GROLL/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Wayne Bennett, former superintendent of the New York State Police and now Schenectady public safety commissioner, prepares to speak during a meeting of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations in Albany Monday.
Logged
Private Message Reply: 92 - 146
senders
September 25, 2007, 2:20pm Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
Quoted Text
Bennett said the state police need a permanent superintendent, but declined to say whether he thought that person should be Felton. “That’s not for me to judge,” he said. “That’s for the governor and the state Senate.”


Quoted Text
Spitzer Press Secretary Christine Anderson said the governor will not tell the Public Integrity Commission how to conduct its business, but is willing to testify before it.


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 93 - 146
Admin
September 27, 2007, 4:12am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
Special session for what?

   While it’s welcome news that both houses of the state Legislature have agreed to convene for a special session in Albany next month, the prospects for success seem uncertain at best. The reason, of course, is the simmering feud between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno over “Troopergate.” For the sake of the state, both men need to put it behind them. Unfortunately, Bruno is plowing ahead with his $500,000, taxpayer-funded dog-and-pony show — a partisan investigation into Spitzer’s role in the planting of an embarrassing story about Bruno’s use of a state police helicopter.
   Never mind that the governor has already been tremendously humiliated by the story. Never mind that despite Spitzer’s protestations, many New Yorkers assume he took part in, or at least knew about, the media manipulation and did nothing to stop it. Never mind, too, that even if Spitzer was complicit, his actions weren’t unlawful, as both the state attorney general and the Albany County district attorney have now determined.
   Bruno is out for the governor’s blood and won’t stop until he gets some. It’s almost as if he’s forgotten what started this whole affair: legitimate concerns about his use of a state police helicopter and police escorts at least partly for non-state business. Then there was the harassing phone call placed to Spitzer’s father by GOP “strategist” Roger Stone — who was on Bruno’s payroll. While Bruno denied any role in the dirty trick and fired Stone, that was little different from Spitzer suspending or demoting the two architects of “Troopergate,” while denying his direct involvement.
   The point is: Neither man is probably blameless, but who cares? There certainly doesn’t seem to be a hue and cry from the public to find out. So Bruno should back off, leave the investigating to the state Public Integrity Commission, and hope that others will do the same about any possible misuse of state resources on his part.
   Both men need to remember that much remains to be done in Albany this year. But as long as they allow partisan politics to dominate their agendas, the chances of any real public business getting done will be nil.  


  
  
  
Logged
Private Message Reply: 94 - 146
senders
September 27, 2007, 4:26am Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
Quoted Text
Both men need to remember that much remains to be done in Albany this year. But as long as they allow partisan politics to dominate their agendas, the chances of any real public business getting done will be nil.  


It is not partisan politics----it is smoke in the face of the taxpayers---THESE GUYS EAT AT THE SAME TROUGH......this little charade is like a Broadway show at Proctors, it has been written, staged and carried out......they BOTH know exactly what they are doing....getting OUR minds off the 'real things'......

Partisan politics is when each party just says yea/nea to POLICY just because of the 'party' and who gets credit......in a civilized government

THIS stunt is nothing more than OJ Simpson in the media all over again.......Cesear was murdered on the floor of the Senate......

..........please fellas get over yourselves................. >




Quoted Text
Main Entry: 1par·ti·san  
Variant(s): also par·ti·zan   /'pär-t&-z&n, -s&n, -"zan, chiefly British "pär-t&-'zan/
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French partisan, from north Italian dialect partian, from part part, party, from Latin part-, pars part
1 : a firm adherent to a party , faction, cause, or person; especially : one exhibiting blind, prejudiced, and unreasoning allegiance2 a : a member of a body of detached light troops making forays and harassing an enemy b : a member of a guerrilla band operating within enemy lines
synonym see FOLLOWER
- partisan adjective
- par·ti·san·ly  /-lE/ adverb
- par·ti·san·ship  /-"ship/ noun


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 95 - 146
Admin
September 29, 2007, 4:43am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
Senate panel issues subpoena threat for Spitzer papers
BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press

   A Senate committee on Friday demanded e-mails and other documents from within the Spitzer administration under threat of subpoena in its probe of a political scandal.
   If the Democratic Spitzer administration doesn’t provide the documents revealing how two aides compiled travel data through the state police that could embarrass Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno, the Senate investigations committee will issue subpoenas, said Republican Sen. George Winner of Elmira.
   Spitzer spokesman Jeffrey Gordon wouldn’t say if the administration will risk the subpoena threat.
   “This matter has already been the subject of completed investigations by the attorney general, the inspector general and the Albany district attorney, all of whom received extensive documentary evidence and found that there was no illegal conduct,” Gordon said. He said the administration will continue to be “fully cooperative” with the probe by the Public Integrity Commission, which include bipartisan membership in a board whose majority is appointed by Spitzer.
   “Rather than continue to waste taxpayer dollars on a duplicative and partisan inquiry, the Senate should start focusing on things that matter to New Yorkers, like improving health care and revitalizing the State’s economy,” Gordon said.
   Albany County District Attorney David Soares a week ago found no crime had been committed and found no evidence of a plot to smear Bruno. None of the probes completed so far used subpoenas to compel testimony or the production of records.
   “Several of the witnesses that have appeared at the committee’s hearings have not been cooperative or forthcoming with information and some have even refused to attend, hindering our efforts to develop effective legislation,” said Winner, committee chairman.
   He cited a July investigative report by Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that found two Spitzer aides acted improperly to release embarrassing travel data about Bruno to a reporter.
   The committee’s stated purpose is to gather testimony and data to guide the writing of legislative proposals. But Democratic senators on the committee have said Winner and Republicans simply want to perpetuate the scandal. Democratic Sen. Thomas Duane of New York City said the committee is restricted in its use of subpoenas to data and testimony directly related to legislation.  



  
  
  

Logged
Private Message Reply: 96 - 146
senders
September 29, 2007, 6:39am Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
DORKS.....


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 97 - 146
Admin
October 6, 2007, 4:31am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
Spitzer aides subpoenaed in political scheme probe
BY MICHAEL VIRTANEN The Associated Press

   A Senate committee has subpoenaed two top aides to Gov. Eliot Spitzer in its probe of whether they improperly used state police in a political scheme to discredit Senate Republican majority leader Joseph Bruno.
   A subpoena for documents and information was served Friday to Richard Baum, secretary to the Democratic governor, and communications director Darren Dopp was subpoenaed to testify before the committee on Oct. 29, the committee said.
   “We have a constitutional obligation to carry out our legislative responsibilities in response to findings of misconduct within the Spitzer administration,” said Sen. George Winner, an Elmira Republican who chairs the panel. “To do that effectively, we need a clearer picture of what occurred, when, who was involved, and how it was carried out.”
   The subpoenas seek detailed communications and policy directives, including e-mails and Blackberry messages, since Jan. 1 concerning the “crafting, drafting and introduction of legislation concerning the administration of government with respect to uses and abuses of the FOIL procedures.”
   Terence Kindlon, Dopp’s attorney, said he received Friday by fax the subpoena returnable to what he called, “the George Winner dog and dead horse show.”
   “It’s a welcome opportunity for Darren to say finally publicly what he’s been saying to anybody, to the Distract Attorney’s Office … what he’s been saying to the people he’s been talking to,” Kindlon said. “It’s about time for this investigation to be put out of its misery. Anything we can do to help speed that along, it’s our privilege.”
   The committee said it also expects to subpoena testimony from Baum, former Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security Bill Howard, and acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton.
   Democratic Sen. Thomas Duane had said at recent investigations committee meetings that its subpoenas are limited to seeking data or testimony on proposed legislation. That’s been a running confl ict between Republicans on the panel seeking to investigate the case and Democrats trying to limit their questioning to specific legislative bills, none of which have necessary support in the Democrat-led Assembly.



  
  
  

Logged
Private Message Reply: 98 - 146
Admin
October 8, 2007, 2:56am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
Bruno travels were monitored before scandal
Troopers documented use of aircraft

The Associated Press

   The state police kept detailed itineraries of Sen. Joseph Bruno’s travels during former Gov. George Pataki’s administration — long before two of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s aides were accused of improperly using police to track such information, according to police records.
   In records obtained by the Times Union of Albany, itineraries released by the state police show that trips Bruno took to New York City aboard the agency’s helicopters were tracked between 2004 and 2006.
   In July, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a report indicating the records collected under the Spitzer administration were “not ordinarily created or maintained by the state police.”
   Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner said the newly released information does not change the attorney general’s findings that Spitzer aides Darren Dopp and Bill Howard persuaded state police to re-create documents tracking Bruno’s whereabouts.
   “This is consistent with our report’s findings that the state police’s handling of the Senator Bruno matter was out of the ordinary,” Lerner said. “It also shows that after weeks of review — going back years — the state police have still not found another example of retroactively creating an official’s travel records for release to the press.”
   While saying there was no crime, Cuomo concluded that the men acted improperly in releasing information about Bruno’s use of state aircraft and state police drivers on trips to Manhattan that mixed public business with political fundraisers. The report found policies designed to protect public officials’ safety were broken for political gain.
   “The state police have not kept this information for any other state official, that we know of, and they certainly have not been releasing it publicly,” Bruno spokesman Mark Hansen said. “This latest episode of the Times Union, governor’s office and state police collaboration Spokesman for Attorney General
   Andrew Cuomo
is further reason why the investigations of these abuses must go forward.”
   Cuomo’s report found that Dopp and Howard had ordered state police to reconstruct the Republican majority leader’s travel itineraries for 2007 — in some cases from memory. Police had stopped keeping such records in 2006.
   In written statements, Dopp and Howard said they were acting on requests from reporters, including Freedom of Information Law requests, about abuses of a longtime and questionable perk for legislative leaders to avoid highway and train rides.
   According to Cuomo’s report, Bruno’s use of the state aircraft was appropriate under a policy that “is overly permissive and porous and allows for an abuse of taxpayer funds.”
   On Aug. 13, the state Ethics Commission tightened state travel rules, saying officials now will have to strictly account for their time on state aircraft and reimburse the state for any portion of a trip that isn’t for a “bona fide” public purpose.
   The Senate has investigated the matter and subpoenaed two top Spitzer aides. The state Commission on Public Integrity is conducting its own probe. The Albany district attorney investigated and found no wrongdoing.
   State police did not say whether they maintained records of any other elected leaders’ travel itineraries.  



  
  
  

Logged
Private Message Reply: 99 - 146
senders
October 8, 2007, 7:33am Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
Like sands through the hour-glass....so are the days of our lives......


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 100 - 146
bumblethru
October 8, 2007, 9:57am Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
30,841
Reputation
78.26%
Reputation Score
+36 / -10
Time Online
412 days 18 hours 59 minutes
Quoted Text
Cuomo’s report found that Dopp and Howard had ordered state police to reconstruct the Republican majority leader’s travel itineraries for 2007 — in some cases from memory. Police had stopped keeping such records in 2006.
Well how convenient that they stopped keeping such records, huh? I always thought that EVERYTHING had to be documented. Perhaps there has been a change in policy, huh?


When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM
In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche


“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.”
Adolph Hitler
Logged
Private Message Reply: 101 - 146
Admin
October 10, 2007, 2:09am Report to Moderator
Board Moderator
Posts
18,484
Reputation
64.00%
Reputation Score
+16 / -9
Time Online
769 days 23 minutes
http://www.dailygazette.com
Quoted Text
CAPITOL
Sparring continues between Spitzer and Bruno

BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press

   As a top aide to Gov. Eliot Spitzer accused of political dirty tricks resigned to take a private sector job, the Democratic governor and rival Republican leader Joseph Bruno made it clear the conflict that has gridlocked state government since July will continue.
   On Tuesday, Spitzer lumped Bruno in with the “rabid right” while Bruno accused Spitzer of acting in an “almost dictatorial way.” Both comments came moments after emotional ceremonies to honor fi refighters and police officers who recently lost their lives in the line of duty.
   “The Senate is going to get to the truth of alleged abuse of power by the highest office in this state,” Bruno told reporters.
   He said “time will tell” if his Senate investigations committee will subpoena the governor to testify in the case involving two Spitzer aides who used state police to compile information about Bruno’s use of state aircraft and a state police driver on days he mixed public and political business.
   Last month, Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares found no crime and that there was no evidence of a plot behind gathering the data provided to a newspaper under the state Freedom of Information Law. In July, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said no crime was committed, but the aides acted improperly in a plan intended to discredit Bruno, the state Senate majority leader.
   “What they would like to have everyone forget is they enlisted the state police for the first time in the history of anyone’s memory . [to] ask the state police to track a person in office of the opposition party,” Bruno said. “To what purpose? To destroy him. To destroy him. Not just to discredit him. That’s what the governor has to stand up and account for.”
   “Those who want to pursue frivolous and wasteful efforts, they do it at the expense of the public, at the expense of the state,” Spitzer told reporters. “I am governing.”
   “The facts are now clear,” Spitzer said. “The more ink, more wasted time is just going to drag it out. You know, the Senate should could come back and tend to the business of the state of New York.”
   Spitzer also criticized Bruno for opposing Spitzer’s plan to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses. Spitzer said the effort will make the streets safer for traffic, track more immigrants and aid in anti-terrorism efforts while helping immigrants prosper.
   “The rabid right that wants to pile on and demagogue the issue will not carry the day,” Spitzer said. “Those who understand the issue know this is good for security. Those who have ignored the issue of immigration for 20 years and now want to come back and say, ‘Oh my goodness, look at the problem that is out there,’ they are the people who have created this.”
   Bruno, who is trying to hold a narrow Republican majority in the Senate in an increasingly Democratic state, said that “the great majority of people of this state think you should not condone people who break the law. And when you say ‘illegal immigrants,’ it means they are not obeying the law.”
   The conflict hascast doubt on a planned Oct. 22 special legislative session. Spitzer has dozens of appointees waiting to be confirmed by the Senate, including the chairman of the State University of New York board, which is delaying the search for a new chancellor. Bruno wants Assembly and Spitzer support for hundreds of millions of dollars in capital spending and for a senior citizen property tax break.
   Spitzer also called on the Senate Republicans to “keep their word” on a deal to reduce the cost of public construction announced in the spring, but not yet voted on by the Senate.
   On Friday the Senate investigations committee subpoenaed Dopp and Secretary to the Governor Richard Baum in its probe. Soon after, Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver told the New York Daily News that Spitzer should consider appointing a powerful Moreland Act commission to investigate the case and issue its own subpoenas, possibly to lawmakers.
   The flare-ups came as longtime Spitzer Communications Director Darren Dopp, one of the aides accused of orchestrating the political plot, was hired at an Albany lobbying firm. Dopp, 48, will be a communications consultant and partner at Patricia Lynch Associates, a government relations firm run by the former top aide to Democratic Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
   “After he was exonerated he felt that the time was right,” said Terence Kindlon, Dopp’s attorney, referring to Soares’ report. “He is a very nice guy who has worked very hard for 20 years in state government, and the unwarranted criticism that he was taking was really having a negative impact on his family.”
   Messages left for Dopp at home and at the Lynch firm were not immediately returned.
   Dopp’s new position will not involve any lobbying at the firm, which could have violated rules Spitzer pushed to limit the ability of former Albany insiders to infl uence legislation.
   Dopp will be paid more than the $175,000 he was paid in the Spitzer administration, Kindlon said.
   “A lot of money,” Bruno told reporters. “I wonder what he’s going to do to earn that.”



  
  
  

Logged
Private Message Reply: 102 - 146
senders
October 11, 2007, 3:34am Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
Quoted Text
SUBORDINATE AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES

Moreland Act Commissions

The Moreland Act was passed by the legislature and signed into law in 1907 (Chapter 539). The act was introduced by Sherman Moreland, Republican leader in the assembly, at the urging of Governor Charles Evans Hughes.

The Moreland Act, now Section 6 of the Executive Law (formerly Section 7, 1907-1909, and Section 8, 1909-1951), authorizes the governor, "either in person or by one or more persons appointed by him for the purpose, to examine and investigate the management and affairs of any department, board, bureau or commission of the state." Investigators were empowered to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, hold hearings, and subpoena "any books or papers deemed relevant or material." Moreland Act commissions derive their power from that act and from Executive Law Section 63.8. The State Archives holds records of only a few of the many investigations conducted under the Moreland Act (see also series A0531, Investigation Case Files of Charges and Complaints Against Public Officials and Agencies.

Public hearing transcripts, press releases, published materials, and other records that have been previously available to the public or are not restricted by law are available for use. Some Moreland Act commission records may be withheld from disclosure pursuant to Executive Law Section 63.8, Civil Rights Law Section 73.8, Personal Privacy Protection Law Section 96.1.c, and Freedom of Information Law Sections 87.2.a and 87.2.b. Additional State or federal statutory or regulatory access restrictions may also apply. Series descriptions of Moreland commission records include information on access conditions for each series. Where applicable, requests for access to confidential investigatory information will be referred by the State Archives to the governor's counsel's office.

More information on the history of the Moreland Act and the commissions appointed under this legislation can be found in:

Breuer, Ernest Henry:Moreland Act Investigations in New York: 1907-65 (The University of the State of New York, the State Education Department,1965)(New York State Library Bibliography Bulletin 85)

Davies, Audrey M.: Moreland Investigations in New York State (New York Institute of Public Administration, 1936)

Missall, J. Ellswerth: The Moreland Act: Executive Inquiry in the State of New York (New York: King's Crown Press, 1946)

Back to top

Commissioner to Examine and Investigate the Management and Affairs of the Office of the Fiscal Supervisor of State Charities, the State Board of Charities, the Sites, Buildings and Grounds Commission, the Building Improvement Commission, and the Salary Classification Commission

A0017 Investigation Correspondence, Transcripts and Printed Materials, 1915-1928(bulk 1915-191

Back to top

Commission for Investigation of Workmen's Compensation Law Administration

10997 Research and Investigation Files, ca 1928-1944 (bulk 1943-1944)
10987 Chief Accountant's Administrative and Investigative Files, 1938-1944
B1314 Investigation Case Files and Summaries, 1942-1943
B1313 Transcripts of Public Hearings, 1943-1944
B1317 Indexed Abstracts of Witness Statements, 1942-1943.
B1312 Background Files on Workers' Compensation Laws in Other States, 1937-1943.
B1316 Press Clippings, 1942-1944.
B1315 Receipts for Records Received and Returned by the Commission, 1943-1944.

Moreland Act Commission to Study Workmen's Compensation Administration and Costs

10983 Investigation Administration Files, 1938-1959 (bulk 1953.195.
B1328Personnel and Administration Files, 1947-1954 (bulk 1953.1954)

Back to top

Commission to Study, Examine and Investigate State Agencies in Relation to Pari-Mutuel Harness Racing

B1322 Transcripts of Public Hearings, 1953-1954
B1327 Card Indexes to Harness Racing Associations and Stockholders, Witnesses, and Commission Records and Staff, ca. 1953-1954.
B1323 Investigation and Exhibit Files on Individuals, 1933-1954 (bulk 1953-1954).
10998 Investigation and Exhibit Files on Corporations, Ca. 1936-1957 (bulk 1953-1954).
B1325 Investigation and Bill Files of the Joint Legislative Commission to Study the Pari-Mutuel System,1939-1944.
B1321 Litigation Files, 1953-1954.
B1326 Questionnaires Returned by Individuals, 1953.
B1320 Concessionaire Questionnaire and Exhibit Files, 1932-1954 (bulk 1953-1954).
B1319 Stockholder Questionnaire Files, 1953-1954.
B1318 Officer, Director, and Special Stockholder Questionnaire Files, 1953-1954
B1324 Press Clippings File, 1953-1954

Back to top
Moreland Commission Bingo Control Inquiry

10986Public Hearing and Report Files, 1943-1962 (bulk 1961-1962).

Moreland Commission on Welfare

10991Correspondence and Subject Files, 1961-1963.

Moreland Commission on the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law

B1310 Subject and Correspondence Files, 1933.1964 (bulk 1963-1964)
B1305Transcripts of Public Hearings, 1963
B1308 Transcripts of Public Hearings of the Joint Legislative Committee to Study the Alcoholic Beverage Control Law, 1962.
B1311 Investigation Files, 1945-1964 (bulk 1962-1964).
10990 Questionnaire and Interview Files, 1963-1964.
B1309 Background Files on Alcoholic Beverage Regulation in Other States, 1957-1964
B1306 Press Release Files, 1963-1964
B1307 Press Clippings, 1953-1964 (bulk 1963-1964).

Back to top

Commission on Government Integrity

15825 Typed and Original Transcripts of Commission Meeting Minutes, 1987-1989
15823 Investigation Project Files, 1975-1989 (bulk 1987-1989)
15827 Litigation Files, 1987-1989
15826 Election Campaign Financial Disclosure Reports, 1981-1989
B1339 Informant Correspondence Files, 1987-1989
15830General Information Files, 1987-1989


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 103 - 146
senders
October 11, 2007, 3:43am Report to Moderator
Hero Member
Posts
29,348
Reputation
70.97%
Reputation Score
+22 / -9
Time Online
1574 days 2 hours 22 minutes
Quoted Text
Spitzer also criticized Bruno for opposing Spitzer’s plan to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get driver’s licenses. Spitzer said the effort will make the streets safer for traffic, track more immigrants and aid in anti-terrorism efforts while helping immigrants prosper.


This is a set up for all parties involved--Dem or Rep---pay attention--how far are we willing to go here???---National ID cards....this conversation is just the opening act,,,,just like Hillary's conversation about national heath care was when she was 1st lady.....remember,,,,these folks rub elbows ALL the time and come from the same think-tanks,,,when it comes to population 'control'.....there are many ways to skin a cat and they all know this.....

This conversation is nothing more than a crack in the door to a National ID card,,along with our economic/health choices being rolled into one....

National ID card= health info(HIPPA set up/national health care), economic tracking(ATM cards/on-line shopping etc), citizen info(drivers license/SS#)......these are all connected....watch the dots get connected........what a tangled web we weave.....

anyone feel safer/richer yet?????


...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......

The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.


STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS

Logged Offline
Private Message Reply: 104 - 146
10 Pages « 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 » Recommend Thread
|

Rotterdam NY...the people's voice    Rotterdam's Virtual Internet Community    New York State  ›  Bruno vs Spitzer ~ Troopergate

Thread Rating
There is currently no rating for this thread