Jun 6, 2008 5:25 pm US/Eastern
Albany DA To Release Testimony In Spitzer Probe
Includes Secret Documents From Former Gov. And Aides
ALBANY (AP) ―
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The testimony could show how involved Spitzer was in the work of two staffers who collected state police travel logs that showed Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno -- Spitzer's adversary -- used state aircraft on days he attended fundraisers.
AP
Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares said Friday that he will release the secret testimony of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer and his top aides in the dirty tricks probe that consumed much of Spitzer's abbreviated term.
Soares will release thousands of pages of documents sought by several news organizations after the material is reviewed according to county policy.
The testimony could show how involved Spitzer was in the work of two staffers who collected state police travel logs that showed Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno -- Spitzer's adversary -- used state aircraft on days he attended fundraisers.
Soares found no criminal wrongdoing, but concluded Spitzer may have lied about his role.
Spitzer resigned in March amid a prostitution scandal.
"This office will comply ... despite the fact that there are serious concerns about pending and future investigations," Soares' special counsel, Christopher D. Horn, wrote to five news organizations that had requested the documents under the state Freedom of Information Law.
Soares had denied initial requests because of pending investigations, but has decided to released the records after the county appeals officer for FOIL records and Robert Freeman of the state Committee on Open Government supported the news organizations' cases.
No date for release of the records has yet been set.
In his second report on the case, Soares concluded Spitzer may have lied when he told investigators he wasn't involved in a plot to embarrass Bruno and that Spitzer could have been indicted had he not resigned in disgrace on March 17.
When Soares did his initial investigation, the report on which was issued Sept. 21, 2007, top Spitzer aides kept the governor's communications director, Darren Dopp, from testifying. But Dopp later recounted conversations and e-mails to Soares. The testimony contained in a March 28, 2008, report indicated Dopp was directly ordered by Spitzer, in a profanity laced exchange, to release records that could embarrass Bruno and perhaps lead him deeper into an ongoing federal investigation.
Dopp had faced a possible perjury charge because a statement released by the Spitzer administration about the scandal differed from his own testimony.
The State Investigations Commission and the Senate's investigations committee continue to investigate.
Spitzer's spokesmen didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The Democrat hasn't commented publicly since his March 17 resignation and while the federal investigation into a prostitution continues.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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