Mar 29, 2008 12:54 am US/Eastern
Ex-Communications Director Sells Out Spitzer
Dopp Turns 'Red-Hot Poker' On Disgraced Ex-Governor
Reporting
Lou Young
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer will not be prosecuted by the Albany district attorney for his role in the "Troopergate" scandal.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images
More dirt was shoveled onto the political grave of Eliot Spitzer on Friday night. The district attorney up in Albany now says it was the former governor who ordered the illegal release of state police records as part of a political vendetta against Senate Republican leader Joe Bruno.
"Mr. Clean" got down and dirty. The former communications director for our former governor says it was Spitzer who ordered the release of Bruno's travel records in a profanity-laced tirade.
"---- Bruno," Spitzer allegedly told a top operative when asked if he wanted the records out. "He's a piece of ----. Shove it up his --- with a red-hot poker."
Darren Dopp told the Albany district attorney that the "red-hot poker" was Bruno's embarrassing travel records using a state plane for personal political purpose, something his lawyer said he was willing to take the fall for, up to a point.
"When the notion arose Darren Dopp might have to face criminal charges for walking the plank, that's when he and I stood up and said 'We're not going to go that far, he's not going to be the Scooter Libby in this case, he's not going to be the fall guy.'" Michael Koenig said.
Now the so-called "Troopergate" scandal falls on the already burdened shoulders of Spitzer. Albany District Attorney David Soares, though, says the governor's resignation in a separate prostitution and money laundering scandal eliminates the need to prosecute him.
In a statement Friday night, Bruno called that a mistake. He wants blood.
Political observers in Albany say if the governor weren't already gone, he might've had to go.
"Now we find evidence of a widespread criminal conspiracy being exposed for the first time by District Attorney David Soares," New York Post political writer Fred Dicker told CBS 2 HD.
Dopp apparently backed up his recollections with entries from his personal journal.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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