Eliot Spitzer Political Surveillance Controversy - Attorney General's Report

Attorney General's Report

A 53-page report issued by the Attorney General's office concluded that Spitzer engaged in creating media coverage concerning Senator Bruno's travel before any Freedom of Information Law request was made. The investigation looked into both Bruno's travel and the Senate leader's allegation that Spitzer used State Police to spy on him. Cuomo concluded that "These e-mails show that persons in the governor's office did not merely produce records under a FOIL request, but were instead engaged in planning and producing media coverage concerning Senator Bruno's travel on state aircraft before any FOIL request was made." It noted that the Times-Union's initial FOIL request did not even ask for the records involving Bruno that the paper was later given by aides to Spitzer. It also suggests that the governor's staff lied when they tried to explain what they had done and forced the State Police to go far beyond their normal procedures in documenting Mr. Bruno's whereabouts.

The Times-Union's requests sought documents on use of state aircraft by seven officials, including Spitzer, Bruno and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, yet Spitzer's office released only Bruno's itinerary. The Spitzer administration and the State Police provided far more details about Bruno than about other officials to the Times-Union, including records to reply to a request under the state's Freedom of Information laws, though no such request had even been made. The report noted that the state acted outside the laws in what it released, such as documents that resembled official state travel records, "which they were not" according to Ellen Nachtigall Biben, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan District Attorney's office, who contributed to the report. The report stated that the Times-Union request came after the story about Bruno's travels was published, and was "not consistent" with Spitzer administration claims that all it did was respond to a FOIL request. No other officials were subject to the same scrutiny as Bruno, and in some cases, the reports created by State Police were pieced together long after the trips, based sometimes on the memory of the police escorts involved.

The report cleared Bruno of any misuse of the state's air fleet, which had been alleged. Spitzer also used the state aircraft during the first six months of his term as governor for political purposes, including a stop in Rochester to attend an event for the Monroe County Democratic Committee on a day in which he had a number of stops related to public business. The report criticized Spitzer's office for using State Police resources to gather information about Bruno's travel and releasing the information to the media. New York Republican State Committee Chairman Joseph Mondello claimed that "Today's explosive report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo validates the frightening charges that Governor Spitzer's administration abused the New York State Police and New York's FOIL laws in an attempt to set up Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno" and that "This disturbing abuse of power by a Governor is unprecedented." The findings of the report were endorsed by Mr. Spitzer's own Inspector General, Kristine Hamann.