Governor Spitzer's ethics woes went to the national stage yesterday when the Today show ran a segment (see it here) about the mess that included the on-screen caption "Spitzer Scandal." Sure, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office did not find any law-breaking by Spitzer's aides, just dirty tricks-ing by way of using the state police to discredit Spitzer's main Albany rival, State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
Though Spitzer has maintained he had no idea that his staffers were planning such things, the Today segment made him look pretty bad. Bruno was even interviewed in the segment - and he looked like the grandfatherly victim in the whole mess! If only Today show viewers knew how screwy Albany really was.
Of course, Troopergate/ Choppergate/ Brunogate does get more murky: Yesterday, the Post revealed that Spitzer staffers may have emailed the governor from their private email accounts - and that those emails were not included in correspondence submitted to Cuomo or the state inspector general during investigations. Some Spitzer staffers, including suspended communications director Darren Dopp and secretary Richard Baum (both cited in the attorney general's report for their roles in trying to bring down Bruno) as well as Spitzer's spokeswoman and counsel, had "personal BlackBerrys or ones paid for by Mr. Spitzer’s campaign account," according to the Times. Naturally, now Bruno wants those emails to be turned over. This is totally why Corzine doesn't email anymore!
As for other Spitzer doings, the Sun reports that Spitzer is giving a 15-page, single-spaced speech at the Chautaugua Institution today and that it is "expected to draw a parallel between America's historical struggles against communism and terrorism and his own battles with the Legislature as leader of New York." (Please, someone tape this!) Yesterday, Spitzer blogged at DailyKos to congratulate them on YearlyKos - no mention of his Albany issues.
Finally, a website explaining how Spitzer financed his attorney general campaigns, The Spitzer File, launched. The Politicker reveals the creator is Michael Caputo, "former campaign aide to George H.W. Bush and public relations buddy of Republican operative Roger Stone."
