July 3, 2007
Bruno's Travels, Spitzer's Vendetta
What a way to mark the middle of Governor Eliot Spitzer's first year in office: He has forwarded information about Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's statecraft and police escort use to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Albany DA Daniel Soares. That's quite a steamroll! But the story is totally, almost deliciously insane. If you've been trying to ignore the dysfunction of Albany, we urge you to stop - this is too good.
Over the weekend, the TImes Union revealed that Spitzer had been looking into Bruno's travels - specifically how the Republican may have used state helicopters to go to Manhattan political fund-raisers. Bruno also used state police drivers to take him from airports and helipads to the city. During a press conference, Bruno said his life has been threatened, hence the police escorts, but apparently a "formal threat assessment" was never made. The NY Times does detail some of Bruno's press conference, including how a "deranged" man was outside his office, trying to get in to kill him, and how he was told not to open his mail.
But the Governor's office fired back. From the Times Union:
Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp said Bruno's requests for police escorts were in New York City, not the Capitol Region. Dopp also said Bruno has a "standing request" that police be allowed to use their sirens and emergency lights when they drive him in New York City to speed his progress through traffic.Burn! We wonder if Mayor Bloomberg will get involved - he hates it when political officials use sirens."Numerous times he requests lights and sirens and we say no," Dopp said, explaining that even the governor doesn't get such escorts.
"He wanted to get around New York City as quickly as possible," Dopp said of the police requests, even though the Senate majority has its own cars and drivers based in the Big Apple.
Bruno also mentioned Spitzer allegedly threatened knock him out so hard he would never get up (it's hard to figure if it was a literal or figurative punch) prompting Bruno to say yesteday, "Now think about that, the governor of the Empire State saying that to a majority leader who is almost twice his age?' But Bruno ain't gonna fall over so easy. He said, "I grew up in the toughest part of Glens Falls, next to the boxcars, where kids would come up to you when you weighed 90 pounds and they weighed 120 and just punch you right in the mouth just because you were Italian, O.K., or just because you lived next to the boxcars, or just because they felt like it. That’s how I grew up, O.K.? So swing away.”
Photograph of Bruno and Spitzer last month by Mike Groll/AP
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Good for Spitzer. Bruno is a slimeball.
This was really interesting when I first heard about it two days ago.
Guest # 2 - no doubt read the previous Gothamist posts then. It's an ongoing developing story.
Jen - Nice followup, but what is your source for
"Over the weekend, the TImes Union revealed that Spitzer had been looking into Bruno's travels"
It was my understanding this was uncovered by the TU and NY Post. One of their sources was Spitzer's office because they had access to the travel records, but that's quite different from the executive branch conducting their own investigation.
Anyway, seems like a clear ethics violation. Bruno's office admits the trips were dual purpose ("Any fund-raising events were incidental to the trips") and vows not to reimburse the state. They also believe state Inspector General Kristine Hamann, who was appointed by Spitzer, has "no jurisdiction to investigate the legislative branch" of state government. State law defines the inspector general as part of the executive branch, and the office has never been known to investigate the legislative or judicial branches of government.
That's a losing position IMO, but if the state doesn't nail him, the FBI investigation into his support of state-funded projects for individuals who had hired him as a private business consultant probably will.
Spitzer should do all he can to get Bruno to shut up and leave office. The guy is a scum bag. He meddles in NYC politics and he's from bumf*ck! If NYS can get rid of Bruno, things will work a lot better. Not perfect, but a lot better!
Ha ha ha ha! "toughest part of Glens Falls" indeed. That's a good one.
Go Eliot...once you get rid of Joe Bruno, work on getting rid of Shelly Silver. You know he's a crooked scumbag.
To my big brother Joe, the toughest man in Bedford Falls!
"merry christmas u old building & loan!"
Ha ha ha ha! "toughest part of Glens Falls" indeed. That's a good one.
Yeah man, because there aren't rough parts of any town upstate.
The guy is a scum bag. He meddles in NYC politics and he's from bumf*ck!
Surprisingly enough, New York City is still part of the state, in which he's, you know, the Senate Majority Leader. Believe it or not, there's a whole other big state up there.