As the Albany Brawl Turns

The Post takes out a fraction of its crowded cover (A-Rod's 30th home run gets top billing) to trumpet that Governor Eliot Spitzer's aides allegedly looked for dirt on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, in hopes of getting a NYC DA's office to investigate Bruno. Not only that, a source says Spitzer's office allegedly contacted an "investigative agency...about a possible probe of Bruno before the accusations of the misuse of state aircraft became public nine days ago - suggesting a conspiracy aimed at Bruno was already under way." That is some source!

Let's just sum up what's happened over the past week:

• Two weekends ago - The Times Union reports that Spitzer is looking into Bruno's use of state aircraft and state police to attend political fund-raisers in NYC. Here's a PDF from the Times Union.
  
• Monday, July 2 - Bruno says his life was threatened by stalkers, hence his need for state police; he adds that Spitzer threatened to knock him out.
  
• Wednesday, July 4 - Bruno says the Times Union tried to extort him (by asking him to buy ads online)
  
• Thursday, July 5 - The Post runs a story that quotes Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp as saying Bruno had been tailed by the state police for a while; Dopp later denies he told the Post that, Bruno compares Spitzer to a "Third World dictator."
  
• Friday, July 6 - The Post details its email exchanges with Dopp.
  
• Saturday, July 7 - The Post reports that Spitzer, in a conversation with a Republican senator, called Bruno an "old, senile piece of s--t"

Spitzer told both the Daily News and NY Times that he never called Bruno an old piece of poo. He told the News, "I have been scrupulous in my comments over my entire tenure as governor not to personalize any of these issues. I made a number of calls to Republican senators, all affirmative calls, to say how can we move the ball forward. I have not been involved in the politics of personal attacks. It's not the right way to act as governor. It's not the right way for anyone to act." When the News asked for a comment, Bruno agreeded that everyone should govern, but didn't hesitate to add, "We did not start this whole thing - he did."

Then again, Assembly members don't think they'll head in for a summer session because things are so bad. For instance, Albany Democratic Senator Jack McEneny tells the Times Union, "I don't see how we could be productive in this poisoned atmosphere." Which means lots of issues that weren't resolved before the end of the regular session, including congestion pricing, might not be resolved.

Photograph of Bruno and Spitzer by Mike Groll/AP