Troopergate

After multiple reviews of the report issued by District Attorney David Soares, there are many points of interest, many of which have been pointed out in various outlets, mainly blogs.

Various points of interest throughout the report.

Page 5 & 6
The summary of these pages is that Soares is letting his fellow Democrats off from any charges.

Page 6
This all began with the actual inquiry being made about Spitzer's use of state aircraft, specifically regarding a fund raising trip to California. Dopp is quoted,

“a number of reporters were interested in the use of the aircraft for political trips, and that it pointed specifically to his [Spitzer’s] use of the aircraft in connection with a trip that he had taken to California for fund raising purposes.”

Page 8
Everyone heretofore denying knowledge is implicated as part of this scheme.

Page 11 & 12
Dopp portrays Spitzer as a passive sponsor to the scheme and makes him appear more concerned with the "people's business" versus the controversy. Dopp also attempts to continue to make Bruno the problem.

Ultimately, Spitzer makes the call to release the records.

Page 12
Proof this was set up based on a unremarkable review of Bruno's travel records.

Governor commented “that they were unremarkable.”

Page 14
Dopp claims to have discussed the use of State aircraft with Cuomo, yet Cuomo has no recollection of the discussion.

Page 16
Dopp sums up the entire debacle and Spitzer's involvement.

Page 20
Due to Spitzer's resignation and that of his close advisers, who all have abused their power, nothing will be done, this will be soft petaled into history. Had Client #9 not resigned though, he may have found his way out the door by way of a Grand Jury.

Questions that remain

If in fact this started with an inquiry from reporter Jim Odato of the Albany Times Union about Spitzer and turned into a scheme against Bruno, where was the follow up from Odato on Spitzer's use of the State aircraft by other officials? What role ultimately did the paper play in this scheme?

How did Cuomo and Soares miss so much damning information in their initial investigations?


This situation would make even the most trusting political observer wonder why Albany should be left to a single party regardless if its Democrat or Republican.

This is not an endorsement of Bruno, Bruno and the centralized power structure of Albany is a flawed structure and process, but that will be left for another day and another post.