Spitzer’s Political Career is on the Fritzer

Remember the scandal the Bush Administration went through for well
over a year involving a “smear” campaign against a political opponent?
Remember how the actual leaker turned out to be someone within the
administration who wasn’t all that friendly to the Bush team but the
prosecutor persisted? Remember how that prosecutor succeeded at getting
a conviction on the man he accused of the political “smear” campaign
not because he had any knowledge of the “smear” but because he couldn’t
recall events exactly as they had occurred? And do you remember how the
Democrats were all over the Bush Administration, still are actually,
because they orchestrated this “smear” and they even have gone as far
as demanding Vice President Cheney be impeached for originating this
whole plan?

Where’s the outrage from the pious left now that one of their own,
their New York Golden Boy Eliot Spitzer, is involved in his own scandal
that shares many of the same characteristics as the one that
handicapped the Bush Administration for so long? Well, with one small
caveat: Eliot Spitzer’s Administration ACTUALLY orchestrated a smear
campaign. Here’s the story, TOP SPITZ MAN TOLD AIDE TO LIE: INSIDER, from the New York Post [I put the important stuff in bold]:

Gov. Spitzer’s former communications director,
Darren Dopp, asked another Spitzer aide to lie about the origins of the
Dirty Tricks Scandal - including the governor’s own allegedly extensive
knowledge of the plot to smear the Senate’s GOP leader, a well-placed source told The Post yesterday.

Dopp wanted now-demoted Spitzer homeland-security aide
William Howard to join him in denying there was anything unusual in
their months-long effort to use the State Police to gather evidence
purporting to show Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer) misused
state aircraft for political purposes, said the source, who knows many of those involved in the scandal.

Dopp sought to have Howard, whose job involved overseeing
the State Police, back up his initial public claim that the information
gathered on Bruno was merely the result of a “change in State Police
policy” designed to keep better track of the use of state aircraft, and
was not part of a complex conspiracy aimed at damaging or destroying
Spitzer’s chief Republican opponent, the source continued.

The state Public Integrity Commission last week asked Albany
District Attorney David Soares to examine possible perjury by Dopp
before the commission.

An investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo showed that Dopp,
Howard and others used the State Police to compile information on Bruno
that was not gathered on other public officials.

As soon as The Post broke the story of the anti-Bruno plot on July 5
- and revealed that many of Dopp’s claims were false - an “emergency”
meeting was held in one of Spitzer’s executive offices at the Capitol
to discuss the scandal. Present at the meeting were Dopp, Howard,
Spitzer Chief of Staff Richard Baum and other senior Spitzer aides, the
source said.

“Darren made it clear to Howard and others that he wanted a
story to be told that was different than the one that actually happened,” the source claimed. “His comments stunned some of those who heard it, because they didn’t want to lie.”

Dopp also insisted at another meeting that “the boss,” as he called Spitzer, had been kept fully informed “from the start” about the anti-Bruno effort, which dated back to the spring, the source said.

Such a claim, if true, would contradict Spitzer’s repeated
insistence that he didn’t learn about the anti-Bruno plot until shortly
before it became public - and had even made an unsuccessful effort to stop it.

The source said Howard, and possibly other members of the governor’s
staff, have testified under oath in recent weeks to the
Spitzer-controlled Public Integrity Commission about the specific
events that transpired immediately after the plot against Bruno became
public. “Howard is someone who tells the truth, and that’s what he did
when he testified,” said the source.

Neither Dopp nor his attorney, Michael Koenig, responded to a request for comment. Howard could not be reached for comment.

Oops, busted. And here everyone is worried about President Bush
misusing (or just using) the powers the Patriot Act bestows to ruin
enemies’ lives. Eliot Spitzer won acclaim and the New York governorship
because he was tough on people who broke the law. Now that the shoe is
on the other foot I wonder how he and his supporters are going to act.
My guess is that everyone in New York is going to support him and work
to make sure that this thing goes nowhere. BigT