Troopergate follies

2007-08-29T20:08:00.000-07:00

With Darren Dopp collecting a paycheck once again, Republican critics of Gov. Eliot Spitzer are in an indignant mood. Paying Mr. Dopp, who served as Mr. Spitzer's communications director until he was suspended over the so-called Troopergate scandal, will "further compromise" the public trust, fumes Senate Deputy Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Rockville Center. Matt Walter, a spokesman for the GOP, says putting Mr. Dopp back on the payroll "is arrogant and an insult to the people of this state. ... There simply is no place in government for Mr. Dopp after the things he has done."

And just what might those things be? Mr. Dopp hasn't even been accused of breaking the law, much less convicted of an offense. Until that happens -- and there is every reason to believe it won't -- he is entitled not only to the presumption of innocence but also to be paid for the accrued leave time he has earned during his years of state service. Given Mr. Spitzer's swift, unpaid suspension of Mr. Dopp after Troopergate broke, it might not be the most politically astute move to reinstate him now, before all investigations are complete. Then again, Mr. Dopp is only collecting the money he is owed by the state of New York.

The eagerness of Republicans to go on the attack over such a nonissue shows, once again, how Troopergate remains a costly distraction. That's costly, as in diverting attention from the Legislature's main duty of attending to serious state business, such as the budget deficits that are looming on the horizon. If Republicans want to grab the spotlight, they should start talking about substantive issues.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's report on Troopergate, while critical of Mr. Dopp and others in the Spitzer administration for using State Police to compile records of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno's trips at state expense, also criticized the laxity of state laws governing the use of state aircraft. All Sen. Bruno had to do to keep within the letter of those laws was to conduct a modicum of state business during trips to political fundraisers in Manhattan. That was enough to have taxpayers pick up the tab for shuttling him back and forth from Albany.

Mr. Cuomo's report never did give details of Mr. Bruno's state business, nor did it address the key questions in all of this: Where is the law that says the administration can't check up on the use of state aircraft, which belong to the taxpayers? And why wouldn't the administration ask the State Police to compile records on the trips? After all, State Police aircraft were used, and State Police personnel were assigned to escort Mr. Bruno to appointments in New York. The taxpayers paid for both.

Finally, what law prohibits the administration from informing the public about Mr. Bruno's itineraries, which were paid for with public dollars? No one has suggested that the information given out by the administration was inaccurate or misleading.

Hopefully, Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who is still conducting his investigation, will answer these questions -- and soon.

New york escorts

Troopergate follies