Gov. Eliot Spitzer said yesterday that political contributions he received from bidders for New York’s racing franchise won’t affect his recommendation for the contract, which he plans to make on Tuesday.

Spitzer said that he would half of New York’s 62 counties trail the nation in five key indicators of economic growth, and the state as a whole lags behind the nation in four of the five categories.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo told the Times Union’s editorial board that even if his office had had subpoena power, its investigation likely still would have found that the “Troopergate” scandal involved unethical but not criminal behavior. He said he doesn’t expect ongoing investigation into the matter to find criminal behavior. Spitzer aides were found to have released information intended to discredit the governor’s chief political rival, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

Upstate officials are supporting Democratic U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer’s bid to get billions of dollars in federal funds to help repair the state’s failing sewage systems.

Cornell University was one of at least 15 colleges across the country to receive e-mailed bomb threats on Tuesday.

Clinton took her campaign for president onto the David Letterman show yesterday, where she gave a tongue-in-check “Top-Ten List” and took the late-night host to task for making fun of her pantsuits over the years.

Actor Fred Thompson, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee, will officially enter the GOP race for president next week.

After giving the keynote address to the New York City Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association in an Albany suburb, Gov. Eliot Spitzer was asked by a reporter about the status of his communications director, Darren Dopp. Dopp was suspended without pay from his $175,000-a-year job for just over a month because of his involvement in the Troopergate scandal. The administration put him back on the payroll this week. Dopp was one of the aides who gathered and released details of Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft and police security in an attempt to discredit the Rensselaer County Republican.

Dopp is on vacation. The governor said he does not know what job Dopp would be doing when he returns.

“What I can say is that as of I suppose earlier this week, he was put back on salary, to the extent that he has accrued vacation time. His pay is now being sent to him. That’s all I know,” the governor said, adding that he had not spoken with Dopp personally.

Spitzer said he disagreed with Republican officials who have said it is inappropriate to put Dopp back on the payroll when he could be called to testify by the Ethics Commission and the Albany County district attorney, both of which are probing Troopergate. GOP leaders have said paying Dopp his salary could influence his testimony.

“That’s ridiculous and offensive,” Spitzer said. “This is somebody who has been properly sanctioned and the right decisions have been made.”

The governor said he has not appeared before the Ethics Commission to date but will be “absolutely providing every bit of cooperation.” The sooner the better, he said.

Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner, R-Elmira, has sent out another invitation letter to its meeting next week on Troopergate, a scandal in which top aides to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer were found to have released information meant to discredit Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican. This time, Winner is requesting the company of Spitzer’s former top energy adviser, Steven Mitnick, who is being investigated by Inspector General Kristine Hamann’s office for alleged threats he made to a state Public Service Commission official. Hamann recently agreed to appear before the Senate Committee, after sending a representative to its first meeting earlier this month.

“I believe that your testimony could provide valuable insight as we seek to evaluate the need for legislation affecting the inspector general’s reporting responsibility,” Winner wrote in a letter to Mitnick.

At issue is Hamann’s investigation into Troopergate. She agreed with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s report that gubernatorial aides behaved inappropriately, but she did not issue her own report. Her representative at the last meeting said the agency stopped its investigation when it learned that the governor’s secretary, Richard Baum, was involved in Troopergate through some of his e-mails. That begged a still-unanswered question from lawmakers—How can you sign off on a report when you ended your investigation due to a potential conflict of interest?

The committee, controlled by Republicans, is authorized to develop legislative responses to Troopergate—changes in laws to prevent such a scandal in the future. The first meeting was very contentious, with Republicans and Democrats arguing about the mission and purview of the panel. The state Ethics Commission and Albany County district attorney are conducting their own investigations into the matter.

Someone over at state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office apparently never received an important memo—the one that said Dr. Richard Daines, nominated in January to be state health commissioner, was confirmed by the Senate March 21. One of several audits released by DiNapoli’s office today includes an Aug. 9, 2007 letter addressed to “Antonia C. Novello, M.D., M.P.H., Dr. P.H., Commissioner, Department of Health.” Novello was former Gov. George Pataki’s health commissioner and hasn’t worked for the state in many months.

Granted, Novello was still commissioner when the audit commenced, but a Jan. 16 letter to the Comptroller’s Office responding to the results is signed by Brian Wing, interim executive deputy commissioner of the agency. The topic of the audit was the safety of the state’s community water supply, and the period reviewed was from  Jan. 1, 2003 through Aug. 31, 2006. (The audit found there were some issues that needed to be addressed regarding controls over “vulnerabilities” in the water system.)

Time to update those address books.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced yesterday he vetoed a bill to limit lead in jewelry, particularly products targeted to children, among other bills. He is also being criticized for vetoing bills that would prevent people from taking ownership of property by using the “squatters rights” law and provide a biofuel use credit.

Spitzer has been focused this week on fighting a federal decision that will hamper New York’s ability to provide health care for all uninsured children. (In fact, he’s holding a press conference on the matter with U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton in New York City at this moment.)

But rarely a day goes by when he’s not facing questions about the Troopergate scandal, in which top aides released information intended to discredit the governor’s lead rival, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican. He told an upstate television station yesterday that Darren Dopp—his communications director who was suspended without pay for his involvement in Troopergate and will now be returning to work—did nothing wrong.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, said yesterday that he would oppose putting a board in control of the nearly $155 billion state pension fund, rather than continue to give the state comptroller sole oversight. The state attorney general and Albany County district attorney are probing whether friends of disgraced former Comptroller Alan Hevesi illegally profited from their connections.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president reversed a previous decision and said it would donate $23,000 to charity because it came from a fugitive fundraiser wanted in a $1 million scam.

A candidate for village trustee in Spring Valley, Rockland County, is being accused of attacking and trying to choke another trustee hopeful, charges he denies.

  How hard is it to straddle the personal and political divide between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno? A prominent Capitol lobbyist might have found out today.

  Abraham Lackman,  head of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, worked for the Senate and Bruno for years as their chief fiscal adviser before leaving to lobby a few years ago.

  Earlier this week, he was identified in a newspaper story as one of the people Spitzer has reached out to for advice as he tries to figure out how to proceed in the wake of the “Troopergate’’ scandal that involves Spitzer aides siccing the State Police on Bruno.

  Lackman giving advice to Spitzer hasn’t gone over well with Bruno.

  “Abe can’t have it both ways,’’ Bruno said in an interview on WROW-AM radio today. “I am very disappointed in Abe.’‘

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has referred to himself as a steamroller, is teaming up with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of “The Terminator” fame to demand that President George Bush reverse a decision that will limit states’ abilities to provide uninsured children with health care.

New rules for the federal government’s administration of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, announced Aug. 17, will block states from signing up as many low-income children for insurance. Until states enroll 95 percent of those eligible in households with incomes under 200 percent of the poverty line ($41,300 for a family of four), they will not be able to serve children in families making above 250 percent above the poverty line ($51,265 for a family of four). In New York, 88 percent of households below 200 percent of poverty level are registered.

States like New York and California, where the cost of living is high, should have the flexibility to cover more children, Spitzer, a Democrat, and Schwarzenegger, a Republican, said in a letter to the president. They said other rules changes are problematic too—children eligible for the health program must go without coverage for a year after enrolling and states expanding the program must have a less than 2 percent decline in employer-sponsored insurance.

The state Legislature approved Spitzer’s proposal this year to expand eligibility to 400 percent of the poverty level to achieve universal health coverage for New York’s children. Read more of this entry »

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, Rensselaer County, said it’s time for Gov. Eliot Spitzer to speak out about the Troopergate scandal. The Democratic governor held a press conference the day Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released a report that said top Spitzer aides conspired to collect and release information about Bruno’s use of state aircraft and police escorts in an attempt to damage him politically. He disciplined staff involved and said he had no knowledge of what had been going on. He has not said much since then and has emphasized that he wants to move on.

Developments continue to unfold, more than a month after the Cuomo report. This week, the Spitzer administration announced that Darren Dopp, the governor’s communications director, would be placed back on the payroll. He earns $175,000 a year. As punishment for his actions in Troopergate, Dopp had been placed on unpaid leave.

“We have to get the governor under oath,” Bruno said on an Albany radio show this morning, citing recent polls that show voters think the governor knew what had been going on and would like him to testify.

Bruno said Spitzer’s decision to place Dopp back on the payroll before ongoing investigations by the Albany County district attorney and state Ethics Commission are completed is “pure arrogance” and shows a “disdain for ethics that should go with public higher office.”

“Darren Dopp was the leader of the pack in this. He should not be rewarded. He should be held accountable,” Bruno said. Read more of this entry »

Drug policy and treatment groups and other advocates are putting pressure on a state commission to recommend less stringent drug laws in the state. District attorneys say further weakening of the so-called Rockefeller-era drug laws would be a mistake.

State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli released an audit yesterday that found the state paid about $10 million to Medicaid providers for services that patients never received.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, still very much on the hot seat over the Troopergate scandal, raised the specter of capping property tax increases to ensure that school-tax rebates from the state translate into lower total tax bills.

The state Dormitory Authority, which is responsible for about $1 billion annually for projects at libraries, schools and other public buildings, will require construction to meet energy-efficiency standards of the U.S. Green Buildings Council.

New census data shows wide income disparities across the state.

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has spoken at each annual 9/11 memorial service at Ground Zero, is drawing criticism this year from victims’ families who say the site is no place for presidential politics. Giuliani is a GOP presidential candidate.

Current and former members of the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office, including Sheriff Leo Connelly are facing charges that include “selective enforcement” against people critical of the department, falsifying records to get travel reimbursement for  vacations and possessing stolen goods.