Gov.’s aide transitions from unpaid to paid vacation
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- August
- 30
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.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 7:17 pm by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
