Ethics panel settles with former state police head over Troopergate
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- November
- 24
The state Commission on Public Integrity announced today that it has reached a settlement with former Acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton over his role in the Troopergate scandal more than two years ago.
Aides to now-former Gov. Eliot Spitzer were found to have asked the State Police to create documents regarding now-former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s use of state aircraft and ground transportation. The information was leaked to an Albany newspaper.
An investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo found that the aides had conspired to get the information and release it to the media. The aides wanted to show that Bruno—Spitzer’s chief political rival—had misused state aircraft, according to the report.
Under the settlement announced today, Felton admits that he violated state Public Officers Law “by acceding to requests communicated to him by William Howard, former Assistant Secretary for Homeland security, to create documents and transmit sensitive information concerning Senate Majority leader Joseph Bruno’s use of State aircraft for trips to New York City and his ground itineraries during such trips.”
Barry Ginsberg, executive director of the commission, said in a statement Felton received the same treatment as his boss and his boss’s boss, both of whom admitted to violating the same section of Public Officers Law.
“This agreement sends a clear message that a State official may not simply acquiesce to an unlawful request,” Ginsberg said.
The law doesn’t allow the commission to charge a fine for the violation.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 5:03 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. 
