Dopp: Spitzer's Aides Silenced Me

Governor Spitzer's former communications director, Darren Dopp, has claimed in testimony that two senior aides to the governor sought to protect the administration in the Troopergate matter by pressuring him not to speak to investigators for Attorney General Cuomo, a source familiar with the proceedings said.

Mr. Dopp told the Commission on Public Integrity, which is conducting an ethics probe of the governor's office, that he informed the two aides that he felt it was important for him to talk to Mr. Cuomo's office to clear up what he believed were misperceptions about his role in the controversy, the source said.

On July 22, the aides, Peter Pope and Sean Maloney, urged him instead to sign a two-paragraph sworn statement denying any criminal wrongdoing but recognizing that he made misjudgments.

Details of the circumstances behind Mr. Dopp's decision not to speak to Mr. Cuomo's office — which conducted the initial probe of allegations that Mr. Spitzer's office sought to discredit the Senate majority leader, Joseph Bruno, by using state police to collect records about his travels — have emerged as he faces possible charges of perjury related to the statement he signed.

The perjury probe stems from conversations Mr. Dopp had with integrity commission investigators in which he insisted that he did nothing improper, seemingly contradicting a sentence in his statement to Mr. Cuomo in which he recognizes "that any request for state police records relating to those travels should have been handled through other channels" and expresses "regret" over any appearance of impropriety.

While denying that he perjured himself, Mr. Dopp explained to ethics investigators that he came under tremendous pressure within the administration to sign the statement, a source said.

The commission last month forwarded the matter to the Albany district attorney's office, which was expected to present evidence before a grand jury and call Messrs Pope and Maloney as witnesses. To the surprise of administration officials, the district attorney, David Soares, yesterday postponed bringing the case before a grand jury, at least until January.

In discussions with investigators for Mr. Soares and the integrity commission, Mr. Dopp claimed the Spitzer aides, who were deputized as special counsels during the investigation, warned him that Mr. Cuomo could not be trusted and that the attorney general aimed to charge several administration officials with criminal misconduct unless he cooperated, the source said.

Mr. Dopp said he vehemently insisted that he could clear his name by speaking directly with Mr. Cuomo's investigators, who were about to release a critical report suggesting that Mr. Dopp and another aide to the governor planned to generate a negative news story about Mr. Bruno based on the travel records supplied by the state police.

Mr. Dopp told Messrs. Pope and Maloney that he hadn't done anything improper but had simply responded to press questions about Mr. Bruno's usage of the state air fleet to attend fund-raisers in New York City, the source said.

Mr. Dopp told an Albany County investigator that Mr. Pope described Mr. Cuomo as "an animal" who would not listen to reason, the source said.

It wasn't the first time that the aides had expressed fears about Mr. Cuomo's intentions, the source said.

Mr. Dopp's personal notes, which have been subpoenaed by Albany investigators, include a July 16 entry in which he describes Messrs. Pope and Maloney warning him that an aggressive prosecutor wanted to charge him with official misconduct, according to the source.

Weighing on the aides were concerns about the fallout from the decision by governor's liaison to the state police, William Howard, to speak to Mr. Cuomo's office, the source said. Mr. Howard's testimony ended up playing a central role in the attorney general's report.

Mr. Dopp also claimed that Spitzer officials told him that they had an assurance from Mr. Cuomo's office that it would complete its investigation and clear the administration of any criminal or ethical wrongdoing — including the charge of spying on Mr. Bruno — as long as Mr. Dopp consented to the statement.

The aides told him his punishment would not exceed a seven-day suspension, according to the source. As it turned out, Mr. Dopp was suspended for 34 days and later resigned from his job to work for a lobbying firm in Albany.

That same day, Mr. Dopp, after seeking advice from his personal lawyer, Terrence Kindlon, signed the statement.

On July 23, Mr. Cuomo released his report, which faulted Messrs Dopp and Howard, as well as the acting superintendent of the state police, Preston Felton, for engaging the police in political activities but did not contain direct criticism of the governor and other senior aides.

Mr. Spitzer immediately endorsed it and announced the suspension of Mr. Dopp, who later told investigators that the governor directed the release of the documents to the press, a fact that did not appear in the attorney general's report.

Senate Republicans immediately pounced on the report, saying it was incomplete in part because investigators hadn't interviewed Mr. Dopp and Mr. Spitzer's chief of staff, Richard Baum, and because Mr. Cuomo's office lacked subpoena power. Republican concerns triggered a criminal probes by Mr. Soares's office and an ethics investigation by the integrity commission.

Mr. Soares did not include in his final report Mr. Dopp's assertion that he was under pressure to sign the statement.

His report, which summarizes other statements made by Mr. Dopp, said the office did not find convincing evidence that the administration had gathered information about Mr. Bruno for the purpose of smearing him. Even it had, the report said, the actions would not rise to the level of a crime.

The attorney general's office and the governor's office declined to comment.