Roger Stone Says MTA Chief Raised His Rent Due to Feud

Apparently, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, hasn't forgiven Roger Stone for accusing him of prank-calling Eliot Spitzer's father.

Mr. Stone, the self-styled libertine political operative who may have had a hand in the downfall of Eliot Spitzer, says he moved out of his 40 Central Park South apartment after Mr. Hemmerdinger, his landlord, increased his $7,000-a-month rent by 35%.

Last month, Mr. Stone, who has a primary residence in Miami, packed up his Manhattan apartment and moved out. In the meantime, he's staying at a luxury hotel on 58th Street, while scoping out a new apartment in Chelsea.

"They wanted me out of their building," Mr. Stone said, referring to Mr. Hemmerdinger's real estate company.

Mr. Hemmerdinger did not return a call for comment.

When lawyers for Mr. Spitzer's 84-year-old father, Bernard Spitzer, last August accused Mr. Stone of leaving a menacing message on the elder Spitzer's office answering machine, Mr. Stone initially accused the MTA chairman of making the call.

Two weeks later, he took it back. In a two-page letter, he apologized to Mr. Hemmerdinger, saying it was "inappropriate" for him to have suggested that he was the culprit.

Investigators hired by the elder Spitzer traced the message — a recording of which they made public — to a phone in Mr. Stone's apartment. Mr. Stone vehemently denies having made the call.

A protégé of Richard Nixon who is known for playing an instrumental role in halting the Miami-Dade County recount in the 2000 presidential race, Mr. Stone last year was hired by state Senate Republicans to draw up a plan of attack against the former governor. He was forced to resign his position as a result of the allegations.

After Mr. Spitzer resigned in March in a prostitution scandal, Mr. Stone claimed to have sent the FBI a letter in November with a tip about the former governor's involvement with high-priced call girls.