Spitzer Is Set To Hire Albany, Press Liaisons

Governor Spitzer is poised to bring in two new staffers, a veteran Albany lobbyist who will act as a senior liaison between the governor and the Legislature and a former Newsday reporter who will take over as press secretary, sources said.

The additions would be the most significant staff changes since the governor became embroiled in the state police controversy in July that ultimately cost the job of his long-time communications director, Darren Dopp, who has since joined an Albany lobbying firm. Mr. Spitzer, who is struggling to push his agenda through a Legislature that has often been critical of his hard-charging leadership style, is set to bring on board Bruce Gyory, a former aide to governors Cuomo and Carey. Mr. Gyory is known for his institutional knowledge of Albany politics and has developed a closer relationship with Mr. Spitzer in the past year.

Mr. Gyory is a lobbyist at the law firm of Hinman Straub. The firm's Web site said Mr. Gyory's clients include Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers of America, Associated Medical Schools of New York, NYSERNet, TransCanada, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Iroquois, NYSADC, and Hillside.

Errol Cockfield is poised to become the no. 2 person in Mr. Spitzer's press operation, assuming the job of press secretary. Mr. Spitzer's current press secretary, Christine Anderson, is expected to be promoted to communications director.

The job opened up when Mr. Spitzer suspended Mr. Dopp this summer in the wake of a report by the state attorney general's office that alleged administration officials inappropriately used the state police for partisan purposes. Mr. Cockfield, who joined the Spitzer administration as press secretary for the Empire State Development Corp. in February, was previously a reporter for Newsday, where he ran the newspaper's Albany bureau and covered real estate and economic development.