Stone To Resign After Reports Of Threat

ALBANY — A prominent political consultant for the state Senate Republicans agreed to resign yesterday after reports surfaced alleging he had made a threatening phone call to Governor Spitzer's father. Roger Stone, who in the 1970s worked on President Nixon's reelection effort and has also done work for Presidents Bush and Reagan, denied making the call. Mr. Stone told the Associated Press he was "set up." He said the phone number cited by Bernard Spitzer's lawyers is his, but the apartment is owned by a Spitzer fundraiser and someone else could have gotten inside to make the call or used technology to mimic his voice and number.

The Senate Majority Leader, Joseph Bruno, said Mr. Stone was still asked to resign and sever connections with the state Senate Republican Campaign Committee, as the allegations could "serve as a distraction from the real issues." Lawyers representing the governor's father said the caller — recorded on an answering machine — told the 83-year-old real estate developer that he was going to be subpoenaed to testify before the state Senate investigations committee about 1994 campaign loans to his son, then threatened his arrest if he didn't appear, and used expletives and insults referring to the governor, a Democrat.

Letters about the call were sent to the state Ethics Commission and the chairman of the Senate Committee on Investigations and Government Operations, attorney Jeffrey Moerdler said. He told the Times Union of Albany that he didn't request an investigation but that the matter is now with government investigators.

Governor Spitzer's spokesman, Christine Anderson, said the governor would have no comment.