Senate Republicans are calling attention to what they say is a blatant inconsistency in a report clearing the Spitzer administration of any wrongdoing in the state police scandal issued by the Albany County district attorney, David Soares.

If Governor Spitzer, his counsel, and his chief of staff had concluded that there was nothing improper in the state Senate majority leader’s use of state aircraft and that pursuing the matter would be a waste of time, they ask, why did the governor’s office request that it be investigated?

Republicans contend there was an orchestrated attempt by the governor’s office to track down Joseph Bruno’s travel records from the state police in an effort to catch the Senate leader violating state aircraft policy.

But in Mr. Soares’s version of events, issued last week, the governor’s communications director, Darren Dopp, sought to gather travel records on Mr. Bruno against the judgment of Mr. Spitzer, the governor’s counsel, David Nocenti, and his chief of staff, Richard Baum.

Drawing on interviews with administration officials, Mr. Soares details the circumstances behind the administration’s decision in mid-May to bury a draft press release, proposed by Mr. Dopp, that would announce that the administration was examining whether Mr. Bruno had improperly used a state helicopter to fly to New York City to go to a political fund-raiser.

According to Mr. Soares report, Messrs. Baum and Nocenti told Mr. Dopp that “Senator Bruno’s use of the state aircraft was a nonissue.” Mr. Dopp recalled Mr. Nocenti referencing a state court opinion that “was understood to stand for the proposition that as long as there is some governmental business, the trip was legal,” the report said.

That week, Mr. Dopp had a conversation with the governor in which Mr. Spitzer told Mr. Dopp that “the law was so porous and, as such, Senator Bruno’s acts were probably not illegal. Governor Spitzer also believed that any response would be an unnecessary distraction,” the report said.

Just days later, however, Mr. Dopp and the governor’s police liaison, William Howard, directed the acting police superintendent, Preston Felton, to track Mr. Bruno’s movements in New York City on trips that were supposed to be for legislative business.

In late June, Mr. Dopp drafted a cover letter that he “prepared for Nocenti for the purpose of referring the issue to an investigatory agency,” the report said. The letter alleged that Mr. Bruno had violated state aircraft policy.

“Dopp relayed that, although Nocenti and Baum had reached an internal conclusion that nothing appeared to be illegal, the issue would ultimately need to be resolved by the appropriate authority,” the report said.

On July 1, the Albany Times Union published a story alleging that Mr. Bruno may have violated the aircraft policy, basing its claim on travel records supplied to the newspaper by Mr. Dopp. The same day, Mr. Dopp issued a press statement that is transcribed in Mr. Soares report:

“The Times Union findings are very troubling. … We are reviewing the situation carefully to determine the appropriate course of action. Off the record: We will probably move quickly, perhaps as early as tomorrow, to have appropriate authorities (IG, AG, DA) investigate,” the statement said, referring to the inspector general, attorney general, and district attorney. “It’s a very serious situation involving possible violations of law. Best handled by others …”

The next day, Mr. Dopp told reporters that the administration had referred the matter to “appropriate state authorities for review,” the report said.

A Spitzer administration source said yesterday that the governor never officially made a referral to Attorney General Cuomo’s office. “There was no formal letter of referral to the AG,” the source said via e-mail. “Rather, there were discussions between the counsel’s office and Andrew’s office. Based on those discussions, we sent them relevant documents.”

At that point, Mr. Cuomo’s office began an investigation that later concluded that Mr. Bruno had not done anything improper. Mr. Cuomo’s office, however, found that Messrs. Dopp and Howard had conspired against Mr. Bruno and recommended sanction.

Mr. Spitzer transferred Mr. Howard to another agency and suspended Mr. Dopp without pay for 34 days.

Mr. Soares’s office then decided to conduct his own investigation. A spokeswoman for Mr. Soares did not respond to a request for comment.