Last updated: 7:30 am
July 2, 2008
Posted: 4:03 am
July 2, 2008
Here are excerpts from the never-before-revealed sworn testimony of former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's communications director, Darren Dopp, who repeatedly told the State Ethics Commission last fall that Spitzer and his aides approved each step in the Dirty Tricks Scandal.
Dopp provided the bombshell transcripts and summaries to The Post's state editor, Fredric U. Dicker.
They show that his under-oath testimony last October directly contradicts the conclusion of Albany DA David Soares' report, released just weeks earlier, saying that Spitzer wasn't involved in the plot against then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
The transcripts, which Dopp said he transcribed from commission records, also appear to back up his earlier charge that the panel's executive director, Herbert Teitelbaum, wasn't interested in allegations linking Spitzer to the plot.
Teitelbaum asks Dopp, under oath, why he released records about Bruno's travel without authorization.
Dopp: . . . Sir, if I was going to release [records], I would most assuredly check first, and I'd ask: Should I release?
Teitelbaum: And you did that?
Dopp: Yes, sir.
Teitelbaum: You checked with [Gov. Spitzer's counsel David] Nocenti?
Dopp: He wasn't there [that morning], but [Spitzer's chief of staff Richard] Baum and Spitzer were. And subsequently, I did talk to Nocenti.
Teitelbaum: You showed the governor the documents?
Dopp: Yes.
Teitelbaum: Before they were released to the press?
Dopp: Yes.
Teitelbaum: You showed him the documents?
Dopp: Yes, he looked at them.
Teitelbaum: Did you show him the documents before the FOIL [Freedom of Information Law] request came in [from an Albany Times-Union reporter]?
Dopp: Yes. It was before . . . I showed him the documents . . .
Teitelbaum: When you showed the governor the documents, did you show him all that would go to [Times-Union reporter James] Odato?
Dopp: It was a big package. I showed him samples of each. I showed him an itinerary. I showed him flight requests. I showed him manifests . . . He looked at them all . . .
Teitelbaum: They [Spitzer, Baum and Nocenti] all saw the documents?
Dopp: Yes.
Teitelbaum: Before you released them?
Dopp: Yes.
Teitelbaum tells Dopp that he has evidence that he was acting against the wishes of superiors.
