ALBANY – Gov. Spitzer used the state air fleet to mix politics and state business at least twice this year – the same thing that his aides tried to tar Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno with.
During one such trip to Rochester on April 10, Spitzer spoke to the local Rotary Club and attended a Monroe County Democratic fund-raiser, according to the Times Union of Albany.
On April 5, Spitzer made a series of stops that included a meeting with former NFL player Tim Green, whom Spitzer is trying to recruit to run against a Republican incumbent for state Senate.
“Can this guy be any more hypocritical?” a Republican senator asked of Spitzer.
Spitzer aides were found by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office to have improperly used the State Police to track Bruno’s whereabouts when he used the state helicopters.
The aides subsequently leaked information they said showed Bruno used the air fleet to attend political events, possibly in violation of state law, to the Times Union.
Cuomo and Albany County District Attorney David Soares found that all 10 trips taken by Bruno this year met requirements that at least a portion of the travel be for state business.
“Trips where Eliot has used the state plane are always predominately for public business, which goes beyond the state’s existing reporting requirements,” said Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson.