ALBANY – In a major escalation of their dirty-tricks probe, Senate Republicans will vote today to subpoena the head of the State Police to testify about efforts by members of the Spitzer administration to gather dirt on Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, sources told The Post.
The unprecedented subpoena for acting State Police Superintendent Preston Felton will come three days after the Spitzer appointee refused a request that he voluntarily testify today for the Senate Investigations Committee.
“The subpoena will be approved today for Felton by name, and the committee will make it clear that it will issue subpoenas for all other members of the Spitzer administration who refuse to cooperate,” a source told The Post.
Others who may soon be subpoenaed are Gov. Spitzer‘s chief of staff, Richard Baum, and communications director, Darren Dopp, who was suspended for a month as a result of the scandal. Both aides refused to be interviewed under oath during Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s probe.
Felton said it would be inappropriate for him to testify because the state Ethics Commission, which was merged over the weekend into the Commission on Public Integrity, was already conducting a probe.
Senate probers plan to question Felton about contradictory statements concerning the scandal.