ALBANY – E-mails and BlackBerry messages that may show that Gov. Spitzer or his top aides encouraged former Communications Director Darren Dopp to lie in a controversial sworn statement are among records sought in a subpoena issued last week by Albany DA David Soares, sources said yesterday.
“Soares is homing in on the sworn statement from Dopp and he wants to know if the governor and/or his people were aware that Dopp may have been encouraged to sign a sworn statement that he’s now claiming is partly false,” said a lawyer close to the probe.
“The DA knows who was in the loop as the Dopp statement was being prepared, and he’s checking all the records for those people to see what may be there,” the lawyer continued.
Besides seeking e-mails and other communications sent to and from Spitzer, Soares is focusing on electronic communications from Richard Baum, the governor’s chief of staff, David Nocenti, his counsel, Peter Pope, a key policy adviser, and Sean Patrick Maloney, his first deputy secretary, all of whom were believed involved in helping prepare Dopp’s statement, sources said.
A prickly Spitzer admitted for the first time yesterday that Soares, until now his close political ally, had issued a subpoena for the Dirty Tricks Scandal-related records, but he refused to disclose any details.
Soares, who claimed in a widely criticized September report that nothing illegal occurred when top aides to the governor used the State Police in a plot against Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer), was forced to reopen his probe in October at the request of the state Public Integrity Commission.
The commission told Soares that Dopp, in sworn testimony to it, contended he had been pressured by aides to the governor to lie in a sworn statement released in late July as the scandal was unfolding.
Soares last month issued a first, far broader subpoena for scandal-related documents, but he followed it up last week with a second subpoena seeking records directly related to Dopp’s testimony, sources said.
Dopp was suspended for just over 30 days in the wake of a blistering report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo on the scandal, and has since joined a powerful Albany lobbying firm with strong ties to Spitzer.