ALBANY – Furious Republicans yesterday accused Gov. Spitzer of trying to buy the silence of suspended Communications Director Darren Dopp by putting him back on the state payroll while he’s still under investigation in the explosive dirty-tricks scandal.
Dopp – relieved of his post and denied his pay starting July 23 because of his involvement in a plot to damage Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Spitzer’s chief Republican rival – was reinstated to his $175,000-a- year job late yesterday.
He immediately went on vacation.
“I’ve never seen more arrogance than this,” said Brooklyn Sen. Martin Golden of Dopp’s rehiring.
“One has to really think that this is part of the coverup, getting Darren Dopp to be quiet so that he doesn’t divulge any information that would be detrimental to the governor.”
Orange County Sen. William Larkin called the move “totally asinine,” noting, “Dopp is a guy who refused to testify under oath to the attorney general and we’re now saying, ‘Don’t worry about, here’s a job, go back to it?’
“As far as I’m concerned, this amounts to saying, ‘Shut up,’ ”
Nassau County Sen. Dean Skelos, the deputy majority leader, claimed that by putting Dopp back on the payroll “before the ongoing investigations are completed and the matter is thoroughly resolved, Gov. Spitzer would be making another poor decision and “further compromise both the integrity of his administration and the public trust.”
Spitzer spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said Dopp would again be paid as the governor’s communications director, but would work in another capacity, details of which he said he didn’t know.
The Post exposed the existence of the plot against Bruno on July 5 but it wasn’t until Attorney General Andrew Cuomo released a bombshell report on July 23 that Spitzer suspended Dopp and demoted another aide, William Howard.
A day after the report was released, it was learned that neither Dopp nor Spitzer chief-of-staff Richard Baum would agree to be interviewed under oath by Cuomo’s investigators.
The state Ethics Commission and Albany County District Attorney David Soares are conducting investigations of the scandal that are likely to be completed within the next few weeks.