Gov. Paterson ordered a shakeup of the state’s ethics commission yesterday after an inspector general’s report found its chief executive illegally fed secret information to aides of then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer during the Dirty Tricks Scandal investigation.
The blistering report accuses Herbert Teitelbaum — Spitzer’s handpicked head of the Commission on Public Integrity — of using a friendly member of the former governor’s Cabinet to pass along secret “back channel” updates on the probe into Spitzer’s misuse of the State Police.
Spitzer had been in hot water in 2007 for directing troopers to leak dirt on his top GOP rival, then-Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.
Inspector General Joseph Fisch scolded the commission for repeatedly ignoring warnings of Teitelbaum’s tip-offs to Spitzer aide Robert Hermann, which were first disclosed by The Post in January 2008. Hermann was Teitelbaum’s friend and former law partner.
Hermann relayed the info to other top Spitzer aides, including senior adviser Lloyd Constantine, who eventually grew uncomfortable and ordered him to stop talking to Teitelbaum, Fisch found.
“Herbert Teitelbaum and Robert Hermann betrayed the public trust,” Fisch said.
“It is disturbing that while investigating leaks by the governor’s office of confidential information, the commission’s executive director committed a similar offense by leaking confidential information.”
Paterson called on Teitelbaum and all 12 commission members to resign.
The move could irk Sen. Charles Schumer, who recently endorsed the panel’s acting chairwoman, Loretta Lynch, to be US attorney for the Eastern District.
“For a commission of 13 members not even to discuss an allegation brought to them with a clear witness that this was going on — it’s a little alarming,” Paterson said. “That’s why we’d like to just start fresh with a new commission.”
Paterson’s call was rejected by the current Senate majority leader, Malcolm Smith (D-Queens), who said he has “full faith” in his appointee to the panel.
Last night, it appeared the commission had no intention of following the governor’s order. Teitelbaum released a statement decrying “unjustified and inaccurate aspersions” in the Fisch report.
Another attorney representing the commission members said they “don’t believe the allegations are supported by the evidence.”
The governor announced Michael Cherkasky as his pick for commission chairman. He replaces John Feerick, who quit in February.