THE man supposedly leading a key state probe of Gov. Spitzer and the Dirty Tricks Scandal has abruptly taken a 21/2-week vacation in South America – after secretly receiving a $15,000 pay raise, The Post has learned.
Recently hired Public Integrity Commission Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum’s extended vacation in Argentina has left stunned commission employees questioning his commitment to a probe aimed at determining if Spitzer and his aides broke the law by using the State Police in an effort to politically damage Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer.)
“People can’t believe Teitelbaum just took off in the middle of the investigation,” said a source close to the commission.
“This is the biggest scandal in a generation, and he leaves in the middle of the investigation, before the governor has undergone questioning?”
Teitelbaum, a longtime Manhattan lawyer with close ties to Spitzer’s aides, was named in mid-July by another Spitzer appointee, commission Chairman John Feerick, as the $140,000-a-year head of the Ethics Commission.
He was then appointed to head the Public Integrity Commission in October, after the Ethics and Lobbying commissions merged into the new entity, with Feerick again as chair.
It’s unclear if Teitelbaum has earned enough vacation and personal leave days to have 2½ weeks’ paid time off.
Commission spokesman Walter Ayres contended that Teitelbaum was hired with the understanding that he would take a long vacation in December and said he would take unpaid leave, if necessary.
Ayres also claimed Teitelbaum was able to do his job from Argentina since “he’s in contact almost on a daily basis.”
But a second commission source insisted, “The whole place is adrift.”
Teitelbaum’s $15,000 pay raise two weeks ago was approved without public notice by Feerick, a former Fordham Law School dean accused by Bruno aides of seeking to cover up the scandal.
The nearly 11 percent pay hike came at a time when the state faces a massive, $4 billion-plus, projected deficit.
Teitelbaum’s commission has been expected for months to take under-oath testimony from Spitzer, who has denied any wrongdoing but has repeatedly refused to answer questions about his possible involvement.
Spitzer is also fighting a subpoena issued by the GOP-controlled state Senate for a variety of scandal-related records, including e-mail messages.
Feerick, meanwhile, is being paid at least $75,000-a-year – along with undisclosed stock options – as a member of Wyeth Pharmaceuticals’ board of directors, even as the drug giant employs a lobbyist whose activities are regulated by Feerick’s own commission, The Post has found.
Feerick vowed earlier this year to sever business ties that could present a conflict-of-interest.
But Ayres insisted there was no conflict because Feerick is pledged to recuse himself from any issue involving Wyeth. He also said Feerick will be required to leave Wyeth when he turns 72 next July.
But a source who deals with many drug-company lobbyists contended, “Feerick’s ties to Wyeth will definitely raise the suspicion that one company and its lobbyists will be favored over all the others.”