Spin Cycle

Carrying out investigative crusades for the truth has not been the forte of the Senate Republicans -- nor much of the Legislature -- over the years. Not as much as, say, whacking up the pie, collecting privileges and getting re-elected. So the hiring of a new counsel in an effort to re-boot the flagging Choppergate scandal and keep Gov. Spitzer on the defensive would seem like just the thing politically. Next year is a big election in which the Senate's GOP majority seeks to hang on as the last bastion of state power for the party, and it is a good time to keep the accusatory finger turned against a strident Democratic ex-prosecutor who happens to be the governor -- and against whom probes by the Albany D.A. and state ethics commission are not expected to achieve sufficiently damaging results. For the Senate, putting another lawyer on the payroll for as much as $500,000 draws a headline that makes it sound as if there's an independent prosecution taking place.