Gov. Spitzer has not yet responded to the lets-get-the-IRS-to-investigate-Joe story, but Malcolm Smith has issued a statement that manages to take the high road and the low road at the same time -- urging a tax investigation of Bruno while explaining that he decided to not urge a tax investigation:
"Clearly, recent published reports have said that Senator Bruno could have a tax problem with the IRS. If the facts show there is something there, it should be looked into by the appropriate authorities. There were communications between my staff and the governor's staff about this matter. I want to be clear. We -- my staff and I -- decided not to pursue this matter after concluding it would be a distraction from us getting back to the people's business."
For those who have tuned out, the reference to published reports is likely a reference to a recent Village Voice piece suggesting that since Mario Cuomo once had to pay taxes on his family's personal use of the plane, maybe Bruno should be investigated for that, too. A follow up questioned whether Bruno had made personal use of campaign funds.