Predictably, Senate Republicans denounced the Spitzer administration's internal probe of the Public Service Commission as a "whitewash." Yet details in the recent report of Inspector General Kristine Hamann (right) could stymie any GOP efforts to milk the administration's early PSC fiascoes as a scandal.
The full report is here.
From several angles, probers douse Republican PSC member Cheryl Buley's initial claim of an improper threat by a Spitzer aide to remove her if she didn't act as desired in a Con Edison inquiry. Also, Long Island Republican Patricia Acampora of the PSC gives crucial testimony that both the aide, Steve Mitnick, and Buley were "unfortunately ... nuclear." The IG even links the blowup's timing in part to Buley's own search for a another patronage post. The 84-page report does harpoon actions by Mitnick and Angela Beddoe, Spitzer's first nominee for PSC chair, but both are gone from the scene.
Dan Janison