Rich Baum

The Troopergate report (pdf) that came out on Friday has some great back-room gossip between Eliot Spitzer and one of his top aides, Rich Baum, about a Times story.  read more »

When David Paterson is sworn in as governor in a few hours here in Albany, the faces that surround him--drawn from his many years as a legislator and Senate minority leader--will likely be familiar to lawmakers, lobbyists and reporters.

Lobbyist James Featherstonhaugh, as a result, expects Paterson's transition to be smoother than Eliot Spitzer's.  read more »

After hearing that Republican Majority Leader Joe Bruno’s conference subpoenaed Eliot Spitzer’s top aides, Rich Baum and Darren Dopp, State Senator Tom Duane offered the following piece of advice: go see a shrink.

In a telephone conversation just now, Duane told me, "I think Senator Bruno’s feelings were hurt. I can understand that. But to drag the legislature through his hurt is, I think, unfortunate. At this point, I would suggest seeing a mental health professional, since we passed Timothy’s Law. He’s eligible."

Duane added, "I feel bad for him. I do. But enough of the public sympathy. Time to move on. People have done means things to me and I just decided to let go after a while."

The subpoena for Baum was for records, while the one for Dopp was for him to testify in front of the investigations committee. But that’s not such a big deal, said Duane.

“I don’t think there is a penalty for not showing up. Somebody told me there is a $50 fine for not showing up.”

Eliot Spitzer's top aides Rich Baum and Darren Dopp were subpoenaed by the state Senate Republicans. The subpoena to Baum, Spitzer's secretary, is for documents, emails and information. The one issued to Dopp, Spitzer's director of communications, is for him to testify before a Senate Committee on October 29th.

Both men played prominent roles in the plan to use the state police to track Senate Republican Leader Joe Bruno's use of state aircraft.

In a public statement from Senate Republicans, they said,

"The subpoenas demand that, by Friday, October 19, a detailed compilation of a range of Executive Chamber communications and policy directives dating back to January 1, 2007 be delivered to the committee. The committee is seeking documents, public and private e-mails, correspondence, meeting notes, memoranda, Blackberry communications, and other information from Spitzer’s inner circle relevant to the 'crafting, drafting, and !-- D(["mb","with respect to uses and abuses of the FOIL procedures.”  The Spitzer aides\u003cbr /\>are also being asked to produce a list or description of any relevant\u003cbr /\>documents or communications that have been destroyed or changed in any way.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>      Winner said the subpoena issued to Baum is for documents and\u003cbr /\>information.  Dopp was subpoenaed to appear personally before the committee\u003cbr /\>by October 29th, and testify on his role in what has been widely reported\u003cbr /\>as a political plot to damage State Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.\u003cbr /\>The committee also expects to issue subpoenas for testimony to Baum, former\u003cbr /\>Deputy Secretary for Homeland Security Bill Howard, and acting State Police\u003cbr /\>Superintendent Preston Felton.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>      An investigation by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed that key\u003cbr /\>members of Spitzer’s inner circle -- including Dopp, Howard and, possibly,\u003cbr /\>Baum -- worked in concert with New York State Police Acting Superintendent\u003cbr /\>Preston L. Felton to create travel records and information under the\u003cbr /\>pretext of a FOIL request from the Albany Times Union.   Cuomo found that\u003cbr /\>their “conduct deviated from State Police standard operating procedures and\u003cbr /\>past practices, and was not required by FOIL.”  He added that his\u003cbr /\>investigation “raised serious issues about the State Police’s handling of\u003cbr /\>documents and information.”\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>      Since the release of Cuomo’s investigative report on July 23, the\u003cbr /\>Senate Investigations Committee has convened three public hearings to\u003cbr /\>solicit testimony in response to the Attorney General’s recommendations for\u003cbr /\>a review of the FOIL process to evaluate whether FOIL requests directed to\u003cbr /\>the governor’s office should be referred to the relevant entity within the\u003cbr /\>executive department, and to establish a new ethics policy and protocols\u003cbr /\>between the State Police and the governor’s office.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>      At its third hearing, on September 24, the committee formally called\u003cbr /\>",1] ); //-->introduction of legislation concerning the administration of government with respect to uses and abuses of the FOIL procedures.' "

Earlier, Dopp's lawyer, Terrence Kindlon, told me he probably fight any effort by Senate Republicans to question his client.  read more »

Here’s what state Inspector General Kristine Hamann just said about the notion of a conflict of interest in her investigation into Spitzer aide Rich Baum, who she reports to:

"You might want to know the federal inspector general, Glenn Fine, who reports to Alberto Gonzales, is investigating Alberto Gonzales."

She later said any investigation into Baum "would not have brought final resolution" to the issue, since the Albany district attorney was still reviewing the issue for criminal wrongdoing.

A law professor testifying in an Albany hearing said of the inspector general who investigated the Spitzer administration that "perhaps she should have referred it" to the attorney general.

The professor, Michael Hutter of Albany Law, later opted not to get more specific than that about the actions of Inspector General Kristine Hamann, saying, "I honestly just don't have any position on that."  read more »

The state Senate Investigations Committee just announced they’ll have their second public hearing on Thursday, September 6 in Albany.

And scheduled to appear there is the Inspector General herself, Kristine Hamann, who has come under fire for not producing a report of her investigation into Eliot Spitzer’s office, nor announcing she had a conflict of interest when the person she reports to, Rich Baum, became a subject of her inquiry.

The first hearing was a quite a show, with Republicans grilling witnesses and Democrats denouncing the entire proceeding as a partisan show-trial.

I called Hamann’s office just now to confirm her attendance.

In her only interview about the subject, Hamann defending herself to the New York Times [archived] by saying that there’s always a conflict of interest.

''In almost every case, you can argue a conflict,'' she said of her job. ''An inspector general's office is within the organization, so normal analyses of conflict can't really apply here because you are necessarily within the organization. But if you say that an organization doesn't have the right to police itself, how can an organization really try and move forward?''

Does anyone know of any useful precedent from how other states have handled this sort of thing?

The New York Law Journal is reporting that the lawyer retained by Eliot Spitzer’s top aide, Rich Baum, is Steven F. Reich.

Reich is a partner at Manatt, Phelps & Philips, LLP, which currently employs Spitzer’s onetime electoral opponent John Faso.

According to the Law Journal, Reich will represent Baum before the two groups currently investigating Spitzer’s office, the state Ethics Commission and the Albany District Attorney’s office.

A source in the administration confirmed Reich was hired by Baum, and said it will be paid for by Baum personally.

A woman who answered the phone at Reich’s Manhattan office just now said, “I have no comment,” and Reich’s voicemail said he was traveling on business for the next two days.

According to his company bio, Reich “specializes in white collar criminal and complex civil litigation matters.”

Before joining Manatt, Reich worked as Senior Associate Counsel to President Bill and “supervised the legal team that responded to investigations conducted by independent counsels, federal prosecutors and congressional committees; devised and implemented political and legal strategies for dealing with those investigations; and represented high-level government officials during depositions, grand jury proceedings and congressional testimony.”

Here are transcriptions of two sworn statements from Spitzer aides Darren Dopp and Richard Baum about the Bruno affair that the governor's office just sent to us.

From Dopp:

"I received requests for information relating to the use of state aircraft by public officials from members of the media. In response to these requests, I sought information that the public had a right to know. Although I never directed the State Police to conduct a 'surveillance' program on Senator Bruno, I did receive from William Howard information relating to Senator Bruno's travels generated by the State Police. I now recognize that any requests for State Police records relating to those travels should have been handled through other channels, and I regret any appearance of impropriety that was created by the manner in which this information was sought and obtained."

From Baum:

"I understand that Darren Dopp was working with the press on a story about the alleged misuse of State aircraft by Senator Bruno. I did not direct the State Police to conduct any surveillance of Senator Bruno, and did not direct anyone else to do so. In addition, I did not direct the State Police to create, re- create or maintain any records relating to Senator Bruno, and did not direct anyone else to do so. Finally, I did not direct the State Police to change their standard operating procedures relating to travel recordkeeping in any way, and did not direct anyone else to do so."

Both statements are dated Sunday, July 22, 2007.  read more »

One of the most damaging elements of today’s report from Andrew Cuomo, I think, is an email from May showing two of Spitzer’s top aides, Rich Baum and Darren Dopp, discussing how to spread the Joe Bruno story to reporters. That is, just before any reporters had filed any Freedom of Information requests or made any formal inquiries about Bruno.

But as late as a few weeks ago, Spitzer was defending the actions of his aides, two of whom he suspended earlier today.

So, when did Spitzer learn what was happening?

Surrounded by reporters in his midtown office, Spitzer tried explaining as follows:

“First, I would observe that the facts as reported in the document, the report that was issued today, in fact do make it--without embracing your adjectives --make it clear that there were some conversations among those individuals on how to illicit information. Whether or not it was responsive to a media inquiry at that time is something the attorney general has concluded it was not. Obviously I believed at the time when I answered the question two weeks ago, three weeks ago--I forget the precise date--that it was. I became aware of this discrepancy recently.”

At a press conference following a meeting of the Financial Control Board in the governor’s office in midtown, Spitzer told reporters that his aides had misled him, and at the time he thought they had been acting appropriately.

Asked about another aide -- his top adviser Rich Baum, his who was shown in Cuomo's report to have known about what the disciplined aides were doing -- Spitzer said, "I have complete confidence in his judgment and integrity.”

These names (and precisely 31 others) can be found on the City Hall News list of "Rising Stars." It's not clearwhat the criteria were for making it, other than that the honoree be less than 40 years old.

In any event, the young Manhattan Media publication is hosting a reception at City Hall restaurant tonight for whichever of the young political stars feel like showing up.

The full roll of the City Hall News honorees is after the jump.  read more »