The former acting superintendent of the State Police has acknowledged he broke the Public Officers Law by having documents created detailing ground and air travel itineraries of a political rival of former Governor Eliot Spitzer. In a disposition agreement with the Commission on Public Integrity, Preston Felton admitted he had the documents on then-state Senate Republican Leader Joseph Bruno improperly created at the behest of William Howard, Mr. Spitzer’s one-time assistant secretary for homeland security, the commission announced yesterday.
Mr. Howard and others within Mr. Spitzer’s inner circle were attempting to provide documents to an Albany newspaper purporting to show that Mr. Bruno was traveling at taxpayer expense to purely political events. Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Bruno were engaged in fierce disputes over various public policy issues at the time. Mr. Howard and Richard Baum, Mr. Spitzer’s one-time secretary, both admitted to violating a provision of Public Officers Law, §74(3)(h), prohibiting them from engaging in conduct that could put them under suspicion of violating the public trust (NYLJ, July 24, 2008). Neither were fined. Mr. Felton, who retired in 2008, faces neither a fine nor the loss of pension credits through his agreement with the integrity commission. He faced civil fines of up to $20,000 for two alleged violations of the Public Officers Law.
