NY gov: Probe utility-related threat

NY gov: Probe utility-related threat

	Published : Fri, 20 Apr 2007 23:00 By : Agencies Print this Story

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. Eliot Spitzer called Friday for the state's inspector general to investigate allegations by a Republican member of the utility-regulating Public Service Commission that she was threatened by a top aide to the Democratic governor.

The governor's move came just two days after Cherly Buley charged during a PSC meeting that Spitzer energy adviser Steven Mitnick had threatened her in an effort to get her to back off efforts to investigate Consolidated Edison Inc. over last summer's major blackout in New York City.

The Spitzer camp had, at the time, been dismissive of Buley's charge, arguing that the administration favored a PSC investigation of the blackout. The PSC on Wednesday ordered the Con Ed investigation to move forward.

'We are not sure what happened. It appears to be a misunderstanding between two people,' Spitzer spokesman Darren Dopp said Friday. 'But given the concerns that have been raised, we will refer the matter to the IG for an independent review of the facts.'

The Spitzer-appointed inspector general, Kristine Hamann, is a former aide to Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau.

Spitzer's request for the investigation into Buley's allegations came after the state Legislature's top Republican, Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, told an Albany radio station Friday that if the governor didn't pursue the matter, the Legislature would.

'We have got to get to the truth of the matter,' Bruno told WROW-AM radio, adding that he personally knows Buley and considers her 'as honest as this day is long.'

Buley is the estranged wife of Albany attorney-lobbyist Jeffrey Buley, a longtime top election law adviser to the state GOP.

'Now that that has been initiated, I am not in a position to comment,' Mrs. Buley said Friday when asked about Spitzer's action. She was appointed to the PSC last year by then-Republican Gov. George Pataki.

During Wednesday's PSC meeting, Buley said Mitnick had threatened her career five or six times since the governor took office Jan. 1.