Lost Honor Tough to Reclaim

Two events last week served as bookends for the abuse of power by former Governor Spitzer in trying to embarrass Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno by publicizing his use of state aircraft for trips that devoted far more time to political than government business.

The week ended with Albany District Attorney David Soares's release late Friday afternoon of his findings that Mr. Spitzer had been heavily involved in the efforts to discredit Senator Bruno. According to his former Press Secretary, Darren Dopp, the disgraced Governor last summer, using the mix of obscenities and colorful images for which he is known, told him to use a "red-hot poker" to stick it to Mr. Bruno in a spot where it would be particularly painful.

The disclosure wasn't terribly surprising; as we noted last summer, Mr. Dopp never struck us as the sort of cowboy to go riding off on this type of escapade without the approval of his boss. It does make it clear that perhaps the state was fortunate that Mr. Spitzer got caught dallying with high-priced hookers, because the new revelations could have crippled his administration even if they didn't lead to his removal from office.

His actions, his choice of language and his insistence that he was not involved in the Choppergate mess reinforce the sense that Mr. Spitzer was either power-crazed, an immature jerk, a deeply disturbed individual, or some combination of the three.

One of the casualties of his regime was mentioned in passing at the beginning of the week when Governor Paterson nominated Harry Corbitt, who had retired as a Colonel in the State Police, to serve as the outfit's Superintendent. Mr. Corbitt during the press conference lamented the resignation of Acting Superintendent Preston Felton, whose departure was traceable to his role in re-creating records of Senator Bruno's travel on state aircraft upon orders from Mr. Spitzer's staff. He went so far as to personally respond to a Freedom of Information Law request submitted to him by Mr. Spitzer's aides, something his two immediate predecessors as State Police Superintendent called unprecedented.

Aside from that misstep, Colonel Corbitt said, Mr. Felton had "an outstanding career."

Mr. Felton last year told investigators from the State Attorney General's Office that he believed he had to comply with the request of one Spitzer aide, William Howard, because he held the job on an acting basis.

"Can he fire me?" he said of Mr. Howard. "No. But can he walk down the hall and tell somebody, 'Preston isn't doing his job'? Yes."

This undoubtedly was true. What Mr. Felton lost sight of is that a job isn't worth keeping if it requires you to dispense with your sense of right and wrong. He might well have been forced from the position had he told Mr. Howard that he was being asked to do something that no honest Police Superintendent would do, but at least he would have exited state service knowing he had behaved honorably.

Instead, it was left to the man who has been chosen to succeed him to try to resurrect his reputation with a reminder of the good work he did in the past.