Spitzer And His Aides Are Cleared, Now Back To Brunogate

It must be a bad day to be Joe Bruno. District Attoney David Soares cleared Eliot Spitzer's aides of any criminal misconduct in the whole brouhaha over state troopers and helicopters. The only one that did anything really wrong was Bruno himself. Lucky for him, the NY State Legislature bailed him out and re-wrote the laws in his favor while making it seem that they are cutting the type of waste that Bruno loves to partake in. Soares didn't want to comment, but there were a few snippets that did come out today.

From The Times-Union:

Soares on Monday said he would not comment on the findings, but a person familiar with the investigation said the district attorney has concluded that aides to Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer broke no laws in what a report by Cuomo described as a political scheme to discredit Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

Soares did say he plans to release his report within the next couple of weeks. He said he wanted to respect the process and was sticking to his goal of a "dispassionate" review of the matter.

"I don't want to participate in the political theater," said Soares, a Democrat who bucked the Albany County party establishment in 2004 to win a primary for the Democratic nomination.

Soares, the source said, also is considering commenting in the report on how Bruno, in particular, dragged his office into a needless investigation after Cuomo's office already had concluded no laws were broken. And, according to the source, Soares is weighing voicing his irritation that Cuomo's investigation was so poorly done that his office "had to start from scratch."

Now Bruno and even Spitzer have no comment on the matter. No worries for Eliot of course as he and his staff have been fully vindicated. Bruno on the other hand, still has his hands full with the FBI. Cuomo's name has also been tarnished for his terrible investigation and overall willy-nilliness (sp? or is that even a word?). The AG goes after bad guys and for well-deserved reasons, but not in this case. Trying to score political points is not as important as pursuing a matter after thinking it out first.

Bruno is still trying to hold on to the matter though. He has pressured the legislature and the State Ethics Commission to look at Spitzer's aides, but after Soares report, there shouldn't be too much to follow except for the story slipping slowly out of sight.