Mondello Calls for Appointment of Attorney General as Special Prosecutor

ALBANY, NY (08/10/2007)(readMedia)-- Revelations that Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Inspector General Kristine Hamann did not publicly disclose to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo the serious conflict of interest facing her half-hearted investigation of the ‘Troopergate’ scandal is the latest, and perhaps the clearest, evidence yet that the only way for the people of New York to get at the truth of this unseemly affair is for the Governor to appoint the Attorney General as a special prosecutor with the full powers necessary to fully, fairly and independently investigate this matter.

On thirty separate occasions in the history of our state, when the integrity of some of New York’s most powerful and influential officials has been called into question, the Attorney General has been appointed a special prosecutor – with full subpoena power – so that the public’s right to know the truth was not compromised.

The only way to clear the fog of doubt and distrust swirling around the Spitzer administration is to arm the Attorney General with subpoena power so that he may follow the facts of this administration’s misuse of the state police, wherever they might lead, and answer the many disturbing questions that have so severely shaken the people’s confidence in their state’s chief executive.

The Attorney General is New York’s only statewide elected law enforcement official. As such, he is accountable to every citizen of New York from Buffalo to Binghamton to Babylon. The professionalism, fairness and absence of partisanship that marked the initial report he issued on this matter clearly indicates that Attorney General Cuomo, bolstered this time with the subpoena powers necessary to compel testimony from those with something to hide, is the right man to provide the people of New York with the truth.

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