# NYSP Possible Link To Politics Under Scrutiny



## Inspector (Nov 13, 2006)

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- The former trooper at the center of allegations that a rogue unit in the state police was acting on political interests of past governors is declaring his innocence and exploring a lawsuit against the state authority that suspended him.
Two people close to Daniel Wiese, a former head of the security detail under governors George Pataki and Eliot Spitzer, says Wiese is speaking with an employment lawyer about action he could take against the New York Power Authority. The authority suspended him without pay pending the investigation begun in April, said the two people close to Wiese. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because no legal action had been filed.
New York Power Authority spokeswoman Christine Pritchard declined comment.
On Monday, Wiese, the authority's inspector general, lost his attempt to contest a subpoena, arguing Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's subpoena was too broad and needed to be defined. The subpoena seeks his records, including electronic communications. The subpoena was from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who has headed an investigation into the state police since April 1.
``I am not aware of the existence of the alleged `rogue element' in the state police currently under investigation,'' Wiese stated in an e-mail to the state Power Authority provided through a third associate of Wiese. ``I have no knowledge of such an `element.' Furthermore, I do not believe that any such unit or element ever existed within the state police any time during my association with the organization.''
Wiese denies Cuomo's assertion that his e-mails were erased on April 1, when the investigation was announced in the New York Post. He acknowledges the e-mail was purged but said it was a routine operation after his BlackBerry malfunctioned. He named two Power Authority officials to back up his claim, saying he was told after several weeks of his complaints that they had to reboot the device, which would erase data.
But Wiese also said his e-mails and other data were already saved as part of an unrelated civil lawsuit involving another employee. E-mails and other data of other workers at the authority were also saved, he said.
Pritchard wouldn't comment on those claims Wednesday.
In Monday's e-mail, Wiese quoted an Associated Press report in which Pataki also denied any rogue unit or any political misconduct or dirty tricks perpetrated through the state police.
Wiese and Pataki attended Tuesday's funeral of retired state police Inspector Gary Berwick, who apparently committed suicide at his home on Thursday. A former Pataki official close to Berwick said he was distraught over the investigation into his colleagues.
Wiese offered to submit to a polygraph test arranged by the authority.
Wiese blasted the authority, still mostly controlled by Pataki appointees, as feeding into news reports that fuel the claims of a rogue unit. Wiese called the stories ``speculation, innuendo, false negative assumptions, and blatantly erroneous statements.''
Gov. David Paterson referred the matter to Cuomo after ``more than 10'' unidentified legislators claimed such a unit existed to tail and embarrass political enemies.


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## Inspector (Nov 13, 2006)

Only in his last few weeks had Gary A. Berwick's wife and daughters come home to find him sitting with the lights off. He had begun to retreat into himself, his usual cheer and ebullience melting into a despondent quiet. His friends knew he was saddened and worried, but little more. "There's a lot of politics," was all he would say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/nyregion/26trooper.html#secondParagraph







Susan Stava for The New York Times

Gary A. Berwick, 48, hanged himself in his garage on May 15.

On May 15, Mr. Berwick, 48, hanged himself in his garage. It was a shock to all who knew him. But to his friends in the New York State Police, the agency from which he had retired in April, Mr. Berwick's suicide is also seen as the grim capstone to a turbulent year. It is no great mystery what drove Mr. Berwick to despair, some troopers say. There was just too much politics to bear.
"He took things very personally," said Lt. Mike Greco, a close friend of Mr. Berwick's. "Gary was consumed by the events of the times."
Those events began last summer, when the agency's acting superintendent, Preston L. Felton, was implicated in efforts by Gov. Eliot Spitzer's administration to discredit Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader. In March, when Mr. Spitzer resigned after revelations that he had had sex with prostitutes, the agency again faced criticism, with some questioning how the governor could have arranged the assignations without the knowledge of his security detail. 
Now the agency faces accusations - from Gov. David A. Paterson, among others - of harboring a rogue unit of troopers and former troopers, said to be engaged in political espionage on behalf of elected officials. Yet no hard evidence has emerged that such a unit ever existed. And many troopers feel that their agency has been dragged through the mud by the press and discredited by politicians. 
Mr. Berwick, his friends say, took those criticisms personally, especially given his close friendship with Mr. Felton, whom he served as a top aide, and the investigative focus on the executive services detail, which he headed until early last year.
"Gary Berwick should not be dead," said Keith L. Forte, a trooper based in Tarrytown. "If the former governor and his cronies didn't try to use the State Police to further their gain, we would not be in this position."


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## WaterPistola (Nov 4, 2007)

that's terrible, it is their duty to serve the governor, but he abused it and the troopers are paying the price now. what a shame


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