Spitzer@stonewall.ny.gov

It appears New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is involved in a cover-up in the dirty tricks scandal.

What other conclusion can one make when he won't even provide the ISP's used by himself and his aides?

Gov. Spitzer is endangering the recovery of potentially crucial e-mail evidence relating to the Dirty Tricks Scandal by refusing to give investigators the names of Internet service providers used by himself and his aides, sources have told The Post.

The refusal has blocked the Senate Investigations Committee from issuing subpoenas to ISPs for personal BlackBerries and other e-mail-equipped devices known to be used by Spitzer and his senior aides.

"I sent [Spitzer counsel] David Nocenti a letter asking for the names of the ISPs in October, and he hasn't even answered me," Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner (R-Elmira) told The Post.

"Then we sent out a subpoena for the information, and the governor is fighting that in court. I can't just send out a general subpoena to Yahoo! or Hotmail or AOL or Road Runner. I need to know what ISPs are being used by the governor and his aides."

Spitzer's refusal to identify the ISPs has led Senate and non-Senate probers to fear that crucial scandal-related evidence has been, or will soon be, destroyed.

A senior official involved in the investigation told The Post that "some of the ISPs only hold copies of e-mails for 30 days, some hold them for 60 days, and maybe some for six months.

"What you have here, I believe, is the governor running out the clock on the evidence," the official continued.

Spitzer's spokesman, Errol Cockfield, insisted that the governor and his aides had preserved all "relevant materials" and were resisting the Senate's requests for information only because "state law makes it clear that it is improper for the Senate - an equal branch of government - to investigate the executive branch."

As we noted the other day, can you just imagine the uproar and non-stop, front-page coverage of this scandal were he a Republican?

We'd have ominous New York Times stories and comparisons to Watergate around the clock.

Eventually, there will be a point of no return for Spitzer, especially if some other media outlets ever get around to reporting this.

Mr. Clean's E-Mail Files Scrubbed Free

It's difficult to believe the levels of incompetence coming out of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer's office in his first year and to cap things off we now learn the computers in his office have been scrubbed free of possibly incriminating email files surrounding the dirty tricks campaign against State Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.

Can you imagine the howls coming from the mostly left-leaning New York media if a Republican did this?

Yes, so can I.

Computers in Gov. Spitzer's office were intentionally "purged and scrubbed" of potentially crucial records involving the Dirty Tricks Scandal - while others have simply disappeared, investigators have been told.

The blockbuster charges - which could involve the illegal destruction of public records - have been made by at least four current and former state computer experts, including some who worked directly in Spitzer's office, The Post has been told.

The allegations, recently outlined to investigators from the Senate Investigations Committee, could explain Spitzer's repeated refusal to allow committee probers, as well as those from the state Public Integrity Commission and the Albany County District Attorney's Office, to examine computer hard drives, BlackBerrys and other e-mail communications devices used by Spitzer and his staff, investigators say.

The charges, it was learned, are expected to trigger a new round of public hearings by the Senate Investigations Committee in mid-January, focusing on how electronic data are collected, retained and destroyed in the governor's office.

"We've been told that whole hard drives were purged and scrubbed and that key files that were once there dealing with the scandal are gone," said a source close to the Senate probe.

"We believe this explains why Spitzer is fighting so hard to resist the Senate subpoena for the computers and the computer records because the evidence may show they've purged the governor's computers to get rid of whatever was there," the source continued.

The source's claims were confirmed by Senate Investigations Committee Chairman George Winner (R-Elmira), who told The Post, "We've been told about purged records from a number of different sources.

"We have received information that there has been widespread purging of computers in the governor's office," Winner said.

"Other allegations involve the suspicious moving around of computers.

"These allegations come to us from state workers who are involved in information technology, including persons who have worked in the Executive Chamber [the governor's office]," Winner continued.

Spitzer spokesman Errol Cockfield strenuously denied that any computerized scandal-related records had been destroyed.

"Nothing could be farther from the truth," Cockfield insisted.

Sure.

Why don't I believe him?

Meanwhile, Spitzer receives the dubious honor of No. 1 loser in today's NY Post, and it wasn't even close.

'TIS the season to name the winners and losers of New York politics for 2007, a year-end listing annually assembled with the help of elected officials, political operatives, lobbyists and journalists.

Unlike in past years, when the No. 1 loser was often in dispute, the choice this year was unanimous.

Never in modern times has a prominent politician fallen as quickly from public esteem as has Gov. Spitzer, and Democrats and Republicans agree he's the Big Loser of 2007.

Spitzer came into office with a near-70 percent approval rating and ended his first year on the job with nearly the exact opposite rating because of the excesses of the Dirty Tricks Scandal, his effort to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens, and the intractable gridlock that grips state government.

To think we have three more years left with this guy in office.

Meanwhile, Spitzer is cozying up to lobbyists, already looking ahead to his next election (via Instapundit).

UPDATE: Instapundit links. Thanks!