Following allegations that a top aide to Governor Paterson bullied an ex-girlfriend into dropping domestic abuse charges with the help of state troopers, two politicians want to keep law enforcement officials from straying again. Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries and Senator Eric Adams have proposed the creation of an investigative commission for "systemic misconduct, abuse of power and inappropriate political intervention" with state police. According to Adams, the problem isn't the officers but politicians who abuse their influence. "Many of our state police officers are merely trying to do their jobs. And we want to create an atmosphere where they can do their job free from intimidation, free from any political maneuvering," he said.
A Times piece explores Paterson's aide's oversight of the police officers assigned to protect the governor. Following a fight between David Johnson and his girlfriend they tried three times to convince her to abandon her case, claiming afterward that the calls were authorized by the governor. A former senior police official said Johnson (aka D.J.) should never have been giving the officers orders: “That is unprecedented in my experience for someone with no security experience to dictate what the detail does at times. But the poor detail knows that D. J. has this authority given to him by the governor.”
Jeffries says the bill isn't a jab at Gov Paterson, but an effort to cleanse the force of repeated "acts that undermine the very fabric of our democracy." Under Gov. Pataki a commander from his security detail interfered with an outside investigation of campaign staff. Eliot Spitzer is thought to have used the police to incriminate a campaign rival.
