Cuomo Accuses Officials of Erasing E-Mail

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Andrew M. Cuomo, the New York state attorney general, accused officials at the New York Power Authority on Wednesday of erasing e-mail messages kept by Daniel Wiese, the authority’s inspector general and a key figure facing scrutiny in Cuomo’s wide-ranging investigation of the state police, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

In a letter to Roger Kelley, the authority’s president, Cuomo said that his investigators had learned of an effort by authority personnel to erase messages from Wiese’s BlackBerry and desktop computer on April 1, the day after Gov. David A. Paterson granted Cuomo sweeping powers to investigate whether state police officials were involved in improperly monitoring politicians, the paper reported.

Wiese was formerly a high-ranking official at the state police, where he worked for 25 years, the paper reported.

Cuomo demanded that the authority provide him with backup copies of the e-mail messages and of any internal communication related to the attempt to erase the original messages. He also sought e-mail sent or received by two other employees linked to Wiese: Albert Swansen, the first deputy inspector general, and Laura DeMichele, the travel coordinator, the paper reported.

In a statement, Christine Pritchard, a spokeswoman for the authority, said that officials there would respond promptly to Cuomo’s request, the paper reported.

-- NYSSCPA.org News Staff

Posted on 5/8/08