Phil is absolutely right when he describes the ongoing saga of the anti-Spitzer emails as weird - here [1] and here [2].

So let's take a look at what we know, in the hope of clearing up some of the weirdness. There are three people whose names come to mind in this case. One is Michael Caputo, reputedly of Buffalo and/or Florida. The other is Roger Stone, a GOP consultant. The third is Joe Bruno.

I received my first email blast from Roger Stone [3] on March 28th. This email went to an account not traceable from The Daily Gotham. My initial thought was that these emails originated with Jon Stone, a friend and a director with the Capitol D Group [4]. That impression soon faltered, and Jon confirmed today by phone that he has nothing to do with his namesake.

On June 13th, Daily Politics [5] quotes Roger Stone as having 'always been a Joe Bruno Republican'. The occasion was a fundraiser hosted in his apartment on Central Park South, billed as a 'skinny-cat' protest against a high-dollar fundraiser held in his condo building in a rented room by the Spitzer campaign. This is interesting, because Stone had previously been persona non grata with Albany republicans for his support of Tom Golisano, whom he advised in his three campaigns.

On July 2nd, Fred Dicker wrote his first piece on Brunogate, titled 'GOV PLAYS DIRTY POOL VS. BRUNO'. He followed up on July 5th with GOV'S TROOPER SNOOP JOB ON BRUNO and, on July 9th, with GOV AIDES FISHED FOR BRUNO BUSTERS.

On July 9th, NYFacts.net was registered, with the identity of the registrant masked by an anonymity service.

Between July 10th and July 12th, Roger Stone met publicly with Joe Bruno and the senate republican caucus. He announced this to his list on July 16th, referencing a posting on The Daily Politics [6], dated July 12th. The posting noted that

the Senate Republicans are kicking it up a notch in their fight with Gov. Eliot Spitzer by seeking advice from GOP consultant Roger Stone, who has a reputation for diabolical tactics when it comes to political battles.

An example of Stone's tactics was described in an article by Wayne Barrett in the Village Voice [7] as follows:

Stone's Miami-based Fairbanks Limited also set up an e-mail service called Sharpton-at-the-beach, which has issued dozens of releases highlighting campaign achievements before news of them was posted on the campaign website.

The emails from NYFacts.net began on July 10th and continue through today, the last having come into my inbox at 12:56 PM. On July 12th, the NYFacts email began carrying a disclaimer to the effect that the site was not affiliated with any political party or like interests. A second email that day identified Michael Caputo as responsible for its content. July 12th would have been the day when Roger Stone met with Joe Bruno and his caucus. These emails all went to the same account that received the Stone emails. Michael Caputo is linked to Stone.

Caputo, ironically, was Stone's spokesman in 1996, when Stone was embroiled in the most embarrassing scandal of his career—the much ballyhooed revelation that he and his wife had advertised, with photos, for swinging partners in magazines and on the Internet. Caputo has, until recently, been handling press inquiries for Klayman, an evangelical who led the sex assault in Washington on Bill Clinton and is running a moral-majority, retake-Cuba campaign for senate.

In response to Barrett's piece, Stone hired Michael Caputo [8] to set up a web site defending him. Most recently, Stone hired Caputo [9] to work on Tom Golisano's gubernatorial campaign.

Sometime after July 10th, emails started going out from SpitzerFiles.com, another Caputo web site; these went directly to my spam folder, so the earliest I have is from August 14th. These also went to the email account that receives the Stone emails.

As we wrote on July 19th, here [10], Stone created a web site [11] attacking Democratic Senators. The Albany Project [12], at the time, noted both Stone's history of dirty tricks and his, cough, propensity for the wilder side of life.

The newest email arrived today, from an organization calling itself the W. J. Mahoney GOP Club in Buffalo. A Google search [13] produces no links for that organization, usually a good sign that it's astroturf. The email included this image (scaled here for size):

This email went to the account that had received all the previous emails. What's notable about this is simply that this email account resides on the server of a Democratic-leaning 527 with which I serve on the board of directors; not something, in other words, likely to be floating around in republican circles, and not something linked to The Daily Gotham. Certainly, in normal, unconnected circumstances, it's not likely that I would receive obvious electoral messages dedicated to preserving the republican state Senate majority - incidentally the objective with which Roger Stone was tasked by Joe Bruno. To sum up, I have received emails from four nominally separate entities - StoneZone, NYFacts.net, SpitzerFiles.com, and now the GOP Club - all connected in some way to the republican effort to hold the Senate, which is Roger Stone's publicly acknowledged project, and for which he is getting paid.

Phil Anderson of The Albany Project also received these emails for a while, and stopped getting any of them, from any of the Spitzer-bashing web sites, after July 22nd. The Cuomo report was, probably coincidentally, released the next day. Interestingly, Liza Sabater, the publisher of Daily Gotham and Culture Kitchen [14], certainly more influential than Phillip and myself put together, never received any of these emails. Ragged Thots [15] blogger Roger A. George, a columnist for the Post, also noted, on July 16th, receiving emails to accounts, public and private, from both Stone and Caputo; my guess would be that he's also now received emails from SpitzerFiles.com and the GOP Club.

There is a strong circumstantial, albeit hypothetical, case to be made that the story behind the emails is very simple, and runs as follows:

Sometime after the June fundraiser, there was a rapid rapprochement between Roger Stone and Joe Bruno, culminating in a public Albany meeting towards the middle of July. In the way that these things go, there must have been a prior, private meeting as well, to discuss the terms under which Stone would work to preserve Joe Bruno's majority.

Roughly 48 hours before that meeting, on July 9th, someone, presumably Stone or an aide, registered NYFacts.net anonymously, handing it off to Michael Caputo to preserve some politically convenient distance between Joe Bruno and the black-ops effort. This effort followed precisely the same pattern Stone established in the 2004 Presidential race, in which he advised Al Sharpton - mass email blasts to influentials and web sites to carry and amplify the message. This effort includes NYFacts.net, SpitzerFiles.com, NYinJeopardy.com, and the GOP Club web site. Stone's own site, StoneZone, hasn't been updated since July 22nd. He's a busy man, it appears.

A twist is added in that Stone and Caputo are likely receiving some assistance from inside the Democratic camp. I deduce this from two facts: one, that I'm getting these emails in a non-Daily Gotham political account, and two, that Liza Sabater isn't getting them; the difference between her and myself, as well as Phil, is that she doesn't often go to Democratic events, where both Phil and myself are fixtures. It's worth speculating who, if anyone, inside the broad circle of the Progressive movement in New York, is linked to either Caputo or Stone, because the latter must have gotten those addresses from somewhere.

Presumably, the email list is being handled by one central actor, likely Stone himself or an aide. I deduce this from the fact that, while I'm getting all the related emails from all the four web sites, Phil hasn't gotten any since July 22nd, and Liza has never gotten any. That speaks for a centrally coordinated effort.

In addition, this new GOP online effort stands in marked contrast to even very recent practice. As late as the Craig Johnson race, Progressives owned the political internet space in New York. Roger Stone, obviously, and again in pronounced contrast to Bruno's folks, uses online tools in highly effective ways which the NYS GOP had not previously utilized. However, since early July - coinciding with Stone's hiring by Bruno - an entire armada of web sites has sprouted like mushrooms, carrying messages all serving one goal - saving Joe Bruno's job. Saving Joe Bruno's job, meanwhile, is Roger Stone's job.

Notably, both Caputo [16] and (presumably) Stone deny Stone's involvement in Emailgate, (also presumably) in an effort to protect Joe Bruno. Bruno, of course, denies all involvement, even as he continues to stoke the flames with well-placed leaks to Fred Dicker and the ongoing Senate "investigation". Given the clear links between the three men, it appears that this claim should be treated with utmost skepticism. The links between Bruno and Stone are a matter of public record; Stone was hired by the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. The links between Stone and Caputo, meanwhile, date back over a decade, and include work of precisely the kind now being done by Caputo on a task Stone is being paid for - by Joe Bruno.

If my theory is correct, and there is nothing in the public record that contradicts it other than the denials of the principals, the NYFacts.net campaign is Joe Bruno's baby, launched by Roger Stone and executed by Michael Caputo. The campaign is seamlessly integrated with Fred Dicker's articles - indeed, they furnish the bulk of the emails, curiously eliciting not a peep about copyright from the Post - as well as with the activities of the Senate itself, above-board web activities, and a curious video [17] shot by someone at the governor's last press conference, billed as 'Eliot's meltdown'.

As we've pointed out before [18], along with Matt Stoller [19], this is an organized campaign to strangle a new Progressive leader in the cradle. It's reminiscent of nothing so much as Whitewater.

And if it's true that Joe Bruno knows all about what looks like a clear pattern of cooperation between his employee, Roger Stone, and Michael Caputo, it's time for a new name for this scandal: Emailgate. If true, this is as dirty as it gets.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

[20] | [21] | [22] | [23] | [24] | [25] | [26] | [27] | [28]