via the New York Times

The State Ethics Commission has begun a preliminary review of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s administration after a report by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo that found the governor’s staff to have misused the State Police to discredit a political rival, the commission said on Thursday.

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As Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and the Senate minority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, looked on awkwardly, the governor said that he had not been involved in an effort to tarnish Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader.

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But his answers were challenged, and at one point after being interrupted repeatedly, a tense Mr. Spitzer asked a New York Post reporter, “Would you please calm down for a moment?”

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