Caputo responds
That didn't take long: two days of serious reporting by self and Phil Anderson, and we have a public statement by Michael Caputo, here in the comments.
There's some interesting stuff happening here. First of all, one person using a blocked IP address is presently paying very close attention to both Daily Gotham and The Albany Project, and there especially to our coverage of Emailgate. Which two blogs are even covering this?
Daily Gotham...

The Albany Project...

There's more on the flip.
In his comment, Caputo asserts:
Look, folks - I am not being paid. Not by Sen. Bruno, not by Roger Stone, not by anyone. I am just a conservative activist and I take orders - and money - from nobody on this.
...which is probably why, as exhaustively detailed here, there is a 1:1 correlation between Caputo's activities and those of Roger Stone - same goals, same tactics, same email addresses.
Honest to God, I wouldn't know Sen. Bruno if he boarded my boat. But I graduated from SUNY, I've been in the arena nearly 30 years, I read the news, and I have computers.
Dude, I'm not even a republican, and I'd know Bruno. He's not exactly low-profile. Besides, the critical link here isn't Bruno - it's Roger Stone.
I'm normally thick-skinned, but even I'm starting to get a bit offended here. Fess up: do you think I'm just too stupid to pull this off?
Strawman. Caputo's intelligence isn't at issue; it's why and more critically how he's doing this.
With all the people AG Spitzer screwed in the business community - entire industries - can't you imagine a groundswell of folks out there eager to see him pay for his crimes? Well, those people are on my email list and many are in New York City.
This is critical, because it shows,
in Caputo's own words,
...what this is all about: overturning the results of November's election.
Gotcha, Mister Caputo. And you still haven't explained some critical questions:
- How did you get access to the emails you have, and from whom?
- How do you explain that your emails, and those of Roger Stone, and those of other republican entities, all go to the same set of recipients?
- How is it possible, when Roger Stone is working as a paid consultant for Joe Bruno, and you have worked for him in the past, and you're now both working on the same goal - protecting Joe Bruno's job - and you're both obviously using the same email list, that there is no coordination between you?
- And lastly: How much does Joe Bruno know about you, and when did he learn about your activities?
Those are the pertinent questions here.
Emailgate | Michael Caputo
I think you're lying...
...and so does everyone else even remotely aware of all this. Absolutely correct, my email address is on several media contact lists; unfortunately, that's not the one you're using, out of my six or seven. That address is used strictly for non-blog political work, and receives no media mail. The only way you could have acquired that is from an insider, by the way. At the same time, you missed some really obvious people, like the publisher of this blog. So if you claim to have done extensive research, frankly, I think that's a lie as well. For example, you missed the entire grassroots leadership in New York, basically except for me. And I know, because I've made phone calls.
The first such email I got was, in fact, from Roger Stone. Others have said the same thing. This was followed by the Caputo emails. Now, there's the W. J. Mahoney Club. All are pushing the same message - save Joe Bruno. All are using precisely the same list. Politicker wrote about that, here.
Notably, this account has not received any emails from any other rightwing organization - those go to a different account set up for that purpose. Nor has my actual media account received any such mail. If you had bought that address, which isn't publicly available anywhere, I'd be getting other such emails - but I'm not. Not. From. Anyone. In fact, I'm signed up with every single republican Presidential candidate under a different account; that would presumably be the one you'd have. You don't. I think I've figured out how you got it, however; more on that soon.
In short, the evidence is clear. You and Roger Stone are working on the same objective. The points where there are probable linkages are deliberately obscured. You're obviously sharing your lists. Your denials of any linkage or coordination are being laughed at, and furthermore causing people to wonder what it is that you're hiding. This because there's nothing illegal about slinging propaganda on Bruno's behalf. It's disreputable, mind you, not least because Bruno's little buddies have held upstate in a stranglehold while it withers and they collect campaign donations - some even wind up under Federal investigation for corruption, imagine that - but it's not illegal. So why are you so, frankly, obviously lying?
Why the cover-up? Inquiring minds want to know. Is it because you're somewhat vestigially embarrassed at trying to overturn the election of Governor Spitzer, who has had the bad taste of stirring up the cozy little insiders' game in Albany? Or do you understand that the Joe Bruno stranglehold on our state's future can't survive unless you manage to damage the main vehicle for reform in this state, which just happens to be Eliot Spitzer?















Answers
I'll answer, since you asked:
I pay thousands of dollars every year for Bacons, Bulldog Reporter, and other media contact databases. Many of these outlets offer personal email addresses for some reporters. Additionally, I did an unusual amount of desktop research finding the email address of anyone who might be remotely interested (including Dems who are likely fed up, too).
Finally, I rented cheap NY State subscribers' email addresses from online conservative fora (there are plenty: TownHall, NewsMax, and Human Events, to name a few.) I did more, but I'm not interested in sharing the entire DNA of my strategy.
I am confident activists like Stone and others get their email lists from the same places I do. Liberals tend to go to the same vendors; so do we. It isn't really all that suspicious - and conservative e-marketing resources are pretty limited.
I like Sen. Bruno, always have. He reminds me of Hizzoner Jimmy Griffin of Buffalo: scrappy, not afraid of a fight. My guess is, he heard tell of NYFacts.net a week or so into my effort, like everyone else. It is also my guess he's too busy to think about Blogs and such.
I am quite certain Sen. Bruno knows nothing about me, personally. There are conservative activists out there who want to help out. I'm just one of them, with no merit for contact with a senior elected official.
Thanks,
MC