Although Rush Limbaugh has, with characteristic humor, bemoaned the incredible nationwide demand and short supply for blank subpoena forms, there must be good gnomes somewhere laboring through the night to produce sufficient quantity for New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and some of his henchpeople.

As we last reported for those whose knowledge of New York politics is normally restricted to the wisdom of cabbies whose second language is not English, Governor Spitzer finds himself embroiled in a potential career-ender of a scandal.

At least some of the governor's men were clearly involved in an effort to significantly tarnish the reputation of the Governor's nemesis Joseph Bruno, New York's Senate Majority Leader.  Bereft of the subpoena-and-press-leak tactics that Spitzer so blatantly used as New York Attorney General mostly against prominent business and Wall Street figures, the governor's men used the state police to spy on Bruno's movements.

Using the state police for political purposes is generally considered a no-no even for governors who do not list "ethics reformer" prominently in their resumes.  "We could do that, but it would be wrong," is not the least uttered phrase in governor's mansions across the fruited plain, followed usually by "and we would surely get caught," which, in politics, is the admonition of truly wise consigliere.

Well, wrong and caught is exactly the situation for the governor's office in New York.  That is the finding of the New York Attorney General.  Unfortunately for now, however, there have not yet been the investigations that require those who were or may have been involved in the scheme to raise their hands in the air and testify under oath about what they did and when they did it or what they knew and when they knew it.

Spitzer, of course, denies any involvement.  But most New Yorkers, responding to polls, don't believe him.  Why would they?  They live in a place where the Brooklyn Bridge gets thrown in for free if you buy a Rolex from a street vendor.  They have a bird's eye view of the governor who told the New York Assembly Minority Leader, "I'm a f***ing steamroller, and I'll roll over you."

As Daily News columnist Michael Goodwin puts it, "Spitzer has shown evidence of guilt from the beginning on the key issue of whether his office cooperated with investigators....The governor's repeated claim that he cooperated fully with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and his own inspector general was true only in Spitzerland.  In the real world, his office stopped two main players from being questioned and designated two others as 'special counsels' for reasons that aren't clear.  His office denies that the aim was to shield the two from investigators, but it hasn't offered a good alternative explanation.

"In addition, a probe by Inspector General Kristine Hamann, whom Spitzer appointed, appears to have been a sham.  A spokesman for Hamann conceded the office didn't even attempt to question the two key aides Spitzer's office blocked from talking to Cuomo's investigators.  Yet the spokesman said Hamann agreed with the Cuomo report that sanctions against the two men were 'appropriate.'

"That's bizarre -- the inspector general doesn't try to talk to the people it decides are guilty of misconduct."

Of course, Spitzer is himself bizarre, as pointed out in a current New York magazine cover profile which details the antics of the man whose family wealth bought him public office (under questionable circumstances) and whose confrontation, anger and need to be the smartest person in the room define him.

It is fairly evident that Spitzer will get an opportunity to testify under oath about his involvement in the Bruno scheme, but before whom is the current burning question.  He wants to do it before the New York Ethics Commission, but he controls that.  The New York Senate is controlled by Republicans.

The words "special counsel" have leapt to mind among some of Spitzer's adversaries, including Joe Bruno.  As the aggrieved party, isn't it only right that Bruno should choose an appropriate, independent forum?  As much as abuses by special prosecutors concern us, so did abuses by Eliot Spitzer while Attorney General.  It's just too bad that both Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson are running for president and are thus unavailable for the assignment.