ALBANY -- Gov. Eliot Spitzer on Monday suspended a top aide and will reassign another following a report by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo that said members of the administration conspired to release politically damaging information about a Republican adversary's use of state aircraft.

Spitzer said he accepted the findings of the report. He suspended indefinitely without pay his longtime communications director, Darren Dopp, and said he will reassign his assistant deputy for public safety, William Howard, to a position outside the executive chamber. Both are senior staffers for Spitzer and among his closest aides.

Spitzer, a Democrat, said neither he nor anyone else higher up in the administration ordered Dopp and Howard to collect information on Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Spitzer said he knew nothing of their plans.

"Clearly this was not part of a broader package," Spitzer said. "I will not tolerate this behavior."

Spitzer took no action against the acting superintendent of state police, Preston Felton.

Spitzer said he won't challenge the findings of Cuomo's report, which found no violations of law.

"I apologize to Senator Bruno, as I did earlier today," Spitzer told reporters. "I apologize to the people of the state of New York."

"The governor's office planned to obtain information concerning Senator Bruno's use of state aircraft for the purpose of giving this information to the media," Cuomo said in his report on the scandal.

"Under the pretext of responding to a Freedom of Information Law request, the governor's liaison caused the acting superintendent of the state police to create documents detailing where the state police had driven Senator Bruno, and report details of Senator Bruno's requests for ground transportation, upcoming schedules, and changes to those schedules," Cuomo said. "This conduct deviated from state police standard operating procedures and past practices, and was not required by FOIL."

Bruno had accused Spitzer's office of political espionage.

"We will thoroughly review the report's disturbing conclusions regarding the activities of the governor's staff and the acting superintendent of the state police before commenting any further," Bruno said.

The report also found Bruno's use of the state aircraft was appropriate under a policy that "is overly permissive and porous and allows for an abuse of taxpayer funds."

"We find that Senator Bruno used state aircraft for trips during which he conducted both legislative business as well as political or personal business," the report stated. "We further find that such mixed usage is permissible under existing New York state policy."

Cuomo also found that Felton, who was appointed by Spitzer, Howard and Dopp "should be evaluated in light of the findings contained in this report and appropriate disciplinary action should be considered."

After eight years as attorney general where he forced reforms on Wall Street, Spitzer was elected in November with a pledge to clean up Albany and rid it of its corruption and political infighting that led to gridlock.