ALBANY - The state police kept detailed itineraries of Sen. Joseph Bruno's travels during former Gov. George Pataki's administration - long before two of Gov. Eliot Spitzer's aides were accused of improperly using police to track such information, according to police records.

In records obtained by the Times Union of Albany, itineraries released by the state police show that trips Bruno took to New York City aboard the agency's helicopters were tracked between 2004 and 2006.

In July, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo issued a report indicating the records collected under the Spitzer administration were “not ordinarily created or maintained by the state police.”

The attorney general's report did note that previous records existed and that three of Spitzer's aides knew of them.

Cuomo spokesman Jeffrey Lerner said the newly released information does not change the attorney general's findings that Spitzer aides Darren Dopp and Bill Howard persuaded state police to recreate documents tracking Bruno's whereabouts.

Cuomo's report found that state police produced a new type of document that never existed before.

The materials were recreated memories - after the fact - of state police officers. The documents were different from the 11 travel itineraries that Bruno had provided to state police under Pataki.

“This is consistent with our report's findings that the state police's handling of the Senator Bruno matter was out of the ordinary,” Lerner said.

“It also shows that after weeks of review - going back years - the state police have still not found another example of retroactively creating an official's travel records for release to the press.”

While saying there was no crime, Cuomo concluded that the men acted improperly in releasing information about Bruno's use of state aircraft and state police drivers on trips to Manhattan that mixed public business with political fundraisers.

The report found policies designed to protect public officials' safety were broken for political gain.

“The state police have not kept this information for any other state official, that we know of, and they certainly have not been releasing it publicly,” Bruno spokesman Mark Hansen said.

“This latest episode of the Times Union, governor's office and state police collaboration is further reason why the investigations of these abuses must go forward.”

Cuomo's report found that Dopp and Howard had ordered state police to reconstruct the Republican majority leader's travel itineraries for 2007.

In written statements, Dopp said he was responding to reporters' requests about abuses of a longtime and questionable perk for legislative leaders to avoid highway and train rides.

According to Cuomo's report, 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.”

On Aug. 13, the state Ethics Commission tightened state travel rules, saying officials now will have to strictly account for their time on state aircraft and reimburse the state for any portion of a trip that isn't for a “bona fide” public purpose.

The Senate has investigated the matter and subpoenaed two top Spitzer aides.

The state Commission on Public Integrity is conducting its own probe. The Albany district attorney investigated and found no wrong doing.

State police did not say whether they maintained records of any other elected leaders' travel itineraries.