Can someone educate me about Elliot Spitzer?

[Smarmie Doofus]

Or *try* to anyway. I've assumed that there isn't much there. If there were ( so my reasoning went) we wouldn't be getting force- fed Spitzer by the NYS Dem machine.

However, in an effort to keep an open mind ( and because Grandpa Munster is dead, along with the Green Party and there are therefore no acceptable alternatives) I've decided to make an effort to find out if there may be more to Elliot than meets the eye.

His primary opponent seems uninspired. ( A Suozzi mailing that came yesterday has no fewer than seven, by my count, pictures of Suozzi's *father*, a retired and perhaps deceased --- it's not clear--- LI judge. If that's not the definition of "uninspired", I don't know what is.)

Also, I understand Suozzi's opposed to marriage equality. OTOH, Spitzer's pledge re. supporting a Marriage bill in the legislature sounded creepy... almost Bloombergian. There's "supporting" ...as in 'taking a postion'... and "supporting"
as in 'using political capital to arm-twist marriage equality into a reality'. Somehow I can't picture Elliot losing sleep at night 'cause gays can't marry in NYS.

But... perhaps I misjudge.

So , what's up with Elliot Spitzer?

[adriennui]

1. spitzer is terrific

as AG he's been a pitbull going after white collar crime. financial institutions and wall street aren't too fond of him.

elliot is well educated, and comes from a wealthy family(don't hold that against him).

suozzi is a non-entity (in my opinion a very mediocre nassau county executive).

[Smarmie Doofus]

2. Yes... that's the buzz. But he seems to have an....

>>>as AG he's been a pitbull going after white collar crime. financial institutions and wall street aren't too fond of him.>>>

... *enormous* war chest. Where's that money coming from? Not to imply that it's coming from those very sources (" white collar crime, etc, etc.) but he IS spending a huge amount of $$$.

Is he self financing? And if he is, are we not entering into dangerous territory? Is * everyone* at the statewide level going to be a multi millionaire soon? And if "yes" are there no consequences to limiting top levels of public service to those that come from the independently wealthy class?

Yes, to a degree it's always been that way. But it seems more and more public service is the province of the wealthy. There are no negative implications to this?


Gore Vidal ascribed this logic to the ruling class of an earlier era: "Why become a senator when you can always *buy* one?"

Nothing at the moment seems more passe.

[sabbat hunter]

3. suozzi

has done a terrific job as nassau county executive. balanced the budget, cut spending without reducing services, kept property taxes as stable as possible. under his watch the County Assessor, County Comptroller, County DA all have gone into the democratic column, due in part to people realizing how good of a job he has done and wanting more democrats in office.

[adriennui]

4. suozzi is not ready for prime time

neither is that miserable punk andrew cuomo who's running for AG.