A Weakened Spitzer Tries Something New

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, still dealing with a recent corruption scandal, has apparently gotten the news that he is the governor, and not the dictator, of New York. The New York Times is reporting that Spitzer is trying to change the rocky relationship between his administration and members of the State legislature (both the Republican Senate and the Democratic Assembly).

The past two weeks have left even many of the governor’s strongest supporters dismayed that his credibility to deliver on arguably his central campaign pledge, to clean up the ethically challenged state government, has been fatally compromised.

 

“You talk about agents of change; we really thought Mr. Spitzer was that agent of change,” said Barbara Bartoletti, legislative director of the League of Women Voters of New York State. “Now the governor really has to prove that he is that agent of change.”

 

With investigations going on at almost every level of state government, Ms. Bartoletti, who has been on the scene since the Hugh Carey administration, said the state of ethics in Albany was “almost laughable” and relations among lawmakers “worse than I’ve ever seen.”

So after alienating the Republican Senate by improperly using the State Police to target Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, and making personally insulting comments about Bruno, Spitzer is seeking to repare his relationship with the same New York Democrats he trashed in an earlier fight over the replacement of disgraced former Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

Five months ago, the governor unleashed his anger at Mr. Magnarelli, a low-key member of the Assembly, after Mr. Magnarelli accused the governor of meddling in the Legislature’s selection of one of its own, Thomas P. DiNapoli, as comptroller.

 

“Bill Magnarelli is one of those unfortunate Assembly members who just raises his hand when he’s told,” the governor said during a trip to Syracuse in February, a shot that was the first of a series of barbs at Assembly Democrats that shocked lawmakers eager to work with the first Democratic governor in a dozen years.

 

This week, the headstrong governor was humble and solicitous — quietly courting lawmakers he has scorned in recent months — and the change made clear how far Mr. Spitzer has been thrown off stride by scandal and how eager he is to rebuild.

I voted for Spitzer and was thrilled to see him elected governor, especially because of his campaign pledge to actively push for marriage equality in New York. But I am sorely disappointed in a man that allows his temper and anti-social behavior get in the way of doing his job.

 

At present, there is no way he could ever bring about the compromises needed to get the Republican State Senate to allow a vote on the marriage equality bill. In that way, he is as much an obstacle to passage of marriage equality as Republican Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. And, as such, I have no patience for Spitzer's temper tantrums and childish behavior. Grow up, Eliot, this state needs a leader.