The big news in New York politics this week is the scandal involving the Spitzer Administration and the efforts of certain Spitzer aides to attack and discredit State Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno. Before being elected governor, Eliot Spitzer was the New York State Attorney General, and his campaign slogan was "Everything changes on day one."
Governor Spitzer's administration is the target of an investigation by current Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and it is likely that the State Senate will be launching its own investigation. As the
New York Times reports, Spitzers old enemies on Wall Street are loving every minute of it.
The New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, found this week that Mr. Spitzer’s aides had used the State Police to gather embarrassing information about a political opponent, Joseph L. Bruno, to share with the press, and then lied about why the information was collected. Since the report, more than one old antagonist has allowed himself an I-told-you-so moment.
“Mr. Spitzer has been manipulating the press and the law to disparage decent people for years, and it’s about time that he’s been held accountable,” said Kenneth G. Langone, a billionaire founder of Home Depot whom Mr. Spitzer accused of misleading fellow Stock Exchange members about the exchange’s rich compensation.
Governor Spitzer has had some growing pains since taking office in January, including an ongoing fued with Senator Bruno. This latest scandal takes some of the shine off the new Spitzer Administration and does the unthinkable -- it makes Joe Bruno look like the victim of partisan dirty tricks.
If the public comes to see the Republican Senate as a necessary check on the Spitzer Administration, Spitzer's dream of a Democratic Senate could be slipping away.
