Deep sea fisherman often cut up smaller fish, throw the “chum” into the water, then catch bigger fish attracted by the free food. The result is often a feeding frenzy among sharks in the vicinity. New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer is now experiencing what it’s like to be political chum, a reversal of fortune that his many victims must find fitting. The fisherman is Andrew Cuomo, Spitzer’s successor as New York’s attorney general. In a state long known for remorseless Machiavellians willing to do whatever is necessary to get to the top, Cuomo may be the only man with more intense ambitions than Spitzer.
The son of a previous New York governor, Cuomo recently made public his evidence that Spitzer used state employees to generate a false charge against state senate majority leader Joe Bruno, a Republican, with whom Spitzer was clashing. Cuomo clearly hopes to incite a feeding frenzy against Spitzer by those other well-known man-eaters, the Empire State’s news media. Said frenzy would remove a huge obstacle blocking Cuomo’s path to the governor’s mansion.
The media sharks weren’t biting last year when Spitzer was elected governor. He portrayed himself as a fearless “reformer,” a crusading AG who humbled corporate giants, Wall Street power-brokers and anybody else who stood in the way of Truth and Justice – and Elliot Spitzer. Take his celebrated suit against the New York Stock Exchange board for its $187 million compensation for then-chairman and CEO, Dick Grasso. Spitzer sued the board, singling out in the process board member Ken Langone. But once he became governor, Spitzer appointed H. Carl McCall, who was a member of the NYSE board compensation committee that approved Grasso’s compensation package, to the State University of New York board of trustees. McCall is an active Democrat and Spitzer supporter. Langone – surprise, surprise! – is not.
Spitzer’s troubles aren’t likely to go away any time soon, despite his maudlin “apology” in The New York Times. One wonders why Times editors headlined Spitzer’s statement “An apology from Albany” after reading Spitzer’s second sentence, which asserted that “though two independent investigations proved that no illegal activity occurred on my watch, it is crystal clear that what members of my administration did was wrong, no ifs, ands or buts.” That sort of “apology” won’t sate the appetite of New York’s ravenous press.
