Gov? Who, me?!
Spitzer downplays tenure at state helm
Governor who? Instead of touting his scandalscarred time running the state, Eliot Spitzer is highlighting his eightyear tenure as attorney general — when he was dubbed the “Sheriff of Wall Street” — in his comeback bid for city comptroller.
There’s nary a word about his stormy, 15month stint as governor, which ended in a hooker scandal.
“As attorney general, Eliot Spitzer stood up to Wall Street and took on billiondollar corporations to protect lowwage workers,” a Spitzer palm card distributed by the campaign states.
Near the bottom of the card are three newspaper headlines touting Spitzer’s work as attorney general: helping recover funds for lowwage workers, rattling Wall Street, and cracking down on excessive executive pay.
Democratic consultant Bob Shrum said Spitzer is using a smart strategy.
“You want to focus on your strengths in any campaign,” Shrum said.
In campaign literature, Spitzer makes one notable reference to his time as governor: his controversial proposal to provide illegal immigrants driver’s licenses and ID cards.
“As governor, he fought to give undocumented immigrants a fair chance,” the literature says.
His ads also also blend in the proposal for illegal immigrants with his exploits as attorney general.
“. . . I made billiondollar corporations pay back lowwage workers . . . I pushed to give exploited, undocumented immigrants a real chance . . . I took on Wall Street firms who were cheating millions of middleclass investors,” Spitzer said in one advertisement.
The Spitzer campaign insisted he was not running from his gubernatorial record.
“. . . [W]e’re proud of Eliot’s record as governor. Whether it was fighting to fully fund city schools, reform a broken health care system or fighting for civil rights,” said Spitzer spokesman Hari Sevugan.
Meanwhile, at yesterday’s state Financial Control Board meeting, Mayor Bloomberg took a swipe at Spitzer’s Wall Street bashing.
Bloomberg said attacking Wall Street is “not very helpful” because “this is our industry . . . this is our tax base. This is how we pay our firefighters and police officers and provide services.”
Spitzer spokeswoman Lisa Linden shot back, “The financial sector will be healthier and will provide more jobs if there is reasonable enforcement to curtail the type of systemic fraud that led to the financial crisis of 2008.”