Posted on 10/13/2006 12:58:55 AM PDT by neverdem
John Faso aggressively attacked Eliot Spitzer as self-aggrandizing and politically timid last night in their final debate in the race for governor, while Mr. Spitzer — who has rarely been so on the defensive — denounced Mr. Faso’s “angry, extreme rhetoric.”
Struggling to close a 50-point deficit in opinion polls, Mr. Faso unleashed a stream of harsh words throughout the hourlong televised debate, saying Mr. Spitzer, the state attorney general, had used “bluster and intimidation” in his prosecutions and twice calling him “asleep at the switch” as Medicaid fraud ran rampant.
Yet the clearest calculation of Mr. Faso, the Republican nominee, was to call Mr. Spitzer timid four times: once for not proposing steep tax cuts, twice for his plans to overhaul construction contracting, and once for not investigating State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi’s misuse of a state worker to chauffeur his ailing wife.
Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, has a reputation as a ruthless lawyer, and he laughed at the idea that he was anything less than aggressive, even bragging at one point that Time magazine had named him “Crusader of the Year.”
But Mr. Faso’s strategy was to suggest that Mr. Spitzer was zealous in promoting himself as attorney general, and would be too compromised by “special-interest friends,” like labor allies, to cut spending and taxes.
“Mr. Spitzer’s philosophy is more government, more taxes, more spending, more borrowing,” Mr. Faso charged after Mr. Spitzer touted his $1 billion plan for stem cell research. “My philosophy says, let’s let individual entrepreneurs decide where they want to invest.”
Again and again Mr. Spitzer defended himself and generally kept...
--snip--
Mr. Hevesi has admitted to using a state worker as a chauffeur for his wife for three years; last month he wrote the state a check for $82,688 to cover the cost.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Did the Times miss Hevesi's repeat episode?
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
Give the Times a break. They're very busy covering an issue closer to home for New Yorkers: the two week old immediate resignation of an obscure Florida Congressman. You can't expect them to have any resources remaining to look into how NY State's fiscal watchdog can keep getting away with breaking tax laws and misusing government funds, acts his office would use to bar vendors from obtaining contracts and smack sanctions on local governments, and all the while garnering no more than a tsk, tsk from its crusading attorney general. I mean, really.
I watched the Faso vs Spitzer debate, and it was a slaughter.
Faso beat him like a circus monkey, and never once went over his time, as opposed to Spitz, who was visably flustered and was reprimanded for going over time nearly every time!
It reminded me of when Thune destroyed Daschle on Meet The Press.
I hope Faso and other Republicans don't end up in prison when Spitzer is governor. Maybe I shouldn't even be writing this as Spitzer will be targeting me. Sounds like that's how he operates.
Spitzer is more vile and venal than hitlery. Opponents beware.
Thanks for the ping!
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