Cornered by Troopergate, Spitzer is showing his desperation

Soon after the July 23 report from Attorney General Andrew Cuomo revealed the "Troopergate" dirty tricks scandal, a political operative wise in the ways of Albany made a prediction: Gov. Spitzer would make a sharp left turn to try to save his skin. "He'll pander to all the liberal interest groups and hope they'll protect him," the wise man told me.

Buy that man a beer. Two months later, the prediction has come true. The governor who took office vowing to clean up Albany has lost so much public support that he is reduced to feathering the nest of the unions and other liberals.

Surrounded by enemies real and imagined, Spitzer is on a binge, buying friends and supporters at the expense of everyone else. Good government, law enforcement and fiscal responsibility be damned. This is "Survivor: Albany."

In the last week alone, Spitzer said New York would provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants with passports, he ended requirements for interviews and fingerprints to get food stamps and also plans to sue Washington over its denial of his plan to expand a health insurance program to cover children whose families earn up to $82,600. Spitzer also wants to hike the hotel tax again to build a more expensive Javits Convention Center, an idea favored by unions.

Another test will come as early as next week when the Transport Workers Union asks a court to restore its dues-checkoff rights, suspended as a penalty for the illegal 2005 transit strike. If Spitzer supports the union, he will be guilty of betraying the riding public.

It is a sign of Spitzer's desperation that he even bit the hand of the one pol who has been nice to him lately. Mayor Bloomberg, who threw Spitzer a life raft by appearing with him several times in recent weeks, was on the receiving end of a blistering attack because he dared dissent on the driver's license issue. "I'm really skeptical that we should be issuing driver's licenses willy-nilly because it then leads to lots of other problems," Bloomberg said. It didn't matter that he went on to defer, adding "But it's the governor's call." The line had been crossed.

Making like a Roman candle, Spitzer gave Bloomy the "f------ Steamroller!" treatment, saying: "He is wrong at every level — dead wrong, factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong."

So much for the new "humility" Spitzer promised. And it also revealed sloppy staff work. Bloomberg had opposed a similar idea in the City Council, so it shouldn't have been a surprise when Bloomberg balked. But Spitzer was so clueless he actually invited Bloomy to the announcement of the plan. Duh.

And for Spitzer to call the incorruptible Bloomberg "ethically wrong" takes some gall. Then again, a drowning man can't be too choosy about friends or enemies. Spitzer is reading the same polls we all are — up to 70% of the public doesn't believe he's telling the truth about his role in the bid to smear Sen. Majority Leader Joe Bruno. He needs help now.

But his way of going about getting it is yet another mistake in judgment. Just as he turned the dirty tricks scandal into a never-ending story by making misleading statements about his role, saying he had "fully cooperated" when he had blocked his aides from testifying, he is boxing himself in long-term with expensive short-term gambits. With the economy slowing down, already-rocky state finances are likely to be stretched, meaning higher taxes or spending cuts will be needed. Neither will help the economy or his sagging poll numbers.

Special-interest group politics is, of course, a way of life in Albany. But such narrow-casting can keep you afloat only so long. Ultimately, a broad base of support is necessary to be a transformative leader and that is possible only when you are personally trusted by the public.

For Spitzer, there is only one way to get to that end: he must come clean about what he knew and what he did on "Troopergate." All other maneuvers only delay the final reckoning and raise its price.

This story seems to echo much of Gray Davis’ behavior in his last few months before the recall election, no?

Maybe ping your lists if you think our California crew can lend an experienced hand to our NY brethren? The conservatives have got to keep a watchful eye for RINO scuttling of Right reform efforts.

Or it perhaps is that both states’ GOP has drifted so far Left that there is no hope short of a complete internal revolt? (It seems NY got there sooner, but CA with its schwarzenkaiser has out-Lefted even them).

One thing seems certain: should we wait for the creeping crud to spread even more nationwide, it and what needs be done to rectify it will become uglier.

I think the many great ideas Spitzler is attempting to do,violates Federal laws.I am of the opinion that he is attempting to look like a do something constructive politician,more than a do nothing politician.The people get what they pay for.I did spell his name wrong on purpose.NY is a very patriotic state except for the major cities,which counts for dummies being elected.Upstate and rural counties do not matter in the overall scheme of things.Hitlery,where are all the jobs you promised?Whenever I check,I see more and more leaving in droves.She is a carpetbagger using the state as a stepping board to what she honestly believes to be the Presidency.Then she woke up.

During Spitler's 1998 AG campaign, he indignantly denied allegations by his GOP opponent, Dennis Vacco (a top-notch pro-life conservative), that Spitler's wealthy father had provided millions in loans to his AG campaign.

Candidate Spitzer insisted he was using only his own money (family members are limited by law to $110,000 in total contributions) and accused Vacco of "smearing" his father.

Not until he'd actually taken office did Spitzer admit that Dennis Vacco had been correct, after all. In fact, it turned out Spitzer, despite earlier denials, had done the exact same thing during his unsuccessful 1994 run for AG.

NOTE WELL: Now how did the loving Spitzer family convert all that money to sonny's election? The altruistic Spitzer family runs a "do-good foundation." The IRS has noted that some foundations are prime money laundering vehicles that use phony accounting and fake line items like "LEGAL, CONSULTING AND ADMIN FEES" that are tax evasion schemes. Some foundations also put ghost employees on the payroll to skim off monies.

TO REPORT SUSPECTED TAX-EXEMPT FRAUD:
CONTACT THE SEC EMAIL enforcement@SEC.gov
PHONE THE IRS TOLL FREE 1-800-829-0433 You may remain anonymous if you wish.

I just wonder what the frustration level is like, they target Joe Bruno who is definitely no white knight, this was suppose to be an easy target -it totally backfires. “My F__ing Steamroller through a bearing.”

He seems very enamored with the big stage, those things thrown around on the national level. He had his own “drain the swamp” rhetoric relative to the state. Rumor was the all state employees above a certain level would go to mandatory ethics training. Cleaning it up was the first order of bis.

Now he’s got his own swamp.

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