Posted on 01/01/2007 5:10:16 PM PST by NormsRevenge
ALBANY, N.Y. - Democrat Eliot Spitzer, who built an international reputation fighting corruption on Wall Street, took office as New York's governor Monday, calling for an end to "the politics of cynicism and division" and signing a series of ethics measures.
Spitzer said frequent deadlocks between Republican Gov. George Pataki and the Legislature thwarted school improvements, ethics reforms, efforts to cut the nation's highest taxes and attempts to revive the state's economy.
"New York has slept through much of the past decade while the rest of the world has passed us by," Spitzer said in his inaugural address. "Today is the day when all of that changes — when we stop standing still and start moving forward once more."
Spitzer, New York's two-term attorney general, was nicknamed "the sheriff of Wall Street" for his high-profile investigations of corporate corruption.
He won the governorship on Nov. 7 with a landslide victory over former state Assembly Republican Minority Leader John Faso. Pataki, who served 12 years, did not seek re-election and is eyeing a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.
He was sworn in at a private ceremony just after midnight Sunday and got to work even before his afternoon inaugural, signing orders setting a standard for the executive branch that he wants lawmakers to adopt for themselves.
Spitzer's measures ban gifts from lobbyists; end personal use of state cars, computers and equipment; prohibit nepotism; and ban his former employees from lobbying the executive branch. Other executive orders ban statewide officials — including Spitzer — from appearing in state-paid commercials, criticized as free campaign ads. Another measure establishes a state commission to make sure that candidates for judicial appointments are qualified.
The use of state cars led to the resignation last month of the state's chief financial officer, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who pleaded guilty to a felony for using a state employee as his wife's chauffeur. The New York City Democrat had been re-elected in November amid the scandal.
Spitzer faces a projected deficit of $2.4 billion in the fiscal year beginning April 1 and a $4.5 billion deficit for 2008-2009. The state's budget for the current year totals $114 billion.
Sigh...what a rookie. Odds are that he'll end up getting hung on those very "ethics measures" he just signed.
"Sigh...what a rookie. Odds are that he'll end up getting hung on those very "ethics measures" he just signed."
Not a chance. It's always the hypocrisy, not the ethics violation that does them in. Since he's a Dim, he has no standards and, therefore, can't be a hypocrite. He'll be home free.
Don't hold your breath. Claiming the other guy didn't cut taxes is the closest a democrat has come to cutting them since JFK.
Got one more, you may have "Aces and Eights"
How about an end to taxes and legislation? How about an end to corruption and favors?
NYS has a lot going for it; unfortunately its government and NYC aren't some of those.
Spitzer reminds me of Mussolini. He and Bloomberg are a real pair.
Ed
Thanks for the ping.
I post daily about the insanity of politics in NY..
http://albanysinsanity.com/
This state is losing so much population we may be losing another seat in congress and I know we are losing a couple electoral votes.
If things do not do a turn around soon, this state is doomed.
Will things change as this is day one? Ask Bruno and Silver...
Showtime!
4 billion in new taxes this SOB is going to stick them with and not one goddammed apparatchik in the entire state will be laid off.
AMEN...How can anyone have ANY empathy for a population that puts and leaves the likes of Shmuckie and Klinton in Washington to oversee their interests - let alone Spitzer and Bloomberg in such influential positions!
Because it's NYC that puts them there, not the rest of the state. The cities always do it. NY would be a red state but for that.
To that I say; "my most sincere condolences!"
Pardon me, Mayor, but your electoral votes are equal to the number of your sinators and congresscriminals - you can't lose sinators, so it is the congresscriminals +2.
LOL, fasten your seatbelts and hide your wallets, New York.
Spitzer is real whack job.
I read a story here a couple of years ago about the rather uncomfortable relationship between Schumer and Spitzer. Apparently, according to the article, they view each other as competition to be the country's first Jewish President.
I kid you not.
I agree, with the loss of people we will be losing another seat. I know we cannot lose senator, I wish we could and at least dump hitlery.
An incarnation of King Salomon's son!!!
Thanks. Don't think we don't want out. If circumstances were any different....
The venom that flows through this clown's veins is the same that could be found among the millions who were waving Mao's Little Red Book across China in '66.
Yes, I've followed Eliot Spitzer for a long time. He's very much like a Communist: both ideologically, and in his brutal willingness to destroy what he rules for the sake of power, all the while pretending that he is doing it for the good of the people.
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