Spitzer's Fall
His nastiness catches up with him.
Friday, November 16, 2007 12:01 a.m. EST
When we last checked on New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, he had got himself into an ethics imbroglio over the matter of trying to destroy a political opponent. His descent has continued--to where a poll this week reports that only 25% of New Yorkers say they'd re-elect him. The other 75% can't say they weren't warned.
Mr. Spitzer's most recent setback came this week, when he retreated after being routed by his own party on his proposal to issue drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. In trademark Spitzer style, the Governor presented his proposal in September as a fait accompli. He then moved swiftly into bullying mode, calling one early critic of the plan "factually wrong, legally wrong, morally wrong, ethically wrong."
Also this week, Mr. Spitzer reversed course on a plan to force online retailers like Amazon.com to collect sales tax in New York on purchases delivered to the state. The plan would have violated Mr. Spitzer's explicit campaign promise not to raise taxes as Governor, and he scotched it after the New York Sun exposed the effort.
But Mr. Spitzer's biggest problem remains the ethics probe, which is getting more serious now that the state's ethics watchdog has found inconsistencies in a top aide's testimony and referred that matter to a prosecutor for possible criminal charges. Mr. Spitzer must have thought he'd put this scandal behind him when his successor as Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, issued a tough report this summer but found no criminal wrongdoing. However, the inquiries have continued in the state Senate and at the Public Integrity Commission despite Spitzer Administration stonewalling.
Darren Dopp, a confidant and spinmeister from the Governor's days as AG, resigned under an ethical cloud last month. But now Mr. Dopp faces possible perjury and obstruction of justice charges for his role in what New Yorkers call "Troopergate." In that scandal, Mr. Dopp and other senior staffers were found to have ordered the state police to collect data on the travel patterns of the state Senate's GOP leader with an eye toward embroiling him in a scandal.
Mr. Spitzer defended Mr. Dopp and said he knew nothing of the scheme at the time. These days, the Governor is still doing the latter, but not much of the former. If Mr. Dopp is charged, he might shed some light on who knew what, and when.
Given Mr. Spitzer's fall in the polls, it's tempting to say New Yorkers have learned something new about the man who said on his inauguration day that, "we must change the ethics of Albany and end the politics of cynicism and division in our state." But the bullying, the arrogance and the focus on destroying anyone who stood his way were on full display when he was Attorney General.
Most of the media chose to overlook these qualities, instead extolling his "crusading" style. Readers of this newspaper knew better, having seen (among other things) how he threatened to destroy John Whitehead, the former Goldman Sachs and State Department official, for daring to defend former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg in public.
The only real difference between Mr. Spitzer now and then is that as Governor he is obliged to govern, as opposed to merely bringing charges amid a PR offensive and then settling before having to prove anything in court. His heavy-handed approach to the drivers license plan shows the limits of such behavior in a job where he actually has to persuade people.
It remains far from clear whether Mr. Spitzer has drawn the right lessons from his recent failures. At Wednesday's announcement on the licensing plan, he said that leadership was "not solely about doing what one thinks is right," a curious formulation. There may be more damaging revelations to come out of Troopergate too. But assuming Mr. Spitzer survives that scandal, he could do worse than enroll in anger management class and take a pledge not to try to ruin everyone who disagrees with him.
