Pride goes before a fall; a haughty spirit before destruction - King Solomon
The Elliot Spitzer story is shocking but perhaps not as shocking as it appears to those of you not living in New York. Spitzer came into the governorship wearing a larger than life man-of-justice mask but what lay behind that facade was an arrogant man who thought he could do whatever he pleased.
Many, if not most, of Spitzer’s big cases as a prosecutor were predicated on him acting like a thug, pushing companies around, and threatening to indict every employee if boardrooms wouldn’t capitulate. Spitzer’s comment to Assemblymen Tedisco, the ranking Republican in the State Assembly, upon taking office was “I am a f***ing steamroller and I’ll roll over you or anybody else.” Classy guy. The Governor then tried to take out the Republican Senate Majority leader Joseph Bruno using the state police; the resulting “Troopergate” pretty much sunk his first year agenda.
Every successful politician ends up in bed with somebody, usually a lot of somebodies. Donors, party Pooh-Bahs, lobbyist, friends, etc. Only the most rare candidates can avoid this, and they do it by getting in bed with the people.
U.S. Congressmen Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) is a great example. Known for standing to challenge each and every earmark that gets added to any Bill in the House of Representatives, Flake has taken heavy fire from insiders who expect obligatory political pork. Party members from his own district actually tried to run him out of office during his reelection campaign because he wouldn’t put out as expected. But for every one person who complains, Flake claims he has at least 10 oridinary citizens others who applaud his efforts.
Thus Flake’s power is derived from the people in a rarely direct way. Of course the moment that the Congressmen is involved in a crooked deal, his clout with evaporate. And there in lies the rub for Elliot Spitzer. Elliot Mess was able to ride roughshod over political opponents, corporations, businessmen, and even allies because he was the caped crusader of the people. Despite eliciting widespread hatred from insiders in the spheres of power, Spitzer was bulletproof given his popularity. So much for that.
Sphere: Related Content
2 responses so far ↓
1 Richard Grayson // Mar 13, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I’m Jeff Flake’s Democratic opponent this year (no one ran against him the last two times) and though I disagree with him on many issues — I’m a liberal who supports Medicare for all, immediate withdrawal from Iraq, abortion rights, etc. — I agree with you that he is ethically outstanding.
I do think saying honest politicians like Rep. Flake are “getting in bed with the people” is an unfortunate choice of words on your part.
Of course, he does have a million dollars in his campaign committee, a lot of it from corporations, not people. But I won’t say he gets in bed with them!
The new governor of New York, David Paterson, is an ethical guy — gentle and easy-going, the opposite of Spitzer — and I worked for David’s father Basil Paterson when he ran in 1970 for lieutenant governor. They are ethical, classy men.
2 Jay McDonough // Mar 13, 2008 at 10:52 pm
It sounds like New York is in good hands with David Patterson. And it sounds like Arizona voters are fortunate to have two decent men running for a Congressional seat there.
Leave a Comment