I will be re-posting articles and commentaries from various sources. I will post in reverse chronological order so the newest articles are first.

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Posted by me 8/5/2006

AG Spitzer Agrees: Keeping $200M in PORK Spending Secret, is “OK”
Friday, August 4, 2006 by Cynthia Locklear

There is a fascinating lawsuit pending against Bruno and Silver that is alarming on two levels. The first is the blatant and abusive contempt state legislators have for us taxpaying schlepps. The other, is Eliot Spitzer’s apparent collusion, despite his claimed zeal for ‘reform’ while on the campaign trail.

In a nutshell, the Albany Times Union started an ”Article 78? proceeding against Bruno and Silver in June, alleging violations of the Freedom of Information Law (”FOIL”). You simply HAVE to read the Petition (paraphrasing it here cannot do it justice) to get truly enraged at what these jamokes are doing with gobs of taxpayer money; and then refusing to tell us about. They have written secrecy agreements and ”MOUs”, and proxies, and convoluted ‘legal’ arguments all to keep their dealings out of view.

But then, to add insult to injury, the “Sheriff of Wallstreet”, the Annointed Crusader has agreed with them, that their records regarding what Legislators sponsored what pork projects, in what amounts, to what organizations, employing whose girlfriend, father, wife, whatever, are shielded by the Legislative Immunity provisions of the state constitution (WHUT???)

“Attorney General Eliot Spitzer’s office, in papers filed Monday, said the names are protected under the state constitution, which says “for any speech or debate in either house of the legislature, the members shall not be questioned in any other place.” Spitzer’s office argued that disclosing “information concerning a legislator’s involvement with particular pieces of legislation could potentially chill the legislator’s activities.”

While Legislative Immunity may shield the legislators as individuals from civil money damages suits for the proper discharge of their legislative functions, I fail to understand how Legislative Immunity plays a role in this analysis. Isnt the purpose of the open meetings and freedom of information laws is to compel disclosure of the Legislative process to ensure the propriety of those actions and process?

Isn’t it disengenuous for Candidate Spitzer to swath himself in the mantle of reform, while AG Spitzer sides with the Bad Guys?

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Posted by me 7/10/2006

This article from The Atlas Society and its Objectivist Center is a must-read analysis of Eliot Spitzer.

Eliot Spitzer: Ayatollah General
by Roger Donway

Eliot Spitzer became the attorney general of New York in 1999. In addition to carrying out the routine functions of that office, he has used a broad anti-fraud statute to conduct a series of aggressive and well-publicized campaigns against businesses, most notably in the financial industry. His purpose in these campaigns has not been the narrow one of punishing law-breakers. Rather, he has sought a sweeping restructuring of the business landscape in order to make it accord with his moral vision, as though he were a religious dictator suddenly transplanted from the Middle East to Manhattan.

Last December, Spitzer announced that he is seeking to become governor of New York in the 2006 election. Should he succeed, his status as a large-state governor will instantly bring him attention as a possible presidential candidate. Indeed, the talk has already begun. Mark A. Hofman, senior editor of Business Insurance, wrote this about audience reaction to a speech Spitzer gave in Washington last January: “Many of those listening to Mr. Spitzer at that Press Club luncheon couldn’t help wonder if the gaze he fixed on the audience wasn’t really directed about three blocks due west on a certain white mansion.”(1) Even earlier, Spitzer’s father had been asked if his son would like to be president. His answer: “I think he would. It’s his very nature.”(2)

Before it is too late, then, the American public deserves to know: Who is Eliot Spitzer?

continue reading here.

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Posted by me 7/9/2006

… After reading my op-ed piece, Mr. Spitzer tried to phone me. I was traveling in Texas but he reached me early in the afternoon. After asking me one or two questions about where I got my facts, he came right to the point. I was so shocked that I wrote it all down right away so I would be sure to remember it exactly as he said it. This is what he said:

“Mr. Whitehead, it’s now a war between us and you’ve fired the first shot. I will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done. You will wish you had never written that letter.”

read the full post here.

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ATTORNEY GENERAL Eliot Spitzer, the top cop for New York’s 60,000 charities and nonprofits, also helps his family run a charity regulated by his office.

The Spitzer Trust invests nearly all of its assets - $25.9 million - in hedge funds and equity funds. Executives at those firms, meanwhile, have pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Spitzer’s front-running Democratic gubernatorial campaign.

IRS records and state Board of Elections filings reviewed by the Daily News show that the trust:

# Placed $9.5 million with Cramer-Berkowitz, a hedge fund. Jeffrey Berkowitz, its principal, gave $50,100 to Spitzer through his limited liability company, Berkowitz Capital.

# Invested $7 million with hedge funds Seneca Capital and Seneca International. Douglas Hirsch, the managing partner, also plunked down $50,100, the maximum allowable by law.

# Put $3.8 million into Bedford Fall Investors, another hedge fund. Karen Finerman, president of its parent firm, also handed Spitzer $50,100. Another manager gave $10,000.

# Placed $1 million with Golub Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Lawrence Golub, its president, also maxed out, and another executive tossed in $25,000.

read it here
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New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer appeared on Comedy Central late last year, admitting to host Stephen Colbert that as a kid he was the “enforcer” on the soccer team, the guy who “took people out.” “You play hard, you play rough, and hopefully you don’t get caught,” he said. The AG was trying for a laugh, but it may have been one of the more revealing insights into his career.

Mr. Spitzer has certainly played hard and rough in his time as New York’s top law enforcer, and for the most part he hasn’t got caught. More telling is his reaction when he is called out, as is happening more often now that the business community has started to challenge his authority. Mr. Spitzer, now running for the governor’s mansion, has responded to a growing list of accusations of abuse by denying, dissembling and developing convenient cases of amnesia.

read it all here.