Spitzer Pledges To Re-Energize Democrats
Attorney General Eliot Spitzer promised a room full of Democratic operatives in Manhattan last night that he would re-energize the party, refocus priorities in Albany, experiment with costsaving measures for Medicaid,and even attend the elementary school graduation of one young girl in the audience.
"We lost a young generation of activists who should have led the party because we didn't have the passion, the vision, the principle, the energy, or the will power to say what had to be said," Mr. Spitzer said at Au Bar, a Manhattan nightspot where he spoke to members of the Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, a political club.
Asked about legislative gridlock, Mr. Spitzer said it was a matter of "mindset," and not the Democratic leaders currently in office. Mr. Spitzer said he would push for fairer redistricting and other reforms. When 7-year-old Aliza Fatima of Jamaica, Queens, asked Mr. Spitzer to build a science lab for her school, he said yes. And when she asked him to attend her graduation in two years, he said yes - if he is elected governor.
Mr. Spitzer's speech came the same day that simultaneous protests were held in Manhattan, Albany, and Buffalo by a group hoping to oust incumbents from the state legislature. The group, the New York Coalition, describes itself as a "a coalition of groups looking for people to run against the leaders in Albany."
A similar anti-incumbency campaign two years ago led by the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, helped oust an upstate Senate Republican and a Democratic Assemblyman of Long Island. Mr. Suozzi has made "dysfunction" one of the hallmarks of his uphill campaign to win the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Mr. Spitzer's near-unanimous support among state Democratic leaders is evidence that he is too entrenched to enact substantial reform, Mr. Suozzi said. An aide to Mr. Spitzer said a major policy announcement would be made Saturday during a statewide convention hosted by the Citizens Budget Commission. The nonpartisan group released its recommendations on how to reform borrowing by public authorities in New York.
