It's Your Move Now, Eliot
The bottom keeps getting deeper for Governor Spitzer. "Even by the scandal-pocked history of New York politics, Eliot Spitzer's fall from grace is extraordinary," write Fred Siegel and Michael Goodwin in the latest issue of the Weekly Standard. While there may be no simple road to political recovery for Mr. Spitzer to pursue, there are steps that would at least reverse his descent. Among them:
1) STOP APOLOGIZING: Ever since the state police scandal erupted, Mr. Spitzer has tried to have it both ways. He has apologized without really apologizing. His goal has been to earn credit for his humble admissions of failure in his administration without taking responsibility for the charges of misconduct. The result has been a narcissistic muddle. "We were fighting so hard for what we believed was right that we let down our guard and allowed our passion to get the best of us," Mr. Spitzer said in his speech before the Chautauqua Institution last week. If he must discuss the scandal, two other approaches would work better.
One would be to deny having anything to do with the errors of judgment committed by his senior staff. The other would be to stand his ground and shift attention to Joseph Bruno. "Look, voters have entrusted me with the responsibility to protect state resources," the governor could say. "We wanted to make sure that Senator Bruno wasn't wasting state money by using state helicopters as his personal chauffeur service. I'm not going to apologize for wanting to protect taxpayer money." The smartest approach would be to stop talking about the scandal altogether, wait for the ongoing investigations to run their course, and turn the political conversation toward policy, which brings us to the next point.
2) CONFOUND THE REPUBLICANS: Senate Republicans like to say Mr. Spitzer obsesses with bringing them down while neglecting the concerns of regular New Yorkers. Mr. Spitzer could prove them wrong with one press conference. He could, for example, announce that his next budget will include a major tax cut in the form of an exemption of the first $50,000 of income for married couples or $25,000 for single taxpayers. That's what Mr. Spitzer's Republican challenger, John Faso, proposed last year. Mr. Spitzer could steal the idea and catch Senate Republicans off guard. Better yet, he could construct a tax cut on marginal rates of income — on the next dollar earned. Either way, he would upstage the GOP.
3) SPLIT THE LEGISLATURE: As for the other legislative chamber, the Democrat-controlled Assembly, Mr. Spitzer's objective is to win it over — with access, money, respect, and, if possible, charm. For starters, a pay raise for lawmakers would go a long way toward healing bruised feelings. Such a move might raise voter hackles, but New Yorkers are more likely to tolerate a salary increase if it's accompanied by a deep tax cut. The next step would be to directly dial up individual Democratic lawmakers and ask them what they want to get accomplished during next year's legislative session.
The Spitzer administration has had the tendency to exclude lawmakers from the process of developing policy, costing the governor significant goodwill among would-be allies. Mr. Spitzer could give lawmakers a larger role by soliciting their advice on issues of common concern and involve them in the crafting of policy. The governor wouldn't be yielding his authority but would be delegating to lawmakers who are hungry for responsibility. Granted more respect, Assembly legislators would be more likely to side with Mr. Spitzer rather than unite with Senate Republicans during next year's budget showdown.
4) SIDELINE CUOMO: With the Legislature giving him less grief, Mr. Spitzer can focus on dealing with the greatest danger in his path: Attorney General Cuomo. Mr. Cuomo is determined to take up the mantle of crusader against public corruption, with the governor playing the role that Mr. Greenberg of AIG played for Attorney General Spitzer. After all, by battling public malfeasance, Mr. Cuomo is able to win plaudits from New Yorkers and torture his chief political rival, Mr. Spitzer, thus setting the stage for a gubernatorial run in three years.
One way to steal Mr. Cuomo's thunder would be to force the attorney general to compete for attention against another ethics crusader. The ideal choice for that role would be the head of the state's Lobbying Commission, David Grandeau, whose enthusiastic enforcement of lobbying laws has made him enemies with every powerful person on State Street. Mr. Spitzer's instinct was to make Mr. Grandeau disappear. Next month, he'll be out of a job when the Lobbying Commission merges with the Ethics Commission to form the super Commission on Public Integrity, which will probably be run by someone other than Mr. Grandeau.
Mr. Grandeau has been described as a loose cannon but his ammunition is aimed at everybody. Under his vigorous and independent leadership, the new integrity commission would force Mr. Cuomo to share the anti-corruption stage and would also keep an eye on the ambitious attorney general, who would like nothing more than to see Mr. Spitzer sink further.
