Democrats Worry Spitzer’s Enemies May Haunt His Campaign
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

As New York’s attorney general, Eliot Spitzer has made more enemies than the average public official, and some Democrats are worried that those he has investigated for corporate corruption may come back to haunt him as he runs for governor.
So far, the most dangerous of these appears to be Kenneth Langone, a former director of the New York Stock Exchange who is the target of a civil lawsuit by Mr. Spitzer.
Mr. Langone publicly attacked Mr. Spitzer last week, vowed to raise money to defeat him, and praised the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, who is said to be interested in challenging the attorney general in a Democratic primary.
Mr. Langone’s cozy relationship with Mr. Suozzi is not sitting well with Spitzer supporters.
Yesterday, two county leaders – Robert Brehm of Schenectady County and Richard Schaffer of Suffolk – sent a letter to fellow Democrats asking them to demand that Mr. Suozzi disassociate himself from Mr. Langone because the latter has “spread his money around to radical right-wing candidates” and is a “Republican activist.”
“Do we want our gubernatorial candidate to be chosen by a billionaire Wall Street Republican?” the letter said.”Our party nationally and in New York needs to stand up for its beliefs.”
Mr. Suozzi’s spokeswoman, Kimberly Devlin, called the letter “typical insider club house politics” and said, “No one can question Tom Suozzi’s Democratic credentials.” Mr. Suozzi issued a statement defending Mr. Langone and said he had not even announced his candidacy.
While Mr. Spitzer has raised more than $16 million and has rock star status in his party, some who have followed his tenure as attorney general said Mr. Langone is just one of many wealthy business executives likely to get out his checkbook to stop him from winning higher office.
“Once a viable candidate emerges against Spitzer, you will see money coming from all ends of Wall Street to defeat him,” a Manhattan-based securities lawyer, Jacob Zamansky, said. “The no. 1 priority of major Wall Street firms is to defeat Spitzer and exact some retribution for what they perceive as excessive prosecutorial action.”
Mr. Zamansky, who provided Mr. Spitzer with evidence for his case against Merrill Lynch a few years ago, said: “I don’t know that people will be overt about it, but I’m certain that executives at Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, people like Hank Greenberg at AIG, will do whatever they can to get back at Spitzer.”
One political analyst, Hank Sheinkopf, who produced political commercials for Mr. Spitzer in 1998, said that it was not shocking that those he has targeted want their revenge.
“It’s no surprise that they don’t like Eliot Spitzer,” he said. “The question is are they going to pony up? It would be dumb to bet the house on their ponying up a significant amount of money to take on the Democratic frontrunner.”
A spokesman for Mr. Langone, Jim McCarthy, told The New York Sun earlier this week that the billionaire who co-founded Home Depot has “one of the most influential Rolodexes in the country and has put it to enormously effective use for a host of prominent candidates.”
He said Mr. Langone, who was finance chairman for one of Mayor Giuliani’s campaigns, was “hearing from folks both in New York and all over the country expressing alarm” about Mr. Spitzer.
Mr. McCarthy declined to comment on the letter sent by the Democratic county leaders, but disputed that Mr. Langone had donated money to “radical” Republicans. Mr. McCarthy said Mr. Langone had given to mainstream Republicans as well as some Democrats.
Mr. Suozzi, meanwhile, has been spotted this week talking to political players in the city, including the head of the Partnership for New York City, Kathryn Wylde. A spokesman for the partnership, Brian Mahanna, said the organization, which represents business executives, is nonpartisan and that Ms. Wylde meets with elected officials regularly.
Political analysts said Mr. Suozzi, who was recently re-elected, would likely wait until he is sworn in for his second term before declaring his gubernatorial bid.
Mr. Suozzi’s spokeswoman, Ms. Devlin said Mr. Souzzi has always had strong support in Nassau County – home to many wealthy Wall Street executives.
When asked earlier this week whether any of Mr. Spitzer’s foes other than Mr. Langone had reached out to Mr. Souzzi, she said: “I’m absolutely confident that the people who support Tom do so because they appreciate his ability to manage government and his ability to solve problems.”
Mr. Brehm, whose county committee has already endorsed Mr. Spitzer, said about 20 leaders had already agreed to sign onto the letter. The Spitzer campaign declined to comment on the letter and on fundraising efforts to oppose his campaign.