Unchecked Spitzer arrogance could mean 4 long, lonely years First published: Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Midway through his first year in office, the new governor we elected last November has become a rumor, seldom seen, seldom heard. Nobody wants to ride on his band wagon these days.
That kick-butt, sharp-tempered, smart-as-hell lawyer from Manhattan who was going to clean up this town and get government working again has had his wings clipped, that's for sure. So how long is he going to sulk over it?
So now what? Give up? That's not an option, governor. A known as "On Day One ..." turned out to be a bust because Eliot Spitzer's monumental arrogance coming in as chief executive permeated his staff and their attitudes. That arrogance is the direct link between Eliot Spitzer and those accused of going unethically too far to undo Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, the scandal that hangs in the air.
Overzealous, cocky, nasty, disrespectful, our way or the highway. Those are the words I've heard most often from both sides of the aisle and from those regulated or doing business one way or another with government about the first seven months of the Spitzer administration. This is an administration with no friends, even among like-minded reform Democrats.
That's why nothing of any great substance is getting done. Eliot Spitzer elicits a negative reaction from nearly everyone who has to deal with him and that is simply an ineffective way to govern.
But does he recognize it? There is no hard evidence yet that he really does.
He says he's sorry about what's come to be called Troopergate, and takes responsibility for the actions of his staff. sorry for what? For getting caught? For the profiteering going on by his opponents over it? It's hard to say because he has gone quiet on us, and has not given the public the painful long form explanation it deserves for his involvement, and any sense that his personality fault is the root cause of it all.
Right along, Spitzer has claimed his hot temper and attorney-general- for-life attitude have been a plus for him by shaking up people. He is mistaken. Thus far, they have been his undoing, the reasons he has fallen so dramatically from grace. Even the people who voted for him have got the message. That mandate of last November? Gone. If he were running for office today, John Faso would be governor.
So now what?
First and foremost, Eliot Spitzer has to admit the error of his approach and start over as governor, as difficult as this may be. Otherwise we are in for a very long four years, and oblivion at the other end for the man many expected just months ago to be the first Jewish president.
Talk to the people, governor. Show your vulnerabilities. court of public opinion can be far more forgiving than any court of law if mistakes are admitted and personal faults are thoroughly aired and genuinely recanted. But that same court can condemn the unrepentant arrogant to the dust heap of history without any remorse, or appeal. Your choice, governor. government at the moment is in paralysis. The Spitzer governing team appears in shambles. We're being treated to the inevitable side show of partisan hearings by the Senate Investigations Committee. Democrats have launched a public relations counter offensive poo-pooing those hearings, and saying let's just all hug, get back to the people's business and let the various investigations conclude whatever it is they conclude. The trouble is, the people's business at the moment is Troopergate and establishing the integrity of the governing administration. As annoying and partisan as it is, Republican senators have every right, and even obligation, to raise as many questions as they can. That's what checks and balances in government are all about.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno is trying desperately to keep this issue well fanned, and that's politics. But who gave Joe Bruno that opportunity? Eliot Spitzer. Who will be responsible for the Senate remaining Republican because of the checks and balances lesson that will come out of Troopergate? Eliot Spitzer.
But far more important, who is responsible for state government being at a standstill? Eliot Spitzer. partisans can dismiss Bruno's circus as much as they want, but there's only one governor to set the agenda for all of government and at the moment he's making like Rip Van Winkle.
So wake up, governor, and get on with why we elected you in the first place. Not for your arrogance, but for your drive, brilliance, new ideas and better solutions. Absolutely nothing stops you from regaining momentum out of the current stagnation by putting on the table, for the public inspection, a great big package of upstate development plans, for example. The best way to deal with a crisis like this is to work through it, very publicly and openly.
But not before a chastened governor acknowledges with genuine contrition that he needs to be a different Eliot Spitzer, and will be. Otherwise, as I said, a very long four years. LeBrun can be reached at 454-5453 or by e-mail at flebrun@timesunion.com.
Nothing ever gets done in this state because there's no cooperation between the Dems, Reps, Conservs, working party, and all the rest of the people in politics who won't compromise on issues.
Spitzer will keep a low profile for a while. That seems to be the way they all do it, hoping the people will just go on with their lives and forget. I predict that Spitzer came in like a lion and will go out like a lamb...and with his tail between his legs!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
It's too bad, I personally had confidence that he would do a good job for NY. He was very effective as Attorney General. I am disappointed in him. I know I sound like a broken record with that Republicans and Democrats have to all get along line, but...... He touted himself as being bi-partisan and he would work with both sides of the aisle. It seems he can't get along with ANYONE.
Spitzer was an excellent Attorney General. His steamrolling effect was perfect for that job. However, as govenor, he needed to switch gears. He still is in that 'attack' mode that is almost needed to be an effective attorney general. I did not vote for him, but wasn't too alarmed that he did get elected. I thought he would do and OKAY job. I also am very disappointed as are most who voted for him.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Dont forget that as the 'steamroller attorney general' he instituted the background check on healthcare workers.....it doesnt work, anyone can commit a crime later and if they weren't caught before, there is no record......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. Spitzer has signed a new law that will allow mothers to keep providing breast milk to their babies after returning to work.
The law requires employers to provide time and private space for women to express milk or nurse their children for up to three years following the birth of a child.
Spitzer said allowing women to breastfeed will benefit both businesses and families. Employees' dedication to the workplace will be strengthened, and children will benefit from the nutritional value of breast milk.
The Assembly and the Senate unanimously approved the legislation.
Assemblywoman Roann Destito sponsored the bill. She said a young mother was fired in her district for expressing breast milk for her baby. She said the new law ensures that won't happen again.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. Spitzer has signed a new law that will allow mothers to keep providing breast milk to their babies after returning to work.
The law requires employers to provide time and private space for women to express milk or nurse their children for up to three years following the birth of a child.
Spitzer said allowing women to breastfeed will benefit both businesses and families. Employees' dedication to the workplace will be strengthened, and children will benefit from the nutritional value of breast milk.
The Assembly and the Senate unanimously approved the legislation.
Assemblywoman Roann Destito sponsored the bill. She said a young mother was fired in her district for expressing breast milk for her baby. She said the new law ensures that won't happen again.
Seems to me that Ellie's stepping into some of the things that are none of the state's business, as usual. Where does it say that the state will provide ample place for breast feeding mothers? And what about a mother who wants to feed their child breast milk after the age of 3? I mean really, where is this age barrier comig from? Did Mr. Spitzer do a poll all across the state to see what the best age was for this cutoff?
THIS IS A PLACE THAT THE STATE HAS NO BUSINESS STEPPING INTO!
When women breast feed, they express breast milk with a pump to place in bottles. I think this is what Mr. Spitzer is referring to. Even though I don't think there should be a law for this, I think this law is to allow a space and time during work for women to express breast milk, with a pump, to place in bottles.
These filled bottles can then be given to the day care provider for the baby while mom is at work.
Carl Strock THE VIEW FROM HERE Carl Strock can be reached at 395-3085 or by e-mail at carlstrock@dailygazette.com. Spitzer kicks non-union contractors
Here’s a beauty. Do you remember a few years ago Schenectady and other localities began adopting a rule that in order for contractors to bid on public construction jobs they had to have apprentice programs? And not just apprentice programs, but apprentice programs approved by the state Labor Department, following the union model and based somewhere other than the contractor’s own premises? It was a way to make it diffi - cult for non-union contractors to bid on public jobs, and local governments went along with it, authorized to do so by the state, not out of any sense of fairness or any concern with training new workers but simply bowing to union power. In response, small non-union contractors endeavored to get their own apprentice programs approved, despite the bureaucratic hurdles, and some of them even succeeded. In fact quite a few succeeded — about 100 statewide, just from the Associated Builders and Contractors, which is a consortium of mostly non-union builders. Which meant that the requirement didn’t entirely have the desired effect. It didn’t entirely drive non-union shops out of public business. Some of them still managed to compete. So now Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat supported by and beholden to labor unions, has just halted the recognition of new apprentice programs, which means if a contractor wants to bid on a public construction jobs he must still have an apprentice program, but he can no longer get one approved. A beautiful catch: You gotta have it, but you can’t get it! We are “suspending the development and approval of apprenticeship programs in all trades,” the governor announced the other day. “The addition of new participating employers to existing programs is also being suspended.” He made the announcement at a convention of the Long Island Federation of Labor, and though I wasn’t there, I’m sure it went over very well with the union officials. “This is the pay-off for all their support throughout the campaign,” said Scott Zylka, political affairs director for Associated Builders and Contractors, and I suppose it is. It certainly has nothing to do with the economic health of New York and nothing to do with fair competition. And please note that this amazingly brazen move goes well beyond the bogus Wicks Law reform, which was passed by the Assembly, is supported by the governor, but is stalled in the Senate. That non-reform would require that contractors have apprentice programs in place for three years before being allowed to bid on public works, meaning, it wouldn’t be enough that you jumped all the hurdles and got a union-type program approved by the state. After you got it approved you would still have to wait three years before you could build a school or a library. Or even more, because you would have to actually graduate some apprentices, not just have the training program in place, and since some of those programs last five years, you would have to wait that long. So that particular measure would be another way of locking up work for the trade unions, masquerading as reform of something else. The unilateral executive action by the governor leapfrogs that pokey little scam and leaves it far behind. Now you can’t get an apprenticeship program approved no matter what. Never mind waiting three years or five years. More clearly than anything it gives the lie to the propaganda we endured a few years ago, or at least I endured, when trade-union representatives and subservient local politicians were beating their breasts about the great importance of apprentice training and how vital it was to quality workmanship, economic growth, and the future of mankind. Now they don’t want it anymore. All finished. Why? Because non-union contractors were taking them up on it. What they do want is what I said they wanted all along: a monopoly on public construction work. No, wait! Not just public work after all. This bulletin just in from Long Island: The town of Oyster Bay passed a local law on Tuesday evening extending the apprenticeship requirement to private construction also. Specifically to commercial buildings or collections of commercial buildings totaling 100,000 square feet or more, meaning anything of any consequence in the private sector. You can’t do that kind of construction any longer in Oyster Bay unless you have an apprentice program, and of course, thanks to Gov. Spitzer, you can no longer get an apprentice program. You can do the work only if you already have one. This local law was pushed by — do you want to guess? — the carpenters’ union, the electrical workers union, the laborers union, the sheetmetal workers’ union. So maybe the governor’s suspension of new apprentice programs throughout the state is not the fi nal step. There’s still the Oyster Bay step. And then maybe there could be another step of flat-out prohibiting anyone from engaging in any construction work whatsoever unless a member of one of the trade unions. Becky Meinking, chapter president, Associated Builders and Contractors: “Every time in New York I think I’ve seen it all, then I see something new. It makes me wonder where we’re going to be in five years. As a taxpayer I fear for the future of the state.” Me too. After all, why do you think our local taxes are so high? Why do you think it costs so much to build schools and libraries and courthouses? And here I was, all set to give the governor credit for vetoing another silly and insulting labor-sponsored bill that had been slavishly passed by the Legislature, a bill that would have required licensing of all levels or workers who install fire sprinklers, which was an arcane matter designed to benefit no one but the trade unions. But forget that now. He didn’t give them that little gumball, but he gave them the store.
CAPITOL Spitzer vetoes legislation to alter squatters rights The Associated Press
Gov. Eliot Spitzer has vetoed a bill that would have prevented people from taking ownership of properties through a centuries-old statute commonly known as “squatters rights.” The governor signed several bills into law as well. The squatter’s rights legislation would have changed the state’s “adverse possession” law, which dates back to English common law and allows a person to take title to a property he uses for 10 years or more, without objection from its actual owner, even if that person knew the land wasn’t his to begin with. The bill, introduced in April by State Sen. Betty Little, R-Queensbury, would have changed the law to prevent such a transfer of ownership when the person knows the property belongs to someone else. In a memo justifying his veto, Spitzer said the bill may appear to improve the law, but it could create a flood of lawsuits because it would make it difficult for property owners to know when the statute of limitations had run. “I cannot approve a bill that undermines this statute of limitations and thus leaves property ownership rights so uncertain,” Spitzer said. Proponents of the bill were disappointed by the veto. “This measure would not have overturned the entire adverse possession legal mechanism,” Little said in a statement. “It would, however, have addressed those situations, for example, in which someone mows their neighbor’s grass or plants some shrubs in the hope that they may eventually claim the property as their own.” Spitzer also vetoed a bill that would have taken the city of Buffalo out from under the oversight of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, which was created in 2003 to provide financial assistance and provide budget oversight to the city. The bill proposed easing the criteria to lift the oversight provisions by next July. Spitzer said doing so would set a bad precedent. He also signed several bills into law including: A measure allowing local governments to grant property tax breaks to “Cold War” veterans who served at least a year in the military between Sept. 2, 1945 and Dec. 26, 1991. A ban on electrocuting chinchillas, mink, muskrats, beavers and other fur-bearing animals. A federally funded Veteran Burial Fund that would reimburse families of veterans up to $2,500 for burial costs. The fund would only be established if the federal government grants the money. New rules requiring New York City school cafeterias to be adequately heated and cooled. An extension of the Buffalo Fiscal Stability Authority, created to provide financial assistance and budget oversight to the city of Buffalo, through next July. New rules requiring state contractors to print on workers pay stubs the wages they are entitled to when they work on public projects.
A ban on electrocuting chinchillas, mink, muskrats, beavers and other fur-bearing animals.
Is this really an issue here in NYS?
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New rules requiring New York City school cafeterias to be adequately heated and cooled.
Good thing this doesn't apply in Rotterdam. I mean really, Schalmont would have a good reason now for raising our taxes again (oh, wait, they're already putting this up for a vote anyway).
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