Malcolm in the Middle
As Spitzer, Bruno Fight
In Preparation for 2008

Henry J. Stern
Monday, October 15, 2007

Day One - Everything changes

Day 288 - How low can you go ?

We last reported to you Tuesday, bringing you up to date on the Albany wars.  Some of you feel that we are paying too much attention to what appears to be infantile behavior by Bruno and Spitzer, the combatants, comparing the struggle to a cafeteria food fight.  That may be the case, but if the stakes are high enough, even a food fight is worth knowing about, as long as you don't have to watch it.

Last week began with a statement issued by Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, in which he said that Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith had called him to apologize for a letter that had been drafted by Governor Spitzer's office for legislators to sign, calling on the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency, to investigate Senator Bruno's use of the state plane for political purposes, on the ground that such use was undisclosed income on which he should be taxed.

Senator Smith, in response, said the Senate Democrats would not participate in such an uncollegial and gratuitous letter-writing campaign.  The idea, of course, came from the Governor's office.  Spitzer is reportedly very upset with Smith for not following his orders.  He may try to get the Democrats to dump Smith, just has he dumped Dopp.  According to Fred Dicker, writing on p8 of today's Post, "Senate Republicans meanwhile, quietly retaliated against Smith last week by canceling service on six of the cell phones used by his top aides.  Read Dicker's two stories today about revenge and suspicion in Albany: JOE FOE IN CROSSFIRE; and EVEN DEMS FEAR ‘DIRTY TRICKS’ FROM SPITZER.

Let us explain why this latest intrigue is ridiculous.  1) If you want to drop a dime to inform the IRS about a tax delinquent, you do it privately, and submit supporting evidence.  You don't circulate a round-robin letter of complaint.   2) What Bruno has done is commonplace among public officials, who used state resources, whether cars or planes, to travel around the state.  You call it politics, they call it keeping in touch with their constituents.  It is not criminal conduct.   3) In the interest of comity and good relationships between the governor and the senate, why in the world would Spitzer initiate a new controversy which will only provoke the senate majority and  further worsen the poisoned atmosphere that already pervades Albany.

Governor Spitzer may be arrogant and threatening, but he is not an idiot.  We believe there may be a method behind his apparent madness.   He has given up on the 2007 legislature, and really accepts the fact that nothing much will happen this year or next. He looks forward to the 2008 election in the hope that the anticipated national Democratic victory will switch control of the Senate from the Republicans to the Democrats for the first time in forty years. 

Then Senator Bruno will be deposed as majority leader, and the governor thinks he will get to pick the new majority leader, who will be in fealty to him.  As a result of having waged an anti-Bruno campaign for two years, Spitzer believes that he will get the credit for ousting Bruno. In fact, if that happens, it will be the result of an anti-Republican tide in New York State because of anger at the Bush administration.

With Bruno gone, and replaced by a newbie, Spitzer will have only one senior partner, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and the Governor will spend the next two years trying to minimize the Speaker's influence. The Democrats hold more than two-thirds of the 150 seats in the Assembly, and Silver's control over his conference appears to be complete, for a number of reasons. There are probably other factors of which the public is unaware, but these four come to mind:

 1) Silver listens to the wishes of conference of the Democratic assemblymembers, as he did when refusing Spitzer's request to select the new Comptroller. He went with his members, and chose a 20-year veteran of his flock, Assemblyman Thomas DiNapoli.

2) Nothing can happen in the Assembly without the Speaker's blessing, not a sparrow can fall, so every Democratic member is indebted to him for legislation, special projects (pork), committee assignments, office space, etc. 

 3) He is an able politician, dispensing rewards and punishments to his flock for cause. Members who are objects of his displeasure do not forget his chastisement, which is more likely to come in acts or omissions rather than words.

  4) He does not insult people in the media, use foul language in public, or explode in visible demonstrations of anger. (This may be giving him undeserved credit because, so far, he has not often been frustrated legislatively, and if he has he has kept the matter to himself and those responsible for his frustration.)

 4) He does not initiate complaints about his colleagues before other government agencies unless he is required to by law. He tries to protect his members and the Assembly staff from their own stupidity, lust and greed to the extent that he is able to do so. He acts as a mother hen to birds that stray from the law, unless they stray from his leadership.

The Speaker's only potential vulnerability is renomination in his own Lower Manhattan district.  He has fought hard for his part of the lower east side and the southern tip of the borough, , sometimes to the detriment of other areas.(e.g. midtown). Nonetheless, a reform candidate who is not in the pay of a firm of plaintiffs' negligence lawyers could make a run for the assembly on a platform of higher ethical standards, forbidding outside employment of legislative leaders, and rely on diffuse anti-government and anti-establishment sentiment. On the other hand, the Speaker has done a lot of favors for people, many of whom are still alive.

If there is a Democratic primary for governor in 2010, an insurgent Assembly candidate might link with the winner, but that is unlikely, because Rule One of politics is that there are two parties, the Ins and the Outs, and the Ins stick together so they can stay Ins, and keep the Outs out.  That is the rule that Governor Spitzer is trying to break with his anti-Bruno campaign,

However there is New York State to govern, with a $120 plus billion annual budget and pressing problems both economic and social.  There are areas of concern to the public besides the destruction of one man's political enemies, unworthy as they may be.

Time will not stand still as we wait for January 2009. We elected a new governor in 2006 to bring about change, not to tread water for two years, anticipating the arrival of a more favorable political climate. The real enemies of progress, in Washington and in Albany, are the corporations, the unions, the health care establishment, and their lobbyists. The state senators and assemblymembers are to some extent their hirelings and catspaws. Given, if Bruno is replaced, these powerful outside forces will still be in place. The more elected officials squabble, the less able they will be to deal with those who have their own keys to raid the State treasury.

Spitzer's eight years as Attorney General provided him with valuable experience in attacking, threatening and intimidating people previously thought of as respectable.  It should be no surprise to see aggressive tactics employed by someone who distinguished himself by vigorous pursuit of all kinds of wrongdoers except politicians, who were seldom if ever targets of his investigators and prosecutors. He was also very active on insurance company abuses, but relatively silent about misleading and deceptive practices in the real estate industry.  (Rule 10 - I wonder why.).

When Spitzer ran for Governor in 2006, the political establishment supported him almost to a man (and woman), because, among other reasons, he was viewed as less threatening than Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, who railed against Albany and our dysfunctional government.   This suggests the saying, beware of answered prayers.  Spitzer, when he ran, had a greater record of achievement and was much better known statewide than the suburban county executive.  Spitzer was endorsed by the newspapers, and won a record 69% of the vote.  He had a mandate from the voters, disillusioned with Albany gridlock and partisanship.

How he has conducted himself in the first 288 days is a matter of dispute.  The leader of the Senate will not speak to him.   The speaker of the Assembly is biding his time.  He has just done the governor a major favor by providing shelter for Darren Dopp, the designated scapegoat for TrooperChopperGate.  Rule 28 comes to mind :(Don't accept cigarettes in prison.)  The reason is that, you may find that you have incurred an obligation that you do not wish to meet.

The new Siena poll came out today.:  Its headlines; NYers OVERWHELIMINGLY OPPOSE GOV'S LICENSE PROPOSAL.  Spitzer Gets Lowest Job Performance Rating Ever; Bloomberg Leads Spitzer 50-37 in 2010 Gubernatorial Match-up.  Link to the poll results here.

P.S.  After I wrote this column this morning, I saw a column on the same subject on p9 of the Sun by Jacob Gershman, "Reading Eliot's Mind".  You should link to it to see events through Gershman's window into Spitzer's brain. The insight shown in the column is remarkable, although perhaps we think so because he and I essentially agree.

We try to look at the matter from Silver's POV (point of view), as well as Bruno's, and poor Malcolm Smith, caught between their conflicting egos and demands.  Of course, what is aggression to one side is liberation to the other, and we try not to take sides in quarrels of this nature.  We do know that when elephants fight, the grass is sure to be trampled.  Watch out, Jiminy Cricket (BTW, did you know that Jiminy Cricket, who was Pinocchio's conscience, is a euphemism for Jesus Christ? Now you know.)

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