Eliot Spitzer doesn’t seem to be a particularly big or threatening fellow, but bullies come in all shapes and sizes. Some are the physical bullies of grade school who take your lunch money under the flagpole. Others are the more cowardly, big-mouthed verbal ones like Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter that hide behind desks while spewing vitriol. All are thin-skinned cowards who are addicted to power, eschewing negotiation and using confrontation to get what they want.
Bullies are good for things like loan sharking (which is where most of the schoolyard ones will end up) or for the partisan bloviating that passes for political debate on mainstream media outlets since they’re good on TV. But they do not make good politicians, where compromise and relationships are only accomplished by meeting your adversaries halfway. This, along with his idiotic turn as Client 9, made Eliot Spitzer's downfall the fitting end to a hubristic governor that, in the end, alienated and tried to bully everyone.
I don’t follow New York state politics that closely, but last year I spoke at a conference where a speaker on my panel detailed Spitzer’s difficult first year in office. I was legitimately surprised by Spitzer’s actions, especially his vendetta against Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno – a man he would need to work with to get anything accomplished for the citizens of New York. What on earth would possess a governor to do such an inadvisable thing? The speaker believed that Spitzer was still acting as a prosecutor who saw anyone who disagreed with him as an enemy that needed to be squashed like a bug. These actions correctly led the majority of New Yorkers who voted for Spitzer to abandon him. His actions this week caused his die-hard supporters to do the same.
Of course, Spitzer made his name prosecuting white collar, Wall Street types in the anti-Enron atmosphere of five to six years ago. Sure, many of these executives were making too much money while their stock tanked and ordinary workers were downsized. But how many of the executives Spitzer accused were actually indicted or convicted? Very, very few. Most settled for fines and minor changes in their operations to quickly make the charges disappear, but by accepting these pleas Spitzer never really was able to prove these charges in court, which left a bitter taste in many business leaders mouths, and undisputed schadenfreude at his end. Even former NYSE Dick Grasso, the king of executive compensation excess, remains uncharged and still counting his hundreds of millions.
The media loved Attorney GeneralSpitzer, since even perceived and unproven executive malfeasance makes good copy. But this story from a Wall Street Journal editorialist who said Spitzer was going too far speaks volumes about this bully when Spitzer called him and said the following:
Just like any tragedy, it’s easy to look back and see the warning signs – Spitzer’s unreported loan to his 1994 campaign, his inability even charge executives after publicly naming them, the disastrous idea to find dirt on politicians who did not share his views. Even Spitzer’s use of the Martin Act, an incredibly obscure law passed in 1921 before entities like the FDIC and SEC were established to protect consumers, should have set off alarm bells for civil libertarians. The Act, which gives “broad power to prosecute any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud or for obtaining money or property by means of any false pretense, representation, or promise,” meant Spitzer did not even have to build a case before charging others with crimes.
In the end, Spitzer got what was coming to him. Bullies always do. I earlier asked why politicians are held to a higher moral standard, when celebrities today are celebrated for their lack of morals. Part of the answer is that way more is expected of them. We should expect attorneys to honor and uphold the law, and governors to do what is best for the citizens of their states. Spitzer did neither. He was just another bully.
Bullies are good for things like loan sharking (which is where most of the schoolyard ones will end up) or for the partisan bloviating that passes for political debate on mainstream media outlets since they’re good on TV. But they do not make good politicians, where compromise and relationships are only accomplished by meeting your adversaries halfway. This, along with his idiotic turn as Client 9, made Eliot Spitzer's downfall the fitting end to a hubristic governor that, in the end, alienated and tried to bully everyone.
I don’t follow New York state politics that closely, but last year I spoke at a conference where a speaker on my panel detailed Spitzer’s difficult first year in office. I was legitimately surprised by Spitzer’s actions, especially his vendetta against Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno – a man he would need to work with to get anything accomplished for the citizens of New York. What on earth would possess a governor to do such an inadvisable thing? The speaker believed that Spitzer was still acting as a prosecutor who saw anyone who disagreed with him as an enemy that needed to be squashed like a bug. These actions correctly led the majority of New Yorkers who voted for Spitzer to abandon him. His actions this week caused his die-hard supporters to do the same.
Of course, Spitzer made his name prosecuting white collar, Wall Street types in the anti-Enron atmosphere of five to six years ago. Sure, many of these executives were making too much money while their stock tanked and ordinary workers were downsized. But how many of the executives Spitzer accused were actually indicted or convicted? Very, very few. Most settled for fines and minor changes in their operations to quickly make the charges disappear, but by accepting these pleas Spitzer never really was able to prove these charges in court, which left a bitter taste in many business leaders mouths, and undisputed schadenfreude at his end. Even former NYSE Dick Grasso, the king of executive compensation excess, remains uncharged and still counting his hundreds of millions.
The media loved Attorney GeneralSpitzer, since even perceived and unproven executive malfeasance makes good copy. But this story from a Wall Street Journal editorialist who said Spitzer was going too far speaks volumes about this bully when Spitzer called him and said the following:
"Mr. Whitehead, it's now a war between us and you've fired the first shot. I
will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and
you will pay dearly for what you have done. You will wish you had never written
that letter."
Just like any tragedy, it’s easy to look back and see the warning signs – Spitzer’s unreported loan to his 1994 campaign, his inability even charge executives after publicly naming them, the disastrous idea to find dirt on politicians who did not share his views. Even Spitzer’s use of the Martin Act, an incredibly obscure law passed in 1921 before entities like the FDIC and SEC were established to protect consumers, should have set off alarm bells for civil libertarians. The Act, which gives “broad power to prosecute any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud or for obtaining money or property by means of any false pretense, representation, or promise,” meant Spitzer did not even have to build a case before charging others with crimes.
In the end, Spitzer got what was coming to him. Bullies always do. I earlier asked why politicians are held to a higher moral standard, when celebrities today are celebrated for their lack of morals. Part of the answer is that way more is expected of them. We should expect attorneys to honor and uphold the law, and governors to do what is best for the citizens of their states. Spitzer did neither. He was just another bully.
