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An Insider’s Look at the Players:
Governor Eliot Spitzer
Okay, we know that if you mess with him, he will fight until you are down. He said he was a steamroller and he meant it.
In fact, such is his dominance in New York State that even his allies are more than a little worried. Back in the olden days, if you campaigned for a guy, you had bragging rights and you were owed. That’s all changed. Now they’re all looking over their shoulders, including the people who supported and campaigned for him.
Truman’s vice president, Alben W. Barkley, once met a farmer on the campaign trail who had turned on him, despite all the support Barkley had provided in previous years. He first quoted those now-famous words, heard in the Kentucky fields: “Yeah, but what have you done for me lately?”
No one will be immune. No one. Even billionaires like Michael Bloomberg will have to worry. When Attorney General Andrew Cuomo looked like he would be fighting Spitzer for positioning in Albany, I wondered how that would play out. I’m not wondering anymore.
Remember the old joke: “How do you play with a two-ton gorilla? Very carefully.”
You just don’t know what Spitzer will do next.
Senate Republican Leader Joe Bruno
Bruno learned that lesson from Spitzer well. He told Spitzer to stay out of the Long Island Senate race that put Democrats just two votes away from taking control of their house. Spitzer did exactly the opposite. He went in with a vengeance. He did some of the best political advertising I have ever seen, and he cleaned Bruno’s clock.
All the while, Bruno has been facing an increasingly tough federal investigation over his own personal ethics, and he has been severely weakened. His hand-picked Republican State Chairman, Joe Mondello, is in full retreat. Members of the Republican Senate may have to be on the lookout for a new leader.
Nassau Country and State GOP Chairman Joe Mondello
This guy, the Nassau County leader, has now been officially declared as hamburger. He has lost everything on Long Island except his pants. Even they are on the way out. The county executive, the county legislature, the State Senate seat have all gone to the Democrats.
For his good work he has been rewarded with the state chairmanship of the Republican party. Unbelievable. The single stupidest of all the stupid things that George Pataki did was to let Bill Powers, the legendary political tactician, get out of the big job which has now become so small.
Only heaven knows what Mondello had in his portfolio to convince Bruno to promote him to the top political job. Maybe it was the loyalty of the Long Island Republican Senators who could not now vote for Long Islander Dean Skelos, the heir apparent.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
Little left to be said. He got between a rock and a hard place. He knew that fighting with the new governor would be dangerous, but his Democratic conference leaned on him to take on Spitzer over the comptroller choice. Knowing that his conference was his board of directors and could revolt, Silver did the dumb thing. In a way, he was sacrificing himself for his members.
I can’t tell you how many conversations I have heard about who the next speaker is going to be. That’s a tough one: even if Spitzer manages to displace Silver, there is no apparent strongman in the wings. Since so many of the Democratic conference were with Silver, the pickings seem quite slim.
On the other hand, you have to figure that if Spitzer is as powerful as I think he is, he could pick an unknown for speaker, install him, and control the way things go. While unlikely, I wouldn’t count it out.
Comptroller Tom DiNapoli
I wouldn’t want to be him. One can only wonder how that battle is shaping up. The comptroller’s office can be quite powerful in a political battle. He will have an increased role in the way in which the budget battle shapes up.
If he sides with the Legislature that elected him and not with Spitzer, it could get ugly. What’s more, the comptroller, who owes everything now to Silver and even to Bruno, has the power of the audit, which, if DiNapoli has the guts, could be used for political mischief.
My bet is that the prosecutors are going to be very busy in the next few years. Let’s put it this way: in the mob, everyone would be going to the mattresses right now. It’s a good time to lay low.
Alan Chartock is the president and CEO of WAMC/Northeast Public Radio and the executive publisher and project director of The Legislative Gazette