August 26, 2007
Grounding Air Albany
NY TIMES

The abuse of New York State’s taxpayer-financed official aircraft has been one of many problems obscured by all the fuss over Gov. Eliot Spitzer administration’s “trooper blooper,” as one of his friends calls it. There are more than enough investigations now into whether Mr. Spitzer’s administration overreached by persuading state troopers to release politically damaging information about his Republican foe, State Senator Joseph Bruno. Now it is time for the Legislature to protect taxpayers from paying for trips to political fund-raisers like the ones that Mr. Bruno was enjoying before all this mess become topic No. 1 in Albany.

Some of Mr. Bruno’s colleagues in the Senate have proposed a bill to ban the use of state aircraft for political use. This sounds fine — but try to define “political.” When Governor Spitzer, a Democrat, flew around the state criticizing legislators for approving one of their own as the new comptroller, was that political? What about a trip to talk to high rollers in the city about, say, congestion pricing — the same rich people who also contribute to campaigns?

Unless the Republicans can be a little more specific, they are merely showboating.

Meanwhile, the State Ethics Commission, which is investigating the Spitzer administration’s conduct in the matter, has revamped the rules governing this expensive form of public transit. Almost 12 years ago, an earlier incarnation of this commission advised Gov. George Pataki that state airplanes were at his disposal — for no charge — as long as there was some “bona fide public purpose” associated with the trip. Talk about a loophole the size of an airplane hangar, this was it.

What is new is that the commission will require an official using the public’s aircraft to pay the real cost for whatever part of the trip is unrelated to a real public purpose. The trip also has to be mostly for state business, not one that includes the public’s business as the barest camouflage for a political event. (One trip by Senator Bruno under the old rules clearly focused on a big fundraiser in New York City, with a few state meetings as window dressing).

The commission also requires that the details of such trips be made public unless doing so would “jeopardize the security of the public official.” That should be a very high bar since most of the relevant records would be released after the trip has taken place. The advisory issued by the ethics panel also makes it clear that banning the use of aircraft altogether for political or personal reasons should be done by state law, not by the commission.

Activists have been calling for a “bright line” between political use and state use of aircraft, and the line is a little brighter with the commission’s opinion. It could be brighter still if the Legislature would do its part.

Already, however, there has been a taxpayers’ windfall from this whole scandal. Mr. Bruno has been spotted taking the train from Albany to New York City like the rest of us. And like the rest of us, he has learned that one needs a kind of Zen patience with this more ordinary and far cheaper form of transport.

Eliot L. Spitzer
Timeline: Spitzer vs. Bruno

Eliot Spitzer took office as New York's governor on the first day of 2007, with a record margin of victory and a profound sense of promise. Over the previous eight years as attorney general, Mr. Spitzer, a Democrat, gained national recognition as the 'Sheriff of Wall Street' for his pursuit of corporate corruption and his self-styled role as the defender of the American investor. During his campaign, his signature promise was to change state politics "on Day One" of his new administration, with ethics reform high in his sights.

But his first year as governor has been rocky, to put it mildly. Shortly after taking office, he openly and harshly criticized fellow Democrats who control the Assembly after they installed one of their own, Thomas P. DiNapoli, as the state comptroller. Then he began an increasingly bitter war of words with Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader and the state's top Republican.

All that was a prelude to the scathing report released in late July by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo. The report said the Spitzer administration had misused the State Police in an attempt to discredit Mr. Bruno. The report led Mr. Spitzer to indefinitely suspend one top aide and reassign another, and re-assess his strategy and priorities after seven months in office. By early August he faced a number of potential new investigations in the wake of the attorney general's report.

Eliot Laurence Spitzer was born on June 10, 1959, in New York City, where he was raised. The governor is one of three children of the real estate developer Bernard Spitzer, whose fortune has been estimated in the range of $500 million.

Eliot Spitzer's resume includes stops at Horace Mann, Princeton and Harvard Law School, where he met his future wife, Silda Wall. He spent six years as a prosecutor in the Manhattan district attorney's office, where he set up a complex sting operation to break the mob's stranglehold on trucking in the garment district.

Many believe the combative and temperamental governor will have to change his style to succeed in Albany, but few believe that will be easy for a man who has often said, "You don't change the world by whispering."

August 26, 2007
Rethinking Bold Style, Spitzer Gets New Advice
By DANNY HAKIM, NY TIMES

ALBANY, Aug. 23 — Acknowledging his problems navigating the turbulent waters of Albany, Gov. Eliot Spitzer in recent weeks has reached out to a diverse group of prominent figures for advice in putting his scandal-marred administration back on course.

Members of the informal group, who come from a wide range of professional and political backgrounds, include Robert E. Rubin, the treasury secretary under President Clinton; Jerry Speyer, a real estate developer who has advised governors since Hugh L. Carey; and Abraham M. Lackman, a Republican and former top aide to the governor’s chief political rival, the Senate majority leader, Joseph L. Bruno.

Seeking help from outside advisers is something of a departure for Mr. Spitzer, who during two terms as attorney general and as governor has relied on the same close-knit circle of aides, among them Richard Baum, his secretary; Darren Dopp, his communications director; and David Nocenti, his counsel.

His new strategy reflects, in part, Mr. Spitzer’s recognition that his aggressive approach to the Legislature has been less than effective and has created dissension, some of his new advisers said. “He has a very good sense of his missteps so far — not that it would take a genius to see that — and how he has to change,” said Mr. Rubin, who met with the governor over breakfast recently, along with Mr. Speyer.

But Mr. Spitzer’s hand may also have been forced by scandal: His discussions with the outside advisers began shortly after the release of a report by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo last month that said some of Mr. Spitzer’s closest aides had misused the State Police in an attempt to discredit Mr. Bruno.

Both Mr. Baum and Mr. Dopp have been implicated in the scheme. Mr. Dopp has been suspended; Mr. Baum has said he did not know anything improper was taking place.

The political atmosphere in Albany was further inflamed when lawyers representing the governor’s father, Bernard Spitzer, accused a top consultant to the Senate Republicans, Roger J. Stone Jr., of leaving a threatening voice mail message. Mr. Bruno forced Mr. Stone, who has denied the charge, to resign.

In a recent interview, the governor said, “I’m clearly reaching out to individuals in both the private sector and in government who have a depth of experience in crafting, both structurally and ideologically, administrations I have admired.” He added, “I’m trying to garner from them whatever wisdom I can about how you go through it.”

A half-dozen people contacted by the governor in recent weeks described many aspects of their conversations and advice. The group also included Marc V. Shaw, who used to be Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s first deputy mayor; Elizabeth Moore, former counsel to Gov. Mario M. Cuomo and the first head of the State Ethics Commission; and James R. Tallon Jr., the former majority leader of the State Assembly.

The discussions seemed to dwell to a large extent on process, and many of the advisers said they encouraged striking a different and more productive tone with lawmakers, while others said their discussions were more focused on rethinking the governor’s policy agenda. All said they had had both personal meetings and phone conversations — generally one on one — and had been asked to play a recurring informal role.

“We talked basically about what had transpired over the last seven or eight months, a lot of it being very good, obviously, and some of it imperfect,” Mr. Speyer said. “And we really talked about the imperfect piece, and how some of that could be handled in a different way going forward.”

Many of the conversations appeared to reflect the governor’s acknowledgment that his hard-charging style was at times getting in the way of his policy agenda, though there has been widespread skepticism in the political world that the governor can temper his personality or his political style.

“Psychology books say people don’t change 10 percent from the date of birth to the date of death,” said Joseph Mondello, the chairman of the state Republican Party. “For this guy in a few weeks to go from Mr. Tiger to be Mr. Pussycat, I don’t see it.”

In his choice of outside advisers, Mr. Spitzer seemed to be looking for a range of talent and experience. Mr. Lackman, a Republican, knows Mr. Bruno well. Mr. Rubin, in his years with President Clinton, saw from the inside how an administration deals with turmoil and scandal. Mr. Tallon, a Democrat from Binghamton who is president of the United Hospital Fund, is intimately familiar with the Legislature and upstate politics.

“The idea is to have a candid conversation with him about the bigger picture, the process,” said Mr. Tallon, who has been an important health policy adviser to the administration. “Obviously, the events of the last month in Albany have put a focus on things, but the truth is, this is a conversation every administration has to have as it goes from post-campaign mode to governing mode.”

Mr. Lackman, who served from 1995 to 2002 as Mr. Bruno’s top budget adviser, expressed hesitation about offering advice to the governor.

“I have an extraordinary amount of affection and admiration for Senator Bruno,” he said, adding that it had “been an enormously disappointing summer.”

“This is as bad as I’ve ever seen it,” he said. “I believe at such a difficult moment, to the extent I can do something that might make it better, whatever trepidation I have is worth the risk,” he said. “If there’s one thing I hope will come out of the next 12 months, it’s a return to civility.”

Mr. Lackman, who is now the president of the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, a private policy group, once served as Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani’s budget director.

Mr. Shaw once worked for the State Senate’s finance staff and, in his days as first deputy mayor, spent many days in the Capitol. He was recently appointed by the governor to the 17-member commission studying Mayor Bloomberg’s congestion pricing plan for Manhattan. Mr. Shaw said the governor had called him about three or four weeks ago, “when this stuff was reaching a head in the press.”

“Look, he’s obviously going through a tough time and the state is going through a tough time,” he said. “He’s a very smart guy and he realizes something has gone amiss and he’s trying to figure out how to get it back on track.”

Mr. Shaw’s advice? Strike a closer relationship with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democrat who often clashed with Gov. George E. Pataki but has become something of a middleman between Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Bruno.

“Shelly has been through it before,” Mr. Shaw said.

Ms. Moore said she had talked to the governor about management issues, namely making sure the executive agencies were carrying out his policies.

“It’s a perfect time to take stock of what’s been working,” she said, adding that she had also offered advice on honing the governor’s message.

Mr. Rubin, now a Citigroup executive, said he had done the same reaching out when he was treasury secretary.

“There’s always a risk that groups of people develop thought patterns, and you want to reach outside of that and see what people thought, and President Clinton certainly did that,” he said.

There was little talk of policy with Governor Spitzer, he said.

“I think the discussion was more about how do you make a transition from attorney general to a governor,” he said. “There have been plenty of governors who have been forceful, but the question is how do you do it and get results. What he said himself is, ‘How do you make the transition?’ ”