Denouncing Ken Langone

The chairmen of Schenectady and Suffolk Counties are circulating a letter that calls on Tom Suozzi to distance himself from "Republican activist" Ken Langone.

"Denounce Mr. Langone. Tell him to stop his campaign. And give back the money. Anything less compromises you as a candidate and as a Democrat," reads the letter, a copy of which The Politicker has obtained. Suozzi, needless to say, won't denounce on command.

The letter is sort of a distraction, but here's the real problem for Tom: Langone vs. Spitzer is, for any number of reasons, a more interesting story than Suozzi vs. Spitzer. It's also probably a storyline Eliot would prefer. Suozzi, who has a separate case to make about cleaning up corruption and reforming management, is in danger of winding up a footnote to the entertaining, dramatic battle between two titans, Langone and Spitzer.

(The fact that this is being pushed by county chairmen is a smaller, but real, problem for Eliot: He's the candidate of pols, and of the Democratic establishment, and that's how Suozzi wants him to be seen.)