Suozzi: Spitzer Shouldn't, I Can
Suozzi appeared in front of Eliot Spitzer's office to ask why he hasn't returned a donation by the state teachers union after vowing not to accept contibutions from organizations investigated by the Attorney General's office.
But the point became somewhat muddled when Suozzi said he would have no problem accepting contributions from the union. The issue, he said, was purely one of a "conflict of interest" for Spitzer, and had nothing to do with accepting money from organizations under investigation.
The problem with that argument, is that ethically, at least, it suggests Suozzi has set lower standards for himself than Spitzer has.
When reporters pressed Suozzi on the point, he argued that he would accept all "legal" donations, and finally added "it's a moot point -- the teacher's union is not endorsing me."
Not exactly an ideal message of the day.
- Jason Horowitz UPDATE: Suozzi aide Dan Gerstein writes in to clarify that the reason for Suozzi's visit to Spitzer's office today was to point to the "double standard" of in his handling of the union, and not to urge him to return the contributions, which became the focus of the subsequent Q&A with reporters.Tom never said the teacher's union was dirty or their contributions were tainted, all he said was Eliot violated his own standard when it was politically expedient for him and that raises a real question about his independence and integrity.
Great message to the voters Tom - "Eliot, do as I say, not as I do."
That'll really get those middle of the road fencesitters that don't hate your guts yet. I am beginning to wonder whether the NY GOP is paying off Suozzi to say some of this nonsense.
For a guy who was once seen as having a promising future, Suozzi sure seems to be flushing it down the toilet with this campaign for Gov.
Give it up dude, you're toast!
welcome to the majors mr. suozzi
You know Tom almost had something there and goes and screws it up....
It reminds me of the story of the guy who goes into a cathouse with a fistful of $100 bills and can't close the deal.
We often ask why so many incumbents who do a poor job get re-elected. Similarly, why do so many consultants who do a poor job like Dan Gerstein continue to get re-hired? It makes even less sense.
OK everyone, repeat after me: " Tollbooth Tommy Suozzi is a dead man talking."
I wonder how people Spitzer's campaign employs to troll the web posting on these blogs.....
Be careful what you wish for. The shit is about to hit the fan in NYS regardless of who is the next governor. With Eliot's glass jaw, poor demeanor, and inexperience with being seriously challenged by anyone, get ready for a disaster.
Tom Suozzi has failed to answer 3 central questions :
1. If you have never lowered property taxes, and are facing a $170 million budget shortfall next year, and NIFA reports that property taxes have increased 3% per year since the 'I will only raise taxes once promise'. How can you promise you can do something you have not done ?
2. You failed to save more than a $2.0 million in detecting medicaid fraud in Nassau ( out of $800,000,000 in claims). How can you realistically say you can save billions in fraud detection at the state level, when your recovery rate is .025 (two and a half cents per dollar spent) vs the 15% you say you can generate as a way to lower taxes.
Eliot Spitzer has increased fraud recoveries by over 2,000 % , $2.8 billion, including $273.5 million raked in by the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, or .07 (seven cents per dollar) a big difference.
To be fair almost half the total was a joint NYS AG and DOJ/HHS sting operation. But who cares, it shows you can work with all levels of Gov't,.
Suozzi's federal interaction with HUD costs Nassau a million in penalties for misuse and incompetence misallocating Federal funds meant to go to the needy.
So, how can you base a property tax decrease on something you have failed to do ? And your opponent has done better ?
3. How can you pass any legislation when you can not control your own legislative majority ? Nassau was bad, so if you have not done it how can we believe you can ?