Eliot Spitzer

Some of the most significant collateral damage from Eliot Spitzer's implosion involves the reputations of two of his one-time allies: former communications director Darren Dopp (the original scapegoat for Troopergate) and David Soares, the Albany County District Attorney (who is the current scapegoat).

Dopp has been on the offensive trying to clear his name, speaking at length with the New York Times, and -- just this this morning -- providing the New York Post with his version of the testimony he gave to the state’s Public Integrity Commission.

The transcript Dopp provided undermines Soares’ initial report into the Troopergate incident, which alleged Dopp acted as a rogue agent and inappropriately ordered the state police to re-create travel records for state Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who received protection from the police (as is customary for legislative leaders).  read more »

Andrew Cuomo announced he won't appeal the court's decision to side with Dick Grasso, further eroding Spitzer's legacy as attorney general. Here's the statement:

"We have reviewed the Court's opinion and determined that an appeal would not be warranted. Thus, for all intents and purposes, the Grasso case is over."

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal editorial board called for Cuomo "to cut his – and taxpayer – losses" on the Grasso case.

When news broke that Eliot Spitzer had been patronizing a high-class prostitute, one thing everyone seemed to want to know was what, exactly, he’d asked his call girl to do. It was “unsafe,” in the words of “Kristen,” a.k.a. Ashley Alexandra Dupre—but could that have been an excuse she fabricated in hopes of unloading an undesirable client? Speculation was all over the map, from unprotected sex to anal to dangerous S&M to wearing socks in bed (not unsafe, sure, but certainly annoying). For a few days there, as we marveled over the amount of money earned by the girls at Emperors Club VIP and wondered over their wealthy clients and envied Ms. Dupre’s Flatiron apartment, hookers were on the brain. Are their lives better or worse than ours? At the top end, at least, their jobs actually sounded more like dating than whoring.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo just held a press conference about an agreement he brokered with major internet providers to get them to block access to websites featuring child pornography.

It's the latest example of Cuomo taking (and succeeding with) an issue with national implications. (School loan industry, mortgage lenders, social networking sites, Credit Rating Agencies and now Internet providers.)

At the end of today’s press conference, a reporter asked why those companies - Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint - needed the attorney general to broker such a deal. Which, is another way of asking Cuomo, basically, what exactly is your strategy here, and why does it keep working?

“Why do you need the attorney general?” Cuomo asked, to some laughter.

“This question comes up, often, in different contexts,"

"Well, it’s not that easy,” he said. “They’re competitive companies--one is vying with the other. And to do an industry-wide reform, [to] get the main players to agree to simultaneously is very hard, if not impossible to do.  read more »

Eliot Spitzer's interested in taking his father Bernard's real estate firm to "the next level" by starting a distressed real estate fund (a.k.a. a vulture fund), according to today's New York Sun.

The vulture fund would basically find distressed properties nationwide, buy them, fix them up a bit, and flip them for quick profits. What better time to scrounge then during an economic downturn spurred in large part by a housing market collapse?  read more »

John Koblin examines Bill Clinton's angry response to Vanity Fair's recent profile of him. "The responses from the former president and his camp are very saddening in their own ways,” according to VF editor Graydon Carter. Plus: Ana Marie Cox joins Radar.

Leon Neyfakh reports from Los Angeles' Book Expo America where Random House's new C.E.O., Markus Dohle said, “I am looking forward to becoming a real New Yorker."

Spencer Morgan talks to Rip Torn about Norman Mailer: “Norman always dressed to the nines... He always had a suit, vest, tie, sometimes a hat. And so behind the lamppost, he turned to me and said, ‘Why you always dressed like a fuckin’ bum! Dress up, put on a nice shirt and tie, and you’ll get more respect.’"

Plus: George Gurley at 40... Eliot Spitzer's new job... and Sex and Our City.

By all accounts, Eliot Spitzer never imagined that Spitzer Enterprises would be his life’s work. His father Bernie’s real estate empire, the one he built from scratch, would finance Eliot’s ambitions. Not circumscribe them.

But that was then. This is now. And apparently, the deposed governor is adjusting.  read more »

In this clip from last night’s state Republican fund-raising dinner, state party chair Joseph Mondello introduces Joe Bruno, who then proceeds to call Eliot Spitzer “demented” (at the 5:35 mark).

Around 3:48 mark, Bruno thanks priest Jim Lisante for “being on the side of the angels."

"And thank you for helping God understand what Republicans are all about,” he adds.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo won a lawsuit against Dell computers for what Cuomo’s office called “false advertising, deceptive business practices, and abusive debt collection practices.”

Once again, it's a victory (and future talking point) for Cuomo over a corporate mischief-maker on Main Street, rather than Wall Street, where his predecessor made his mark.  read more »

Contributions made to Spitzer 2010 are being refunded.

A reader just passed along an email from Allyson Giard, the main fund-raiser behind the former governor’s re-election committee.

Giard wrote:

We intend to re-distribute the campaign's remaining funds on a
pro-rata basis to contributors who make an official request for a refund, either by email or letter. To expedite this process, we have set a deadline of June 15; in order to be honored, a refund request must be received by the campaign office by close of business on that date. After June 15, we will determine the rate at which we are able
to issue contribution refunds and will begin issuing checks. (We will not be able to honor any requests received after June 15.)

Here's the full email:

   read more »

02138, the lifestyle magazine for alumni who attended college "near Boston—um, in Cambridge" has been sold to Manhattan Media, publishers of The New York Press, City Hall, The Chelsea Clinton News, and other papers. O1238 was launched in 2006 with the backing of Atlantic Media's David Bradley.  read more »

Finally someone is honoring Silda Wall Spitzer's mortifying role in her husband's debacle rather than criticizing her for it. Harper's Bazaarhas done a photo shoot titled "Stand By Your Man" inspired by the Spitzer sex scandal; it will appear in the magazine's June issue. The images, conceived by photographer Peter Lindbergh, portray the narrative of an uptown couple dealing with a very public political sex scandal. They even recreate the Podium Scene in which Ms. Wall stood beside the former governor with that infamous defeated look on her face. And check out the ascots!

Follow the jump for the rest of the "story."  read more »

If you remember this year's White House Correspondent's Dinner, you weren't there. Felix Gillette, John Koblin, and Choire Sicha flood the zone in D.C..

Janet Silver is moving from Houghton Mifflin to Nan Talese's imprint at Doubleday. Leon Neyfakh checks in with with Ms. Talese who says, "I called Janet and she sent us a list of the authors she had worked with and the ones who’d said they wanted to come with her, if not immediately then eventually." That list may include Philip Roth and Jonathan Safran Foer. Plus: Islam observers on Wieseltier's Amis review; James Frey's PR Dream Team; Spitzer's bio; Nabokov's unfinished novel.  read more »

Portfolio, the business imprint of Penguin Group USA, paid over $350,000 for the rights to a book by Peter Elkind about the rise and fall of Eliot Spitzer, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Mr. Elkind, who wrote a cover story about Mr. Spitzer for Fortune in 2005, will be collaborating with filmmaker Alex Gibney, who is working on a Spitzer documentary, the release of which will be timed to the publication of the book.  read more »

A couple of weeks after becoming one of the earliest and loudest critics of Council Speaker Christine Quinn over her proposed member-item reform, John Liu is publicly tweaking another one of his colleagues, this time over a more routine legislative matter.

Here’s a brief clip of Liu during a City Council hearing about biological, chemical and radiological detectors this morning, where he openly questioned the need for the legislation the committee was considering. The bill was introduced by fellow Queens Democrat Peter Vallone, Jr., whose committee meeting Liu was attending.

 read more »

 

Just because Eliot Spitzer is out of office doesn’t mean Republicans are forgetting about him. In fact, if Republican State Senator Serphin Maltese’s first television ad is any indication, we could be seeing a return of Spitzer in a big way this November.  read more »

Unlike most public officials, New York’s hard-charging attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, doesn't keep a written daily schedule.

That's according to his office, which, after two separate Freedom of Information requests from The Observer, finally said that Mr. Cuomo simply didn’t have any pre-existing documentation of his day-to-day professional and political activities that he could make public.

It's the nature of his job, an aide explained.

"The vast majority of the attorney general's time each day is spent working on and being briefed on our cases and investigations," said Benjamin Lawsky, a special assistant and deputy counsel to Mr. Cuomo.

Mr. Cuomo’s office eventually did provide a reconstituted outline of his public schedule between January 2007, when he took office, and April 2008. It is five pages long, listing press conferences, public outings and political events. They said it includes everything of a nonsensitive nature.  read more »

Former Eliot Spitzer fund-raiser Cindy Darrison, who recently was hired to help David Paterson, is working with another candidate in a potentially high-profile race for Manhattan district attorney.

If the seemingly unstoppable 89-year-old Robert Morgenthau decides not to run for reelection, Cyrus Vance, a Manhattan attorney, might.  read more »

The news that David Vitter may soon be called to testify at the trial of Deborah Jean Palfrey—more commonly known as “the D.C. madam”—serves as an important reminder: He’s still in office. And, really, in light of the bipartisan frenzy to expel Eliot Spitzer from the governorship when his ties to the Emperor’s Club were revealed, you've got to wonder why.

It was last July that we first learned that Vitter’s name and phone number were part of Palfrey’s client records between 1999 and 2001.  read more »

In case you were wondering, the departure of State Democratic Party co-chair Dave Pollak does not mean Hillary Clinton's superdelegate count is down. That's because Pollak, a committed Clinton superdelegate, will be replaced by Reggie LaFayette, who is now the party’s second highest-ranking member.

In other words, this is different than the unexpected departure of Eliot Spitzer. David Paterson was already a superdelegate for Clinton, so his ascension to governor resulted in the net-loss of one.  read more »

State Democratic Party co-chair Dave Pollak is leaving his position, the party announced a few minutes ago (right when most people are heading out the door for the weekend).

Pollak had previously run the group Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, which brought political leaders in front of young professionals and provided a place for those leaders to recruit campaign operatives and legislative employees.

Pollak, along with chair June O’Neill, was hand-picked by Eliot Spitzer to run the party after the departure of former chair Herman Denny Farrell. Pollak was charged (naturally) with bringing the party into the 21st century.

The departure comes amid a number of personnel changes David Paterson has made to replace Eliot Spitzer's hires with his own.

Here is the official statement:  read more »

Tom Freston has put Andy Warhol's East 66th Street apartment on the market for $38.5 million, according to Page Six. The 12-room, six story apartment was originally bought by Mr. Warhol for $310,000 in 1974; Mr. Freston bought the property in 2000 for $6.5 million. [P6]  read more »

While much of former Governor Eliot Spitzer’s economic development agenda seems to be on hold or in flux (e.g. Moynihan Station, for one), his once controversial plan for the Javits Convention Center has outlived his tenure.

The Paterson administration is trekking down the path of a renovation and modest expansion for Javits, with plans for an additional 50,000 square feet of exposition space and a truck storage area. The budget, at least as of a few weeks ago, was $1.3 billion for the whole ordeal, $300 million or so less than the amount approved for a much larger expansion and renovation under the Pataki administration (which the Spitzer folks later found to have a true cost of more than $3 billion).  read more »

The Troopergate investigators are being investigated, according to a statement released just now from the Chairman of the New York State Commission on Investigations, Alfred Lerner.

He said the commission “has renewed its investigation into this whole matter," but added this:

"Let me be clear. The Commission is not investigating the events concerning Troopergate; more than enough investigations of the issues surrounding those events have taken or are taking place. Rather, the Commission is investigating the investigations. We are seeking to determine the efficacy of the various investigatory efforts, including those of the Albany County District Attorney, the State Inspector General and the State Commission on Public Integrity.  read more »

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The Troopergate report (pdf) that came out on Friday has some great back-room gossip between Eliot Spitzer and one of his top aides, Rich Baum, about a Times story.  read more »

Albany County District Attorney David Soares' office just made a partial release of his report on Troopergate. The announcement gives these caveats:

"Due to the terms of the limited waiver agreements executed by the District Attorney and the Executive Chamber, we are unable to release the complete analysis until privilege issues of first impression are resolved with former Governor Spitzer and Governor Paterson.  read more »

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Over on the Politicker, The Observer's Azi Paybarah reports:

Investigative reporter Wayne Barrett of the Village Voice confirmed to me just now that he is considering writing a biography about the former governor, and has been contacted by at least two publishers about such a project.

“I haven’t made up my mind one way or the other,” Barrett said in a brief telephone interview.

Read the rest of Mr. Barrett's thoughts on this potential project here.

Eliot Spitzer’s career in public service may be over, but the race to tell the story is just getting under way.

Investigative reporter Wayne Barrett of The Village Voice confirmed to me just now that he is considering writing a biography about the former governor, and has been contacted by at least two publishers about such a project.

“I haven’t made up my mind one way or the other,” Barrett said in a brief telephone interview.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo’s office just released two letters related to the Troopergate investigation.

The first, dated yesterday, is from Albany County District Attorney David Soares to David Paterson's office, asking that the governor waive privileges to documents related to Troopergate. (Soares is expected to issue his second report on the effort to smear Joe Bruno later this week.)  read more »

David Paterson is still adding to his string of confessions.

“I tried it a couple of times,” he said in an interview with NY1 News, when asked if he had ever used cocaine.

It was his first television interview since he became governor last week.

Host Dominic Carter asked Paterson a number of questions about past drug use. The governor also admitted he has used marijuana, but added that he has not touched illegal drugs since his early twenties.  read more »

A curious reader wondered whether Eliot Spitzer might be using leftover campaign cash, as opposed to his personal money, to pay for his new spokeswoman and private security detail. (As of the last filing, Spitzer had $2.9 million in campaign funds at his disposal, and the rules governing what he can do with that money are a "gray area".)

The answer, according to spokeswoman Anna Cordasco, is no. Spitzer is paying for both, she said, "out of his own pocket."

Eliot Spitzer proposed in his State of the State Address in January that the Triborough Bridge be renamed for the late New York Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, one of the fallen governor's fiercest opponents, has introduced a bill to do just that [last item] .

David Paterson just nominated a new superintendent of state police, retired State Police Colonel Harry Corbitt.

At a press conference in his Midtown office, Paterson declined to say the nomination is in any way connected to the state police involvement in Eliot Spitzer's effort to discredit Joe Bruno.  read more »

David Paterson is favorably viewed by 58 percent of voters, and unfavorably by only 10 percent, according to a new Siena poll out this morning. Sixty percent of voters also think that the change from Eliot Spitzer to Paterson will be good for the state.

The poll was conducted between March 17 and 21, over the course of last week, while news of Paterson’s own extramarital affairs was surfacing. A Siena pollster is quoted as saying that the opinions of respondents did not change as the survey went on.

Buried way down in the New York Post story about a madam who is saying that she knows Eliot Spitzer paid to watch couples have sex is a less tawdry piece of news: It looks like Spitzer has hired a new spokeswoman.

"Anna Cordasco, a spokeswoman for Spitzer, said, 'These are completely outrageous fabrications.'

Cordasco is a managing director at Sard Verbinnen & Co., a firm that handles “strategic corporate, financial and crisis communications.”

She's also the spokeswoman Nancy Grace hired after a guest on her CNN show committed suicide.

New Yorkers have high expectations for David Paterson, a new Quinnipiac poll shows, with 75 percent believing that he will govern effectively, 46 percent holding a favorable opinion, and only 3 percent having an unfavorable opinion. (The data was collected between March 16 and 18, and one pollster is quoted as saying opinions shifted slightly after news broke of his affairs).

The poll also shows that, given four choices, New Yorkers overall like Michael Bloomberg for the next governor. He earned 29 percent to Paterson’s 27 percent, although Paterson leads Bloomberg among Democrats. Andrew Cuomo was in fourth place, with 11 percent. The third most favored choice was Rudy Giuliani, who took first place with Republican voters.

Here's the release:  read more »