Thread: Niagara Gazette editorial: Spitzer drops in latest polls

EDITORIAL: Spitzer drops in latest polls
Niagara Gazette


— Gov. Eliot Spitzer is quickly discovering that popularity is fleeting when it comes to public officials.

Spitzer rolled into the governor’s mansion in November in a landslide over Republican John Faso, collecting 69 percent of the vote. As state Attorney General, Spitzer made headlines prosecuting Wall Street offenders and other business defendants. His combative style was well-suited to developing the image of crusader for the little guy.

But once Spitzer assumed office, some strange things happened. The brash, business-busting attitude didn’t always play well when it came to getting along with members of the state Legislature. What worked when he played the lone wolf attorney general seems to be less than successful when faced with the give-and-take of Capitol Hill in Albany.

Spitzer is said to have told a political opponent that he (the governor) was a “steamroller,â€

Anyone want to take bets on him being r-elected????????????

The man needs to be impeached for not keeping his oath of office.

Can a New York governor be recalled like Gray Davis of California was?? Anyone know?

Apparently the "R" word is on the minds of a lot of New Yorkers. See below.


By RICK KARLIN, Capitol bureau
First published: Saturday, October 13, 2007

ALBANY -- In what may be the Republicans' most aggressive action so far in their increasingly bitter struggle with Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer, lawyers for Assembly Republican Minority Leader James Tedisco are researching a proposal to create a way of allowing voters to unseat a sitting governor.

Such a recall mechanism would probably have to come through a constitutional amendment, which would entail approval by two consecutive legislatures and by voters.

And while it's highly unlikely the Democratic-dominated Assembly would pass the plan, the fact that Republicans are looking at it underscores how hard they are going after Spitzer.

"We're researching the possibility of a recall, similar to what California has," said Bill Sherman, Tedisco's chief of staff.

His remarks came a day after Tedisco tore into the governor during one of several press conferences during the past few weeks to decry the governor's policy that would allow illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses.

That plan comes with what the administration has said is tighter scrutiny of license applicants, but it has nonetheless drawn heavy protest from mostly Republican county clerks as well as Republicans in the Legislature.

"This is not only about illegal aliens, we think it's about illegal Eliot," said Tedisco, who contends the change should have been debated in the Legislature rather than imposed by executive order.

Spitzer's office had not seen the Republican plan and had no comment.

A prominent Democratic senator, Eric Schneiderman of Manhattan, dubbed the recall idea "absurd."

New Yorkers have voted on some 75 constitutional amendments over the last 40 years with about two-thirds passing, said Robert Ward, deputy director of the SUNY Rockefeller Institute of Government.

The vast majority of those amendments, though, concerned relatively minor or narrow issues, such as helping rebuild municipal water systems.

The last major constitutional change, Ward said, was in 1977 when voters eliminated elections for Court of Appeals judges, giving the governor appointment power.

Even though it's a long shot in New York, talk of a recall is at least likely to get the attention of the Spitzer camp when one considers what happened in California in 2003 -- when Democratic Gov. Gray Davis was recalled following a number of controversial moves including his plan to grant driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story. ... 10/13/2007

This would be great!!!! Go for it! People need to let these politicians no we are sick and tired of it!