Steven Malanga
Empire Burlesque
Spitzer’s downfall leaves Albany still seeking a reformer.
11 March 2008
To say that the reform agenda that Eliot Spitzer campaigned for as a gubernatorial candidate has been largely unachieved would be an understatement. After barely a year in office, in which tales of his administration’s alleged dirty tricks and threats against opponents dominated the news, Spitzer is certain to depart having done little to end the massive dysfunction that characterizes Albany and that has left New York voters increasingly cynical about their state’s government. Whether Spitzer’s replacement—Lieutenant Governor David Paterson, a longtime Albany insider—can bring a measure of needed reform is an open question, considering that he doesn’t have a personal mandate from voters and lacks the political capital to tame the power brokers who rule Albany.

When Spitzer ran for governor in 2006, lack of confidence in state government was widespread, with 58 percent of New Yorkers saying that they were dissatisfied with Albany, according to a poll commissioned by the Manhattan Institute’s Empire Center for New York State Policy. At the time, nearly half of poll respondents said that either they or a family member had considered leaving the state—perhaps not surprising, considering that New York led the 50 states in out-migration, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.

Behind state residents’ discontent were a number of well-known problems that seemed resistant to reform. Powerful special interests—from public-employee unions to health-care groups—controlled much of the agenda in Albany, driving up spending on employee salaries and on benefits and subsidies to favored groups like hospitals and nursing homes. Legislators treated the state budget as a personal cookie jar, filling it with “earmarkedâ€