More on Spitzer

The WSJ has more info on the egregiously illegal and immoral activities of NY's Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. The extent of his political opportunism and pandering coupled with his wanton disregard for due process and justice continue to amaze me. A few choice quotes from the article:

On a personal level, the AG has also struggled to explain away his penchant to threaten people in private. Former Goldman Sachs Chairman John Whitehead wrote on this page in December that after he'd published an op-ed criticizing Mr. Spitzer, the AG had called him to say: "Mr. Whitehead, it's now a war between us and you've fired the first shot. I will be coming after you. You will pay the price. This is only the beginning and you will pay dearly for what you have done."

This is hardly an isolated incident. Consider: Former GE chief Jack Welch confirmed last year that Mr. Spitzer told him to deliver a message to Ken Langone--whom the AG is suing along with Mr. Grasso. Mr. Welch couldn't remember the precise words, but broadly confirmed a Newsweek account that the AG had threatened to "put a spike through Langone's heart." (A Spitzer spokesman later said this was a "hearsay account from a hallway conversation.")

That this is happening, not in Bolivia, but in New York is truly frightening, and the likely result will be that companies will continue to move away from NY, just as they will from Bolivia.

See also previous entries on Spitzer: 1 2