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November 5, 2010
Andrew Cuomo: How will he do with his shot at 'day one?'
Syracuse.com
by Sean Kirst
The more things change...
It struck me the other night, as I watched Andrew Cuomo make his acceptance speech, just how surreal the events of the last 48 months have been. It was only four years ago that we elected Eliot Spitzer, and I think most New Yorkers assumed we'd have him for governor for at least eight years - at which point he'd look toward Washington D.C. In any event, I went back and found the column I wrote when Spitzer was elected; an awful lot of it still goes for the attorney general who's becoming governor, this time around:
SPITZER IS VICTOR, BUT WHOM DID WE ELECT?
For Eliot Spitzer, this is Day One.
That's the theme he's used throughout his long campaign for governor. Today, at least symbolically, that time has come. George Pataki will have a month or two to clean out his office, but Spitzer becomes the one calling the shots.
...Spitzer has supported the $4.2 billion Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, yet he remains so keenly aware of community concerns in his native New York City that he wisely called last summer for additional time to review the project. Compare that with what Spitzer did at almost the same time in Syracuse: One of his campaign aides, behind the scenes, lobbied Councilor Bill Ryan, a Democrat, for a quick "yes" vote on the equally complicated billion-dollar final deal for the Carousel Center expansion, Ryan said.
NoLandGrab: Fear not, Syracusians. You can rest assured that Eliot Spitzer didn't spend a second more contemplating Atlantic Yards than he did your Carousel Center project. It was all an act.
And don't hold your breath for anything different under Andrew Cuomo. We sure aren't. His pockets have already been lined with Bruce Ratner's money.
Posted by eric at November 5, 2010 11:19 AM