Amid scandal, New York Governor Spitzer, rising Democratic star, moves to rebuild his image

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: A Wounded Spitzer Moves to Rebuild His Image
By PATRICK HEALY
Published: July 29, 2007

Eliot Spitzer was at a loss for words.

The governor’s senior staff had gathered at short notice on Monday morning in Albany, and a grave Mr. Spitzer was addressing them. All their hard work for the last seven months was about to be subsumed by scandal, he said, according to several people present. A trusted aide was being suspended over a dirty-tricks operation. Ethics was supposed to be the gold standard, not the black eye, of a Spitzer administration.

“This is what we stand for,” Mr. Spitzer began, and then stopped. Aides in the room recalled that he seemed to choke up as he had to remind them, and himself, about a core principle he had hoped would define his tenure.

In conversations with allies and friends this week, as he has grappled with his aides’ misuse of the State Police to try to tarnish a political opponent, Mr. Spitzer has expressed regret and frustration. He knows that he has alienated people with his steamroller style and needs a plan to win them back. Yet he has also told friends that he will not allow the scandal to straitjacket him.

At the same time, friends say, he has acknowledged that perhaps his fighting spirit helped create an atmosphere in which his aides may feel comfortable pushing the line (and, in this instance, crossing it)....

***

None of Mr. Spitzer’s friends say he is self-pitying; they say he still sees his future as bright, be it running for re-election in 2010 or possibly for president after that. But they say this is a personally challenging moment for a man trained to look at facts and problems with a lawyer’s eye. He is now dealing with betrayal and controversy, accusations of lying and arrogance, and questions swirling around him: “What did you know and when did you know it?”...

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/nyregion/29eliot.html

[Metta]

1. Scandal my eye. He talks publically about it, apologizes to his opponent and fires the aide.

Then there's no problem, NYT. 'Rebuilds his image,' what jive.

[Solo_in_MD]

2. So Spitzer has feet of clay...its not exactly news...judge him relative to his peers