Back again is Spitzer the Steamroller: the one whose personal political agenda – in this case, engineering a Democratic takeover of the state Senate this fall – rules supreme.
Spitzer's office and the state Banking Department have announced a series of hearings on the subprime-mortgage crisis that includes members of the Senate. But not all senators – just members of the Senate's Democratic minority.
That had good-government outfits like the New York Public Interest Research Group and the League of Women Voters scratching their heads in bewilderment at the one-sided nature of the event, which appears to be unprecedented.
The Banking Department, after all, is supposed to be a nonpartisan agency.
Amazingly enough, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson seemed to suggest that it's questioning why Republicans were excluded that con- stitutes politicizing the issue.
Actually, Anderson is correct: The mortgage mess shouldn't be a partisan issue.
Just another Spitzer dirty trick?
And in case you're thinking that this was just an inadvertent oversight on the governor's part, consider this: Dicker reports today that Marty Mack, Spitzer's deputy for intergovernmental affairs, used his official e-mail to widely distribute an editorial attack on GOP Senate leader Joe Bruno.
Seems like the new Eliot Spitzer is sounding an awful lot like the old one.