Behind an Anti-Spitzer Site, an Ally of Roger Stone
Here’s a link to a new-ish anti-Eliot Spitzer web site called SpitzerFile.com, which is supposed to be a one-stop shop for information (19 pages’ worth) about how the governor financed his 1994 and 1998 campaigns for attorney general.
After calling a number at the bottom of the page, I got to Michael Caputo, a former campaign aide to George H.W. Bush and public relations buddy of Republican operative Roger Stone.
“It’s fairly clear that there is much more afoot in the governor’s mansion,” Caputo told me. “He’s shown his true colors to the electorate since Election Day and especially in the last few weeks.”
In addition to the web site, Caputo has been emailing a compendium of Spitzer-in-trouble stories to reporters and activists under the neutral-sounding title “NYFacts.com.”
I asked Caputo -- who said he isn’t getting paid for his work on this project and that he’s acting purely out of the conviction the press is letting Spitzer get away with something -- whether it wouldn’t have been better to be raising issues about Spitzer’s past before he was actually elected governor.
“Every day is election day when you’re in office,” Caputo said.
As for the notion that he’s doing the dirty of Stone, who is currently working as a paid advisor to the state Senate Republicans, Caputo said, “I don’t work for free. Ever. I never have. If I’m doing Roger’s dirty work, a check is well overdue.”
- Poll
- Obama (D)
- McCain(R)
- Spread
- RCP Average
- 46.3
- 41.7
- Obama +4.6
- Candidate
- Favorable
- Unfavorable
- Spread
- Obama
- 55.7
- 32.7
- +23.0
- McCain
- 52.4
- 34.7
- +17.7
It's baffling to me that Bruno has become a sympathetic figure in this so-called "Troopergate/Spitzergate" scandal. The fact that he's connected to Roger Stone should end the benefit of the doubt that the papers are giving him. He's a crook, plain and simple. Hopefully, the federal probe will be settled soon so that the Governor can get back to work and put this horrible, unfortunate incident behind him.
Now, mind you, I'm not saying his office is blameless. I do believe he has to clean house -- starting with reassigning Baum to an agency. Otherwise, he will not move his agenda forward. The average person has lost confidence in the Reformer. And, he really does need a better press agent. It's so obvious that Dopp is no longer on staff -- Anderson is in way over her head...she doesn't know anything about New York or the way to effective communicate the Gov's message. Spitzer is getting buried every day.
Day One should have been a new team at the helm! Where are the proven staffers???
Reassigning Baum would be a nightmare - either Spitzer needs to keep him or fire him. But as we're beginning to see with Howard a reassignment makes it seem as though Spitzer is condoning the bad actions.
Talking about Bruno's investigation (the attempted redirect) is simply keeping the Troopergate story alive. With Spitzer playing it all this way, it looks like this story and all of the others that will lead from it will keep this in play well into 2008, which is a state mid-term election year. This mess in the Executive branch may well lead to Democratic losses in the Legislative branch – a seemingly unthinkable feat only a month ago. Bruno could end up winning more seats for his slim majority, and Silver could end up losing a seat or two in the Assembly. There's blood on the tracks and it's just the beginning.
I was wondering who was behind the ton of anti-Spitzer stuff I've been receiving. I tried to unsubscribe but I'm still getting stuff. I suppose I'm getting this stuff because I write for the New York Times, but since I write videogame reviews I'm hardly the target audience; I suppose the guy who does the crossword puzzles is also on the list. This sort of scattershot approach to me indicates unethical people out on a vendetta, so I'd be inclined to ignore it all even if I didn't always ignore state politics to begin with.
He is an evil man - I hope he will get what he deserved.
A lot of innocent people lifes are destroyed by him. I hope he will burn in hell.