Suozzi and the Spitzer Trust
Tom Suozzi is going to open this week's offensive with a press conference on the theme of Eliot Spitzer and his family money.
In particular, he'll be releasing a "formal ethics opinion" on Spitzer's service on the board of his family's charitable trust.
It does raise the interesting question about who gets to regulates the state official in charge of regulating charities.
As a political issue, though, it would be surprising if Spitzer's family money proves to be any more resonant now than it was in 1998, the year his opponents accused him of buying the primary by showering dollars on Clarence Norman and other party officials in exchange for support.
-- Josh Benson
here's the strategy: most non profit charitable groups didnt get money from spitzer's famly. so by highlighting the few (mostly upper east side)charities that did, all other non profits will be pissed off at him. Interesting.
wonder if any of the charities move votes-- interesting angle if family giving to outfits that endorse eliot and the family then takes a deduction. It will look like the spitzer is again using family money for political gain-- and family gets a deduction!
Really, I just hate charities. Despise, actually. Why don't the rich just hold on to their money? Screw medical research, buying material goods is where it's at!
On the merits, probably Spitzer has some idea about development as the Manhattan developers' genes are quite potent which has been evident throughout the five boroughs for several generations. The West Side matter last week showed this. Those who hate development as a matter of ideology which about covers everybody loudly complaining won't lke this. People looking at things objectively might appreciate that Spitzer can run projects like Atlantic Yards without relying so much on surrogates like Ambassador Gargano. This won't satify the ideologues but might make elites feel okay about him. Some of the old man's buildings are great; the opposition says, Don't block my views of the East River! So much for ideology. If you don't believe in the market, you have only one way to go.
This is actually a shameful attempt to make an issue out of absolutely nothing. If Suozzi can show some wrongdoing, then do it. But, if you're using his family for your gain, this sticks.
Is Suozzi's campaign not the same one that relied on another families "money" just to get going....
I thought for sure he was initially financed by a GOP, Spitzer foe - a finance tycoon.
Attacking the Spitzer Family's charitable trust--is "tantrum/ tollbooth " Tom Suozzi so desperate he will stoop to this level? Apparantly, and shamefully so!
Hey, I don't know if anyone's going to be interested at all in this, but I think I got polled by a firm hired by the Suozzi campaign. I was asked to rate Spitzer's negatives, along a whole bunch of lines including the family dough.
Also wanted to add, gay marriage was one of the topics I was queried about, esp. whether Spitzer's "pro" position is a negative for him. Seems Suozzi is getting so desperate he'll even suck Pat Robertson's cock for a buck.
The use of "grants" by AG Spitzer to influence the voting decisions around NY State is one that deserves serious investigation. Efforts via the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL #06079) have not been able to secure the list of over 175 grant recipients that Spitzer has had a direct hand in determining have remained unaddressed by his office which controlled the process. He has used the "proceeds" from his investigation concession paymenets to fund these grants.
The nearly $52K penalty the Spitzer family trust paid to the IRS in 2004 for not making obligatory grants, as required by law, was one of the same "violation" he used to takeover the Black United Fund of New York, force the resignation of the board and replace them with Black Republicans from Nassau County, and cause the simultanious dismissal of the president and vice president -without charges, any evaluations, any turnover or transition, any opportunity to take or make corrective action plans. All this without any warranted basis for the actions of his appointed board.
The heavy and disciminatroy hand of AG Spitzer was even mentioned by Harvy Lipman in the 2/23/2006 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy in the article, "Penalties on Jewish Group Called Overly Lenient," in reference to the investigation and settlement of mismanagement and financial transaction violations of the World Jewish Congress. The artticle referenced the disparate actions Spitzer took in relation to those taken with BUFNY and the Grand Mariner Foundation.
The heavy influence of the Jewsish community in New York politics was mentioned as an influencing factor in the actions Spitzer took against the Jewish organization.
Eliot Spitzer has presided over a city of spiralling corruption and fiscal mismanagement. If he had not been so driven by his ambition to be the first Jewish President ( becoming govenor is just a stepping stone) he would have used his office to investigate and indict the MTA with its cooked books, the millions squandered by the NYC Board of Ed,.the high level corruption at the Staten Island University Hospital, etc. etc. Most of the investigations from his office were timed and placed for maximum publicity. He is as fit for governor as Bernie Kerick was fit to head Homeland Security.
Suozzi is a loser. What a jerk. The family trust he is so worried about does great things for others. Who gives a damn whether he uses his own money, raises money, or has it donated to him. The money is well spent. Unlike campaign money Suozzi spends, or our intelligent decision to send another craft in space with millions of Americans starving, and living in poverty. Suozzi should try to win something by his ability, and accomplishments. The lives of those the Spitzer Trust has touched could care less whether their lives are better by money he donated to his own trust, or money he found in a sewer. He is impacting and serving others not himself. Try it sometime Suozzi. Worry about yourself, not everyone else.