Christine Anderson

After David Paterson spoke, reporters had a large and lengthy scrum with Christine Anderson (Eliot Spizer's director of communications, who is expected to stay on for the time being), who fielded every question--some as many as three times).

Things we learned:

There may be "one reception or two" on Monday in honor of Paterson's swearing in, Anderson said.  read more »

Eliot Spitzer hasn't enjoyed particularly close relations with the Assembly since arriving in Albany. But recently, he's quietly had a number of Assembly members over to the mansion for wide-ranging breakfast and dinner conversations about policy. 

This morning, Spitzer had breakfast with the Assembly Democrats and Republicans from Western New York; last night, Assembly Democrats from Brooklyn dined at the mansion; Wednesday morning, it was Democratic Assembly members from Queens having breakfast at the mansion.

"He kind of asked us what was on our minds," said Assemblywoman Joan Millman of Brooklyn. "Many of our colleagues spoke about housing, the lack of affordable housing. I spoke about transportation."

"We all sat at a very large dining table," she said, "I thought it was a very free-wheeling conversation," she said.

Asked for an explanation, Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson pointed out that today's breakfast was "bipartisan, to discuss issues of importance to Western New Yorkers."

She added, "The governor looks forward to the opportunity to sit with other lawmakers and discuss issues of importance for this session and for their districts."

She confirmed that the other two meetings were exclusively with Assembly Democrats, with whom Spitzer has had a particularly tense relationship. (Although in fairness, how many Republican Assembly members are there in the city anyway?)

Eliot Spitzer will be appearing in the television ads for state Senate candidate Craig Johnson, Spitzer's spokeswoman Christine Anderson confirmed.

The ad was shot yesterday by ubiquitous adman Jimmy Siegel and could air as soon as tonight, according to one person on Johnson's campaign.

A campaign spokesman had no additional information and a call to Siegel's office was not immediately returned.

-- Azi Paybarah

There's a theory that no legislator wants to be the last one to hold together a fading majority. As a result, there's been a fair amount of speculation among reporters and political insiders about whether there might not be another state Senate Republican preparing to follow Michael Balboni's lead by bolting the GOP conference to go work in some capacity for the Spitzer administration.

One state Democratic official told me that despite a report that he had already reject an overture, Serph Maltese was still "target number one" of the Spitzer administration's recruitment efforts, partly because of his close re-election this year -- meaning that his seat is eminently winnable for Democrats -- and because of his record of working with local Democrats around his district.

It's an intriguing notion, although Maltese has so far done nothing to indicate that he intends to make an early exit.

At a swearing ceremony last night at Christ the King High School, according to one attendee, Maltese thanked the roughly 250 guests for their help and jokingly noted that he really had needed each and every one of them to win this year. Maltese also said, meaningfully, that he loves being a state senator and wants to keep his seat for at least few more years.

Spitzer spokesperson Christine Anderson declined to comment.

-- Azi Paybarah

It's been something a testament to Mike Bloomberg's handling of the Sean Bell shooting that there's been no real pressure for any outside official, like incoming governor Eliot Spitzer, to weigh in on the situation.

And when Spitzer finally did weigh in, it was nearly indistinguishable from what the mayor said.

From spokesperson Christine Anderson: "At first glance, 50 shots seems excessive, but he'll wait for the results of the investigation before passing judgment."

-- Azi Paybarah

Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson released a statement applauding today's court decision which lowered the level of state required funding for city schools, saying, "this decision will help us resolve the litigation."

Spitzer also said he'll propose "significant additional funding on a statewide basis," when presents his first budget in February.

But does this ruling give him an out?

When I asked if the governor-elect will voluntarily bring state school funding for city schools up to $4.7 to $5.6 billion range originally mandated by a lower court -- as he promised he would during the campaign -- spokesperson Christine Anderson declined to put a number on what Spitzer now plans to spend.  read more »

Certainly, the groups that brought the lawsuit won't let Spitzer get away with any back-sliding without putting up a fight: CFE lawsuit advocates just released a statement reminding anyone who will listen that he "has said that figure should be between $4 and $6 billion for New York City and up to $8.5 billion statewide to provide quality teachers, universal pre-kindergarten, smaller classes and strategies that will prepare our school children for the 21st century."

-- Azi Paybarah

That's the approximate number that have been received by Eliot Spitzer's transition team so far, according to campaign spokeswoman Christine Anderson. -- Azi Paybarah

Now that most of the electoral goals of the state Democratic Party have been accomplished, it's sort of an open question when it comes to the direction Eliot Spitzer will want to go in when he weighs in on the selection of the new chair.

Here's an interesting piece of speculation from one informed Democratic source:

"It really depends... on what they want the party to do and succeed in. If it's to nurture and strengthen the bench then [Nassau Suffolk County Chairman Rich Schaffer] would be good. If they want a caretaker then it could be someone more they trust who will just raise money like [Spitzer fund-raiser] Cindy Darrison.

"She does not have the same level of campaign experience but she is great for money. Rich has been one of our most successful chairs and has won all the major races."

Newsday quoted one lobbyist saying Schaffer is the likely replacement. A lobbyist I spoke with said that Schaffer's not interested in it. (I haven't heard yet either way from Schaffer himself.)

As for Darrison, she wasn't mentioned as a member of Spitzer's transition team today. Spitzer's spokeswoman Christine Anderson said they had no further announcements about personnel.

Any other logical candidates?

-- Azi Paybarah

Democratic officials, not actually wanting to gift the comptroller's office to the Republicans, have gone through the comically awkward balancing act of indicating that they intend to vote for Hevesi without suggesting that they approve of him or his behavior.

The balancing act is that much tougher, apparently, if you're running for a law enforcement position like -- let's just say -- attorney general.

I asked Andrew Cuomo, who hasn't officially endorsed Hevesi, who he intends to vote for on Tuesday.

Short answer: He won't say.

His spokeswoman, Wendy Katz said this via email:

"Andrew has said many times that he believes Mr. Hevesi has gravely compromised his ability to do his job and that voters should have all the facts and be informed. He has also said that he will not politicize the ongoing investigation by expressing his political or personal position on Mr. Hevesi because he will not compromise his ability to render an impartial judgment as Attorney General since he may be handling the matter."

Update: Eliot Spitzer, who made a show of withdrawing his endorsement of Hevesi, isn't saying if he'll vote for him. When asked, Spitzer called it a personal decision, according to his spokeswoman, Christine Anderson. -- Azi Paybarah

This new John Faso ad does its best to tie Eliot Spitzer, withdrawn endorsement notwithstanding, to his "running mate and comptroller" Alan Hevesi. Note the return of Spitzer's "stupendous public service" quote about Hevesi from the gubernatorial debate.

UPDATE: There are more Hevesi-related ads here and here. UPDATE II: Spitzer's spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, responded to Faso's ad, saying:

"John Faso must not have read the morning papers yet. "Eliot clearly did what was right in regard to the comptroller's race, and no deceptive advertising by his opponent is going to change that. He acted decisively in launching an immediate investigation and pulling his endorsement."

-- Azi Paybarah

Some of Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson's biggest contributors, like 1199/SEIU, the NYS Correction Officers Association PAC, and hedge fund guru Joel M. Greenblatt recently had their campaign contributions sent back to them. In total, the campaign sent back more than $260,000 according to their latest campaign filing.

That's because Spitzer 2006 was combined with Paterson 2006, Spitzer's spokeswoman Christine Anderson said. That means some people and PACs which contributed to both actually exceeded the state's amazingly high contribution limit of $50,100.

A list showing the campaign's other refunded contributions is here. Let us know if you see anything interesting.

-- Azi Paybarah

The Times calls it fiery, the Post says they both come out swinging, the Daily News says Suozzi failed to land a KO and Newsday calls it a debate volley. (You can read those detailed analyses here, here, here and here. Host NY1's account is here.)

The summary, I think, is that there were genuine and not-insignificant differences on substance between the candidates on a number of issues, including - to name three more or less at random -- medical marijuana, the amount of state money for city public schools and the next leader of the MTA.

In terms of style, Suozzi handled himself well enough, attacking without appearing particularly shrill. But, to use the boxing metaphor so popular in debate coverage, a KO of Spitzer was never really on the cards.

John Koblin emailed over a few notes from Pace after the event on Suozzi's aggressive spin and a pre-debate rules controversy:

Paul Rivera, the new campaign manager for Suozzi, felt like his candidate wasn't combative enough. Even while offering direct attacks and sideswipes, Rivera said his candidate missed his chance to hurt his "filibustering" and "sweaty" opponent.

"Tom needed to be more assertive," he said. "I thought he was too respectful."

Suozzi's strength, says Rivera: "His humor. He showed the people that he was a regular guy and not too hard and aggressive."

Suozzi also made an appearance to send two messages: One, he wants more debates ("After the debate ended, I went up to Eliot and asked, 'Wanna do it again? Wanna do it again?' He said, 'See you later.'"); two, to give some airtime about the "notes" incident before the debate.

Suozzi said he had a binder of notes up on the dais before the debate, which Mr. Spitzer said broke the rules. Portraying Mr. Spitzer as raving and mad, Suozzi said, "He's got a bad temper. I never saw him that angry before."

On the letter of the law, though, it seems Spitzer was right. An email dated last Friday from Jeremy Bitz of NY1 sent to the Spitzer Campaign, cites "bob" (as in View image">Bob Hardt) explaining the rules: "Can candidates bring notes? From bob, I believe you'll follow standard practice and provide pen/paper and not allow notes. As we said in the invite, these ground rules are non-negotiable."

Meanwhile, Christine Anderson, spokeswoman for Mr. Spitzer, said Mr. Suozzi came off as "shrill" and "too hostile." And even though Mr. Spitzer at times seemed to be reaching hard to bat away his opponent's lashings, she the debate "didn't change the dial" on this race.

-- Josh Benson

Spitzer campaign manager Ryan Toohey confirms that Christine Anderson is joining the campaign as communications director.

Anderson had her hands full as Teresa Heinz Kerry's spokeswoman on that campaign and then, for a time, as the spokeswoman for the Democrats' legal operation in the tense run-up to the election. She also did time at NYC2012.

I met Anderson at a Starbucks in Fort Lauderdale, where she came to yell at me after she learned I was staking out the strip mall containing the Democrats office from another (slightly nicer) strip mall down the road. She wound up, grudgingly, giving me a tour, which wound up in this story.

All their hard-work, skill -- a number of partners at top New York firms, among many others, flew south to watch the polls -- and secrecy, of course, were in vain, as Bush wiped Kerry out in Florida. But at the time it felt vital.

Other trivia: Anderson is married to Bill Clinton's last White House press secretary, Jake Siewert.