Eliot Spitzer

I caught up with Eliot Spitzer outside Arthur Ashe Stadium before last night's Roger Federer match and asked him about the best part of his tennis game.

“I used to volley well,” he said. “I’d come up to the net a lot. But now I’m 48 years old. My hamstring hurts, my back hurts, and this and that.”

He said he wasn't much of a Federer fan, but loved Americans Andy Roddick and James Blake. He asked me who was playing in the women's match at the time but I froze and couldn't remember.  read more »

Azi finds the contrasting responses of Eliot Spitzer and Joe Bruno to scandal interesting:

Joe Bruno fired Roger Stone immediately – the same day that the phone calls he supposedly made came to light. Eliot Spitzer only “suspended” and demoted two people – Darren Dopp and Bill Howard – when the anti-Bruno smear effort was revealed, and he’s defending a third (Rich Baum).

Granted, Stone was only a consultant, and thus easier to cut loose than Spitzer’s aides. And the accusations are not entirely analogous – and no criminal charges have (yet) been filed against anyone. But Bruno and Spitzer were both faced with similar situations and responded very differently.

Spitzer, in protecting his people and standing by them, has taken a beating and has connected his own reputation to the unfolding saga – he’s made it clear that these are his people. But Bruno didn’t even hesitate. He dragged Stone to the guillotine and killed the story, at least as far as the Senate G.O.P. is concerned. Bruno decided right away not to let Stone overshadow his criticisms of Spitzer. Bruno spared himself considerable grief. Spitzer didn’t. If anything, Spitzer’s loyalty calls to mind George W. Bush’s refusal to toss Albert Gonzales aside – it only gives the other party ammunition to use against him.

Is it too soon to start calling Eliot Spitzer “embattled?”

At the very least, he’s sporting another prominent bruise after the release of a report today by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo finding that the governor’s aides acted improperly in an attempt to damage the reputation of Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno.  read more »

Peter Kalikow’s Monday morning announcement that he would step down after six years as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority surprised no one, not least of whom Mr. Kalikow himself.  read more »

Today is the day Governor Spitzer has been waiting for: Peter Kalikow plans to announce that he is resigning as chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, according to a state official.

It was back in June when Mr. Spitzer, at the time simply the presumptive governor, vowed to replace Mr. Kalikow, a real-estate developer and former owner of the New York Post, even though he really would not have the power to do so. Mr. Kalikow, just reappointed to a six-year term, promised to stay on—at first he said for one or two years or more, then he said until projects he wanted had gotten off the ground, and then he said sometime in the spring.  read more »