Character Attack on Spitzer Veiling Wall Street-Led Establishment Assault on His Candidacy

from Naked Capitalism:


David Dayen: Character Attack on Spitzer Veiling Wall Street-Led Establishment Assault on His Comptroller Candidacy


Bill DeBlasio’s ascension in the New York City mayoral primary is something liberals everywhere are supposed to care about (outside the CORRIDOR THAT MEANS EVERYTHING, here in Los Angeles, we just elected our own fairly progressive mayor, Eric Garcetti, two months ago, but I guess it’s only in New York where one example makes a trend). From my perspective, I’m more interested in the Democratic primary for Comptroller, which pits Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer against comeback hopeful Eliot Spitzer. The polls have been wildly divergent: Quinnipiac has over the past week shown a virtual dead heat, while the Marist poll gives Spitzer a double-digit lead. Polling is notoriously difficult in citywide elections generally, and especially for downballot races, so it’s hard to get a full read on this. But Quinnipiac shows a racial divide, with African-American voters going 60% for Spitzer and white voters 60% for Stringer.

Stringer wasn’t supposed to have any competition. He was the machine candidate, anointed by the Democratic establishment months if not years ago. He bided his time and then took what everyone considered his rightful place. Spitzer upended that. And right from the outset, the city establishment tried to sabotage him. Neal Kwatra, last seen ruining the credibility of Eric Schneiderman while serving as his chief of staff, signed up with and abruptly quit Spitzer’s campaign during the signature-gathering phase, in an incident that really didn’t look like an accident. The goal was apparently to leave Spitzer high and dry amid a tight deadline to get on the ballot, forcing him at least to spend lots of money on signature gatherers (a process Kwatra didn’t set up before leaving) and drain his war chest.

Kwatra quit because the local labor establishment supports Stringer, along with the other establishment groups in the city, led by the local chapter of NOW. The New York Times laid this out in late July.

In reality, this is about one thing and one thing only: money. New York has become a true tale of two cities in the Bloomberg era, and the rich don’t want Spitzer in control of $140 billion in city pension funds, making him instantly one of the world’s most important activist investors. That would be too taxing on the executive class, and they and their friends stick together. So women’s groups or other big-money donors can come up with some “legitimate” reason to oppose Spitzer, but nobody’s really fooled. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/david-dayen-character-attack-on-spitzer-veiling-wall-street-led-establishment-assault-on-his-comptroller-candidacy.html#ebRoAGTGZBIf1TTQ.99