Posted on 11/08/2007 7:40:02 AM PST by jmyrlefuller
When a newly elected governor takes office after winning with an overwhelming majority, he is expected to use that voter good will to help other members of his party win office in the next election.
It didn’t quite work out that way in New York this year.
An embattled Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer found himself getting little credit for helping fellow Democrats win in their local races across the state Tuesday. But he was being thanked profusely by Republicans for what they said was voter backlash against Spitzer that helped propel some GOP candidates over Democrats in a number of key contests.
“It’s a clear message to this governor to change his ways,” Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, Spitzer’s chief nemesis, said of Tuesday’s showing by Republicans in places such as Erie, Onondaga, Dutchess and other upstate counties.
To be certain, the Democrats won a number of races, including the mayor’s race in Niagara Falls, while coming close to taking over the Monroe County Legislature and apparently holding onto control over the Nassau County Legislature, though a key race there has not yet been decided. Moreover, in many contests, local politics and issues, not Albany dysfunction, drove voter decisions.
“I was more than gratified at the results,” Spitzer said in an interview, calling the statewide results “an affirmation of the Democratic Party’s success in governing.”
But in many Democratic victories, Spitzer was either absent from the races or, in the case of Erie County Clerk Kathleen C. Hochul and some Democratic candidates on Long Island, they were running away from him and his policies, notably his plan to let illegal immigrants obtain driver’s licenses.
In some areas, Democrats appeared to do well in spite of Spitzer. Hochul, for instance, did not ask Spitzer to campaign with her, even though the governor appointed her to the post earlier this year. Moreover, after first hedging on the issue, she sharply split from his license policy when, with a couple of weeks left in the campaign, she threatened to have illegal immigrants arrested if they applied for a license.
In Niagara County, Republicans sent mailings in the closing hour of the campaign seeking to link local Democrats to Spitzer’s unpopular driver’s license plan — a tactic derided by the head of the county’s Democratic Party as bringing “the Willie Horton approach to politics.” Yet it helped, as Republicans maintained their control of the Legislature, though Democrat Paul Dyster won the Niagara Falls mayor’s post.
In the final days of the Erie County executive race, which was won in a landslide by Republican Christopher C. Collins, Democrat James P. Keane turned to recorded phone calls to voters by former President Bill Clinton, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer and appearances by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and others. Spitzer’s voice was noticeably absent from the calls or the last-minute stumping.
“It tells you his popularity is way down,” said State Republican Chairman Joseph N. Mondello, who mocked the governor by calling him the GOP’s “partner” in helping Republicans win at the polls Tuesday.
Collins and Leonard R. Lenihan, the Erie County Democratic chairman, both said they do not believe that the license issue filtered down to the county executive race. But, Lenihan noted, Spitzer nonetheless did become a lightening rod for Republicans.
“There’s no doubt Eliot became controversial in the last few weeks of the campaign. I have no doubt he’ll work his way out of this situation in the near future, but in the last four weeks, he became very controversial — and we wanted to downplay its potential impact,” Lenihan said in explaining why the state’s top Democrat played no visible role in Erie County in the last few weeks.
On. Oct. 14, Spitzer did come to town for a speech on the economy. Afterward, reporters had little to ask about his fiscal plan, as everything focused on his license policy. At one point, Keane avoided being photographed with Spitzer.
The timing of the license issue was not good for Democrats, as many Democrats privately and publicly lashed out at Spitzer for announcing such a controversial plan so close to elections.
“The Republicans did turn it to their benefit, no question,” Lenihan said.
The Monroe County GOP leader, Stephen J. Minarik III, said the Republicans would have lost control of the County Legislature were it not for Spitzer’s license policy.
Democratic Party insiders say Spitzer should be concerned about the results in places such as Erie County, which has 120,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans and yet still overwhelmingly backed a GOP candidate for county executive.
In Nassau County, Republicans nearly took control of the Legislature, despite rising Democratic enrollment. That could pose trouble for Spitzer’s plan to have the Democrats take over the State Senate next year.
“The Democrats,” warned Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic consultant, “should not declare victory in 2008.”
The governor said he did not do a disappearing act in the days leading up to the elections. The message he said he took from voters? “We approve of what the Democratic Party is doing,” he said.
The governor acknowledged that his driver’s license plan became an issue in many races. “But the public rejected an effort to use that issue to divide and to defeat good candidates,” he said. “Our successes across the state demonstrated that the overheated rhetoric and imagery did not work for the Republican Party.”
Spitzer’s popularity was falling before the license plan created an uproar. The campaign by his top aides to use the State Police to help embarrass Bruno has hurt him, as did the gridlock that returned to Albany during the legislative session.
As for Tuesday’s results, Spitzer said, “We could not be happier at the outcome that I believe was a public rejection of a Republican effort to inflame and incite, and a public statement that we want people to govern on issues that matter to us day to day.”
Ping of interest.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
What did New Yorkers think when they pulled the lever for this anti-American el-Creepo? Sound policy? Good judgment? Fair leadership? Honesty? Integrity?
I can't stop laughing. "The Democrat Party's success in governing"!?!?! We've seen plenty of that from the Clown Congress this year. What a howler!
We may be seeing the beginning of a de facto third-party whose sole platform is to "throw the bums out."
If possible, Andrew Cuomo, the new AG, is even worse than Eliot Spitzer. Less crazed, but far more corrupt. He should have been a Mafioso.
If Spitzer is crippled by this fiasco, I wonder if that will help Cuomo or hurt him? He has started out in office imitating his predecessor, suing loan companies left and right, which will hardly help matters in the middle of a loan crisis.
With almost NO experience as a lawyer. He was a lawyer 20+ years ago, and then, only for a few months.
Nothing like voting for experience. WTG, New York!!!
New Yorkers elected the guy, now let ‘em live with it. Just like Michigan reelecting Jennifer “I wannabe Marilyn Monroe” Granholm; they deserve what/who they get.
Recall Spitzer!!!
Eliot the MILLSTONE!
Thanks, it looks like more things are going out of control, with NY in the cat bird’s seat at least for the near term.
I sincerely hope they continue in that methodology and use many creative ways in which to do so.
Really bad form. Petty.
Dems are beginning to see what the Left is really all about. Wait until Hitlery starts shooting her mouth off again and gets nailed along with Spitzer, you will see alot of nervous Dems watching their careers come to a sudden halt.
If oil continues the upward rise along with threats from turban wearing countries, we will watch our economy tank so fast it will make your head spin.
The current batch of leaders at the State and Federal level have been ignoring the energy problem for 30 years. Their belief that conservation alone will save the day will put us back in the pre-industrial era quickly.
We can expect bare shelfs, lack of food, heating, cooling, water, oil, and all of the other products we take for granted. If you don’t own a gun, better get one now.
ping
Eight of them were even registered to vote in American elections.
Under federal "motor voter" law, anyone receiving a driver's license automatically may register to vote.
Nothing but the "honesty" of illegal aliens prevents them from breaking one more law, and voting in American elections.
Hillary Clinton and Eliot Spitser think we should give driver's licenses to illegal aliens.
I wonder why?
QUISLING: a synonym for traitor, someone who collaborates with the invaders of his country.
Do you need a tissue to wipe it's little nose?
Bttt!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.