During a swing through Syracuse that was originally scheduled for the governor to promote his budget priorities, Mr. Spitzer denounced a local assemblyman, William B. Magnarelli, for reneging on the agreement that the Legislature had made to select a comptroller from a list of qualified candidates put forward by a screening committee.
"Bill Magnarelli is one of those unfortunate Assembly members who just raises his hand when he's told to do so, and didn't even bother to stand up and say, `Whose interest am I representing?' " he told The Post-Standard of Syracuse on Thursday.
It was, by Albany standards, a shocking breach of etiquette for a sitting governor to lambaste a colleague from his own party in his home district.
While this may seem to be just another temper tantrum by Eliot, I think this is a brilliant psychological and political move.
After all, however much of an asshole Sheldon Silver is, he is only a powerful asshole because of the pathetic unsequiousness of the other Assembly Democrats.
But of course, they don't see it that way:
"We have been labeled dysfunctional because of our unwavering commitment to stand up to power and be the voice of the people, which is what we were elected to do," said Naomi Rivera, a Democratic assemblywoman from the Bronx...
The panel "had a bias, it had a prejudice," said Assemblyman George S. Latimer, a Westchester County Democrat. "If Abraham Lincoln had come before that screening committee, would they have found his qualifications for president sufficient?"...
Mr. Seminerio grew animated and elaborated on his point. "Let's assume I was chosen to be state comptroller," he said. "What the hell's so hard about it? You go in, there's a structure, there are people around you. You learn how to do it. No disrespect to the governor, but what makes him so astute to be governor? He had to learn on the job."
Yeah Assemblyman Seminiero- of course any douchebag could be comptroller and not immediately drive the state into financial ruin. But the point is that we are tired of our lawmakers doing the bare minimum. We need greatness, not just adequate mediocrity.
And anyone who uses Abe Lincoln and the New York State Assembly in the same friggin sentence is not only crazy, but also stupid.
If Spitzer publicly shames an Assembly Democrat in a swing district for simply following the Shelly herd, this might make other rank-and-file members think twice before they enable Shelly to make another horrible decision.
And breaking Shelly's hold on the Assembly appears to be a long-term goal of Spitzer:
Trying to break the hold that Speaker Silver has on his Assembly members, aides to the governor began reaching out Thursday to individual Assembly members, defying the usual protocol for negotiating only through the leadership.
Spitzer appears to hold the revolutionary view that individual members of the Assembly should have the duty to exercize independent thought.
Good for him. I, for one, hope he keeps up this fight.
Give 'em hell, Eliot! |
