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The Rise and Fall of Spitzer's Popularity
by
findingDulcinea Staff
A year after a record-breaking gubernatorial victory, the New York governor’s ratings plummet; the press that built him up so high, now knocks him down.
30-Second Summary
In 2005, when Gov. Eliot Spitzer was still New York’s attorney general, a Vanity Fair profile of him averred that “to the man on the street he’s a hero,” complete with “dashing good looks and self-deprecating charm.”
In February 2007, New York Magazine depicted the new governor’s attempts to reform Albany during his first month in office as the work of a “crusader for what’s right—not simply on a policy level but on a good-versus-evil level.” Now, in November, the same publication describes a very different Spitzer, one in need of an advisor to “tune his political tin ear.”
After a record-breaking 69 percent victory in last year’s election, a recent poll found that only 25 percent of the electorate would reinstate him given the opportunity to vote today.
His difficulties began with an investigation into claims that Spitzer’s aides had used state troopers to track the movements of political opponent Joseph Bruno.
The latest problem to beset the beleaguered governor arose from a controversial plan to offer driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Spitzer backed off from that policy on Nov. 13, a U-turn described by the legislation's opponents as unprincipled and by its supporters as cowardly.
In the press, Spitzer’s confrontational attitude, which once commanded such respect, is now broadly depicted as arrogant and hubristic. A New York Times op-ed described Spitzer’s defeat over driver’s licenses—labeled a “national smackdown”—as his last opportunity to learn to temper his counterproductive, aggressive style.
In that regard, the Times’s assessment is fairly similar to that of The New York Sun. The Sun surmises that if Spitzer’s recent failures end his “messianic” attitude, then they may be “the best thing that has happened to his administration since Day 1."
In February 2007, New York Magazine depicted the new governor’s attempts to reform Albany during his first month in office as the work of a “crusader for what’s right—not simply on a policy level but on a good-versus-evil level.” Now, in November, the same publication describes a very different Spitzer, one in need of an advisor to “tune his political tin ear.”
After a record-breaking 69 percent victory in last year’s election, a recent poll found that only 25 percent of the electorate would reinstate him given the opportunity to vote today.
His difficulties began with an investigation into claims that Spitzer’s aides had used state troopers to track the movements of political opponent Joseph Bruno.
The latest problem to beset the beleaguered governor arose from a controversial plan to offer driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. Spitzer backed off from that policy on Nov. 13, a U-turn described by the legislation's opponents as unprincipled and by its supporters as cowardly.
In the press, Spitzer’s confrontational attitude, which once commanded such respect, is now broadly depicted as arrogant and hubristic. A New York Times op-ed described Spitzer’s defeat over driver’s licenses—labeled a “national smackdown”—as his last opportunity to learn to temper his counterproductive, aggressive style.
In that regard, the Times’s assessment is fairly similar to that of The New York Sun. The Sun surmises that if Spitzer’s recent failures end his “messianic” attitude, then they may be “the best thing that has happened to his administration since Day 1."
Headline Links: Driver’s licenses, online sales tax and gay marriage
The New York Times reports that although the governor’s abandonment of plans for broader access to driver’s licenses represented his first admission of defeat, he also struck some “familiarly pugilistic notes, lashing into critics who, Mr. Spitzer said, ‘equated minimum-wage undocumented dishwashers with Osama bin Laden.’”
Source: The New York Times
Soon after his reversal over driver’s licenses, the governor also backed away from plans to impose a sales tax on online retailers, as detailed by Publishers Weekly.
Source: Publisher’s Weekly
The New York Post attacks Spitzer on a new front
On Nov. 16, The New York Post ran a story alleging that the troubled governor had recently declared that he wanted a Democrat-controlled Senate to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage in 2009. The source for the story was an unnamed individual who heard Spitzer speak at a New York fundraiser. Spitzer’s spokeswoman denied the claim, saying his reference was to the assembly, not the Senate, passing a gay-marriage bill.
Source: The New York Post
New York Observer blog “The Politicker” weighs up the Post’s story and surmises that, although the governor supports gay marriage, “it would certainly be a surprising move for him to declare it his top priority, just as he withdraws two controversial proposals.”
Source: The New York Observer
Background: Spitzer’s political history
The New York Times has a round-up of stories on Spitzer, including an interactive timeline for the Spitzer versus Bruno spat, a row that arose after the senate majority accused Spitzer of using state trooper to track his movements. That incident is cited by many commentators as the start of the governor’s troubles in office.
Source: The New York Times
For more on Spitzer’s driver’s license legislation, see the Oct. 23, 2007, Beyond the Headlines story “Spitzer Driver’s License Plan Raises Security Concerns.”
Source: findingDulcinea
Opinion
Contra Spitzer
Soon after Spitzer’s decision to drop his bid to provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, former City Council woman Una Clarke gave an interview on the Town Hall steps in which she derided the reversal. “Cowards die many times before their death,” said Clarke, who was captured on video. “Shakespeare says that. If you believe in something, you take it to the end.”
Source: The New York Observer
Blogger the “California Yankee” states that “if Spitzer’s position was truly principled, should it not be worth fighting for to the bitter end? The truth is more likely that Spitzer’s decision is simply unprincipled and poll-driven.”
Source: California Yankee
The latest imbroglio to engulf Spitzer may have taught a few New Yorkers something about the character of their governor, according to The Wall Street Journal, “but the bullying, the arrogance and the focus on destroying anyone who stood [in] his way were on full display when he was attorney general.” Whether he has learned from his recent difficulties, avers the Journal, remains to be seen, but “he could do worse than enroll in anger management class and take a pledge not to try to ruin everyone who disagrees with him.”
Source: The Wall Street Journal (subscription required)
What the pundits said back in the day
In January 2005, Vanity Fair ran a piece on Spitzer’s plans to run for governor. He was New York State attorney general at the time, and the magazine opined that “to the man on the street he’s a hero.” Indeed, the magazine begins with Attorney General Spitzer, arm in arm with his wife, making his way along a rain-lashed Canal Street in Manhattan while passersby call out to him with praise.
Source: Vanity Fair
The day after he was elected governor with a record-breaking majority, The New York Times published a short profile of the politician that opened with Spitzer complaining about the slow pace of work on Ground Zero. “It was a double-barreled Spitzer moment,” observed the Times, referring to the governor’s “combative” style. One comment from the Times piece has proved prophetic in the light of recent events: “That independent streak lies at the heart of Mr. Spitzer’s broad appeal, but whether it proves an asset or liability in Albany could be the pivotal question of his administration.”
Source: The New York Times
In February 2007, after only a few weeks in office, the governor personally attacked legislators after the State Assembly rejected his recommendation for state comptroller. At the time, New York Magazine ran a profile on Spitzer portraying him as taking on “Albany’s entrenched power structure, making it us versus them, with Spitzer as the face of us.” The magazine judged that the disagreement “played perfectly to Spitzer’s strength, as a crusader for what’s right—not simply on a policy level but on a good-versus-evil level.”
Source: New York Magazine
In February 2007, The New York Post reported on Gov. Spitzer’s alleged declaration that he was “a f-----g steamroller” in a story titled “Full Steam Ahead for Spunky Spitz.” The Post wrote that Spitzer “bragged” to Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco (R-Schenectady), “I’ve done more in three weeks than any governor has done in the history of the state.”
Source: The New York Post
A hard lesson
Jacob Gershman of The New York Sun writes that Spitzer’s defeat over driver’s license registration is “the best thing that has happened to his administration since Day 1.” Being forced to back down has, argues Gershman, freed Spitzer from his “messianic” self-image. “The next time he climbs up the tree of a misguided policy,” writes Gershman, “he can climb down.”
Source: The New York Sun
“If this debacle looks like a national smackdown for this governor, it is,” writes a New York Times op-ed. However, like The New York Sun, the Times observes that this may be an opportunity for Spitzer to temper his aggressive leadership style: “Spitzer can either figure out how to operate the governor’s office more skillfully for the next three years, or he can fail in his vital mission to reform and restart New York State.”
Source: The New York Times
In November 2007, New York Magazine reported that Spitzer had hired Albany veteran Bruce Gyory as advisor, hoping the new appointee can “tune his political tin ear.”
Source: New York Magazine
Pro Spitzer
A New York Times article reported that the governor’s decision to drop his proposed legislation to allow immigrants to acquire driver’s licenses “won the kind of wide acclaim from elected officials that he could not win for the proposal itself.”
Source: The New York Times
Reference Material: Polls and biography
According to the Siena New York poll, if the 2010 gubernatorial election were held today, 49 percent of voters would prefer someone other than Spitzer, and only 25 percent would re-elect him. SurveyUSA reports that he has only at present a 36 percent approval rating.
Source: Real Clear Politics
Project Vote Smart provides a brief online profile of the governor, who was born in the Bronx, educated at Princeton and Harvard, and elected to the governor’s office in November 2006.
Source: Project Vote Smart
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