Vote Scott & give ‘Client 9’ the hook

Last Updated: 2:28 AM, August 17, 2013 

Posted: 12:57 AM, August 17, 2013

In a few short weeks, New Yorkers will choose between two candidates for city comptroller in the Democratic primary. One is Scott Stringer, a conventional Manhattan liberal. The other is a completely unhinged Manhattan liberal.
His name is Eliot Spitzer, and for a man who styles himself the “Sheriff of Wall Street,” his real expertise is operating outside the law. As attorney general, he acted like some hick-town bully with a badge and a speed trap. But where it counted — in the courtroom — this sheriff seldom got his man.
Then again, Spitzer’s goals in office have always been less about serving the people’s interest and more about feeding his insatiable ego, his giant ambitions and his basest appetites. This fundamental character flaw, and the dysfunction it bred, brought down his governorship. And these failures, notably his meltdown in office, started long before the public learned of Ashley Dupre or the Emperors Club escort agency.

Spitzer came to office with an approval rating in the 70s — only to see the numbers completely flip in scarcely a year. It was entirely self-inflicted. His governorship read like a script for FX’s “Anger Management,” with Spitzer unable to get along with anyone: not Republicans, not Democrats, not even members of his own staff.
Now he’s seeking to be put in charge of city contracts and $140 billion in pension funds. It is a job that requires a working relationship with the mayor, the City Council and many stakeholders — not to mention the 58 trustees, who are unlikely to react well to a “steamroller.”
But once again, he’s made clear the normal work of that office — say, negotiating better management fees — is beneath him.
“Office is ripe for greater and more exciting use,” he tweets. Translation: Putting me in charge is like going away for the weekend and leaving your teenage son an open liquor cabinet and the keys to a Ferrari.
We would not trust Eliot Spitzer to manage our 401(k), much less take our teenage daughter to the movies — so why should the city trust him with its entire pension fund? If he uses the funds to target Wall Street and punish companies he doesn’t like, the likelihood is that the funds’ returns will suffer. And guess who is on the hook to make up the shortfall? You, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer.
In an election year where Carlos Danger is competing for mayor, Client 9 felt empowered to jump back in and turn New York into the laughingstock of America — thanks for that, Anthony!
But Anthony Weiner’s weird psychosexual thrill from public humiliation seems honest in comparison to Spitzer, whose version of “contrition” gives off a distinctly Charlie Sheen vibe.