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After a squalid sex scandal pushed him to resign from office last year, some think former New York governor Eliot Spitzer may be angling for a political comeback.
The New York Post reports that Spitzer has been discussing a possible challenge to Democrat Thomas DiNapoli for state comptroller or for the Senate seat held by Kirsten Gillibrand.
Spitzer has since denounced the Post’s report, but his recently increased visibility in the media sharing his opinions on the financial crisis have the pundits engaged in a lively debate.
We bring you perspectives from MSNBC, NPR and Fox Business Channel.
First, on MSNBC’s The Ed Show, conservative radio talk show host Lars Larsson couldn’t have been more blunt about his view on Spitzer’s possible return. "A sleezy character like that, his own wife can’t trust him, why would the rest of the country trust him? I mean this is just crazy.”
On FOX Business Channel, a guest commentator on Your Wolrd program dismisses Spitzer altogether.
“I don’t think he has the bearing to be a respected public servant. I think this whole idea of rehabilitation, he doesn’t get it. ...
There’s a lot of qualified people who want to serve in government. He had his chance.”However, back on The Ed Show, The Nation magazine editor Katrina Vanden Heuvel weighs in from a different angle. She highlights the former New York governor’s expertise in fighting corruption on Wall Street.
“He understood the deregulatory mania, the frenzy the danger. He is someone who is chasten by personal scandal, but he has taken on the public scandal which has obliterated the savings of millions and destroyed our economy at this point.”Finally,
NPR political editor Ken Rudin focuses more on local politics, saying Spitzer’s return won’t do any good to the Democratic Party in New York.
“...three of the statewide incumbents running next year -- Paterson, DiNapoli and Gillibrand -- all got their posts by appointment, the last thing the under-siege Democrats need is for Eliot Spitzer to return to the scene.”
So what do you think? Should Spitzer make a run for public office? Does the personal life of a person in political office make a difference?
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