Eliot Spitzer, a guy I went to high school with, has been making headlines for a few years now. In a decade that has seen a retreat from progressive politics across the board, he’s picked up the tools available to him as New York State attorney general and used them creatively and effectively to represent the interests of ordinary citizens. His investigations and prosecutions in the securities, mutual funds and insurance industries have exposed longstanding practices by which insiders profit at the expense of the public they ostensibly serve.
In a better world, the bodies that are supposed to be the watchdogs in these areas would be doing their jobs. Since they haven’t been, Spitzer’s investigations have represented the public’s last line of defense.
I haven’t agreed with every position Eliot has taken in his career (for instance, I don’t support the death penalty), but there isn’t any other Democratic politician out there right now who has been more effective at fighting the self-dealing, cronyism and plundering of the public good that characterize Bush-era business.
Today, in what was a long-expected move, Spitzer announced that he’s running for governor of New York in 2006. And he announced it on a page labeled “Eliot’s Blog” — that appears to be a real, functional weblog. Welcome to the blogosphere, Eliot — I think you’ll like it.
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