Spitzer Reaction In Albany

I happened to be in the state capital, Albany, the day after Elliott Spitzer's mind-boggling revelations. Interestingly enough, the main-stream media has been harping about how the state government is paralyzed, nothing can be done until he announces whether or not he is going to resign, etc. That's not what I saw. The legislature was in session, hearings were being held, the budget process was in full swing, and business was perhaps subdued, but basically going on as usual.
I was there to lobby my state legislators to re-instate some library funding that had been cut in the proposed 2009 budget. The timing was interesting, to say the least. While the Democrats in both the Assembly and Senate I met with held back their comments, you could see they weren't sorry to see him on the verge of resignation. At that point, they were just hoping the Spitzer mess wouldn't totally destroy the party's chance to gain control of the state Senate, which seemed to be possible this year. The Republicans, of course, were gleeful.
Quite frankly, Spitzer's bulldozer approach hadn't played as well in the governor's office as it did when he was AG and he had made many enemies on both sides of the aisle. His resignation, assuming it comes soon, will be a relief to all.
--Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds