The best New York government money can buy

Thomas Suozzi

If you don’t follow New York politics, you might think that it’s unusual for the powers that be to try and hand someone high office. Not so much. One of the other candidates for Senator Clinton’s seat, Mr. Suozzi (also the scion of a Democratic dynasty) had a brush with the invisible hand back in ‘06, when one of Mr. Giuliani’s top fundraisers supported him against Mr. Spitzer as the Democratic candidate for Governor. 

Mr. Suozzi (and Mr. Langone) also had a friend on the Democratic side of the aisle in their battle against the enormously popular Mr. Spitzer: our own (and the DSCC’s) Senator Schumer

Sen. Charles Schumer is secretly encouraging Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi to challenge Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for the Democratic nomination for governor, insiders have told The Post.

Schumer’s backing of the just-re-elected Suozzi — which includes informal advice on strategy and fund-raising — results from a long-standing rivalry with, and a deep personal dislike for, the high-profile Spitzer, Democratic Party insiders say.

…

Party insiders also said Schumer, who has strong ties to many leading Wall Street bankers, has also objected to some of Spitzer’s aggressive prosecution of investment-banking firms and insurance-industry executives.

So why would Senator Schumer do that? Well, he was never a big fan of Wall Street regulation (the Times provides us with an extensive list of regulations Mr. Schumer has helped kill – sometimes with the help of Sen. McCain’s friend Mr. Gramm – although he says now that he thinks some minor regulations would be OK, as long as they don’t restrict Wall Street).

But there were other rewards

Mr. Schumer became a magnet for campaign donations from wealthy industry executives…

As a result, he has collected over his career more in campaign contributions from the securities and investment industry than any of his peers in Congress, with the exception of Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which analyzed federal data. (By 2005, Mr. Schumer had so much cash in reserve that he shut down his fund-raising efforts.)

Ms. Kennedy has, I heard, hired Sen. Schumer’s former chief of staff for her own big-money bid. Welcome to NY.

I do like what A Tiny Revolution has to say about it

Unlike [Blagojevich], [Schumer] understands the subtle difference between a senator’s seat and a senator’s soul: the first one you buy; the second one you sell.

Indeed.

I guess we’ll just wait until after the confirmation hearings to hear where our senior Senator scents the best price.

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