Organizations and Markets

Down With Spitzer

30 August 2006 at 11:48 am Peter G. Klein Leave a comment

| Peter Klein |

Professor Bainbridge reviews Brooke Masters’s biography of Eliot Spitzer:

A fair reading of Eliot Spitzer’s record as presented by Masters suggests that he is both a genuine cause crusader and a career political hack. Spitzer has consistently used — and abused — his authority as New York attorney general to level sweeping accusations against a wide swath of American business. In some cases, like the proverbial stopped clock, he got it right. In a lot of cases, however, the much ballyhooed charges got a lot of press attention but then quietly went away. Indeed, on the few occasions he’s taken one of these high profile business cases to trial, he’s lost at least as often as he’s won. Instead, his record consists mainly of using media pressure to extort settlements from frightened executives.

Oh, and by the way, down with Giuliani too.

Entry filed under: - Klein -, Classical Liberalism, Institutions.