I just can't get the name out of my head today, as we cover the newest disgraced elected official to attempt a political comeback.
Eliot Spitzer, the former New York Governor who resigned after a prostitution scandal, now wants to return to politics as, of all things, Comptroller of New York City. Money is no object, apparently, as Spitzer says he will fund the campaign from his personal fortune. He's candid when he says he doesn't know whether New Yorkers will forgive him his trespasses. But he's hoping they do.
He's got four days to gather thousands of signatures and qualify for the September primary. He's running against fellow Democrat, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringe, considered the odds-on favorite. At least until now.
Is it sheer chutzpah, a brilliant political move, or blind and ill-advised ambition? Or a bit of all three? Who knows what goes through peoples' minds when they've tasted power and been successful (he was, by anyone's measure, an aggressive state attorney general), only to eventually be forced from the public arena.
How are peeps viewing us in New York for this election year? One has to wonder, given Spitzer's attempt to re-enter public life, and the current campaign for mayor by Anthony Weiner, the former Congressman who resigned after a sexting scandal.
And that's why I'm thinking tonight of my old (and highly caloric) late-night study haunt of Der Winerschnitzel. Weiner Spitzer has fascinating possibilities – not so much as a fast-food stand but as entertaining news in the coming months. And can you imagine if a Mayor Weiner has as a Comptroller Spitzer to nag his every step? Wow. I'm just sayin'.
We'll have the latest on the Spitzer announcement, tonight at 11.
Also at 11, we're in Rockland County where that attorney for a school district is the focus of what figures to be an emotional meeting of parents and educators tonight. Actually, it's the attorney's language a vile rant that included about the worst thing you can call a woman – aimed at a student's mother after a heated school board meeting last week. Tonight the top of the agenda: What to do with the school attorney? Lucy Yang is there for us tonight .
And an emotional story in the Bronx – where an 11-year-old boy is awaiting a kidney transplant. He even has a donor at the ready, a man who's a perfect match. His dad. But now a wrinkle. Doctors are worried that his home living environment isn't healthy. And it appears it's not his family's fault; it's the landlord's. Visiting nurses found rodents and bugs and mold in the home, and concluded it's not conducive for a healthy recovery.
We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Jeff Smith (in for Lee Goldberg) with his AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Diana Williams (in for Sade Baderinwa) and me, tonight at 11.
Subscribe to my page on Facebook at facebook.com/billritter.wabc.
Follow my tweets at www.twitter.com/billritter7.
