Democrat NY Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Misuses Prosecutorial Power

Democrats have a nasty habit of using government power to bully others. The Clinton Administration sued gun manufacturers even knowing they had a very weak case, but with the hopes that they could intimidate and obtain a favorable settlement. Even though the manufactured were making a legal product, and such a “settlement” could not be passed as a law by Congress, sue someone enough and they are likely to see things your way.

The media seemed convince that the New York Stock Exchange paid its former head Dick Grasso excessive compensation. So Democrat New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer decided to prosecute the Chair of the Exchange’s Compensation Committee.

Read 'Boondoggle of a Case' Eliot Spitzer owes me--and New York's taxpayers--an apology. by Ken Langone in the Friday, September 30, 2005 Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

 “A little more than a year ago I was obliged to defend myself publicly against a legal smear. Eliot Spitzer, the full-time New York state attorney general and part-time fund-raiser for his political ambitions, called me ‘unsavory,’ ‘deceptive" and "tainted’. When many in the media were uncritically swayed by his posturing, Mr. Spitzer then pledged to ‘put a stake through my heart’.”

 “I tricked some of Wall Street's keenest minds, so the accusation goes, into approving a portion of Dick Grasso's compensation when he headed the New York Stock Exchange.”

 “NYSE directors … testimony is clear and consistent. .. each has said they were not deceived in any way. They all confirm that, as head of the NYSE compensation committee, I provided them and the board with complete and accurate information about Mr. Grasso's proposed compensation--and that they approved it.”

Webb interviews revealed in court showed:
 “The directors of the exchange, one and all, had full access to all the details about Mr. Grasso's pay.”

 “There was a unanimous view that Mr. Grasso was doing a praiseworthy job. Asked to grade his performance, most directors replied ‘A-plus’."

 “Thus far, the attorney general has presented a grand total of one person who, as part of a negotiated settlement, signed an affidavit saying that some of the compensation material was ‘misleading’."

 Spitzer’s “office recently said it is low on funds to pursue Medicaid fraud, he is devoting multiple lawyers to this case--which will benefit the state not one nickel. Medicaid spending by the way costs this state more than a quarter of its budget, in excess of $40 billion.”

Mr. Langone is chairman of Invemed Associates and a former member of the board of the New York Stock Exchange.

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