Sometimes I worry that I'm becoming a bit monomaniacal about Eliot Spitzer, but as somebody whose professional career has been devoted to the study of US capital markets it annoys me to no end to see him running amok in them. Every week seems to bring some new outrage to light. Here's the latest, hot off the WSJ's presses:
[T]o a host of Empire State charities and well-connected law-school deans, the crusading New York attorney general is acting a lot ... like Santa Claus.
Three civil settlements he struck in an unusual case against wealthy telecom executives and IPOs have allowed him to bestow more than $5 million in largess over the past several months to dozens of community groups across New York state. The recipients are intended as a sort of proxy for individual investors who allegedly suffered from the actions of the defendants, who were accused of profiting from undisclosed awards of sought-after initial public offerings from investment bankers seeking their business. ... But the groups receiving the windfall also represent voter constituencies that could be key to Mr. Spitzer's widely expected Democratic run for governor in 2006.Once again, we see Spitzer abusing his prosecutorial powers for personal political gain. Once again, it is time for the feds to step in to keep Spitzer from getting elected governor on the backs of our capital markets.
