Why Spitzer vs. Stringer Matters

The winner of the comptroller race could shape city's future

Most New Yorkers don't know what the city comptroller does, much less how to spell its archaic title.But New York City's chief financial officer, or the comptroller, is arguably the second most important elected office in city government, and it will likely become even more important and powerful in 2014.

Elected leaders often derive their power from whatever defined duties they are supposed to have, but occasionally the ambitious and crafty politician figures out how to make their office even more powerful.

We've seen a number of instances of this in the past decade, most notably Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who used his executive powers to reshape the city's zoning, parkland, policing, transportation, public health policies and education system in a way that is unlikely to be duplicated by his successor.

And the two very different men running for Comptroller, Eliot Spitzer and Scott Stringer, have a history of reimagining previously toothless jobs and making them more potent.

Spitzer's tenure as Attorney General from 2002 to 2006 was a groundbreaking one, where he became the "Sheriff of Wall Street" and uncovered arcane laws like the Martin Act to broaden his powers to crack down on perceived corruption in the financial sector.

Like a crusading U.S. Attorney from two decades earlier named Rudolph Giuliani, Spitzer's ambitious -- and some would say, at times, overreaching -- stint as the State's top law enforcement official earned him many enemies on Wall Street, some grudging respect from political insiders and enough name recognition and political capital to vault to the Governor's mansion.

Although it all came crashing down two years later in a prostitution scandal that was jaw-dropping in its shock value and tawdriness, few will question Elliot Spitzer's intellect, drive and ambition to be a game-changing public servant.

It's his hubris, which even he admits to, that gets in his way, and it remains to be seen whether five years in the political wilderness (and two ill-fated TV stints) will humble him enough in his audacious comeback bid.

What's fascinating about Spitzer is that he comes from enormous wealth and the hallowed precincts of Princeton and Harvard Law School, yet he is a ruthless class warrior, who seems to relish going after men who must be a lot like his extremely driven and successful father, Bernard Spitzer.

Just ask Hank Greenberg (former head of AIG) and Ken Langone (former owner of Home Depot) and you'll hear two men who are bent on keeping Spitzer out of the political arena forever.

Scott Stringer, in many ways, is Elliot Spitzer's polar political opposite. If Stringer were a children's fable character, he'd be the tortoise in the famous "tortoise and the hare" parable. Slow and steady, he has shrewdly climbed the political ladder and has mostly exceeded expectations.

In the State Assembly, while a loyal team player on Shelly Silver's tight Democratic conference, he took a chance and, along with the Brennan Center, pushed for reform that shook up Albany's ossified legislature a bit.

As Manhattan borough president the last eight years, he's reinvented that office to be a conciliator and triangulator on land-use issues and food justice policies as well as other progressive causes. If Woody Allen is right that 90 percent of life is just showing up, the ubiquitous and tireless Manhattan BP, Stringer, earns strong reviews for his work.

But Stringer, unlike Spitzer, was born on the "other side of the tracks" -- Washington Heights (to Spitzer's silver spoon Fifth Avenue upbringing). Stringer went to rough and tumble JFK Public High School and John Jay College, and has learned the political game from his mentor, Congressman Jerrold Nadler.

It will be very enlightening -- we hope -- to hear Stringer and Spitzer debate their visions and qualifications for this important financial watchdog job.

The next mayor will inherit a fraught financial situation -- the city's annual budget has ballooned to 70 billion dollars, property taxes have skyrocketed the past decade, all city union contracts expired years ago and there is the looming prospect of retroactive pay.

Tom Allon, the president of City and State media, was the Liberal Party-backed candidate for Mayor last year. Tallon@cityandstateny.com.