A laundry effect for well-heeled sinners
Voters will have their chance to show if they are ready to forgive, if not forget
Even by the topsy-turvy standards of New York, this has been a weird week. Both Eliot Spitzer and Anthony Weiner are now attempting political comebacks, leaving the rest of us to wonder how it is possible for men who so thoroughly embarrassed themselves to be showing their faces in public again.
Yet there they are – back on the front pages. Mr Spitzer said this week he would seek election as comptroller of the city of New York, while opinion polls are putting Mr Weiner among the leaders for theDemocratic nomination for mayor.
For my part, I doubt that a phalanx of Freuds could fully explain what makes these two men tick. But if you want to know why men with such well-publicised peccadilloes are being seen as credible candidates, I would submit that only a rudimentary understanding of campaign finance is required.
Simply put, Mr Spitzer and Mr Weiner both have money to burn. They came to it in very different ways, but their cash piles make them the rare New Yorkers capable of mounting citywide political campaigns in these pricey times.
Mr Spitzer’s advantage reflects his wise choice of parents. Many of you know him as a dedicated political outsider – the “sheriff of Wall Street” and so on. But as a local boy, Mr Spitzer is a full-fledged member of our landed gentry – the son of a wealthy property developer with interests on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue and other posh locations.
All that money probably contributed to Mr Spitzer’s downfall. Average Joes don’t generally wire-transfer thousands of dollars at a time to secure the services of prostitutes, as Mr Spitzer was accused of doing before he resigned as New York’s governor five years ago while his wife stood at his side.
But his wealth is now buying him a second chance. He has pledged to cover the costs of his campaign to become the city’s chief financial officer, forgoing public financing. That bill could run into millions of dollars, but Mr Spitzer is willing to pay the price. In interviews this week, he has spoken of how much he missed his life as a public servant; working in his family property business or serving as a television commentator just didn’t make him as happy or as fulfilled.
Mr Weiner, by contrast, is a man of relatively modest means who is sitting on a mountain of campaign cash for altogether different reasons. The argument could even be made that he owes his good fortune to the surprising latitude that US election law grants to politicians – such as him – who are given to fantasy and flirtation.
As you might remember, these inclinations got Mr Weiner into serious trouble in his personal life. Two years ago he gave up his seat in the US House of Representatives after it was revealed that he had exchanged inappropriate pictures and messages with women – not including his wife, as best we know – he had met on social media sites.
But during his days in Congress, Mr Weiner also engaged in the political equivalent of a flirtation – toying in public with the idea of running for mayor of New York. He didn’t do it, but he still managed to raise more than $4m in case he did – demonstrating in the process that his powers of persuasion extended far beyond the comely blackjack dealers, college students and fitness instructors he befriended in virtual venues.
After quitting his Capitol Hill job, Mr Weiner maintained control of all those millions of dollars in campaign cash. But to spend it, he had to run for something in New York. This year gave him a chance. Michael Bloomberg – the multibillionaire mayor of the city – is set to leave after serving a third term and Mr Weiner is vying to replace him.
It’s still too early in the election season to make serious predictions about how Mr Weiner or Mr Spitzer will ultimately fare. But Mr Weiner is clearly doing better in the polls than many of the pundits had predicted, and that may have helped give Mr Spitzer the confidence to make his return to electoral politics.
Their example, in turn, has given rise to all kinds of speculation about the public’s capacity for forgiveness, an end to the era of personal scandals and similar theories. It could all be true. But I would note for the record that such absolution seems available only to well-heeled sinners in the current context.
It’s a reminder of the magical powers of money in these parts. Spread enough of it around and it has a cleansing effect. It can remove the toughest stains. It can make the dirtiest laundry whiter than white.
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