Spitzer's Crimes

Ex-governor Elliot Spitzer is being punished for the wrong crime. He should be brought to justice as the guy who tried to bust Transport Workers Union Local 100 during their 3-day strike in December 2005. The guy who fined the union $1 million a day and threw union president Roger Toussaint in jail.

Of course, those aren’t crimes in capitalist America. Rather, he’s being hounded for the essentially victimless crime of being “John Number 9.”

If we can imagine Spitzer ever ending up in the dock for his crimes against the working class, we can imagine Toussaint and much of the leadership of Local 100 joining him. Their equally stupid crime was to endorse Spitzer in his run for governor, only months after he tried to bust their union.

But, we here in Wisconsin don’t have to travel all the way to NY to bask in stupidity. Take our Governor Doyle (please). Objectively speaking, he’s the most anti-labor governor in living memory. In his first term he froze state employee wages, cut benefits and promised to cut 20% of the unionized state workforce. Plus, when he came into office he locked into place all of the state’s cumulated tax breaks for the rich and draconian welfare programs for the poor.

Not to be outdone by our Local 100 brothers and sisters in NY, state employee unions, including AFSCME and AFT-W, endorsed Doyle’s re-election in 2006 and the state AFL-CIO poured big bucks into his campaign.

It’s doubtful that Spitzer will ever be prosecuted for hiring a hooker, let alone his crimes against the working class. As a defense lawyer on the News Hour glibly put it, if they prosecute John Number 9, what are they going to do about Johns Number 1 through 8? Obviously, there are some other big names on the Madam’s list—people who can afford upwards of $7,000 to get laid—who would have to stand trial with Spitzer as co-defendants. That won’t happen.

The pertinent questions for us in the labor movement are:

How long we will continue to allow leaders in our own ranks to support anti-labor politicians like Spitzer and Doyle?

And, who here needs an independent working class political party?